There's a Fox in the Hive-house!

Hive!

Ohhh, how I’ve longed to say that. And in regards to YOU, not the Umbrella Corporation as Mr. Foxy  so mistakenly thought. (Reference? Anyone?!) I was in complete and utter shock when I saw the first two lines of Pengy's email the other night and definitely reread it about twenty times to make sure I wasn't imagining things. I mean.. seriously?? I'M a Bee?!?! 

I’m still convinced that I’m being pseudo-punk’d or that I really didn’t read my email right or that this is all a ruse. A biiiiig, elaborate ruse. That Pengy, she’s a clever one.

Like a fox!

Now.. who even are these alleged foxes that have snuck into the Weddingbee henhouse?

We're a couple of born and bred New Yorkers who transplanted to the Maryland/DC area at different points in life for different reasons. When we meet over four years ago, Mr. Foxy was living near Baltimore and I in Philly. We did the long distance thing for a year before we decided to move in together - since I was fresh out of college and looking for a new place to call home and he already had a great job in the area, I decided to make the move south. And it's been awesomesauce ever since!

We definitely play off of each other's strengths and weaknesses - I'm a social butterfly while he's more of a homebody. He's the number crunching, finance type where I'm more artsy and free flowing with things. We both love a quiet night in once in a while and super love hosting barbecue's and game nights for our friends. We brew our own beer, watch Family Guy WAY more than should be allowed, are constantly planning our next tattoos, and share a weird love for Tegan & Sara.

Basically, Mr. Foxy is the cheese to my macaroni. Yum.

So anyway.. why the fox, you may ask?

Well, that’s easy. I am a fox.

Hah. Ummmm. Scratch that. Maybe not.

But! I do have red hair, and so does that cute little fox icon! Kismet, I’m telling you. Plus, I was kind of in love with Disney’s Fox and the Hound back in middle/high school – in fact, one of my maid of honors (yes, I have more than one!) oh so dorkily referred to me as Todd (the fox) and I just as dorkily referred to her as Copper (the hound). Yes, we were cool.

Most importantly, though - the future hubs?

He really is pretty darn foxy (hence, Mr. Foxy!) if I do say so myself. Rarrr. (Or whatever noises foxes make.)

 So that's us in a nutshell! I'm so psyched to be able to share our wedding planning journey with you guys - we've been in beginning stages for almost a year and a half now, and it's finally time to get to the nitty gritty. We're hoping for a laid back, summery, fun affair with lots dancing, mingling, and happiness on a smallish, self-funded budget. It can get a bit tricky at times, but it will be totally worth it in the end. Let's DO this!

!!!!!!!

YOU GUYS.

I really don't know how else to say this besides....

I'M A BEE!!!!

It's true!! I'm currently 99% sure I'm not being punk'd. I sent in my application on September 1st (a month before I really should have because I was just getting SO antsy) and was checking my email for a rejection letter literally every five minutes for two weeks since then. Every time my phone buzzed, I ran to check my email. Sad, really.

I was finally weening myself away from the obsessive email checking, telling myself that I'll get it when I get it - when I just randomly checked it this past Sunday evening for no reason in particular. All I saw on my phone was the title "Weddingbee Application" and the first two lines, the second of which said "..and think you'd be a great addition....". WHAT?!

I freaked. I didn't believe it. I gave the phone to Scot and made him read it and tell me I wasn't seeing things. I opened my computer to check the actual email and make sure it was real. I was shaking, I was nauseous, I couldn't freaking believe it. I still can't!!!

So.. that's that! I'll be posting my 'Bee posts to this blog.. so I apologize for any redundancies and referring to you lovelies as the hive, heh. I'll be officially introduced soon - so don't freak and I think I'm losing it with my next post!

EEP!!

Foxy Mama.. & a dress

One of the things that can really suck about living 350 miles from home is that I don't see my Foxy Mama nearly as much as I would like. It's one of those weird life things where you just want to get away when you're 17 and off to college, then you're dying to be closer 10 years later when you're a bit more mature and realize how super awesome your mom really is.

