 |
|
|
 Hair: I wanted a formal Victorian hairstyle for the wedding, something done up but with romantic tendrils and curls falling down my back. But I'd had long hair for years, bleached and dyed it too many times, and it was getting really ratty and fried by late 1999. My mom had a great suggestion: get my hair cut short, but still long enough that I could pin it up on top of my head. Then use hairpieces to make a fancier Victorian-ish hairstyle.
So, just after Christmas '99, I got my hair cut to shoulder-length and dyed a wonderful jet black. Finally, I *adored* my hair again! The shorter length was so easy to take care of, and it was perfect for our Jamaican honeymoon. For the wedding, I bought a Louisa Mae ringlet fall from Tart Blossom to achieve the desired Victorian effect.
 Headdress: I didn't finalize what I'd wear on my head at the wedding until a few days before, except for the tiara. I adore all things sparkily, and found this beautiful vintage rhinestone tiara on eBay that was both in great condition and very reasonably priced.
For a veil, I wanted to stick with the overall historical look of the dress, so I had investigated late Victorian veil and wedding headgear styles. Simple, drapey veils were the most common in that era, as opposed to the gathered, poufy things popular in modern days. I wasn't sure if the Victorian or modern style appealed to me most -- I just love veils and wanted to take advantage of another opportunity to wear one!
But finally, I went back to my original idea of a black veil. But instead of tulle, I tried a yard of embroidered black lace I'd bought for another project. It looked really good -- perfectly historical, not very mourning-like at all. I showed it to Thomas, and he liked it too. So I made it into a small veil that hung down in the back only, gathered and sewn onto a barrette covered with burgundy ribbon roses (eight of them -- one for each year we'd been together so far).
|
||
|
back to table of contents ... back to setting the stage
|
My brideswoman Elisa did my hair for the wedding. She's a self-proclaimed beauty school dropout, and she was the one who introduced me to wild hair colors and styles back in high school by dying my bangs neon pink. For the wedding, she secured the ringlet fall in the back and swept my own hair back, pinned it up, and tightly curled the ends. It looked similar to Audrey Hepburn's hairstyle in the ballroom scene of My Fair Lady (viewed from the front).
Mom thought a black veil would be too much like mourning though, so there went my first idea. A burgundy tulle veil was considered, but one friend suggested that reddish veils can make you look flushed/like you have a rash in photos. Could have layered burgundy with black. Could have tried a white veil, though it might have looked silly and glaringly modern with all the rich colors. I seriously considered this dreamy silver-white netting I picked up on sale at Hancocks Fabric Warehouse ... but that ended up looking too glam.