hair trial!

I had my hair trial with a local hair studio, "Mel's Hair Studio", on the 2nd of August (my Mum's birthday!) - the day after our trial dinner! Due to the various events that have happened since then (my Kitchen Tea, our final details meeting with the Sebel and a few meetings with cake bakers!) I'm only just getting a chance to recap it now!

I have to say, the moment I walked into Mel's Hair Studio (where I have never been before), I automatically loved the vibe there. It was very professional looking, clean, tidy but still trendy and fresh and the girls were young (the owner is 2 years younger then myself) and well presented. It automatically put me at ease and made me feel like I wasn't going to get those 80's curls that I was dreading! I decided to give Mel's studio a try after trying to wrack my brains for someone who I knew had used a great hair dresser for their wedding...and a day later my friend from High School's wedding pictures were tagged on Facebook by Mel's Facebook page. It was like fate - my friend and her bridesmaids looked beautiful on her wedding day!

Upon arrival at the studio I was offered a drink and a seat, which was LOVELY, since I am so used to busy salons where staff are run off their feet and don't have the time to actually be so personalised. My hair was done by Mel herself and will be on the wedding day as well, but all her staff were lovely. I was definitely very happy with the vibe of the whole salon and staff!

I showed Mel my inspiration picture, she showed me a couple of hairstyles she had done which were similar, and got to work!

The first thing Mel asked me was whether I was willing to have layers cut into my hair, as the style would work a million times better with some more texture to my hair (which is currently basically dead straight with only layers around my face). I love that she asked me this before even working with my hair, to me it was a sign that she knew exactly what she was doing. I had layers in my hair years ago, then about 3 years ago I cut my hair quite short (to my chin almost) and since then it had grown out. When we got engaged I decided against getting any layers cut back into my hair until the wedding, thinking that it would be easier to get them cut if they were needed for my hairstyle then to try and work with them if the hairstyle I chose didn't work well with them. I explained this to Mel and let her know I was happy for her to do whatever she needed to with my hair!

So keeping in mind that the look will be slightly different and there will be a lot more shorter pieces to work with once my hair is layered, (to give more of a relaxed look and little curls around my face, like in the inspiration picture) here are some pictures of the finished result. These ARE once I got home and I had been wearing a scarf (it is still winter here!) so that is why the bottom looks like it has fallen out a little. Also, please forgive the photography...my sister did try!

These are a few that I took from various angles to try and show the shape in my hair. I really loved the look from the front and sides (although I have to say, I rarely wear updos and I have very fine hair that usually sits quite flat - I am NOT used to seeing my hair up and with any sort of volume around the top. It was quite a shock. But the more I look at the pictures the more I like it and everyone else loved it.). I think the only thing I would change would be to have the back a fair bit lower, more like in my inspiration picture. Mel did mention that she did it more mid- and then stated that it could go higher or lower depending on the veil I choose.

Also, you can see in this image that Mel left a little space to the side where a flower can go (as I didn't have mine available on the day of my trial - I have since purchased one!). If it looked like there was a slightly uneven side in any of the above pictures - it was intentional! :)

So, aside from my bad photography skills, can I seek your opinions, my bloggy friends? What do you guys think? The future hubby saw my hair (and me all make-up-less - I do apologise for that too hehe) and I was pleasantly surprised by his response. Actually, I was very happy with his response. He does like to pick on me when I get dressed up and I admit to avoiding him when I got home for that reason and also because I was terrified he would hate it - he is very partial to my hair down and curly...but since I wear my hair like that all the time when we go out somewhere, I definitely wanted something different for our wedding day. And his first response was to tell me that I looked beautiful and he liked it. SO! That's a good start!

Overall I was so happy with the experience that I have booked Mel and her staff for our wedding. I have a cut and blow dry booked in for about a week and a half before the wedding, for Mel to work her magic however she would like my hair to be cut for the big day and give it time to settle a bit. I also showed Mel the inspiration photo for the girls' hair, which she said would be easy to work with and not a problem to do for my five bridesmaids!

We won't be having flowers -
we have gorgeous little pearl and
diamond pins to tuck into the
girls' braids

So please - honest opinions? And tell me - How was your trial hair experience?