Nostalgia! – 34 weeks to go

I had big plans for the blog this week – I was going to talk all about our wedding venue site visit, the plans for room dressing, cake flavours…oh, it was going to be fun.

Except our coordinator is sick, so the site visit didn’t happen. The Boy sensed a hissy fit coming, so very kindly took me to see The Minions (just because I’m 30, doesn’t mean I have to be a grown up). Which was lovely, but doesn’t leave me a whole lot to talk about wedding-wise today.

Instead, I’ll talk a bit about an exhibition I recently had some photos taken for (I know – me, technically now a model! I may get business cards printed up with ‘Artists’ muse, available for sculptures, watercolours and sonnets’), called Nostalgia!. The photographer was the lovely Jez Brown Photography and the hair & make up artist was the gorgeous Sarah of Sarah’s Doo Wop Dos (who also did my hair for my 30th birthday – see last week’s post for photos).

A couple of Sundays ago, I turned up at Sarah’s amazing vintage salon, where Sarah and Jez put me at ease immediately. We went for a super-glam 1940’s look for the photos (look at my eyebrows! They’re proper film star eyebrows and I love them), and Sarah shared lots of tips and tricks on how to get the look at home. (I immediately went out and purchased a slanted brush, but still can’t get the eyebrows quite right. If you plan on seeing me over the next few weeks while I’m practicing, it might be best to prepare yourself for a truly terrifying brow experience). Using heated rollers, Sarah turned my hair into something pretty fabulous (I know, heated rollers! I always thought they were for ’80s-inspired dos. But that might be because my mum had a set of Carmen bendy rollers when I was little, so I associate them with the wonderful ’80s perm she had at the time).

When it was time to have my photo taken, Jez was lovely, and the whole shoot was the complete opposite to my last photo experience, the dreaded corporate headshot. I’m still having nightmares about that one. It turns out modelling is harder than I originally thought, and it’s surprisingly difficult to look at a wall wistfully.

But between the two of them, I think they did a pretty good job with what they had to work with (my face). In case you’re wondering, the dress is from Vivien of Holloway, and the brooch is vintage:

The exhibition runs from now until 4 July, and features lots of wonderful ladies and gents. I’m planning a visit this week, if only to see my face as close to October DiVine as it’s ever going to be (look, I’m right above her! Photo from Sarah’s Doo Wop Dos Facebook page). If you’re in the Bedford area and fancy some tips on creating vintage hair and make up looks, Sarah’s running a workshop on Thursday 2 July at Animal Studio & Gallery.