J&A Wedding: Hair & Makeup

Ok, onward with J&A's wedding! Yesterday was the couple's rehearsal, today is all about Jackie. Before she could walk down the aisle, we spent the morning in hair and makeup.

Jackie did a little research on the Newport, RI area and consulted a few friends who went to school close by before selecting Curl up & Dye for our updos. I was able to go with Jackie to her trial run a few months ago and instantly fell in love with the stylist we'd all be using, Marissa. 

As I mentioned in a previous post (here), I decided to let my natural curls shine through for this wedding. Well, that's a lie. They still curled my entire head of hair. But seeing as I have naturally curly hair, my pony tail is never sleek. So an updo with texture looks more "me" as my mom would say.

Yes, I have red highlights at the ends of my hair. Word of advice, do not get highlights when you're a brunette....wayyy to much work to maintain. I've been trying to get rid of it for over a year now. You can say I told you so Mom. 

 Christina had the most hair out of all of us BY FAR. And I'm pretty sure her updo was done the fastest. Marissa was amazing!

Meghan had the goldilocks look going once she was all curled! 

 Meg's finished product. Beautiful!

So, there's a story with my mom. We came down to Newport for her hair trial about two months prior to the wedding and she had just had her hair trimmed. Lo and behold, it was too short for an updo. She promised Marissa she would not trim it again before the wedding, and she didn't, and it drove her crazy! ha. But I am so happy she didn't, because she looked so beautiful.

She has SUPER curly hair and wanted to wear her hair up for the wedding to try to beat the August humidity New England enjoys so much. No lie, Marissa had her hair pinned up in probably 20 minutes. And it was perfect! How beautiful do her curls look?!

Somehow I missed hair photos of the Mother of the Groom and bridesmaid Ashley but they both looked gorgeous.

And last but not least, the Bride! When we came for Jackie's trial, she was thinking something much sleeker, small bump to the back, simple bun. Don't get me wrong, it looked beautiful. But boy am I glad she had a change of heart and decided to go with something a bit more airy and relaxed looking. These pictures really don't do it justice, the lightings off. But I promise, there will be more later this week.

 Once our hair was done, we headed back to the hotel for makeup. Look at that makeup spread?! I die. 

Our makeup artist for the day also happens to be a really good friend of mine. And she is SO talented. I love watching her do makeup. I let her put way more eye makeup on me than I would normally wear on a work day but it's totally worth it. It translates so well in photos. And of course, she had the fake eyelashes ready for all of us!

Jackie still waiting for the makeup chair, Christina all ready to go! Don't her eyes look amazing?!

 Somebody got a card delivered during the pre-wedding prep. (I know you're wondering, I was too so I stole a glance at the tag, her gorgeous tunic dress is from J.Crew. You're welcome.)

Just a little pre-wedding champagne while getting prettied up! 

And we are off to the main event! Wahoo! 

Stay tuned...

J&A: Rehearsal Day

J&A wedding recap starts now! Annnd, expect it to last all week. :)

How did we start the weekend? With the rehearsal of course.

Because J&A were getting married on Sunday, and because the venue was hosting a Saturday night wedding, the wedding rehearsal was held at noon Saturday. Just enough time for us to get the ceremony down but get out of the way before the set-up for Saturday night's wedding began.

Car loaded and ready to go!

J&A heading out to the ceremony site

View of the venue from the ceremony site. Unreal right?

It was a bit toasty at the rehearsal but we made do. And thank goodness I remembered the ribbon bouquet! How could we have rehearsed without it?!

One of the Jewish traditions J&A incorporated into their ceremony was the seven circles. I had never seen anything like it before and it was beautiful. The bride circles the groom three times, the groom circles the bride three times, and then together the bride & groom walk one more circle together before entering the chuppah. 

With the rehearsal done, we headed over to lunch. Pretty sure half of the wedding party ordered lobster rolls. New England seafood at its best! Jackie & Adrian gave the wedding party their gifts, and we hung out as a small group before heading in separate directions for the remainder of the day. 

Jackie gave us bridesmaids necklaces for the wedding, flip-flops, a framed past photo of us with an opening for a wedding photo, and paid for our make-up. So thoughful! 

The pearl earrings I wore for Jackie's wedding (below) were actually my grandmother's. My mom found them Saturday morning while packing and they were too perfect. It was so nice to have something of hers with us.

She's a natural! This adorable baby was the son of one of the groomsmen. He was sooo stinkin cute! And so happy!

