Vendor Review: Morgan Blaul (Hair & Makeup)

I'm pretty sure I contacted everyone in the greater Chicago-area who might do hair and makeup for weddings. I wanted someone to work on-site at the hotel I was staying at for the wedding, to do both hair and makeup, to be somewhat affordable, and of course, to be fabulous!

Morgan Blaul definitely personified fabulosity. She was super chill and great to work with for my trial. I showed her what I wanted for my hair, and she replicated exactly what I wanted. I had no clue what I might want for my makeup - I told her to do what would compliment me. She rocked it! Quite honestly, I looked so great after just the trial, I would have been confident walking down the aisle that day.

The trial was my first time ever wearing false eyelashes. Morgan applied them perfectly and I loved them. She even did extra long ones so they added this awesome, vintage feel to everything! In fact, Morgan's overall work had a general vintage 1960s twist that fit with the scheme of our wedding.

If you make the picture bigger, you can see my rockin' eyelashes!

Source: Laurie Peacock

And, still, I swoon over my hair! I kid you not, it looked as fabulous at the end of the night as it did at the beginning!

Source: Laurie Peacock

On the wedding day, Morgan brought another stylist (Heather) to help expedite things. Heather was great to work with as well and did an excellent job on my bridesmaids. We had 5 bridesmaids, my mom and me who all had our hair done and my mom, one bridesmaid and me who all had our makeup done. We didn't start hair and makeup until 10am and we finished around 2pm - not too shabby! Both Morgan and Heather worked efficiently but with beautiful end results.

I couldn't be happier with how things turned out and would recommend her a million times over to other brides.

Thank you, Morgan!

Other Vendor Reviews
Marilyn, Honeybee Weddings

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Step by Step: Guys Get Ready

While I was experiencing an odd mixture of gettin' pretty amidst nerves and anxiety, Mr. S and his guys seemed to be having a good old time! He, his groomsmen and our ushers met at the church to get ready, where they were joined by our fabulous second photographer for the day, Maggie Rife.

I love how excited he looks, like he's telling a great story (I like to think it was about me!).



We spent a very long time finding the perfect tie for him to wear on that day, and it looks like he's got it all under control in tying it perfectly for the big day.


Oh wait, maybe he just needed a little more help...


Oh, still not perfect? Nice to know his boys had his back - nothing like a crooked tie to ruin your wedding pictures!


Once dressed and with beers in hand, you can just tell that these guys were bound to get into a little trouble.


Oh, silly me, they're just posing for some glamour shots. Don't they all look great?! Mr. S did a great job of picking out a black suit with a very faint pinstripe from MW Tux for him and all of the groomsmen. Our ushers just donned their own black suits and we gave them black and white striped ties.



It was a bit of a joke between Mr. S and me that the week before the wedding he needed to be living in a bubble...he's a wee bit accident prone! I was very concerned that he'd show up with a cast on his hand or a bandaid on his ring finger. We actually had some close calls just days before the wedding, but when the wedding day arrived, we were in the clear.

So seeing these pictures of him climbing a fence makes me VERY relieved that I didn't know about this until well after the wedding, and that he made it to the wedding in one piece.

The climb up appears to be pretty easy.




Although I'm not sure what he expected to do once he got up there.


And, fortunately, he made it back down, safe and sound. I cringe at the thought that he could have ripped his suit just an hour before the wedding. Ahhh!


Apparently climbing fences wasn't enough. No, not when there's a random mattress laying in an alley! You or I might just pass that by (especially on your wedding day!), but these guys thought it would be a great way to demonstrate that Mr. S was the man of the hour.

Climb aboard!


If I'd known he was sitting on an alley mattress, I might have held back some hugs.


But really, you can't beat these pictures, can you?!


This is the man that I love more than anything. Swoon.


Safe and sound, yet again!


*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

I know this post may have a slightly sarcastic tone, but in all honesty I'm so happy that Mr. S had a lot of fun before the ceremony. I was so tense that I could not relax until we said "I do." He was able to have some fun for the both of us!

Next up - Mr. S and I enjoy our first look before the ceremony.

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready

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Step by Step: Girls Get Ready

The morning of my wedding I was cool, calm and collected as everyone got primped and pretty in my suite. Ok, so on the outside I was calm, but there was immense turmoil, anxiety and exitement on the inside. I was a bit of a nervous wreck as the clock ticked closer to 2:15, when the limo would be arriving to whisk us away to the church.

Once we zipped up the dress, everything became real.


I was so glad that it fit - after our heavenly rehearsal dinner the night before where I'd eaten one too many tacos, it was anyone's guess at to whether or not this sucker would zip up!

We had ousted the bouquet and garter toss in the final weeks before the wedding, so don't ask me why I even slipped my garter on. Tradition? Rite of passage? Because it was there and I'd already paid for it anyway? I'd like to think it was for this sexy leg shot!

By this point, I'm pretty sure I just liked posing in my dress!

I was getting incredibly anxious once I was dressed, so I don't remember seeing the reaction of two of my bridesmaids as they saw me for the first time all done up. Apparently, they approved of the look!

I made sure to also get their seal of approval of the veil...

...which complimented my fabulous hairstyle to a "t." Swoon. I loved my hair.

