Weddings - Unfortunately You Can't Always Control Everything!

A couple of wks ago I had the pleasure of working w/ a beautiful bride named Gina and her mother and mother in law for her wedding day at The Old Mill (Great One Stop Wedding Destination in Toronto).  What made it so neat was I actually knew her groom b/c he is a partner w/ a production company I have had the pleasure of working w/ Encounter Film Studios.

I'm not going to lie this actually ended up probably being one of the more stressful weddings I've ever worked on lol!  Why you ask?  Well if you haven't realized this about me before you will now...I'm very punctual and almost always early for my jobs (nothing freaks me out more than being late or running behind).  Seriously, there are a couple of things I hear over and over again from clients - 1. How insanely quick I get back to them by email (even late at night) 2. I'm always early, professional and ready to go.  I'm a bit crazy, I'll admit it lol!

Anyway, I had given very specific instructions to the bride about arriving at The Old Mill at 12:45 pm so I could set up and get to work right away at 1:00 pm.  I of course arrived early and was waiting and waiting lol...they wouldn't let me into the bridal change room w/out the bride.  While I was waiting Paul Nelson (the photographer) arrived and he was able to convince someone to give him a key so then I was at least able to set up (in the very tiny room w/ dim lighting) and he was able to unload his equipment (did I mention the room was small lol).  Few mins later a couple of the guys I know from Encounter showed up which was a surprise to me!  They were acting as the videographers that day (makes sense lol) so anyway great to see them b/c they are always fun and then then put their stuff in the tiny tiny room lol.  So it's getting later and I'm texting the bride and it's getting later still texting and still no bride.  I'm not going to lie I was getting a little worried at this point just b/c I had made a schedule and I knew the schedule I had planned out was good but tight and therefore also meant that I needed ALL the time in the schedule for everything to be ready on time...plus I didn't want to do a half ass rushed job b/c that's just not me!

At about 1:45 Gina's mother in law arrived and I immediately got started on  her makeup.  She looked gorgeous when I was done - this woman has amazing skin and so wonderfully delightful!  Just as I was finishing her up Gina and her whole crew arrived...it's after 2:00 at this point!  I'm not going to lie I was a little stressed.  They saw the size of the room and knew it wouldn't work and were able to get into their bridal suite early...thing is that it's in a whole other section of the hotel...this meant I had to pack EVERYTHING up and carry it to the new room (this of course is taking up more time!).  But I will say they were more then helpful in helping me carry my stuff over...I can't say enough how accommodating and friendly this group was through everything!

Once I finally got to the Bridal Suite I immediately got started on tackling Gina's hair (and boy does she have a lot of hair lol).  One thing I will say about everyone even though things were behind schedule everyone including the bride remained SO NICE and SO FRIENDLY and SO CALM...seriously I was more stressed about it all then them...but I guess when you show up an hr late I might have a sneaking suspicion you're use to being late for things ;) lol.

So the reason I was a bit nervous about the timing was b/c I knew Gina's hair was going to take AWHILE...there were a lot of steps and it was a process!  First I had to blow out her naturally curly hair (and boy does she have a lot of it), then I had to clip in the extensions I made for her b/c even though she has a lot of it it's not long enough, then I had to curl and style all the hair b/c she wanted big loose curls...very different then her normal curly hair.  As you can see it's like styling 3 heads of hair and I knew it was going to take a long time!  Once I got all that done I moved on to makeup which I'm not going to lie was a bit hard to do b/c the hotel room was so dim and it was a cloudy day so not a lot of natural light coming in...man hotel rooms always have the worst lighting I swear!  I guess it's more suited for sexy times then makeup work ;) lol.  After  a little hiccup w/ the foundation I got everything to a level I was happy w/.  But then of course I had to do finals on the hair and re-curl some pieces and just fix it up a bit.  I might add at this point it was probably 4:50 and the wedding was suppose to start at 5:00 (thank God it was all in the same location).  I was freaking a bit b/c I didn't know if I could do her mother's makeup but of course I wanted to do her mother's makeup.

Finally, they just said to me we're going to be late it's okay.  It's more important to do the mom's makeup and be late then to not do it so go ahead.  They said weddings always start late anyway so it's not really a big deal lol!  Plus the mom told me at 4:45 she had ppl in Mississauga calling and saying they were just leaving then!  Man it must be a cultural thing or something b/c seriously I would be stressed out if I was the bride lol!  Truthfully, I don't think a lot of my other brides would have been so calm.  It was funny b/c I was apologizing b/c I just couldn't get things done quicker and do a good job and they were like it's okay don't worry about it we understand lol.  I'm so happy they were so understanding and accommodating about the whole situation (I mean I guess they have to be they were late lol but still they could have made it a lot worse).  So in the end I did the mother's makeup and everyone looked gorgeous and I think they probably started about 30 mins late lol.  But you know what it was worth it if that meant that everyone looked beautiful!  Rather be a bit late and do a good job then be on time w/ a half ass job...I just can't do anything half ass and not beat myself up about it afterward.  Btw I should mention it wasn't like I was running around like crazy stressed person I just literally didn't look up for 3 hrs and just kept focused at the task at hand.  I met her bridesmaids I couldn't even tell you what colour their dresses were b/c I didn't look up lol!

Thankfully, I knew the bride (sort of) b/c they let me just stay after they were all gone from the room and clean up my stuff alone and then just let myself out b/c seriously my area has NEVER been such a disaster.  Seriously, it was insane looking!  My friends at Encounter started shooting some film of my area and I literally yelled "Don't Shoot This it's Disgusting".  It probably took me 30 mins just to clean up everything and calm down lol.

I have to say thank you again to Gina and her entire family for being so warm and friendly and just all around lovely to work w/.  Even though I was stressed they were really wonderful about everything and actually helped a lot to keep ME calm (man usually it's me doing that w/ the bride lol).  I'm so glad everything worked out in the end!

Also BIG THANKS to Paul Nelson for sending me the BEAUTIFUL images I'm going to share w/ you from the day!  Yes, he already has a bunch of the pictures done and it's only been 1.5 wks since the wedding - what a PRO!  He was also wonderful at not getting in my way, working around me and still being able to capture a great picture (even in my chaos lol)!  Can't wait to add them to my Website!

So many GREAT Behind the Scenes Pictures...and overall I don't look like a complete DISASTER in them lol!  It's actually good to see that stressed Jessica actually looks very similar to my normal intense working Jessica lol!

Hadi's (the Groom) Mother - Such GORGEOUS skin!  This was in the TINY room before we moved!

Me doing some Makeup work on the Beautiful Bride - Gina

I may have been a bit stressed but at least my lines were still clean and crisp!  I hate sketchy eyeliner!

One thing I will say is I did a good job on the extensions - they matched PERFECTLY!

They look so HAPPY and she's just GLOWING!