Mia’s Wedding at The Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden, MA

Posted on March 19, 2024March 19, 2024 by ChristyL

When this beauty – who happens to be a Captain in the Medical Service Corps of the US Army – reached out to us for hair and makeup for her wedding at The Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden, MA, we were excited! The Starting Gate is a favorite of ours, and the views from the venue are STUNNING. Beautiful women, beautiful venue, beautiful views? Yes please!

Mia wanted to keep her makeup look fairly natural, focusing on clean beauty with a pop of color on her lips. Her hair was pulled back in a classic chignon bun, with some curled pieces to frame her pretty face. It was a fairly large party – 11 people for both hair and makeup. As usual, superwoman Renee did the hair for all the women, while Christy and Betsy split the party for makeup services.

Here are some photos from Mia’s beautiful wedding day. Church services were held at St. Patrick Parish in Monson, MA prior to the reception at GreatHorse.

Hair and makeup for Mia's wedding at The Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden, MA

Bridal party hair and makeup for Mia's wedding at The Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden, MA

Could this bridal party look any more picture perfect? The bridal suite at The Starting Gate is a great spot to get ready. We love doing wedding hair and makeup at GreatHorse!

Hair for Mia's wedding at The Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden, MA

Hair and makeup for Mia's ceremony at St Patrick Parish in Monson, MA

Photographer: Sebastian Photography
Church: St. Patrick Parish in Monson, MA
Venue: The Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden, MA
Flowers: Colonial Flower Shoppe
Cake: Cerrato’s Pastry Shop
Hair: Renee of Christy & Co.
Makeup: Christy and Betsy of Christy & Co.

Wedding Hair and Makeup for Dreamy Tower Hill Garden Wedding | Boylston, MA

Posted on December 8, 2018December 8, 2018 by ChristyL

It’s like Christmas to a fellow wedding vendor when a photographer sends them the link to all the photos from a wedding they worked together and tells them to choose the ones they love. And sometimes it’s an almost impossible task when you love the photographer, love the subjects, and love all.the.damn.photos! And so it was with these gorgeous images from Laura’s wedding earlier this season at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA. Abby Lorenz Photography captured everything so beautifully, it was virtually impossible to choose a select few to share here on the blog! So be prepared for a lot of them. <3

We started our bridal hair and makeup preparations at the Beechwood Hotel in Worcester. Laura’s bridal look was all about classic romance. Her makeup was a palette of nudes that included a slightly smoky eye, flirty lashes, and a peachy lip and cheek. Her long hair was worn down in a romantic wave with one side pinned back, secured with a bejeweled fascinator. She looked stunning!

Here are some (several!) of our favorite images from this dreamy early summer wedding.

Dreamy hair and makeup for Laura's wedding at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA

Continue reading “Wedding Hair and Makeup for Dreamy Tower Hill Garden Wedding | Boylston, MA” →

Timeless Bridal Beauty | Harrington Farm Wedding | Princeton, MA

Posted on October 10, 2018October 10, 2018 by ChristyL

Anytime someone asks me what type of look I recommend for hair and makeup for their wedding, I always give the same response: stay away from the trends, and choose something that will always be considered beautiful. Don’t date your photos. Go for something classic. Be TIMELESS.

Our bride Sandra, who was married last summer at Harrington Farm in Princeton, MA, chose exactly that. Romantic, pretty makeup, and a classic low updo of curls, pinned away yet softly framing her face. This look will NEVER go out of style.

Sandra and her bridal party opted to get ready at a local hotel, the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton in Leominster, prior to heading to the venue to get dressed, so we packed up our hair and makeup kits and traveled there to provide our bridal beauty services. Christy did the bride’s makeup in a palette of soft pinks, while Chelsea created her phenomenal wedding hairstyle. Here are some beautiful photos from Sandra’s wedding day, by Meredith Jane Photography.

Timeless bridal beauty hair and makeup for Sandra's wedding at Harrington Farm in Princeton, MA Continue reading “Timeless Bridal Beauty | Harrington Farm Wedding | Princeton, MA” →

Historic-inspired Bridal Beauty | Old Sturbridge Village Wedding | Sturbridge, MA

Posted on April 12, 2018 by ChristyL

Could you picture a more perfect place for an historical preservation curator to have her wedding, than the Old Sturbridge Village living history museum? It was a perfect fit for our bride Lauren, who is a curator for Preservation Long Island. For anyone who has never had the opportunity to visit this popular attraction, it’s a fully operational New England village from the 1830s, complete with 40 historic buildings, a covered bridge, horse-drawn carriages, heritage breed farm animals, and authentically costumed staff. It’s truly a step back in time, and they host weddings on this incredible property!

We started off the day by doing hair and makeup for Lauren and her bridal party at the Oliver Wight House – a federal style mansion built in 1789 – at the Old Sturbridge Inn & Reeder Family Lodges. Right from the start Lauren knew she wanted to include elements of history in the bridal beauty for her wedding day. She requested a hair crown, and makeup in earthy tones that complemented the beauty of her cream-colored antique lace gown.