One more check from my girls to make sure all was perfect. I have no clue what I had asked them, but everyone seems to be contemplating something, so it must have been an important question.

And, of course, Momma Stiletto is all "done up" and checking me out for the first time!

I was more than ready to get out of the suite. Staying in that space was making me a wee bit claustrophobic; good thing there was a beautiful staircase right outside the door for my escape.

Here we go down...

and around...

and around some more until we made it to the end. Aren't these shots such amazing eye candy?!

It's good to be backed up by such a great entourage.

Fortunately, my limo was ready and waiting for me. When I say that I was ready to get to the church, I was ready. I think if I'd had to wait more than a minute for my limo, I would have turned a little 'zilla. I was slightly taken aback when I saw the car, however. We were supposed to get a stretch Lincoln Navigator, and they ended up sending a monstrous stretch Hummer. H-U-G-E. I was more than slightly embarrassed by the size of this thing.

But I made it into the beast, packed in with layers of dress and ready to go!

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

I was lucky to have such a wonderful morning getting ready, surrounded by fabulous people and lots of love.

Next up - the guys get ready! Oh, the mischief they got into.

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A Little Extra Wedding Buzz

I'd hinted that there might be some Bees buzzin' around my wedding festivities. As our RSVP's were coming in and I saw that our guest count was going to be lower than we'd be planning, I was SO excited to reach out to the Bees to see if any of them would be at all interested in celebrating the day with us.

When Mrs. Quiche, Miss Snapdragon, Mrs. Taffy and Mrs. Powderpuff all accepted my open invitation, I was psyched! Blogging for Weddingbee became more and more important to me as the wedding day drew closer, and having some of my Bee friends at the wedding was very special for both Mr. S and I.

The Bees dined...

Picture by Miss Powderpuff

...danced (and even stole the show on the dance floor at one point - I can't wait to share those photos!)...

Picture by Miss Snapdragon

...and posed for a picture or two with me...

Picture by Miss Snapdragon

It was so lovely having four fabulous Bees with us on that day! And, my wedding day was the first time I met Mrs. Taffy - how fun to meet a friend in person for the first time on your wedding day. And added bonus of having self-proclaimed wedding enthusiast in attendance is that they take fabulous photos throughout the day and evening and upload them on Facebook right after the wedding, they leave lovely messages in your guestbook, and break it down on the dance floor.

Thank you again, ladies! We were so glad that you were there to help make the day extra special.

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Vendor Review: Marilyn of Honeybee Weddings

I'm pretty sure the day after the wedding, I wanted to email each and every one of my vendors and gush about how fabulous they were! True story. However, Mr. S urged me to hold off until after the honeymoon...while we were away, we stayed off of Facebook and made ourselves invisible on Google Chat. I did sneak in a little Weddingbee (shh...), but Mr. S snuck in a few work emails, so I guess we're even.

On our first night officially in town released the gushing emails onto our vendors - I think Mr. S was just as excited as I was to share lovely words with the individuals who helped me our day so special!

Vendor Review: Marilyn of Honeybee Weddings

Source

I shared a little while back about why I chose to hire a day of coordinator (DOC). I wanted to know that the little details were taken care of, and that while I thought my DJ was a fabulous great guy, I didn't want to have to talk to him or anyone else about the timeline on that day. I was there to celebrate and have fun, darn it!

Marilyn delivered a hundred times over on the weekend of our wedding. She helped ensure our rehearsal the evening before ran smoothly, taught our ushers how to work the aisle runner and kept us all in line.

On the morning of, it was a relief to have Marilyn show up at the hotel with binder in hand. The monster spreadsheet she'd had me fill out in the weeks leading up to the wedding - covering timelines, bridal party contact info, reception set up details - was organized and at the ready. It was Marilyn who was calling down to the front desk for the extra chairs needed for hair and makeup, running out to pick up lunch for everyone, and getting all of us out the door and over to the church on time.

After the ceremony (which started ON TIME and went perfectly), we went off to take pictures, and Marilyn headed over to the reception site to finish setting up the little details, be present for cake delivery, dj set up, and to light all of those pesky tea light candles.

We were ahead of schedule with pictures, so we arrived at the reception site earlier than planned and were able to check out the ballroom while our guests were enjoying the cocktail hour. Everything was simply gorgeous! All that I had left for Marilyn to take care of was done perfectly.

Throughout dinner, Marilyn would pop over to our table and give us updates - we were ahead of schedule, so if it was fine by us we'd push back the toasts, or, the catering staff was leaving our cake out longer because it looked so fabulous (yay!!).

As we danced the night away and after some guests had left, Marilyn quietly gathered different decor items off of the tables and packed them away. She had the DJ announce that guests could take the table arrangements (something I hadn't even considered as an option), which solved the question of what we would do with all of these tall and short vases after the wedding! And, once we'd danced the last dance and were ready to leave, Marilyn had all gifts and decor boxed up, on a trolly, and ready load into my parents' car.

In a day that was a mix of excitement and anxiety, I so greatly appreciated having Marilyn there. She was cool, calm and collected. She allowed my family and friends to enjoy the day and not worry about coordinating a thing. Our budget didn't initially include a DOC, but I think our biggest regret would have been not hiring one.

Thank you, Marilyn!

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