I was asked by one of my nearest and dearest friends, Sara, to be one of her bridesmaids. I was honored and so excited! The cherry on top was I was also asked to be her hair and makeup artist for her magical day. Sara and I have been friends since we were 15 years old! Which is literally half my life, so you can imagine how close we are. We were on the high school cheer leading team, and even lived together for a while! I love helping my clients, but when I get to help a friend and a best friend at that I get reeeeeally pumped! My husband and I flew to Lake Tahoe last June to celebrate the #SaundersSolstice wedding weekend. What better day to chose for your wedding than the longest day of the year, Summer solstice!!!
I had the pleasure of not only getting Sara ready for her wedding, but also her rehearsal dinner. Which is a great way for brides to see how their hair feels during the current climate and weather of their wedding weekend. For her rehearsal dinner look we went for natural and fresh for makeup. A little darker and more dramatic on the eyes, lips and blush than we did for the wedding day. Gotta change it up a bit, and leave the wedding look for the special day! As for hair we gave her voluminous curls. After a gorgeous evening of chit chatting with lots of old friends and family, and beautiful speeches, we hit the hay to get some beauty rest for the big day tomorrow!
The morning of Sara's wedding day I arrived to one of the happiest and most relaxed, chill brides ever. Sara was just so excited the day she had been dreaming of was finally here! On the daily, Sara wears absolutely no makeup, so of course we had to stick to my FAV - natural makeup! For brides who wear next to no makeup, I like to keep the skin very natural feeling, by using lightweight foundation, and illuminating primers for that dewy look that is so on trend right now. I also like to slightly sculpt the eyebrows to follow their natural shape, focus on very thin eyeliner, light and pretty eye shadows, and soft but not too subtle contouring and blush. Needless to say she made my job easy. I used a very light coverage, sheer foundation on the skin, because her skin is literally flawless. I barely had to touch her perfectly shaped eyebrows, and added a little pop of champagne and blush toned shadows on the eyes. My favorite part of the look was the pretty peach blush and highlighter combo we chose. The look was enhanced by the fresh eyelash extensions she had just got done, and was really tied together by a beautiful, natural, nudey-pink lipstick shade we chose. We had practiced her hairstyle months before at her bridal trial. We knew we wanted half up half up down, but the details of that we never settled on (because she liked all the different ways we did it lol). For her wedding day hair we decided to tighten up the curls a bit, for more of a classic feel, and for the half up we decided on some effortless twists. Her highlights showed off the style beautifully. Sara chose the most gorgeous bridal hair pin to really accentuate this half-updo. Holy cow! I think I am still dreaming of that hair pin.
It was so fun to be there for Sara every step of the way. We had a blast dancing the night away, and I was always checking up on how her hair and makeup were holding up through out the day. She really only needed a few lipstick touch ups thanks to the long lasting products I swear by. You can see through these photos how much happiness and love was shared that day. Oh and did I mention the florals?! Holy florals!!! Her venue was completely drenched in the most beautiful wild flowers. You may also spy a few cameos of bridesmaid me and my super cute date!
Thank you so much for trusting me on your #bestdayever Sara. And thank you for making me a part of your family! I have no idea who I would be today without you and your family's impact on my life. I love you forever. #woahohwoah
Vendors
Hair&Makeup by Jay-Lee @superstitionmakeupco
Planner @merrilywed
Venue @westshorecafe
Dress @maggiescotterodesigns
Cake @flourgirlweddingcakes
Photography @mikelarson