Here are some photos from Lauren’s historic-inspired wedding day, by the always phenomenal Ramblefree Photo Co.

Historic-inspired bridal hair and makeup for Lauren's wedding at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. Continue reading “Historic-inspired Bridal Beauty | Old Sturbridge Village Wedding | Sturbridge, MA” →

Garden Wedding Hair and Makeup | Tower Hill Botanic Garden | Boylston MA

Posted on April 5, 2018April 5, 2018 by ChristyL

It’s officially Spring here now, although it still feels so much like Winter! New England is always a bit slow to bring on the warmer temperatures, but they are just around the corner, along with bridal season! To brighten up the chill, I wanted to share some of the photos – and a video! – from our beautiful bride Marisa’s wedding at Tower Hill Botanic Garden. Love & Perry Photography and Films did a phenomenal job capturing the beauty of this day (as always!).

For makeup, I gave Marisa a “natural bridal glam” look – nothing too overdone since it was a garden wedding, but an extra bit of wow factor on her eyes to accompany her darker features. For her hair, our stylist Chelsea created a beautiful side-swept chignon. Marisa pulled the look off beautifully!

Bridal hair and makeup for Marisa's botanic garden wedding at the Tower Hill in Boylston, MA.

Beautiful florals by Peppers Artful Events.

Bridal hair and makeup for Marisa's botanic garden wedding at the Tower Hill in Boylston, MA. Continue reading “Garden Wedding Hair and Makeup | Tower Hill Botanic Garden | Boylston MA” →

Rustic Barn Wedding Hair and Makeup | Salem Cross Inn | West Brookfield MA

Posted on March 26, 2018March 26, 2018 by ChristyL

Here in New England we are fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of colonial history, and our wedding venues in central MA certainly reflect that. The Salem Cross Inn in West Brookfield is one of my favorites, and incorporates a beautiful colonial-era farmhouse with a gorgeous attached post and beam barn. Surrounded by rolling hills dotted with grazing cattle, it is quintessential New England and a fantastic choice for a wedding!

I’m excited to share some photos of our past bride Alicia and her wedding at Salem Cross Inn. She chose to get ready upstairs in the bridal area of the farmhouse, where we have lots of space, great natural light, and a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape. Her photographer Mike Hendrickson of Unitymike Photography grabbed some fantastic shots of us getting Alicia and her bridal party ready. Everyone looked gorgeous!

Bridal hair and makeup for Alicia's rustic barn wedding at the Salem Cross Inn in West Brookfield, MA.

I gave Alicia my signature “bridal smokey eye” paired with a blush pink lip and cheek – my favorite classic bridal look! Our hair designer Chelsea created a beautiful low chignon-style updo that incorporated the perfect touch for a barn wedding – a braid! Continue reading “Rustic Barn Wedding Hair and Makeup | Salem Cross Inn | West Brookfield MA” →

Meet the Team! | Veronica | Makeup Artist

Posted on February 16, 2018April 10, 2018 by ChristyL

Next up in our ‘Meet the Team!’ blog posts is talented makeup artist Veronica! She began freelancing as a makeup artist in 2011 while attending college in Albany, NY, after her classmate and close friend started doing makeup for weddings and needed an assistant artist to help out. Now in her 7th year as a makeup artist, Veronica is currently located in MA. A New England native, Veronica grew up in CT, and frequently finds herself working weddings throughout the Northeast, focusing on the greater-Boston and Windsor, CT areas. Her favorite part of the business is being chosen to enhance a bride’s natural beauty, while playing a part in such a special day. She joined the Christy & Co. team in 2015.

Veronica Nunes - Makeup Artist — Meet Veronica!

Veronica is currently enrolled in the Advanced Esthetics program at the Catherine Hinds Institute and anticipates completing the program in April of this year.

Veronica is also an avid dog-lover, and although she doesn’t have any of her own, she volunteers her time with several dog rescues and can be found walking dogs at her local shelter.

Here are some examples of beautiful bridal makeup Veronica has done, from super natural, to glam, and everything in between:

Wedding makeup by Veronica — Photo by Lindsey Mae Photography

Wedding makeup by Veronica

And here are a few shots that I love from a wedding Veronica did for us that don’t really focus on the makeup, but truly show how important it is in the overall feel of the wedding. So dreamy!

Wedding makeup by Veronica

In closing, another lovely piece of information: Veronica just recently got engaged and is planning her own wedding! I know she is going to be a beautiful bride! Congratulations Veronica!

Meet the Team! | Alexandra | Makeup Artist

Posted on January 21, 2018April 10, 2018 by ChristyL

Continuing on with our ‘Meet the Team!’ series, today I’d like to introduce you to our incredibly talented makeup artist Alexandra. Alex has been doing makeup professionally since 2010, and has represented such brands as MAC Cosmetics, Smashbox, Tom Ford, and Juice Beauty. In 2014 she joined the Christy & Co. team, and has been one of our valued makeup artists over the past 4 years.

Alexandra Angelone, makeup artist with Christy & Co. — Meet Alexandra!

