Cleveland rocks!

Had to share these two videos -- they kind of sum up much of Cleveland. (Of course, not the parts that any of you will be staying at!)

Hair and makeup trial

I like the fact that I did the hair trial on one day and the makeup trial on another day, as it means that the only day we'll put the entire piece together is on W-day!

Here's a look at my fabulous, fabulous hair by my very talented cousin Alisa (who works at Enzo's on State Road in Broadview Heights):



And here's a look at my makeup trial (also visible in all of the engagement photos) -- the first was taken right after we got the makeup done, and the other was taken about 12 hours after we got the makeup done. It's almost entirely black eyeshadow (and the girl screwed up my lipstick, which I think I'll do myself next time.)




I loved the way the black eyeshadow came out, but I've been wondering if maybe another look wouldn't be *better* for me. First thought: more smoky browns, a la Ivanka Trump:




OR, perhaps I want more of a '60s vibe -- Reg and I just watched Charade, and I couldn't get over Audrey Hepburn's makeup.

Engagement pictures!

So Reg and I had an incredibly fun time doing our engagement shoot with the very talented Kay and Stacy of BCR Studios -- we're so glad we chose them for our photographers. First up, these were some of the inspiration photos that I collected and Reg approved and then we showed to Kay and Stacy at BCR... (I am sad to say that I was taking screen grabs with two different computers, neither of which recorded the source of the picture, which means I can't give them credit. Hopefully the pics are small enough that no one will mind, but if any copyright owners are checking this out, please e-mail me and I'll either give you credit or remove it.)

The "What, there's a camera here?" look



The "we always look at each other this way" look:






The "oh, you just happened to catch us hanging out on the street corner" look:



The "NEAR.... far...." shot



And the classic American Gothic shot.




And now up, a few of our pictures -- we've purchased the disk of all photos but the disk hasn't arrived yet, so these photos still have the watermark on them... prints can be purchased through BCR.

Wedding rings - check

Yesterday, we bought our wedding bands. !!! We went to Wedding Rings Original, which had been recommended by New York magazine and when I'd done some research, the man behind the company (Mel) really struck me as a knowledgeable and nice guy.

I finally decided to pull the trigger because I realized I just wasn't seeing what I wanted on the market, and we would have to go custom, and a) the wedding is six weeks away (!!!) and b) no amount of market research would help me imagine what a ring would look like ahead of time.

I liked this kind of look from Kay's, but they only had it in white gold and I wanted platinum:


Ok, and I am totally incapable of finding any of the 3 rings that we wound up taking attributes for to make my ring, but suffice it to say that it looks fairly similar to the Kay's ring above except a) it's platinum, b) it's super narrow -- very very thin, c) it has very small bead-set diamonds on the top, and I think the one pictured is a channel setting. Also, it's just the bottom ring, and instead of being kind of pointy, there's just a gentle curve.

Reggie's ring is similar to this one from Kay's, but in palladium -- palladium is in the platinum family, but it costs less (about the same as $18K gold) and is a naturally white color, so unlike "white" gold (which is actually yellow gold treated with a chemical) it won't ever turn yellow. It's a wide ring with a hammered look to the center, and a "comfort band" (which I think is a comfort band because the sides are rolled? Forget which one he chose.)


Mel gave us a good discount because we bought both rings at once, and considering the materials and the fact that mine had to be made custom, we were happy with the price.

OK, makeup decisions to make, too.

I guess I should think about makeup choices, also, as I've got my first trial session on Friday (before our engagement shoot).

I guess one of these two pictures would be the inspiration -- a smoky eye, a nude lip, a sort of casual fabulousness.





Here's the closest I've been able to get doing this myself -- here's a smoky eye I did the Halloween I met Reg's friends for the first time, and one I did for Leslie's wedding... both came out well, but a) I think if I were capable of applying false eyelashes, it would have been better, and b) perhaps less sparkly? I always end up looking like a drag queen at the end of the night because it's all over my cheeks.




The above two were just lots (and LOTS) of black eye shadow, two kinds of black eyeliner, two kinds of black mascara, and a general foundation base (on my eyelids) and the beige that came with the black eyeshadow (it's YSL -- caviar and champagne duo). But I've sometimes experimented with color, to good effect, and that might be a happier, more innocent look for the wedding -- less seductive Catwoman type stuff.

Here's me on my belated bday last year -- it was a pinky shadow that I have since misplaced and, I think, black around the eyes.



This is a really recent picture, from what I wore the first night our parents met -- it's a lavender shadow with brown shadow/liner near the lashes. I kind of like the lavender, but wouldn't know whether to do black or brown with it? Oi. You'll notice I'm totally incapable of doing any more complicated shadow effects or contouring type stuff...



But then here's another Anne Hathaway pic with a much warmer look on her eye -- I don't do that look often myself; no idea how it would look. Maybe I'll try it sometime between now and the makeup trial (on, um, Friday).

Hair!

OK -- so next week my cousin and I are going to sit down and do the hair trial. I'm trying to figure out exactly which look I want -- I know they're all kind of similar, but it still matters...

I'm a bit worried because a) I almost never curl my hair (it's gotten much curlier as I've gotten older, but not in a consistent way -- it's very dependent on the weather) and b) when i do curl my hair it sometimes is a bit "big." I think I'm leaning for going for it loose -- nothing to give me a headache during the day -- but can't decide between center-part and side-part.

Option 1: Loose, wavy, parted down the center:


Option 2: Loose, wavy, parted on the side:



Option 3: Wavy hair, tied back with clips

Other updates

Lots of last minute details to take care of for the wedding, including a bunch of DIYs:
- the guest book
- thank-you cards (we'll either use the monogram or a photo collage or some combination thereof)
- the playlist for our reception (we're iPoding it)
- gift bags for out of towners

Lots of other non-DIYs like:
- nail down what hair and makeup will look like
- get dress fitted (first fitting in 3/29)
- get proper undergarments for dress
- pick out toasting flutes/serving set
- mail invites for showers
- an engagement shoot with our photographer
- research on Aruba (our honeymoon locale)
- making sure everyone has their tuxes (my dad, best man, and man of honor)
- set Reg's tux
- decide which shoes I'm wearing for the wedding and decide if I'm getting them dyed
- figure out schedule for transportation and how many shuttles we need

And, um, so on and so forth. So much to do!!! Eeeek. Here's one of the collages I created this morning using a program I downloaded from the Internet -- called "Shape Collage" -- maybe we can use the pictures we get from our engagement shoot in addition to or instead of this random collection...

Babies!

I had fun the other day playing with a program on the Internet -- MakeMeBabies.com. I put in four different pictures, and the site guessed at what our babies would look like. You'll be amazed to hear this, but: Reg and I will have a baby that looks like... a baby!

Ok, the one above looks like the baby wears a turban? Who is it, Gloria Swanson?



(And NO, no, we won't get to test that theory any time soon.)

Ring shots!

I will update soon, I promise -- lots of decisions are almost made -- but quickly -- I took some pictures of my ring and thought I'd post 'em. One of the primary bridal blogs I read, Weddingbee.com, was running advice on how to take pictures and also posting lots of reader-submitted shots... so... Unfortunately the picture is more focused on the feather than the ring (damn my complicated camera!) but you still get a good idea of the "steps" in the emerald cut.

Update: Wedding Bee posted one of my shots!! Click here...