Operation: Make Me Pretty

OMG, getting your hair styled for your wedding is freaking expensive! Especially if you want the stylist to come to your house or hotel - and you also have to have a trial, to make sure you like it, which costs almost as much again!

It's ridiculous, which is why I am so incredibly grateful that my friend Mark (you might remember him as the sombrero model..?) is a hairdresser and has offered to do my wedding day hair as his present to us. What a star!

We have already had several long chats about what I want my hair to look like. I have medium length hair (although I'm growing it) that is not bone straight, but not exactly wavy either. I usually wear it down and couldn't decide whether to go for an up do on the wedding day, to make it a bit different, or to keep it down and be more comfortable.

The things I was looking for in a hair style were:

• a relaxed/messy style - my hair will never, ever stay where it is supposed to. If I had it scraped back into a perfectly sleek up do, it would undoubtedly come undone within 10 minutes. I wanted something where the look wouldn't be ruined if a few bits of hair didn't cooperate. 
• an up-do, but not all the way up - I wanted it up, to keep it out the way and tidy and also so I wouldn't be so hot. But I also wanted it to be quite loose and flowing.
• curls - like I said, my hair is sort of straight, so I wanted it to be curled for the wedding (and I know that my fiancé likes it curly too). 

Here's a couple of inspiration pics from the looks that we decided could work:

 

 

I absolutely love the Eva Longoria-Parker hair style, so that's what we're aiming for. Mark also incorporated some little plaits, like in the Jessica Alba photo above.

Gorgeous! Anyway, Mark brought this very creepy head thing (a bit like a Girls World head!) which had very long, thick hair, so that he could test out some styles and I could see them from all angles. So, hurray, I have a hairstyle!

However, my hair is actually really thin, and the style needs quite thick hair to look really good, so I'm planning on getting some clip in hair extensions just to add a bit of volume. Mark can get them from a wholesalers and really good prices, so we're going to have a look at some point.

I was also thinking about some sort of head band - probably something sparkly like these:

Glitzy Secrets

Add captionGlitzy Secrets

The second stage of Operation: Make Me Pretty is, of course, make-up. It is also very expensive to hire a make-up artist for your wedding!
I am toying with the idea of doing my own make-up, but I wouldn't say I was particularly skilled at make-up. I manage the  basic foundation and mascara most days, maybe even a bit of lipstick if I'm going out, but I think that since our wedding photos will last forever, it might be wise to let a professional handle it!

Besides, I quite like the thought of relaxing while someone pampers me on the morning of the wedding! I don't want anything too difficult, just a natural look, with light lips and possible a teeny bit of dramatic eyes. Here's some make-up looks that I like:

And if the make-up artist could make me look like Megan Fox then that would be lovely!

Now, as for the bridesmaids, Mark will not have time to do their hair as well as mine, and I can't afford to pay for hair stylists and make-up artists for them, as much as I would love to! So unfortunately, that means that they are left to fend for themselves. Luckily, none of them seem to mind.

We have yet to decide on the bridesmaid hairstyles. I would like them to all have the same general style, since they are having different dresses. But I don't mind what they style is - they can decide amongst themselves whether they want it up or down, straight or curly, complicated or simple.