Mine totally is :)

It gets even harder when you're planning a wedding and can't have your mom there for most of it.

I definitely missed her being there when I first went wedding dress shopping, but was so incredibly thrilled that I ended up finding "the one" when I was finally able to go with her last November; thinking back, I'm not sure I would have been 100% certain of the dress had she not been there. She was the one who even pulled it off the rack!

Another distance dress related challenge deals more with her side of it - namely, the mother of the bride dress. We've been talking about ideas for her for a while, and found a few pieces she liked via Dessy Bridesmaids (because really, some of the "actual" MOB dresses are just wayyy too matronly for her).

Both images via Dessy: via 1, via 2

They look nice enough, but neither of us were thrilled. She then she debated repurposing a dress she got back in the 80's or 90's.

It's crazy to me that this dress is actually kind of back in style right now. And I have to give her credit because: 1. She can still fit into it, and 2. It's definitely springy and has the basic turquoise/teal tones that will be incorporated into the wedding. However, I wasn't sure I was digging it too much as a MOB dress (is it just me or is it really kinda funny that mother of the bride = MOB?).

And honestly? Part of me wants to wear it myself for a pre-wedding event! It would be a total vintage throwback and I'm loving the idea of it. Hah!

Anyway, we haven't really done much actual searching for a dress besides that, and certainly not together.

Then I received a picture text from her a few days ago.

Isn't it stunning? It's Camille La Vie's shimmer dress in caribbean blue - a color that looks magnificent on her and would likely compliment what my girls will be wearing. The one thing I am adamant about in regards to the MOB dress is that Foxy Mama's not match the bridesladies in color exactly, because that's just to matchy-matchy for me, and this? I think this would be a wonderful accent!

Oh and the best part? It's only around $100. Stylish and affordable: checkity check. While I'd love to see the dress on her in person, I definitely wouldn't mind if she decided to go ahead and get it. We'll keep looking, but this could likely be the official MOB dress!

Were you able to go dress shopping with your mom (for you or for her)? If not, was it hard for you too?

Officially officiant official

Tip of the day: never say any of those words too much. It gets you all tongue tied and doubting the sanity of the English language.

If you recall, a few months ago I got my hopes up about a family friend (Pastor Tom) officiating our ceremony and was super bummed out when he said that he couldn't do the wedding or even come at all due to a different wedding he will be officiating on the same day. I'm still pretty sad about it, because I know he would have been great and I've known him my whole life - it's only natural that I'd at least want him to be present in some form to celebrate mine and Scot's special day.

So anyway, I didn't have a back up plan because I thought that wedding planning was all sunshine and rainbows and everything would just magically happen. (Or.. I'm just an idiot.) I talked with my (pastor) mom about the situation to see if she had any further insight or suggestions on other pastors who would be willing to officiate a fairly secular wedding, and she immediately suggested her good friend, Liz.

She and Mama S have been friends since they were in elementary school and just happened to follow along a similar life path - both started out in the arts, moved onto theology, and are now pastors in the NYC area. Liz also happened to help officiate and preside over my mom's second wedding last year (just like Pastor Tom!)

Liz and Mama S.. doesn't she make a beautiful bride?!

I was sold. I've met Liz a bunch of times previously and was stoked about the possibility of her officiating - a pastor residing in the Chelsea, NYC area who is similar to my mom? She'd have to be ok with marrying a "spiritual" Lutheran and atheist.. right?

Mama S did the (relatively easy but much appreciated) work of asking Liz if she'd be able and willing to officiate, and procured the magical answer of YES!  I thus emailed her within a few days to double check that all was good and she was indeed open to working with Scot and I on a personalized, unique ceremony. The response I got was as follows:

Hi Steph, I'll be happy to officiate at your wedding, and would like to talk with both of you about it on the phone.  We will also need to find some times to meet in person, but given that we have ten months before the wedding, that should be easy to arrange. Your mom did mention that Scot is an atheist, and that you want to keep the God language to a minimum.  I will ask you to reflect on what marriage means to you and why, in that case, you want a clergyperson to  perform the ceremony rather than someone completely secular like a justice of the peace.   I feel pretty sure  that we can arrive at language that works for the two of you and also has integrity for me, and I am really glad  for the two of you to help write the ceremony- personal is great. Even though I haven't seen a lot of you over the years, your mom and I have been friends a long time and I have  always felt that I know you.  I am really delighted to be able to be a part of your wedding in this way. Liz

