I gots mah hurr did!

*Warning* Picture-heavy post, mostly of my silly mug. Enjoy!

I love love LOVE my future sister-in-law, Brianna (aka Bree/Breeze/Breezy). Seriously, she's the bomb dot com and I will sing her praises as long as I live. As I've mentioned before she's a hair stylist and has got some mayjah skills. I showed her my inspiration pictures (which you'll remember from this post) and after giving me a fabulous blow-out (with just a round brush!), we got to work. Please remember this was just the first trial and she did these very loose. Plus my hair was freshly washed with zero product in it. At our next trial (I get unlimited trials because I'm family. Lucky me!) she'll make everything tighter.

This was the first style we tried to recreate:

And this is how it turned out:

 

Although I loved the inspiration photo, neither of us were really feeling the look on me. Actually that first picture looks pretty good, but in person it just didn't feel right.

Here is the next picture I showed her.

As you'll see in the picture, she didn't pin back my bangs. Instead, she decided to figure out what was going on in the back and create something based on that. Here is what she came up with:

 

 

 

 

This is the style we're going to work on perfecting during my next trial. I'll explain why at the end of the post.

And finally, here is the 3rd picture I showed her:

This is what Bree created:

Pretty cute, right? Ultimately, however, we decided that this wasn't quite right for me either. She did all of these styles in about an hour and I was so impressed. We got a really good idea of what looks good on me versus what doesn't look so good. I can't wait until the next time we can play!

OH! And the BEST thing that came out of this trial was that Breeze told me I can cut my hair! Apparently I have more than enough hair to work with and that if I wanted to, I could cut off an inch. And INCH?! That's a lot in curly hair world and will make my hair look so much better. Oh, I can't wait to cut it!

I came to an interesting and sobering conclusion during the trial: you must trust the pros. Bree has been telling me all along that I should look like myself on my wedding day and I continually said "No no, I don't care about that. I'll feel like myself no matter what." What can I say, I'm a know-it-all. Well, um, I was wrong. Totally wrong. I'm used to seeing my hair with a ton of texture. Also, I'm used to seeing myself with BIG hair. I love volume and I love to have my hair high up on my head. Basically, I belong in New Jersey.*

Anyway, I realized that with the first and third style, there just wasn't enough texture for me. You can't really tell from the picture, but the 2nd style is textured on top as opposed to smooth like the other two. I finally *got* it. Yes, I do want to look like myself on my wedding day, and "myself" includes big, curly hair. So ladies, trust the professionals. They get paid for a reason.

Did you eat a big slice of humble pie at any point during your wedding planning?

*Please don't email or comment about how I'm stereotyping NJ. My grandma is from there and she loves her some big-ass hair, too.