I was not the kind of little girl who imagined herself getting married in a beautiful chapel with a long flowing gown, and to everyone who knows me, it was inevitable that I was going to be a nontraditional bride. It is more than likely that I had spent too many hours watching Hitchcock movies when I first got it in my head that I must evoke the hair stylings of Grace Kelly on my big day.
After a few months of growing my hair out from the pixie cut that I had loved for the better part of a decade, I tried to convince myself that the next inch is when my hair will suddenly feel full, wavy, and elegant.
Three months before the wedding, and a week before my bridal shower, I started to panic. My hair did not look glamorous, in fact, it looked weighed down and flat (the way my hair had always looked whenever I attempted to grow it more than a few inches past my jawline). In my state of panic, I decided that the cure for my long hair blues had to be a bottle of platinum blond hair dye. You can probably imagine what happened next: My flat hair had become fried and, instead of Grace Kelly, I looked more like I belonged in an '80s hair band.
I looked awful, and yet, I thought I can make this work, I attended my shower with my long, bleached blonde hair and continued to pin my favorite updos onto Pinterest.
The whole wedding was nontraditional -- we were getting married in a movie theatre, there would be a marching band, and my husband and I would surprise our guests with a rap performance. It was all so unique, and yet, I was still trying to convince myself that I wanted traditional bridal hair on my wedding day. The problem was, I was not buying it anymore, and after a brief discussion with my Maid of Honor it was decided that I had to be myself.
I booked an appointment with a salon, one that did not judge me for wanting to be a short hair bride, and chopped off seven inches of hair a mere three weeks before the wedding. There was no turning back.
I have to admit that I was a slightly concerned at first: What if I had made a huge mistake? Well, you know what? The morning of the wedding I felt special, beautiful, and all of the things that a bride should feel. I got married to an amazing person who loves me and, most importantly, I felt like myself while doing it.
The moral of this story is not to encourage droves of newly engaged women to chop off their hair, but to say that your wedding day should be about celebrating who you truly are. If you are a short haired girl, own it! If you have a head full of awesome curls, own it! If you have tattoos up and down your arms, own it! Whatever you do, stay true to yourself, and you will be a beautiful bride.