I have to tell you, I was a bit thrown off about the question she posed of why I/we wanted a clergyperson to officiate rather than a justice of the peace. My initial reaction was that it was to please my parents and other family, but I knew this wasn't the real or only reason (but it definitely factored into the equation). I thought long and hard about it, and finally emailed back almost a month later. (What can I say? I need my time.)

Liz - Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you - life has been pretty hectic for us, as well! We just moved into  a new house the other weekend and have been in the process of packing and unpacking for a while now. I've been thinking a lot about your question as to why we would rather have a pastor instead of a justice of the  peace - it's partially a difficult answer, and partially a simple one. While we are aiming to keep the ceremony  relatively secular, I still really want part of my upbringing and my family's Lutheran values represented in some  form. We're trying our best to blend my belief's and Scot's into something that represents us each individually  as well as together, and this was the best solution that we came up with. I haven't looked too much into  "typical" ceremony texts and formats just yet, so I am honestly not sure when and where God is/would be  mentioned. I think the most important thing is that we leave it out of the vows, since our marriage is more  about our union and our promise and love to each other rather than it is a religious rite/sacrament. I hope this answers the question and is something that we can work out! Thanks! Steph

I think this summed it up pretty well; I was definitely nervous hitting "send" though. Would that be an "ok" answer? Was her question a lot more loaded than I thought it was? Am I just making up nonsense in my head? Is she silently judging us for not being all that religious?

Her rather quick reply was as follows:

Hi Steph, Actually, the traditional language of the vows, at least in the Episcopal church, doesn't mention God.  The  language for giving the rings does, but it is really easy to drop it.  I understand your desire to craft a ceremony  that reflects both your background and values and Scot's beliefs, and I'm very happy to work with you on that.  As we're working on the ceremony, the question will probably come up again, but not because I think there is  only one right answer and certainly not because I want to push the God language- rather, because it's important  to see how it really can reflect you both individually and together. I hope your unpacking is finished soon and you're feeling settled in to your new place! Liz

From the way the conversation has been going thus far, I think Scot and I are ok with everything and that having Liz officiate will indeed work out. Some people may wonder why I'm putting myself through all of this "trouble" with a clergyperson as opposed to the aforementioned justice of the peace, but it really is worth it to me. If I didn't have some form of my upbringing or values represented on my wedding day, I'm sure I would regret it in the future. It's all about compromise, especially when you and your fiancé come from differing beliefs and backgrounds. This is our compromise, and as long as everything goes smoothly with our ceremony plans, ideas, and future chats with Liz? I'd say it's a go... and that we officially have an officiant!

Did you have to find a compromise of some sort when it came to the wedding ceremony? Was it hard to find an officiant who would work with you?

PS. So sorry about the likely funky formatting - Blogger was clearly NOT cooperating.

Miss Fox, LMT, TB

((That doesn't mean I have tuberculosis. It actually stands for: Miss Fox, Licensed Massage Therapist, Tattooed Bride.))

While we're on the topic of tattoos..

..you may have noticed that I have a few visible ones. If you guessed neck, foot, forearm, and wrist, you win the Where's Waldo prize!

Now I have no idea if I've already mentioned this, but I'm not planning on covering any of them up for the big day. Many a friend/family member/fellow bride has stared at me all googley eyed over this decision.. but it really wasn't a decision for me as much as it was a give in.

The way I see it, if I didn't like my tattoos and/or thought I should cover them up at the wedding? Well shame on me, because I shouldn't have gotten them in the first place. Now of course this is a personal decision, but in my mind? They are a part of me and a part of the way I "express myself" - it's only natural that they will be out in proud display.

