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The Perfect Bun!

When Allison came to me and asked me for a simple elegant style we started off with a french twist. Don't think beehive old lady french twist! It was simple, modern and timeless. After several months of growing her hair Allison decided she wanted something a little different (note- this is the best thing about hair trials- you get to try the styles out). We ended up with this gorgeous perfect bun! I love how it compliments her birdcage veil and it looks as though the two were meant to be together! After some tweaking, we fit her birdcage veil so that it would lay comfortably across her forehead. It's amazing what little bobby pins can do (and a professional)! I love that she wore the veil the entire night but you could still see her hair! Congrats Allison! I had the best time with you! Can't wait to Glam the Dress ;) 

Thanks to Joey from J&S Productions for the photos! 

Pro-photos from our Wedding In A Week Contest

The official photos of the Fox 45, Baltimore Bridal Show, and Wedding Wire Wedding In A Week Contest have been posted! Thanks to Sweet Dreams Studio for the great photos! 

Wedding In A Week

We teamed up with Wedding Wire, Fox 45 News, and the Baltimore Bridal Show to plan a Wedding In A Week! We gave away hair and make-up for the bride! 

This morning Mindy and Amy arrived very early to help Teaira get ready for her big day! The wedding began at 8am so our team was at the 1840's Ballroom quite early!

To check out a few highlights from their wedding, click here!

Mindy, Teaira and Amy

Congrats to Teaira and Arthur! We were so excited to be a part of your day!

Photo booth = Way too much fun!

Right behind our booth was Lovely Day Photo Works. Ashley, Danielle and myself jumped in towards the end of the show and had some fun! I wish there was something like this when I got married. I totally would have had one of these at my reception! 

Did you miss us? We missed you too!

Whether you were celebrating Valentine's Day somewhere fancy or scared of the mile high piles of snow, we missed seeing you this past weekend if you weren't at the Baltimore Bridal Show! We've already received loads of inquiries from this past weekend and our year is filling up fast! Be sure to contact us today to see what you are missing with Up-Do's For I Do's! We have a lot of new and exciting things for this year (which we will share later)!

Here is a shot of our booth! All pictures are by Ashley (except the few she is in) our fantastic office manager. You will meet her pretty face when you walk in for your trial run and when you sign that dotted line! Even cooler- she was an Up-Do's bride a few years ago! 

Beth (make-up artist), Ashley (office manager), Ashley (hair stylist)

Beth sharing our top secrets with future brides!

Day #2 ~ Danielle (make-up artist), Ashley (office manager), Ashley (hair stylist)

A few other vendors we love ~ Joey from J&S Productions, Chris from Beat 2 Beat DJs,

Chris from Sweet Bakery, Gene from In Motion Video Melody from Historic Events, Sarah from Intrigue Designs and Allison from Allison Barnhill Designs!

Fall in Love. Get Married. Save the World.

Want to help save the world tomorrow while celebrating today? This is the wedding show for you! Make your day a beautiful shade of green with the 

Mid-Atlantic Green Wedding Showcase! 

Up-Do's For I Do's is proud to donate a eco-friendly door prize to the

Green Weddings Showcase! 

The event is scheduled for Sunday, February 21st from 1pm to 5pm at the 

Samel Riggs VI Alumini Center on the University of Maryland campus in Silver Spring. Tickets are $15 online through 2/19. Tickets are $20 at the door. All attendees get Swag Bags and a free cocktail or glass of wine! Yum! 

Some things to expect from the Mid-Atlantic Green Wedding Showcase:

• Get face time wiht the area's hippest, greenest wedding vendors
• Find fresh, original ideas for your day
• Enjoy the swanky Aveda Eco-Fashion Show in the Event Origins Eco-Fashion Lounge 4pm
• Relax in the Man Cave with a locally brewed beer and watch the big game on a big screen
• Enter to win stylish, eco-swag
• Sample phenom food, off-the-hook cakes and local wine
• Discover romantic honeymoons

The showcase is perfect for any stage of planning- whether you are newly engaged or just putting the finishing touches on your big day!

*artwork by Local Color Flowers in Baltimore

It's LIVE!!!

Our new website is launched! Yay! We love the clean design and are exited about some of the new features! While switching our browsers, our email was down from Tuesday evening until about 4pm on Wednesday! If you sent us an email, please send it again as it is lost in the world of emails that I will never see! We look forward to working with you and appreciate your patience as we update and expand our business!

updosforidos.com

I want to look like this!

With the crazy hurricane blizzard walloping around outside, I thought it would be a good time to update our blog with some inspirational celebrity pictures. I surfed the internet to find some of the popular  photos that we see. We often see these photos multiple times a night when we are doing a trial run. We love photos for inspiration! We also have to explain to the brides that come in that many things factor in when looking at these photos and trying to recreate them. First, there is the actual color of the hair. A blonde, brunette and redhead can all have the same exact style, length and texture and they will still look different. Blondes tend to show more detail. Brunette's with highlights will also have a different outcome. This is the ideal situation for us. We love highlights because it really shows off detail both in person as well as in photos. Brunettes have the least amount of depth in their hair color and therefore will see the least amount of detail in their hairstyle. Someone who is looking for a very simple, elegant and traditional style will want to keep their haircolor simple. Most brides that want this look already have a natural color and tend to stick with it since it is who they are. We see girls come in with really fun hair color wanting a really fun, out of the box, creative hairstyle! Luckily, we are great at working with both ends of the spectrum. 

