Last weekend was amazing/insane and the bride and the other bridesmaids and I had so much fun. Tell me, is there a better excuse than a wedding for women to pamper themselves? I can't think of one.
On Friday, we went to 20 Lounge Nail Bar and Boutique, because the bride had wanted us all to get manicures and pedicures together. The ladies at the nail bar brought us champagne and white wine, and the place was so clean and modern-looking ... it was a very chill, relaxing experience.
The bride picked my nail color for me, to match our dresses, which were a blush color (aka, pale pink), and our flowers. It was "We'll Always Have Paris" by O.P.I., a reddish purplish brownish shade way darker than anything I would have ever picked out for myself, but now that I've lived with it for a few days, I think I have to admit I'm coming over to the dark side.
And then after that, we grabbed a snack, went to the bride's house to change and beautify, then dashed off to the rehearsal, and then to the rehearsal dinner. And I would just like to point out that the bride and all the bridesmaids made it to the rehearsal exactly on time, but it was a pair of groomsmen who were 51 minutes late. My point is, men should not give women as hard of a time as they do about how long it takes us to get ready.
The rehearsal dinner was yummy Mexican food with a margarita fountain. Delicious.
The next day, my Saturday, began at 6 a.m., when my boyfriend and I woke up to get him out the door for rowing practice, and I started pulling all my materials together for the day. At 8:30, I was out the door, and at 9 a.m., I was pulling up to the W Scottsdale, where the bride had booked a suite for all us gals to get ready in before the big event.
In between snacking on apple slices, chocolate-covered strawberries, pretzels and a cheese and grapes plate, the bride's "people" did our hair and makeup, giving us each a different look. I ended up with a dramatic dark purple smoky eye and a hair style something like this:
The bride's instructions to our hair and makeup ladies were: "I want my bridesmaids to look like hot rockstars." So this was not your typical girl-next-door kind of makeup treatment. I think, looking at myself in the mirror, I wavered back and forth at first between being a little traumatized and also secretly loving it. I think I ended up secretly loving it, though.
By the way, this suite at the W was outrageous. OUTRAGEOUS. I'd post photos, but mine wouldn't do it justice. You can see better photos of the W and what their suite looked like here. Out of this world. We looked out over the pool and also across Scottsdale to Camelback Mountain. It was so much fun.
So from 9 to 2 p.m. (Yes.), we were getting our hair and makeup done. Then we headed to the venue, Villa Siena in Gilbert, which looked stunning that time of day. The temperature was in the low 70s, and the afternoon sun was perfect. We couldn't have asked for better weather conditions.
First, the bridal party took a lot of photos, men and women all separate from each other so that the bride and groom wouldn't accidentally get a glimpse of each other!
My dress:
And then we ladies had to scoot off to sequester ourselves in the bride's changing room while guests arrived. Also, our bouquets arrived. Red roses, black dahlias and another flower I didn't recognize. (Trivia: The bride has a huge tattoo of a black dahlia flower on her torso, so obviously, she loves those flowers.)
And then suddenly it was 4:30, it was time, and the rest of the afternoon and evening happened in a blur. I don't even remember what music the groomsmen walked down the aisle to, but the bridesmaids walked down to "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" by Iron & Wine, and then the bride walked down the aisle to "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. (Yeah, I thought that was an interesting choice, too.)
Then there were vows, tears, rings, a kiss and then a husband and a wife. And then a party!
Long, long day for the bridesmaids. Wonderful, wonderful day for the bride and groom. And now they are in the middle of their two-week stay in Paris, where I hope they are buying lots of pretty souvenirs and just enjoying time together.
Me, I'm still trying to recover from all the fun. :)
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