In addition to doing makeup, Alex is also a licensed esthetician, a graduate of the Catherine Hinds Institute and provides a full array of aesthetic services at a spa on the North Shore. She can often be heard offering skincare advice to our clients while doing their makeup, and recommends products for our brides at their trial runs to get their skin into tip top shape for their wedding day! Who doesn’t love THAT?

Here are some before & after examples of Alex’s makeup work:

Before and after photo of Alex's makeup work

Alexandra’s favorite part of the business is being able to combine creativity with building confidence in women. She loves helping them to feel beautiful, both in how they look and in how they feel when they leave her makeup chair.

Cool fact: Alex was the makeup artist for one of our past brides who had THE Bobbi Brown (makeup artist icon and creator of the Bobbi Brown cosmetics line) as a guest in attendance at her wedding. Bobbi gave us a shout out on Instagram, saying the bridal party looked perfect!

Here are some professional photos taken of our past weddings where Alex was the lead artist:

Wedding makeup by Alexandra for Christy & Co. — Photo by The Imagery Studio

Gorgeous work, right?!

When not focusing on makeup and skincare, Alex loves to use her creativity in other forms. She enjoys starting things from scratch, whether it be baking a cake or refinishing a piece of furniture. And she is a fantastic cook (as a foodie I can attest to this)! She is also an animal lover and loves to spend time with her 3 adorable family dogs – Freya, Khaleesi & Ollie.

We love having you as part of the team, Alex! So glad to have you for a 5th wedding season here with Christy & Co.!

Meet the Team! | Betsy | Makeup Artist

Posted on January 15, 2018April 10, 2018 by ChristyL

Meet Betsy. She’s one of the superstar makeup artists on our team. Always an artist, Betsy fell in love with makeup as a medium when she started working for Sephora in 2009. Their training programs took her to Boston and New York City, and in 2011 when she realized she wanted to focus more on the application of makeup rather than the sales end of it, she joined the Christy & Co. team!

Betsy Mitchell, makeup artist for Christy & Co. — Photo by Seth Kaye Photography

Betsy’s favorite part of doing makeup for weddings is having the opportunity to make people feel like the best version of themselves, when she holds the mirror up for the bride to see herself for the first time, and they say, “Wow! I look SO good!” (Above photo is clearly one of those moments!)

Betsy is not a cookie cutter, one-look-fits-all artist. Her creativity and natural artistic talent enables her to customize a look according to each client’s individual features while staying within their comfort zone. Any time Betsy is working a wedding with me, it’s a given that I’m going to hear a lot of happy exclamations from clients as they are hopping out of Betsy’s makeup chair!

Here are some of our favorite images from weddings that Betsy has done the makeup for: the first of each is a shot of the bride while having her makeup done and the second is the completed look.

Wedding makeup by Betsy Mitchell for Christy & Co. — Photo by Bridget Parmenter

In addition to working weddings with us, Betsy also works as a server at a busy restaurant and is a full-time student in college working towards becoming an art teacher. In her free time (are you sure you have free time, Betsy?!), she loves to paint and draw – she has made some gorgeous chalkboard creations for some of our brides! – and is also a fellow foodie!

As I’m sure you may have noticed in the photos above, Betsy has a full sleeve tattoo on her right arm, that photographers just LOVE to photograph! Every wedding that I get photos from has a picture of Betsy’s arm included. And cool fact – Betsy drew some of the artwork that is incorporated into it!

I’ll finish up this blog post with a couple group shots from weddings that Betsy worked. Because she is a supah-stah!, Betsy did the makeup for all the women in these bridal parties. She’s talented, AND efficient!

Looking forward to our 8th bridal season together, Betsy!

Hair & Makeup for Fairmont Copley Plaza Wedding | Boston, MA

Posted on January 5, 2018January 5, 2018 by ChristyL

It has been such a beautifully crazy 2017 for us! Now that the year is over and the slower winter season is upon us, I’m finally getting the opportunity to go through some of the AMAZING wedding photos our past brides have sent us. Today I’m going to share photos from Kimberly & Patrick’s wedding at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, MA.

Kimberly’s wedding photographer, Rachel Kate Photography, was kind enough to refer this beautiful bride to us. Kim is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside, and she and her husband are like a brunette version of Ken & Barbie. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect client!

For Kim’s wedding makeup look, I gave her a classic bridal sculpted eye, paired with a blush pink lip and cheek. And her skin – LOOK AT HER SKIN! She has skin like butter, and my favorite Temptu SB airbrush foundation complimented it so well, giving her a dewy bridal glow all day long.

Our hair designer Renee gave Kim the perfect half-up/ half-down style, with a bit of volume at the crown and long cascading curls. She looked simply elegant!

(Peep the caption above the photo below that her photographer Rachel included in her blog. <3)

Elegant hair and makeup for Kim's wedding at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, MA.

That glow! Elegant hair and makeup for Kim's wedding at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, MA. Continue reading “Hair & Makeup for Fairmont Copley Plaza Wedding | Boston, MA” →