My North Carolina journey Began in March 2015, and to be honest this Los Angeles native was very VERY nervous! Living in a big city the majority of my life, I was doubtful NC would ever feel like home. My Husband is a US Marine, and his job brought us to the crystal coast on orders to MCAS Cherry point. I had a huge passion for TV/Film and special FX makeup, and was very hesitant to jump into the ever growing crystal coast wedding industry. Boy oh boy, was I in for a pleasant surprise.....
I can remember my first NC wedding vividly, I was oddly very nervous which is very out of character for me. I was down in Pine Knoll shore where I would return to many of times over the next few years and rightfully so, it is a breathtaking place to tie the knot. All it took was a few minutes for me to feel right at ease in my new makeup journey. Im not sure if it was the unfamiliar and oh so lovely Southern hospitality, or the energy a bride and her her bridesmaid produce on such a life changing day that made me fall right in love with bridal makeup. For those fews hours, I get to witness such an intimate time for great friends to chat about embarrassing old college stories, funny memories, and plans for the future. For the next three years, I dedicated almost every weekend of the year helping brides feel like a million bucks on there wedding day.
A funny thing about the military lifestyle, is that it likes to throw you curveballs when you least expect it. My husband has been active duty for almost Fourteen years, and I have been by his side from the beginning, so we were acustomed to the unpredictability of his job. I remember I was in my kitchen joking with him that the Corps must be brewing up some changes since I was feeling quite Cozy in our little home on base, my business was booming, I was booking weddings a year in advance! I had met so many amazing photographers, wedding planners, florist, etc. that we were on first name basis and ran into many of them wedding after wedding and even considered some of them great friends. My two boys were thriving in there amazing school, my rambunctious neighbor finally moved away and I had found some amazing restaurants we liked to eat at every Friday nights. In a lifestyle like ours, this was a welcomed slow paced deployment free time.
On a Thursday morning, half way through my fist cup of coffee, I got the big news from my husband that we would be relocating back to Southern CA where he would be stationed at MCB Camp Pendleton. I instantly got so excited!! I get to go back home, close to family, jump back into tv/film makeup, go to disneyland.... the list went on and on. Soon after, I felt a heavy ache in my heart knowing that this chapter in my life was soon coming to an end. Im not someone who does well with big life changes, which is so strange that I've been happily married to a Marine for thirteen years, the antithesis of a routine lifestyle. Nevertheless I seem to roll with the punches the best I can and be the backbone for my family and my small business. I felt as if I was quitting a beloved job and had to tell all my co workers. As the emails from prospective brides were rolling in for dates that surpassed my time here in NC and I had to turn them away, it became more and more real that my time here in the crystal coast was coming to an end.
The big move was scheduled for March, 2018. Between weddings, photoshoots, flying back and forth from CA to house hunt, my boys and my husband my life was moving a million miles per hour to say the least. With each wedding or photoshoot, I personally let all fellow vendors that I was leaving and each time felt like a break up. These Vendors we're more like a big wedding season family and each goodbye was heartfelt.
In the typical Marine Corps fashion, plans changed and the move date was pushed up to the beginning of February. I went into a frenzy, I had brides in contract right up to the last week of February, and if you know me, you understand that my word is my bond. I knew that I could not, and would not leave my brides high and dry to find a new makeup artist less than two months before there big day. In what some consider extreme measures, My husband took extra leave days , and a we stayed behind a week after our household goods were already shipped to CA so that I could honor my contracts and be apart of these brides most special day. In a way, im not surprised by our decision to stay, I take my job very seriously. It's not " just makeup" to me, its about building relationships with my clients. so I worked my last wedding the day before my flight home.
North Carolina will always have a very special place in my heart. I not only grew as an artist, but the people I met there have also made me a better person. Southern hospitality is alive and well in the good ole ENC and I hope that I never loose sight of the new found friendly manor I've acquired over the last three years. I now talk to the lady behind me in the starbucks line, compliment a strangers outfit and am a more humble individual. It was truly a pleasure to be apart of over a hundred weddings and I hope this new chapter of my career is just as amazing as the last.
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