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.

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” →

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!

Natural Bridal Makeup | Publick House Historic Inn | Sturbridge, MA

Posted on October 17, 2017 by ChristyL

As a preferred vendor for the Publick House Historic Inn here in Sturbridge, we’ve had the pleasure of working with hundreds of Publick House brides. This past June we worked with their bride Andrea, who was such a sweetheart! (Her mom is a transplant recipient, and she wanted to include touches into her wedding that honored that.)

I gave Andrea a beautifully natural bridal makeup look, to keep things timeless. Soft neutral shades on her eyes, paired with a soft plum cheek and lip. And of course, lashes. Lots of lashes!

Natural wedding makeup for Andrea's Publick House wedding Continue reading “Natural Bridal Makeup | Publick House Historic Inn | Sturbridge, MA” →

Romantic Barn Wedding Hair and Makeup | The Barn at Wight Farm | Sturbridge, MA

Posted on October 9, 2017 by ChristyL

We have so many wonderful wedding venues here in Sturbridge that invoke the feel of this historical town. The Barn at Wight Farm (part of the T3 Chefs & Catering collection) is a perfect example of that! We are so happy that we get to spend quite a bit of time each wedding season working with so many awesome Wight Farm brides!

Gorgeous bride Ellie is our most recent example. Our artist Betsy gave her a beautifully natural and romantic makeup look, while our hair designer Renee pumped up the volume with textured waves in Ellie’s short, layered bob.

Bridal hair and makeup for Ellie's Barn at Wight Farm wedding

Many, many hours later, and those waves are still going strong!

Congratulations Ellie!

Photos by Visions by Baker

Venue: The Barn at Wight Farm in Sturbridge, MA

Makeup: Betsy of Christy & Co.

Hair: Renee of Christy & Co.

Wedding Hair and Makeup for Ashley’s Wedding | Highfields Golf & Country Club | Grafton, MA

Posted on October 2, 2017October 2, 2017 by ChristyL

How much do we love when past brides are bridal party members in future weddings? So much! And we love it even more when it’s because they’ve referred these brides to us! There’s nothing quite as special as the referral of a past bride to another, so we were so happy when one of our past 2013 brides (shout out to Jen!) referred Ashley to us for hair and makeup for her wedding at Highfields Golf & Country Club in Grafton, MA this past August.

Here are some photos of Ashley – and her very pretty bridal party! – by Cynthia Abbott Photography.

Bridal hair and makeup for Ashley's Highfields Golf & Country Club wedding Continue reading “Wedding Hair and Makeup for Ashley’s Wedding | Highfields Golf & Country Club | Grafton, MA” →

Glam Wedding Makeup for Carissa | Lord Thompson Manor | Thompson, CT

Posted on September 27, 2017October 2, 2017 by ChristyL

The Lord Thompson Manor in Thompson, CT has always been a dream venue of mine. It’s in an idyllic setting just 25 minutes away from our studio, and is drop dead gorgeous. Every time one of our brides mentions they are getting married there, I get just a tiny bit green with envy!

And speaking of drop dead gorgeous, that same term most definitely fits our bride Carissa, who had her wedding there back in July. I met up with Carissa and her wedding party at the manor’s Cottage House, to begin beauty preparations. Carissa opted for a bridal glam makeup look, complete with smokey eyes, lots of lashes, and blush pink lips & cheeks – that beautifully complemented her blush pink gown!

Glam bridal makeup for Carissa's Lord Thompson Manor wedding Continue reading “Glam Wedding Makeup for Carissa | Lord Thompson Manor | Thompson, CT” →

Natural Bridal Beauty for Berkshire Wedding | Chesterwood | Stockbridge MA

Posted on July 19, 2017 by ChristyL

Some of the most beautiful weddings we have had the honor of being a part of are backyard-style weddings. And what place better than the hills and gardens of the Berkshires? Erica had her ceremony in the stunning gardens of Chesterwood in Stockbridge, MA, and celebrated her reception under a tent in the backyard of the groom’s family’s Berkshire home.

We created a natural, yet romantic hair & makeup look for the bride, to fit in with the more casual garden style wedding she had planned. Her are some photos from her gorgeous wedding day.

Natural bridal makeup and hair for Erica's wedding at Chesterwood in the Berkshires Continue reading “Natural Bridal Beauty for Berkshire Wedding | Chesterwood | Stockbridge MA” →

Dreamy Wedding Hair and Makeup | Quonquont Farm | Whately MA

Posted on June 14, 2017 by ChristyL

I just love being able to see photos from our past brides’ weddings! I came across some images from Karina’s western MA wedding at Quonquont Farm in Whately last month, and they are so dreamy! Look at how beautiful she looked? Her half up/half down hair style fit her perfectly, and her natural but slightly amped up makeup look put just the right amount of focus on her eyes. So pretty!

Bridal makeup and hair for Karina's wedding at Quonquont Farm in Western MA

Congratulations Karina! <3

Photos by Mark Spooner Photography

Venue: Quonquont Farm in Whately, MA

Makeup: Betsy of Christy & Co.

Hair: Chelsea of Christy & Co.

Voluminous Curls & Smoky Eyes for Jamie’s Wedding | The Barn at Wight Farm | Sturbridge, MA

Posted on May 3, 2017May 3, 2017 by ChristyL

On the right person, I love a sexy, glam bridal look. Smoky eyes. Bombshell voluminous hair. Not everyone can pull this off. But Jamie? Oh, Jamie pulled it off. Take a peek at this gorgeous look that our makeup artist Betsy and hair designer Chelsea created for Jamie’s wedding at The Barn at Wight Farm here in historic Sturbridge, MA. {Images by the always fabulous Bunnell Photography}

How do you want your hair and makeup to look after several hours and shedding tears during your wedding? Perfect? We’ve got that covered. (We started hair & makeup at 7:30am that day, and it was warm and humid in August!) Continue reading “Voluminous Curls & Smoky Eyes for Jamie’s Wedding | The Barn at Wight Farm | Sturbridge, MA” →