I personally find that placement is just as important as the actual tattoo. I actually kind of pride myself on my tattoos and my own tattoo placement; none of them were decided on or thought about lightly. There's a definite reason why I don't have one on my shoulder (yet), which is honestly the fact that that is one place I don't think I want ink to be seen on my wedding day. I would never get one around my ankle or on my calf/thigh because I simply don't think I'd like the look of it on myself - it's for some people, just not for me. As an aside, I also have this weird left/right thing.. like I need to balance my tattoos out. I got my clover on my left foot, stars on my right neck, infinity on my left wrist, Breathe on my right forearm, and cherry blossoms on my left torso. I like the symmetry..? Sure.


As for the man, he has more tattoos than I do, and plans on expanding the visible ones on his right arm to create the outline of a sleeve by the time we get married.

Remember these? ;)

So long story short.. yes, I am a tattooed bride (complete with tattooed groom!). And damn proud of it!

Are you or will you be a tattooed bride? Do you have differing opinions on the matter?

Rings & things

Back when Foxy and I first started talking about our respective ring bling, he was adamant about one thing.

Which was not actually wearing a ring.

He said he would be uncomfortable wearing one, since he's never really worn any kind of jewelry outside of a watch. Which makes a little bit of sense. But then again.. most guys don't wear much jewelry. Yet they still wear a wedding band. Touché, Mr. Future Husband.

So while he was against wearing a traditional band, he did say that he wanted to get a ring tattooed on his finger instead.

Image via Wedding Explore

I can't tell you why, exactly, but I wasn't too thrilled about this at first. I mean sure, it's flattering that he's willing to permanently ink himself with a representation of our love and marriage, but I think it's just that I don't like ring tattoos. I have nothing against them on other people, but I suppose I had it set in my head that Foxy would ultimately wear a "real" ring all the time, not just on special occasions (as he so said he would do). It was definitely a point of contention for us for a while - ring vs no ring? How important was it to me for him to have and regularly wear a physical ring in addition to or instead of the tattoo ring?

Lo and behold, ::spoiler alert!:: a few fortuitous things happened:

1. We spent some time with my FSIL's friend Tim who has had his ring tattoo since he was married almost 15 years ago.

And guys? It looked terrible. Really just a hot mess. Minus the hot. So.. a just a big ol'mess.

Now I know tattooed rings do indeed have the capacity to look good (see above)! This one just happened to fall in the other category, and I am SO FREAKING THANKFUL for that (sorry, Tim). The ring appeared to be tattooed slightly higher than a normal ring would sit on your finger, which made it look a bit awkward. I'm also pretty sure he never got the ring touched up at all, because it was insanely faded and honestly? Looked a bit like a bad magic marker sketch that wouldn't wash off all the way, a la the stamp from that club last Saturday night that I regret going to that is still on the back of my hand.

Anyway, one look at that bad boy and Scot was already debating his ring tattoo decision. Progress!

Moving on with the list..

2. Jared's

3. Titanium

4. Tungsten

So. Seeing as we got my e-ring at Jared's, it was only natural to go back and check out their wedding band selection for both myself and the man. All I really have to say here is thank sweet baby Jesus for whoever decided to make mens rings out of tungsten and titanium - the stuff is wicked durable and so freakishly light. Foxy decided to try on a couple of these little beauts while we were at the store:

Image via Jared Jewelers

Once he slipped them on, I swear to you it was like Cinderella had found her missing slipper. I could literally see the change of mind going on through his face and his eyes - a ring really could work! Especially since none of the rings he likes are over the $200 mark - stylish, cost effective, and sturdy? We might as well buy 10 of them while we're at it. (Kidding.) (Sort of.)

In the end, it looks like Foxy has decided to forego the tattoo ring route and still go with the "traditional" band.. just in time for me to have decided that I don't really mind either way. Hey, at least we have options now!

Does anyone have a ring tattoo or know someone who does? What are your thoughts on it?

i heart tv

When Foxy and I were still living in our little apartment, we had Comcast for cable and internet for the first year or so. For those of you who know about Comcast, I should be hearing one big, collective sigh from you all.