After lunch, the ladies headed out for manicures & pedicures. The bride was very laid back about our nail colors. I actually ended up doing gold toes, which Jackie picked out for me. And I LOVED how they looked. Sorry, no pictures of my gross feet. You can thank me for that.

I don't think your coffee is big enough Mom. Ha. Apparently when you ask for a small coffee at the Dunkin Donuts nearby, they hear it as Extra Large. The coffee needed to two hands!

And to round out the eventful day, Saturday night the parent's of the groom hosted a dinner for the out of town guests. It was so nice to meet many of Adrian's friends and family before the big day. The parents' of the groom gave wonderful speeches.

And a slideshow was played. I have to say, I am so proud of my mom for this slideshow. When she was asked to put together a slideshow of pictures throughout the years of the bride and groom, she knew very little about slideshows. And even less about how to put it together on her new Mac book. Well, the end results included fading in and out of chosen songs, subtitles on pictures, different sections within the slideshow for the couple growing up, family, friends, and the two of them as a couple. It was awesome. Eveyone loved it. Isn't my sister so pretty? 

Bridal party

Family!

The boys - for me it's brother-in-law, brother-in-law, husband. We have LOTS of fun memories to come!

And we couldn't bring the bride straight back to the hotel! One last drink, just all the girls, in Newport. We're so classy with our Bud Light cans. Cheers!

Birthday Boy

The fun never stops over here! As I've mentioned before, Jackie & Adrian's wedding happened to land on J's birthday.

They were somewhat limited in dates due to work, season preference, and being sensitive to their friends' weddings which fell a few weeks before and another one a few weeks after. So when the idea of hosting their wedding on J's birthday came up, we told them to go for it. Who wouldn't want an open bar, mansion party with their family and friends? :) We are so lucky. J's parents and mine have become great friends over the years so there was never a question of whether or not to invite J's family. And since his brother Dan married Jackie's bridesmaid Meghan (here), we're literally all family anyway! So fun.

So, back to the birthday boy. This kid made out WELL! I took a risk and went for something J did not necessarily ask for but that I knew/hoped he'd love, a new snowboard. J has always had a used snowboard (which is how I started off with skis and I think is a great way to start out in this expensive hobby) but it was really starting to breakdown. And it was really starting to frustrate him. Even to the point of him voicing the option of us retiring from the sport. Uh ya, not happening babe. So I saved the day with this bad boy.


Hmm, I wonder what you've got there?...

 Surprise!!!!

How awesome is this board? (I'm talking looks here people...) I know nothing about snowboards. I have to thank one of J's brothers for all of their help with this! I would pick boards out solely based on design before checking the specs and sending them off to be approved. We did good!

So there will be no retiring from skiing/snowboarding over here. Ha! In all honesty, I realized how grateful I am that I grew up skiing. That I went on the church trips, the school trips, the day trips with friends. And I really, really want that for my kiddos someday. And, no, I'm not sticking with it JUST for my future, yet non-existent kids. I do enjoy the sport and am really looking forward to this winter. And who knows, maybe I'll pick up some new skis in the next few years. Hint, hint. :)

J also got some pretty sweet Guy Harvey shirts from some college friends. (If you don't know who that is, J's disappointed in you)

 A homemade, and delcious, funfetti cake!

And things I missed pictures of - a Patriots v. Jets ticket, a giftcard to the Golf Shop in town, a pair of shorts with fly fishing flies embroidered on them (these guys), a Casio G-shock watch, a home beer-brewing kit, and a new pair of snowboarding gloves. How lucky is he?!

He also got some ridiculous cards! Finding birthday cards is usually such a chore to me but it looks like Hallmark and Papyrus have stepped up their game lately! Some worth noting -

• A singing card where Happy Birthday is sung in burps (right??! haha)
• A card stating "We considered getting you clothes (on the front) but then remembered you were married to our daughter (inside, picture of an overstuffed closet). Oops! Ha. But hey, at least everyone knows how I feel about clothes. :)
• A card about gambling which stated something about having "the best birthday ever." This one was perfect because we've been coining Jackie & Adrian's wedding as "the best birthday EVER" for J for the last year. 
• Oh, and one about being a Godess. ha. Oh ya, that's J! 

