Ahead of Schedule: Makeup

It’s clear from my doing things like seeing sample centerpieces or thinking about hotels with over a year to go that I am a Type A person with an obsessive need to cross things off the to-do list, no matter how early it seems.  So it follows that I did something that I thought was the ultimate in wedding planning crazy: I went for my makeup trial exactly 367 days before my wedding.

Before you think I’m totally nuts, let me explain. After my engagement picture makeup fiasco, and other makeup artist fails over my lifetime, I got nervous that it would be really difficult for me to find someone whose work I liked. So on a quiet day in the office, I looked at makeup artists on Wedding Wire, and contacted a few of the top people in my area, just to get an idea of prices.

I got a big surprise when it turned out that people were already booked for my date! And many artists commented that while they were free for my date, they’d booked plenty of other summer 2012 girls.

So maybe I’m not crazy?  Or maybe I am, but I don’t care. My first choice artist was free, and since she’s kind of well known in the area, I immediately scheduled a trial, which went down last night.

I liked her right away- she was warm and friendly, with a house full of cute little dogs and kids running around the backyard on a Slip n Slide. She talked a mile a minute, sharing kooky stories, shouting outside to the kids in the yard, and simultaneously doing some genius shaping to my eyebrows.  I liked her laid back attitude and knew that it would be fun to work with her on the day.

And the results were great:

My skin looks tan and glowy!! It’s not, normally! I went to Mr. B’s house after the trial and he kept saying he liked my “skin color.” His mom complimented the look as well. I liked that my eyes weren’t over done, although we did talk about doing a little more drama and adding fake lashes for the actual wedding. Regardless of the small tweaks, her talent is definitely there, and I’m relieved not going to get caught up in the heavily contoured eyes and orangey foundation that initially made me fear makeup artists.

Obviously I will have to go for a real trial much closer to the date, but I wasn’t going to book someone without testing them out first. Glad I did, and crazy or not, I like having this off my list!