::le sigh::

Image via Geek Word

Ok then. Now for those of you who don't know Comcast? They suck monkey balls, in both the cost and customer service departments. See, when our one year "promo" price of $99 per month for internet and cable expired, it was supposed to jump aaaaall the way up to about $160 per month for the two. Dumb.

So we decided to bite the bullet and get rid of cable, hoping to save some money. Wouldn't you know that to get rid of cable and just keep internet still would have made our bill go up to about $106 per month? I mean.. really?! Drop a service and pay more? Hell to the no.

We ended up finding a decent compromise; there's a company called Clear that provides internet for just the cost of the modem and then a $25 monthly fee, give or take a few bucks. We got rid of Comcast all together and just stuck with the (slooow) internet from Clear - we figured the combination of a digital antenna, Netflix, and HuluPlus would be more than enough for our viewing pleasure.

It was a rough week or so after we got rid of cable.. I was definitely used to all the channels and silly shows at my disposal 24/7. Then I got over it and didn't miss it all that much. Except for the wedding shows. I totally missed my wedding shows.

Long story short, our new house is Fios compatible and it would only cost us $89 per month for both internet and cable for up to two years. After that? It only goes up by $10 per month. Sold.

So now after a year plus sans cable and with really slow, crappy internet, we're back in the technology loop. Fios was installed two days ago, and I'm already in heaven.

First up:

Four Weddings

Now before you go hatin' on the show like a lot of people do, let me explain. I totally dig this show not because of the judging and bitchiness, but because of the different ideas and variety of each of the weddings. I love seeing different weddings on different budgets and how they do their own take on each of the wedding "traditions". If anything, it's helped reinforce the idea that it seriously doesn't matter what other people think of my future wedding - it will be what Foxy and I want, we're happy with that, and it's ok if other people don't like it. So there.

Next..

Say Yes to the Dress

I think you're silly if you don't like this show. Even Foxy watches it with me from time to time. Total win!

Of course we can't forget..

Bridezillas

Yes, it's true. I kind of have a weak spot for this show. It's like Real Housewives or My Super Sweet 16.. most of the stuff on this show is just too outrageous to believe. Hence why I can't avert my eyes no matter how hard I try. And let's be real.. the best part of Bridezilla's is the commentator. She's seriously stepped up her game lately, has me cracking up at her little snips, and I lurve it.

By the by, have you guys heard of these two shows?

Big Easy Brides

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

Crazyness. Absolute, addictive craziness.

Did I mention we also have DVR now? It's magical.

Do you have a (not so) secret love for wedding shows? Which ones?

New Digs

Confession: LOTS has been going on in life lately outside of wedding planning.

Ok I promise, last LOLcat picture for a while.

Shocker, I know.

Work has been getting busier, I technically started a second job, I'll (hopefully) start dancing with a local company in the next few weeks, and.. minor detail.. we moved!

With our moving buddies on the right.. excuse my wonky arm,

Foxy kept tickling me which I DO NOT LIKE.

For the past few years, the man and I have been living in a wonderful little one bedroom apartment in the heart of our little town that we just loved. Problem is, we grew out of it.  We "fit" for about 8 months, and then life just... expanded. We bought things, improved things, settled into living together - and soon realized that our one bedroom was about three rooms too small. Since we weren't in a place to buy just yet (going to school, buying a car, and planning a wedding have the annoying tendency to use up lots of money), we decided to search for houses and/or townhouses up for rent within a few miles of our current place. Awesomely enough, our search was super easy - Foxy found a posting for a house up for rent at his job, we met with the owners, and signed the lease papers a week or so later. The story is that the owners are taking jobs overseas for two years, so while there is definitely an expiration date on our lease.. it's still our home for the next two years, our "first house" if you will!

One awesome thing about living in a house, especially one with a big backyard?? We were also able to get a puppy!!

Cue collective awwwws! She's a 5 month old lab/shepherd mix that we named Juno - a handful, but a cute one!

