sarah's gorgeous wedding!!

details to come - but i arrived last Wed (had an amazing time!)

wed night
thurs luncheon and dinner
fri rehearsal and rehearsal dinner
sat makeup, hair, and wedding!
sun flying, flying, flying

details and pics to follow!

Wednesday:

I arrived at lax and sarah so graciously met me at the baggage claim. From there, we drove to Glendale and made it just in time for my hair appt and airbrushing session. Since I had no time to get my hair done prior to flying out for the wedding, sarah was wonderful in booking that for me. She was going to be getting airbrushed while I got my cut and highlights. Since she had originally gone to another salon, she left me at the aveda salon and went to her airbrush appt. sarah’s turned out great, and mine, well… read my review that I posted on yelp.com.
*however, and this is a BIG however, my friend the bride decided to do airbrushing for her wedding and so i thought that would be a great idea. she had already purchased a package from another salon and b/c of timing she booked me at the aveda salon. i have been airbrushed about 5 or 6 times (in NYC, at a fabulous salon, not aveda related) prior to this experience and have always been extremely pleased. i had no reason to believe that aveda would be any different. please be aware that my airbrush experience was horrifying and the results were beyond horrible.

asha did my airbrushing. i should have known when things got started we were off on a bad foot, but hey they are the professionals so i let her do her thing. first of all, they did my airbrushing while my color was processing - yeah, water makes it streak. then the actual airbrush took place in on of the bathrooms. yes, you read correctly - a bathroom. a salon of aveda's quality - i would have expected a private treatment room. and at the other salon, they had me put lotion on my elbows and knees and they had loose powder to make me less sticky, and they also had a fan to dry me. she said 5 mins would be ok, i knew that i needed like 15 to dry. and i basically had to tell her where to spray and ask if she was going to spray my hands/feet. are you kidding? why didn't i just walk out? i have no idea... i guess it goes back to she's the professional and i'm not. in any case, after my streaky wetness, asha redid my spraying. the next morning i woke up (after the color had time to set) and i was beyond streaky - i mean i could have done a better job blind with my own hands using the worst self tanner product ever. my elbows and feet were deep orange, i had a streak of white down the back of my arm, i had splotches, streaks, drips, half orange/half white mess. i FREAKED. remember that wedding i came in to town for? yes, it was only 2 days away and i was a bridesmaid in a strapless dress.

my friend the bride (who did not need the added stress and i felt terrible) drove over to the salon with me that next morning (i was staying with her). asha was not there, but the woman there did handle it very well. i must admit that. however, nothing they scrubbed on me could get it off. then they called the company which said to use whitening toothpaste (folks this does not work, i tried!!). she gave me my money back (75 bucks!!! + tip + $5 for the toothpaste) and she gave me a few free products. my poor skin, the next few days, i scrubbed and scrubbed. luckily you can't tell in the pictures, but if you looked at me you could definitely see in person tho i must admit it was somewhat better by the weekend. it ended up lasting and fading over a couple weeks, but as it did, i looked like i had a terrible skin disease. i really really hope that no one has to go through what i did. it was beyond stressful and upsetting. i'm still upset (obviously).

and oh yes, they take credit cards but not for tip. too bad i had zero dollars in my wallet and nobody had informed us of that beforehand. my friend's fiance came to pick us up and go to dinner and i had to borrow money from him until i could get to an atm. how embarrassing.* I don’t blame you sarah! I know you know that, but wanted to reiterate that fact. There is no way anyone could have known how it would turn out. The other reviews are very favorable for the salon. And the hair was great!

Thursday:

You already read about our morning and our trip back to the aveda salon... so let's move on to happier things! we left glendale for pasadena where we were going to be staying at the langham hotel formerly known as the ritz. courtney (with slight help from me) planned a wonderful luncheon in the restaurant by the pool and we had a delicious brunch and shower for sarah. she got all kinds of fun lingerie and kitchen items. the theme being "naughty in the kitchen".