For our wedding day, I wanted to keep the look of the wedding party simple and seasonally-appropriate (since it was December).  When deciding on my own look for our wedding day, my main goal was simple: to look like myself.

You’ve probably been to or seen photos of weddings where the bride is suddenly dramatically thinner, or wearing a dress which seems entirely out of character with her general style, or made up to the point where she’s beyond being recognizable.  Obviously, I wasn’t just going to throw my hair into a ponytail, slap on some lip gloss and call it a day; but I did craft my wedding look with an eye on keeping things looking like “me.”

I had my hair done, but did my own makeup.  My bridesmaids chose to do the same, so we were all able to meet in the morning at the hair salon, then reconvene at the hotel for doing makeup and getting dressed.

Everyone lent a hand to get through tricky things like liquid eyeliner, false lashes, and getting sashes tied just so.

The boys had rented tuxes from Men’s Wearhouse, and I believe were ready in a matter of minutes.

Back in the girl’s suite, everyone put the finishing touches on their look as I gathered all the pieces for my look.

I had purchased some accessories to go with my dress, and decided just a few days before that I wanted to simplify my look for the ceremony.  I had originally planned to wear a long, layered pearl necklace with my dress, and switch from a mid-length veil to a headband before the reception.  After receiving my dress back from alterations, however, I decided to use the necklace only for the reception, as I liked the simple, timeless look of the dress and veil together.

For the bridesmaids’ makeup as well as my own, we decided to keep things fairly simple, and crafted similar looks for everyone.  The bridesmaids wore a sweep of black liner on their eyes with neutral shadow, and finished their look with a festive red lip which paired perfectly with their dove-grey dresses.

I played up my eyes a bit more, opting for a dramatic lash line and a neutral, just slightly flushed pale-pink lip.

When the whole wedding party met up for pictures before the ceremony, the looks came together seamlessly.  The groomsmen’s silver vests and ties paired perfectly with the bridesmaids’ pale grey dresses, and the junior bridesmaids’ black and silver dresses accented the color scheme perfectly, while still looking age-appropriate.

Changing my own look between ceremony and reception helped define the transition between the two parts of the night.  I had wanted our ceremony to be meaningful, personal, and reflect the seriousness of the day, but wanted the reception to be a large celebration focused on family, food, and fun.  I loved that changing just a few simple pieces of my look helped achieve this.

And now for a breakdown of the wedding day prep and looks:

Groom/Groomsmen

Tuxes: Men’s Wearhouse (basic black tux with silver vests and ties for groomsmen, black vest and tie for groom)

Bridesmaids

Hair: Rosalee Atondo at E11even Salon

Dresses: JCrew (Cotton Cady Serena Dress in Light Pewter)

Junior Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Max and Cleo purchased from RueLaLa

Shoes/Cardigans: their own

Black Hair Flowers: H&M

Junior Bridesmaids’ Black Headbands: H&M

Makeup: their own

Bride

Hair: Rosalee Atondo at E11even Salon

Gown: Arabelle Gown from JCrew (with straps added)

Bridal Gown Alterations: Louise Austrie (dress was hemmed, straps were added, waist was taken in)

Shoes: ivory heels by Madden Girl purchased from DSW & sparkly heels by Steve Madden

Veil: Beaded Elbow-length Veil from David’s Bridal

Headband: David’s Bridal

Pearl Necklace: JCrew

Earrings: Banana Republic

Ivory Shrug Sweater: Banana Republic

Makeup: Smashbox HD foundation, primer & powder; Benefit Benetint Cheek Stain; Maybelline lasting drama gel eyeliner in blackest black; Mac #31 lashes; Bare Minerals eyeshadow; Cover Girl Outlast lip stain in Mauve.