Wedding Weekend

This weekend will be a real time of celebration at our house, the kind that involves breaking out the bubbly and dancing under the stars. And no, it’s not just because the kids are going back to school. : ) It’s because our home will be the setting for a wedding. The merrymaking and vow-taking will all take place within these walls, for the second time since we have lived here, and that alone is a reason to celebrate. There is no happier occasion than a wedding, and when it’s for my cousin Nancy, whom I affectionately call Mini-Me, it’s even better. Today, Nancy and her mom set up our home for the big day while we kept the kids out of sight at my mom’s house. Here was my living room when I returned.

Excuse the bad photography!
For me, it’s a chance to live vicariously through my creative cousin. After all, wedding planning has long been a hobby of mine, and I would like nothing more than to get a chance to do it all over again. What’s more fun than throwing a lavish party for yourself and being the prettiest girl in the room. (Okay, girl is kind of a stretch for me at this point, but still… At least the dress would be spectacular!)
Me: “Let’s have another wedding! How about in a flower garden, with the bridesmaids in sorbet colors…?”
Kevin: “The only way you are going to have a second wedding is if you find a second husband.”
Unfortunately. I’m kind of attached to the one I have. It’s taken me 11 years to break him in. If I were hip and artistic like Nancy and her friends, I might skip the dramatic flourishes I had at my own wedding and go for something fresh and free-spirited and a little more contemporary. The dress would be simpler, like the styles from of-the-moment wedding dress designer Love, Yu. I am obsessed with the entire Effloresce range, but the Silverbell is possibly the most romantic.

When my makeup artist canceled at the last minute, desperation ensued. You would think that a beauty editor would be prepared for any makeup emergency, but my getaway bag was woefully lacking. Fortunately, my bridesmaids came to the rescue. Nerissa made a drugstore run for that trusty old standby, Corn Silk, while Molly lent me her own Chanel Lune Rousse Lipstick, a glamorous red that completed the look. I applied my own false lashes, for the first and last time. Too bad I didn’t have celeb makeup artist Mally Roncal on site. Of course, if Mally was powdering and perfecting an A-lister on my wedding day, I would happily settle for her Mega Bridal Kit, $175. Not only is it adorable, it’s also stocked with all the things I forgot, including the all-important Waterproof Volumizing Mascara and Evercolor Waterproof Starlight Eyeliner, but my favorite product of the bunch is the revolutionary Evercolor Poreless Face Defender, the first ever clear face powder – it leaves skin flawless, not cakey or chalky!