Hair Trial, v2.0

Remember my first, disastrous hair trial? Where the stylist informed me that there was nothing she could do with my "too short" hair, put it in a ponytail, and charged me $35 for twenty minutes in the pleasure of her company?



The ONE good thing that came out of that experience was getting lots and lots and lots of recommendations from Pittsburgh hive members for more talented (and more ethical--yes I'm still bitter) stylists. WB readers redherring and briana_2835 recommended Brooke Rockwell, and since I'd also seen her name on the Knot and she came highly recommended by my makeup artist, I figured she must do really good work. My most recent (and last-before-the-wedding!) planning trip to Pittsburgh included a trial with Brooke, and I am relieved to report that it was a total success!

I showed her these inspiration photos:






(All from here.)

and here's what she did:











The only thing that I might change is I think I'll ask her to weave the pieces of the bun a little tighter on the wedding day. I have lots of hair. It's always the first thing stylists say to me, including Brooke: "wow, you have so much hair!" So, my one concern was that my hairstyle looked so big. It was approximately the size of a Cinnabon. See?



We also talked about the bridesmaids' hairstyles. The girls and I were thinking of going for a soft, half-up, half-down look for them, like this:


(Source.)


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Brooke did a really nice job with my hair, will come to our hotel room on the wedding day to do our hair, and charges a really reasonable price per person. Win all around!

Did you have to do a few rounds of trials before you found the right vendor?