The only bad (aka extremely fantabulous) thing about living in a house four times the size of our previous apartment is that there's just so much space. On the one hand, we no longer have to store our pots, pans, and Margaritaville mixer on the living room bookshelves. On the other hand, we just don't have enough furniture or gadgets to fill all the empty spaces. Not gonna lie, it kinda looks like we got robbed. By about 50 hooligans. And the stuff that we do have? Is just so old and so far down the hand-me-down list that we would need to pay people to take it off our hands.

Items on our current want/need list: a couch, a dining room table and chairs, new plates, new silverware, a fancy coffee pot that just knows to make coffee for you every morning, a pasta attachment for our KitchenAid mixer, matching bath towels, and a metal spatula, among other things. All totally necessary.

Lo and behold, wouldn't you know it that we're getting married and can put a lot of this on our registry?? Which we can totally start creating soon! While the giddy five year old in me is aching for this stuff nownowNOW, it's kind of fun to internet-window shop for all the essential and pretty goods to pimp out our house.

Right now, the only give-in is Bed Bath & Beyond; 99% of their inventory is definitely involved in our idea of a perfectly decorated house.

Wallverbs Frame Set

Laura Ceramic Dinnerware

Ravenscroft Crystal Amphora Decanter

Aside from that.. who knows. I would say Target, but it seems silly to register somewhere that we can easily just get things from by driving a mile down the street. Plus I'm not as big puffy hearts in love with it as I am with BBB. Perhaps Macy's or JCPenny's.. somewhere with a good option of pretty plates and things, for sure. Alas, if only Ikea had a registry option..

What other fun/useless/amazing/necessary items do you think we should plan to fill our new digs with?!

Blingy thingy

When my mom and I bought my wedding dress back in November, Foxy Mama also decided to gift me with that blingtastic headband that my consultant adorned me in. (Isn't it nuts how they do that? You know, just happening to give you all the little accessories to make you look like a model bride just like those you see in the magazines, and then you're convinced you need everything?) The consultant said that the headband (headpiece? hair piece? blingy thingy?) was made of Swarovski crystals, which in my mind, justified the exorbitant price a bit more.

Drooling. I love it.

I mean, I know my dress wasn't terribly expensive, but the blingy thingy ended up being almost two thirds the price of the dress. Nutso. It did indeed compliment and accent the dress perfectly, and my mom was in love and adamant about getting it. I? Immediately told her I'd just go to Claire's and hot glue a sparkly thing to a ribbon. Wham bam thank you ma'am.

BUT IT'S SWAROVSKI!! insisted Foxy Mama.

Le sigh. Ok, mom. I suppoooose I can give in to a shnazzy sparkly hairpiece (again, you can never go wrong with sparkles. Ever.). It is amazingly gorgeous, and it's attached to a pinkish velvet ribbon with more crystals at each end that would peek below my hair if I kept it short or wore it up. And, if we bought it with the dress, they'd give us 10% off! So we'd fall well within the price range my mom offered to put towards the dress.

Done and done. Dress and blingy thingy: check!

Here's the possible issue (or possible realization that I just don't know my crystals): a while back, I was going through my wedding binder and inspiration photos that I keep on my computer, and realized I didn't have a picture of the hairpiece. I kind of forgot what it really looked like, so I tried to check out Swarovski's site, to no avail. I then honed in to my detective skills looked on the receipt from the bridal store, decoded the consultants handwriting, and found the designer online. The description her website gave of blingy thingy was this:

"A 6" floral rhinestone filigree side décor 3" wide on a 7/8" velvet ribbon."

My initial thought was that we paid that much money for RHINESTONES?!

And I was kind of upset. I mean, the part of me that thought I just should have just bought a sparkly thing at Claire's was really pissed - both myself and my mom were led to believe that it was indeed Swarovski.

But now I'm wondering if Swarovski is actually technically rhinestone? I feel like this is something I should know.. or Google.. but blogging about it is SO much more fun. And if the blingy thingy ends up not being Swarovski, I really don't know if I can justify the price for a hairpiece I'll probably only use once in my life. Albeit it's perfectness in every way and the fact that I have the image of me wearing that bling at the wedding cemented into my brain.

So. Between this possible ruse and the dress debacle, I may just show up to the wedding in my birthday suit and crazy person hair. Me-yow.

