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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
Photo by Bridget ParmenterPhoto by Bridget ParmenterPhoto by Betsy MitchellPhoto by Bunnell PhotographyPhoto by Aubrey GreenePhoto by Aubrey GreenePhoto by Annandale PhotographyPhoto by Annandale Photography
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!
Photo by Rebecca ArthursPhoto by Michelle Girard Photography
Looking forward to our 8th bridal season together, Betsy!
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)
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!
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.
Many, many hours later, and those waves are still going strong!
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!
Yourself, but better. It truly is the key to a timeless wedding makeup look. Dewy skin. Blush pink cheeks and lips. Flirty lashes. That bridal glow. The look you’ll love when looking at your wedding photos 20 years from now. This is the look Laura wanted for her North Shore wedding at the Beauport Hotel in Gloucester, MA. And that’s the look our artist Alexandra gave her. