Prior to being engaged, I had never heard the term “up-do.” It’s basically a fancy hairdo. That may be an oversimplification because an up-do is not basic at all. There are a whole bunch of pins and little braids and things swirling and swooshing. It’s really quite a sight. I don’t know if the girls in my high school would get up-dos before prom as, apparently, the kids do today. The hair I remember was big but not necessarily fancy.
Once you take out the women who had shaved heads and the women who had dreadlocks, the remaining in the Valley of Love and Delight were still not the up-do types for the most part. There were a couple who I think used to go somewhere like Charlotte to go to clubs, but they probably got ready in the car. I never saw them sporting a big fancy hair style.
So it wasn’t until we started making wedding plans that my Sweet Lady began thinking and talking about the up-do. She hair was longer then, and it was and is beautiful stuff. The hair lady had a lot to work with, and there had to be a dry run. I’m not sure what the occasion was, but we found one that would suit for a trying out of the hair. The upshot of that experiment was that there are some pretty cool things you can do with hair, and it takes a while to get them undone.
On our wedding day, it would be up to me to bring down the up-do. I have to say that most of the day was a blur. Despite being a pretty extroverted guy (ie: the type who would write a blog) the sustained focus of attention was a bit much for even me. Everything from the ceremony at the Great Temple to the reception out in the Valley went as we hoped it would, as far as we could tell.
It wasn’t until later in the evening that we could begin to take it all in. We had escaped down to Tryon on our way to Savannah for a few days. After dinner we collapsed into our little suite at the Pine Crest Inn. My Sweet Lady sat on the floor in front of the couch where we both watched the gas logs in the stone fireplace. One by one I removed bobby pins and unbraided her tresses. It was finally just the two of us being together and taking care of each other. It’s my favorite memory of that day.