Does anyone know anything about this Swarovski nonsense? Or are you just as clueless as I am?

Hair's the thing..

The more Foxy and I think about our respective wedding day looks, the more little details we start thinking about. We're not just thinking about the dress, the shoes, the suit, the flowers.. we're also thinking about the hair. More specifically, the length of his and the color of mine.

The shorter story of the two is in regards to Foxy's beard. Currently? He looks like a (super cute) mountain man.

He never just trims - it's either a full beard or completely clean shaven, with a week or two of, in my opinion, decent scruff.

The question for him is at what point does he shave before the wedding? We're thinking of doing a test run.. he'll shave the whole beard off, and I'll take pictures every other day or so to see what "look" we like best. Time intensive? Yes. Worth it? Hells to the yes!

As for me.. well, first thing's first: I am very much a natural redhead.

Correction: natural flaming redhead.

Exhibit A (as if you couldn't see it above):

See? Flames.

I used to loathe my hair when I was younger but always got death threats from friends (coughandmymomcough) if I even considered dying it a different color, like brown. Yes, I actually wanted brown hair.

So I went through a phase in high school where I dyed just the underside of it a bright, Manic Panic blue. Foxy Mama was none too thrilled, but hey - you could really only see it when I put my hair up in a ponytail. Then about two years ago, I decided to go all punk rock and dye the underside black. Foxy was going through a black hair phase and there was extra dye left, so... yea. That happened for a while. Again, really only visible when the hair was up, but it would also occasionally peek through the top layers of my hair when it was down.

Exhibit B:

While I've eventually grown to love having red hair, I'm still not a huge fan of the shade of red I was born with. Just much too bright. Again.. too flaming.

So about 9 months ago, I grew a pair of lady balls and decided to hell with it - I'm dying these virginal hairs of mine! I didn't trust myself to do it out of a box (because honestly, 9 times out of 10, you really can't get a natural looking shade of red from a box), and made an appointment with my stylist for a cut and lowlights. Starting out small and all that.

Well the stylist somehow convinced me to just go with an all over semi-permanent color - I forget the reasons, exactly, but it was cheaper and I trusted her, so all over color it was! But.. you have no idea how nervous I was. After she applied the color and let it sit it my hair for a while, the dye started to look like this bright, maraschino cherry red. I honestly almost started crying and kept whining to my self that mom was riiiiight waaaah.

It was kind of too late to turn back, so I took a deep breath and told myself not to freak until the dye was washed out and my hair was dry. I'm so happy I calmed myself down, because in the end..

Exhibit C:

..I loved it! (So did the pussycat.) Deep, dark, auburn-like red. Since the color is actually a semi-permanent gloss, it would slowly fade away in 6-8 weeks as opposed to growing out - no roots!

The bummer to this little hair dye miracle? My ever dwindling wallet wasn't able to afford getting color every 7ish weeks. Plus I was kind of nervous that it would end up frying my hair.

What to do but turn to Rite Aid and actually get a box of dye. ::GASP:: This doesn't really help on the frying the hair thing, but it does indeed help the wallet. I ultimately decided on Herbal Essences Natural Instincts in Medium Auburn Brown (previously Cinnaberry).

It's a semi-permanent dye as well, and has apparently been proven to cause less damage to hair. At this point, I didn't have much to lose - if I didn't like the color, it would fade away with several shampoos. Lucky for me, I actually really liked the way the box color came out! It's a little harsh for the first day or so, but after one or two shampoos, it looks great, and more importantly, not fake!

Exhibit D:

About 2 weeks post dye job - my ideal shade of red!

This is where the question of my hair color comes in, in regards to the wedding: if I dye it myself, how far ahead of time do I do so, OR, should I just cough up the dough and get it done professionally? I'm all about saving money, but I'm thinking it's worth it this time around. Again, I think we'll have to do the picture litmus test for my hair color as well as Foxy's beard!

If you're a fellow dyed hair bride, did you consider when to do a touch up before the big day? Or did you have a preference for your man's hair/facial hair?