Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair

I've gotten a few emails the last few days from far away friends who are wondering about the details of the wedding. Only...I don't know what to tell them! Only 353 days to go and so much more to plan and make ourselves! Let me tell you; once you embark on this journey of picking out wedding colors, venues and caterers, making music selections, wondering if that gown you looked at in a bridal magazine would look good on you, figuring out what it is I want out of my wedding, well I find myself a bit overwhelmed by it all.

So first things first, I've been dealing with the dilemma of gigantic proportions: what am I going to do with my hair? Let's face it, you've all seen it in all its Asian/blond girl glory. If you don't remember it, let's recap: I'm an Asian gal with non-Asian hair. What I mean is that my hair is straight but very fine and behaves very much like what you'd expect someone with baby blond hair to do. It holds curls very well, can go very straight and has all these weird baby hairs that poke out in unexpected wisps across my hair line. Very annoying. I can assure you.

At the time of engagement, I had my hair very short. It was in a cute bob that I usually wore in loose curls in something the manner of Charlize Theron's bob, only with longish side-swept bangs. It was cute, fun and very easy to maintain. I simply adored my hair. But after getting a ring on your finger, something takes hold of you as if you are not your own person any longer. I swear something happens to a girl's head that tells her that on her wedding day she must have long hair to pull pack in a sweet chignon with a veil cascading down her back.

(image from theknot.com)

So I've started the torturous process of growing out my hair. And when I say torture, I mean it in every sense of the word when you take chin length hair and grow it out into the page boy stage wherein one also tries to cope with growing out bangs which involves a lot of bobby pins and headbands. All annoying and not at all flattering, I assure you.

But I've been thinking about my hair lately (my, this does sound a bit self-centered) and wondering to myself: am I doing the right thing?

I think long hair and up-dos are absolutely lovely in their own right and I've got scads of pictures collected that make me want to try it for my own wedding day. Only, something about it doesn't feel very much like me. I love my short hair and had already decided that after the wedding my hair would go short again. So this leaves me wondering, why grow it out just for one day if what I really love is short hair?

Hmm, why do so many women feel so drawn to long hair for their wedding day? Why am I plagued by the notion that I, too, must follow suit? Won't the people watching me get married rather see me as myself (only happier and all dressed up)?

I was reading Peony and Polaroids blog today and she just posted her wedding veil, a birdcage similar to the one I loved for my own wedding. She is choosing to go with the one with a flower in it to go with her garden themed wedding. I, however, love the one with the feathers.

It makes me smile and oh so me! Goodness, it goes well with the feel of our wedding. I think I might have to steal the ideal, with credit to Peony of course. This, somehow, does not solve my dilemma with my hair. Any suggestions?

I dream of a rustic wedding

(all images from theknot.com)

I've been thinking a lot about the wedding lately (it all stems from the exciting news that we have actually decided on a place, time and date). Before that, plans were up in the air and ideas were very scattered. I love the idea of a quiet backyard wedding with lots of overgrown trees whose low-slung boughs are home to hundreds of paper lanterns; tables with fresh white linens hold homemade goodies like small cakes, cookies, lemonade and sandwiches; little flickers of candlelight sprinkle the scenery; and the air sparkles with excitement, happiness, and love. The boy would wear a navy pin-stripped suit with black Chuck's. I, the glowing bride, would be a vision in my tea-length dress with tons of tulle, bright teal shoes on my pretty little feet (my something blue), and a bird-cage veil sits upon my glorious short curls.

Of course, there aren't any backyards that I know of here that could contain the woodsy feeling to my dream wedding (even if I do know a backyard that it would perfect it, the miles are so vast that it would make the commute for most of the guests troublesome) so I have to settle for a garden wedding of a different sort entirely

However, I still hold onto my dream of this adorable veil made by Myra Callan.

The story, take 2

Once upon a midnight dreary...oh wait, that's not how the story is supposed to go. Once upon a time in a city by the Pacific coast, a boy and a girl met one another at the very romantic location with fluorescent lights styled in the manner of a faux lantern, greasy checkered material flowed from the tables strewn carelessly around the room, and delicious smells of smoked goods and barbeque sauce filled the air. What a perfect setting for getting lovey dovey. From then on, they were inseparable. Until, that is, the girl hopped on a plane and flew many thousands of miles across a little pond to settle in the heart of merry England. Unbeknownst to the two people, rather than marking the end to such a promising fledgling romance, the boy and the girl met again in that foggy cold air when he flew over to visit.

A mere five and a half years later, the boy and the girl remained steady in their affection but no real talk of marriage was in sight. A few personal tragedies that tested their bond only reminded the pair that it was indeed a special commitment they had. With that in mind, the boy took the girl out to a lighthouse in the middle of a glorious spring day and asked her to keep her promise that she timidly made many years prior. The years of somdays and soons and maybes had ended and the questions answered: they would be wed and spend the rest of their lives together.

In the spirit of waiting that seems to have marked every step of their relationship, all wedding plans had to wait until the overwhelmed bride had finished with most pressing matters related to all things academe. A few months flew by and not a thought was to be had that related to all things wedding.

Until that is, one day she finished and accepted her identity as a master of literature and threw open the gates to the dizzying world of wedding plans.

The girl wandered bookstores, friend's photo albums, and the internet in search of inspiration for her own wedding when she came upon the blog of http://peoniesandpolaroids.blogspot.com/. Filled with delight at all the beautiful images she found, she decided that instead of keeping all the things she found to herself she would create a blog that was in the spirit of the engagement journal she had grand plans to keep (which lasted a good month). In an attempt to salvage something of the process of planning a wedding and letting people in on it (let's say bridesmaids who don't live in town anymore or friends and family elsewhere), the girl made a blog. She is not a blogger. She hopes it goes well. Thanks in advance to Peony and Polaroids for inspiring the girl to be a better and craftier bride.

In the beginning

A classic love story indeed: Boy meets girl. Playful interaction leads to full-blown trades of jabs and teases. A little inkling of attraction leads to a smoldering high school…friendship. Nothing happens. Girl graduates and both are unaware of the potential affair they had just missed. It was nearly four years later when their paths crossed again. On a whim, this man—once a boy—lays eyes on the girl (how does she stay a girl, one wonders?). Once again, attraction arises but this time, the intrepid couple embarks on a world wind, fast pace case of romantic entanglement. And the rest, they say, has been a somewhat challenging, hopeful, crazy, comfy, passionate happily ever after….