Any of you who know Modern editor and bride-to-be, Laurel Smoke, know she's no shrinking violet. So when the creative director from Salon 1800 used the words "big" and "bold" in her e-mail, we knew Laurel would have to check it out. Extra points go to Becki Shunick for describing the bun she imagined as "a la Carrie Bradshaw." Sold!

Steps

1. The first step was a sleek blowout to get Laurel's hair as shiny and silky as possible.

2. Next, Becki sectioned off an area of hair as the crown to be used as a base for the style.

3. This is a worthy trick to use for securing the hair in a ponytail. Rather than wrapping the elastic around the hair traditionally, Becki attaches two bobby pins to a band and pins in one. Then she wraps the band around the hair, securing with the other bobby pin once it's tight enough.

4. Voila! She has her base for the bun.

5. After securing that section, she went to work on the front section of the hair. She took Laurel's traditional sideswept bangs and backcombed them for volume.

6. She then pinned them back in to the partitioned section of hair.

7. Working around the head from the front, she began sectioning off strands of the loose hair. She smoothed out those sections and also pinned them into the partitioned section.

8. Once all sections had been pinned, she placed a stretchy donut around the ponytail that she had created and covering the bobby pins.

9. With the donut in place, she then began backcombing sections of the ponytail to create the necessary volume.

10. Working around from the front, she folded over the strands, smoothing the top, then pinning them into place to create the look of the bun.

11. Next, she went through the bun, smoothing the strands and filling in gaps by bringing the strands together and pinning again when necessary.

12. Once she finished the bun, she pulled out wefts of hair that matched Laurel's perfectly. Using two wefts, one braided and one twisted, she pinned them around the base of the bun to add character and detail to the style.

Finished Shots

Related:
Wedding Updo #1, Ruby Room
Wedding Updo #2, Salon Coccole
Wedding Updo #3, Salon 1800
Wedding Updo #4, Avalon Salon
Wedding Updo #5, Michael Anthony Salons
Wedding Updo #6, Prink Salon