It was so nice to take some time Friday after the family photo shoot to celebrate J's birthday with everyone. I just love our big Italian/Portuguese/English family. :)

Family Matters

What a weekend we had. I apologize for being MIA for the past week but when you're only sister's getting married, you tend to be a bit preoccupied. :)

I've decided to wait until next week to reveal all the details of Jackie & Adrian's wedding. And it will probably take me all week to do so with more than 400 photos to sort through, so buckle up!

In the meantime, I'll fill you in on what else has been going on over here!

Last fall I purchased a groupon for a family portrait session. It was for up to 6 people, 2 hours, and up to 30 miles outside the city. Between my dad turning the big 6-0 last year, and Jackie & Adrian getting married, I thought it was the perfect time for a family photo. Sure, we'll have family photos from the wedding but the idea of having some pictures done in a much more laid back setting really appealed to me.

So, yes, it took me 10 months to book the session but we did it. With J&A living in Charlotte, NC I realized we are certainly limited as to when these pictures could be taken. But because the duo were waayy more organized than I was the days leading up to their wedding, we took a couple hours Friday and had the pictures taken.

Us ladies made sure to talk beforehand to coordinate the outfits. We decided we didn't want to be too matchy, but would stick to a certain color pallete. I think they came out great!

When planning for these pictures, we had no idea what the weather was going to be like. Yes, we knew it was August so it would be hot, but the humidity was killer. Like, if you turned us all around, there'd probably be a few sweaty backs. It wasn't pretty..... thank goodness for the professionals!

 I love these candid ones he caught. Adding J & Adrian to the family has brought so much more laughter and liveliness. Not that we were THAT boring before..but adding two guys with borderline cases of ADD has certainly mixed things up. I think it has brought my dad out of his shell a bit. 

 And we kids tend to have a great time together. :)

Since we were able to travel outside the city for the pictures, we decided to have them taken at Worlds End in Hingham. We knew we definitely wanted a few shots on the water. And getting a few with green fields and a dirt road behind us wasn't too shabby either. This reservation is beautiful. And dogs are allowed! So I see a trip with Tucker in my future.

Lastly, and most importantly, the photographer we used was Brian Samuels. He was GREAT! So easy to work with. So patient. And as you can see, so very talented. Thank you for the perfect family photos Brian!

J & A - Wedding Day!

The weekend is here! Jackie & Adrian will be getting married August 5th. This is just me popping in to say hi. I will be fulfilling my Matron of Honor duties this weekend helping with anything left to do, supporting Jackie through the many events to come, and just having a great time with my family and friends.

 April 2011 - J&A Engagement Dinner in FL

 The happy little family

Check out these posts about the couple's wedding planning & events so far - 

• J&A - Cake Tasting
• J&A - Food Tasting
• Jackie's Bachelorette - Charleston, SC - here & here
• J&A - Bridal Shower

I love you two oh so very much and cannot wait to stand by your sides as you become husband & wife. 

Now, let the celebrations begin!

Wedding Wednesday: Hair & Make-up

This is it! Less than one week until Jackie's wedding! I can't believe it's already here. I also can't believe this lovely couple has been married 3 months, this couple 2 months, and this couple 1 month!

Thank you friends for spreading out your weddings so perfectly. :)

Back in June, when I was in Meg & Dan's wedding, I printed out a bunch of up-do photos for inspiration. Specifically, I showed the hair dresser these two photos and told her to do whatever she wanted.

I loved the front - side part & height - on Kate Middleton but loved the back of the picture on the right.

How'd she do?

I had her fix that piece of hair sticking out in the bottom photo but otherwise, I LOVED this updo. It did not move at all (I'm not kidding...I slept in it and left it for the next day brunch since it looked perfect ha!). And I loved the little bit of height in the front.

I had also had my make-up done by these photos, can you tell? :)

So for this coming weekend, I think I want to change things up a little bit. Meg & Dan's wedding was a church ceremony with silk gowns and tuxes so I wanted a cleaner, more formal updo.

Jackie & Adrian are having an outdoor garden ceremony and the groomsmen will be wearing suits. I'm thinking an updo more like this -

And if you could make me look like Emma Stone, that'd be cool too. I found this photo of makeup that I loooove and look who it is...

Wow. Give me those lashes. As I've mentioned here, I am a huge fan of fake lashes. And I will certainly be using a few in Jackie's wedding. Hard to tell in the photo above, but we all wore extra lashes in Meg's wedding and just loved them. So worth it!

Original source of pictures above: 1) Kate Middleton  2) Braid updo  3) Emma Stone at the Tony Awards 4) Emma Stone makeup