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?