The Girls Get Ready Part 1: The rules of hair care are simple and finite. Any Cosmo girl would have known. ~ Elle Woods

Nothing beats having your friends make you feel special and pretty with reactions like this!

I awoke bright and early the day of our wedding, oh at about the wonderful hour of 5:00 AM. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I took a long relaxing bath. I thought I would be a nervous wreck that morning, but oddly enough I felt unbelievably calm. At that point, whatever could go wrong was out of my control, and in all honesty, I had gotten to the point where all I wanted to do was get married. I didn't really care about the details anymore.  

We had to be at the hairdressers at 8:00 AM in order to get everyone's hair and makeup done in time for the 2:00 ceremony. The Catholic Church is pretty strict about what times you can have your wedding...the typical times are 11:00 (too early), 2:00 (ok-ish) and 6:00 (too late). 4:00 would have been my preferred time, but I'm pretty sure the Pope wasn't about to make any exceptions for me :0)

I am very blessed to have a hairdresser as a sister, so we were able to make use of her awesome co-workers at the salon she worked at. As someone who barely wears any makeup, and typically wears the same hairstyle everyday, it was wonderful to have a sister who could give lots of recommendations and pointers. Like airbrush makeup!!!! Oh my goodness I am so thankful she introduced me to that, since I'm pretty sure anything else would have melted in the July heat. 

I've included lots o' pictures for this post because I know that there are always a lot of brides out there looking for hair and makeup pics. Enjoy!  

What not to do- Channel 1984 for your hair inspiration: 

Hairdresser Sis gets ready. Hairdresser sis's big secret came out during the bachelorette party. Someone scheduled her own hair trial. Needless to say we teased her endlessly, but we still love her with all our hearts :0) 

Seriously, could my middle sis look any more beautiful?!?!

My besties in all their beautifulness

The best accessory you can have on your wedding day...your big goofy "I'm getting married today!!!" smile

The wedding updo. There wasn't a chance in hell I was wearing my 8,000 lbs. of hair down on a humid July day. This style probably works best for people with thick wavy/curly hair. My hairdresser worked wonders. I love how it turned out:

Yay! I get to be a bride! I think putting  my veil on was the first time I actually had that, "Wow I'm getting married today" feeling

 

My fabulous momma has her hair done by my sister. My mom is the absolute best. Isn't she just gorgeous? And so stinkin' tiny! Something tells me I will never look like this if I have 4 children: 

Having the final touches put on my air brushed makeup face. I must admit that when I first heard "airbrushed makeup" all I could think about was those horrid 1980 shirts they used to make on the boardwalk. Luckily, this is nothing like that. It is so unbelievably light, and it covered up the huge breakout I had acquired from pre-wedding stress: 

Sorority pose! Oddly enough, only one person in this pic was actually in a sorority (littlest sis). This pic just makes me giggle :0)

Have a great Superbowl Sunday everyone!!!

All photos courtesy of Kate Leigh