When Up-Do's For I Do's first started in 2004 the trend was primarily an up-do. Very few brides and bridesmaids wore their hair down. The next few photos were the top inspirational pictures we saw over and over at trial time!

Every bride had a tiara! We saw thin headbands to 3-4 inches high tiaras! Traditional fingertip veils were in! Typically placed under the curls piled up high. 

I remember when I was planning my wedding in 2004 that this was one of my top photos for my hair trial! These styles stuck around until about 2007 when we started seeing looser, messier and less structured styles. 

Fast forward to 2008, the Golden Globes and Red Carpet looks took over. Center parts, hair in the face and an almost windblown mess was the new style! It's a great and gorgeous look if your hair can hold it. These styles are a little more challenging for someone who can not hold a curl. Most people actually think it is less work for us but in reality the perfectly pinned styles that were in before were actually more secure. As we embraced the new style, we were able to give soft waves,  and looseness while keeping the security with proper pinning. Although these styles appear extremely soft, they were ready for a night of dancing! During this same time we saw less traditional veils. Brides kept is simple with almost no hair accessories! 

In addition to the soft waves swept up, we saw something from my grandmother's past! Vintage hair is back! Pin curls and finger waves became super popular. I remember when I was in beauty school we had to do hundreds of these and I kept thinking to myself that no one would ever wear their hair like that. I was wrong and thank you Ms. Taylor for making me complete my assignment of pin curls and finger waves. This is one of my favorite styles to do! 

Birdcage veils match perfectly with this style! As soon as Katherine Heigl's wedding photos hit stands I had brides emailing me after we did their trial that they wanted to changed their style to this instead! Even this year we continue to see more birdcage veils than the traditional tier tulle veils. I love birdcage veils as they allow for so much personality! Each birdcage veil is completely different from the next!

Now onto the most current trend! Long hair all down or partially up! Several years ago when Carmen Electra's wedding photos appeared, we were overwhelmed with requests for this style! Isn't it so romantic? This style is great if your hair can hold a decent curl or wave and you aren't getting married in July outside. The humidity would kill it. Luckily, since we are good at what we do, we can still make it happen so if your hair doesn't hold curl, it's not long enough, and you are getting married in July, we can do extensions. There are so many options that come with different pricing so it can fit any budget. We can pin or glue in extensions the day of the wedding. This is a temporary style and will last for a few days. The other option is to have them "fused" or "locked" in. We prefer the "locked" version. For more info on the type of extensions we work with check out hairlocs.com  We are certified with this company! Feel free to email us any questions regarding this!

Jessica Simpson! Who doesn't love her hair? Well now that she has teamed up with Ken Paves and admitted she uses extensions, it has made my life a lot easier! A bride once brought me this photo and said, "I want to look like this!" My response, "Me too!".  Another thing that is usually not publicized about these photos is that they are highly edited and any pro photographer would agree with me. In fact, several photographers have shown me what has been touched up from the coloring on their skin to reducing the frizzies in their hair. I promise that celebrities really aren't that perfect although many are naturally gorgeous without their dream team! I feel so special when my brides tell me they wish they could have us come over every morning to prep them with hair and make-up for their day! 

So here it is! Jessica's famous hair! 

I couldn't resist throwing in a little Carrie. She is adorable and looks amazing all the time no matter what style she is wearing. I would have to say that she is our all-time top celebrity for inspirational pictures! I couldn't agree more with our brides! Her style screams romantic and bridal. I can't wait to see photos from her upcoming wedding! This is a make-up shot that we see often!

We have more bridesmaids request this than we do brides! I'm a bridesmaid later this summer and I think I'm going to with this for my style! I love the height, softness and the fact that it will last! This is a great alternative for someone who has the length but their hair will not hold the curl. By pinning a good portion of it, the style will last!

This is our #1 celebrity inspiration and photo! 100 times over we see this every week when we host trials at our studio in Catonsville. Absolutely gorgeous! 

Ashley's December 18th Wedding

Ashley sent me an email today with pictures from her wedding. Her timing could not have been better. Ashley was married on Friday December 18th and it was the night before the big December 19th blizzard. There were so many great photos that I decided to use them all! 

Bride Ashley is an amazing person and I'm so glad that Erica and I could share in her special day together. Erica did the hair for all the bridesmaids while I did Ashley's hair and make-up and then the make-up for the rest of her gals. 

Another thing I realized as I am typing this post is how common my name is. I can seriously use each finger and toe to count the times we have come across a bride named Ashley. I guess it is just a really great name and every Ashley must therefore be awesome!!! I really have never met an Ashley I didn't like :) I may have to do a different post about all of our Ashleys!

Onto the bride's wedding day!

I love these type of pictures. Beth captured her day perfectly. You can see in all of these photos how much fun Ashley was as a bride! We thoroughly enjoyed our time with her!

At this point, I had just added some false lashes and she was opening her eyes for the first time!

Erica came up with a soft bun for the flowergirl. This is a great style for the little ones who like to bounce around. It stays put and is dressier than the everyday ponytail with curls!

I love her soft and natural style! I'll never forget how much she loved all my hard work when she saw herself after having both hair and make-up finished!

I spy a Christmas Tree!!! Love the twinkle that holiday lights add to photos!

I love when photographers capture our hairstyles in action! Go Beth!

How could you not have fun with this girl?

...and of course we admire all the details!