Monday, May 05, 2008

Smile fatigue

This weekend will probably be the closest we'll come to knowing what it will feel like on the wedding day.

Every Saturday seems to start with me struggling to wake up in the morning. Shifting to a "real" work schedule after more than a year of easy commuting. Friday night is my boring and simple chance to get some rest.

The first thing on the Saturday agenda was my makeup trial. I had to be at the mall by 10am to meet with Painter. I also had to be ready to meet for lunch at noon and then take off to the city for engagement photos. Getting out of bed at 9am gave me about 40 minutes to wash up and curl my hair. While I was out, Tim had to iron his shirts.

I'm not one who wears much makeup on a daily basis. A typical morning for me includes brushing my teeth, washing my face, brushing my hair, and moisturizing my face. My makeup regimen involves brushing a little color over my brows and adding eye shadow to the corners of my eye lids. (Okay, when I'm feeling particularly bare, I use some liquid eye liner to compensate for my miniature eyelashes.) In other words, I know virtually nothing about hair and makeup. This part of the wedding process makes me feel absolutely helpless.

Painter is a referal from my former co-worker, Hen. Her sister and Painter once worked together. My concern is that she's rather expensive, $300 for the wedding day. At least I didn't have to pay for the consultation. Since she works at a cosmetics counter I simply get a from makeover. It's a great way to test things out.

She seemed like a nice, friendly person. I was a little worried about the amount of eyeliner Painter wore under her eyes. It's definitely too dramatic for me.

It's amazing how many layers of cleansers, moisturizer and base a face must have before putting on foundation and powder. How did someone come up with all this stuff? This is how Painter assured me that the makeup would last throughout the day. (There's also the option of paying more to have her come back midway through the wedding for a touch-up.)

Overall, she did a pretty good job. I loved the lip color she chose. The eye shadow was a bit stronger than I wanted. She was very easy going about softening the color a little. The one noticeable issue for both me and Tim was that the makeup seemed to enhance the fine wrinkles around my eyes. The last thing I want is for close ups of my wrinkles during the wedding. I have this problem when I try to apply makeup to myself. Shouldn't a makeup expert do better?

As soon as I returned from the mall, I picked up Tim and we went to sample our wedding dinner. The salad was tasty but I was a little disappointed with the small and tightly packed leaves. I guess I'm used to going to restaurants where one gets medium to big sized whole leaves. It just looks more appetizing. The salad did taste good.

The next part was interesting. The waiter brought out three large plates. The fish, New York tip, and chicken breast were quite generous in size. While I was looking forward to tasting the fish, the presentation wasn't appealing. The filet sat upon a bed of colored greens and small white beans in a ragu sauce. Honestly, I thought I was eating BBQ baked beans. It looked totally casual and not wedding-like. I don't need to pay $10,000 if I just want to serve my guests BBQ beans. Tim thought the food was good. I told him I felt it was okay but nothing fancy. In the grand scheme of things, I figure no one will remember the meal unless it's really bad. This will probably be fine (but I'm sad we won't get to have the Chinese banquet dinner.)

With that done, I headed home for a quick touch up of my fading curls and just enough time to iron one shirt. We each packed five outfits for the photo shoot not knowing what kind of weather or backgrounds to expect.

It turned out to be quite a tiring afternoon. Our photographer is a family friend who is just getting into wedding photography. We get a good deal on the photos, but I have to say it was probably much more time consuming and required some patience as she's still learning. I'm sure a seasoned photographer would have had us done in a couple hours. We went from 3pm to almost 8pm.

We tried to take pictures in front of city hall and in the major shopping and tourist area. It's funny how many people will stop and stare to try and figure out what you're doing with a photographer who's carrying two fancy cameras. We also found a few colorful buidling facades against which we did some poses and jumps.

Our last stop was at the beach. The location is a VERY popular one for engagement photos. We couldn't help but laugh when we arrived because it was so easy to spot the four other couples walking about with their photographers. Still, it's a beautiful location so what else can one expect.

Since it was already 7pm, it's was getting rather cold. It's challenging faking being happy and in love when you're body is telling you to put on a jacket and run back to the car. The incoming high tide also made it challenging to shoot shots along the shore because someone always needed to keep an eye on the waves and signal if it was time to run away from the fast waters. It made for some close calls and good laughs.

Naturally, we were all hungry and cold once the sun disappeared. I quickly suggested we find the nearest hot pot restaurant. It wasn't the greatest food, but it was reasonable, plentiful, and WARM.

Tim and got home around 11pm. Needless to say, we quickly showered and immediately went to sleep. I can't believe how solidly I slept considering I did get any exercise. I was so deeply asleep that I accidentally elbowed Tim early in the morning because I forgot he was there.

[Yawn...] Okay, now I'm tired from reliving that. Time for bed. :)

2 comments:

zerodoll said...

the one thing i'd say about makeup (and hair) is that they will look funny and over-the-top without the dress. my makeup looked like too much to me when i had the trial, but perfect on the wedding day with the dress (and being outdoors). i also barely wear any on a day-to-day basis so it was an adjustment. be sure to wear a white (or ivory or whatever color dress you will be wearing) for the trials.

Pandax said...

Thanks Z. That's a helpful suggestion. I did that after a hair trial but not for the makeup. (I also have to remember to wear something that buttons or zips off so that I don't smear my makeup!)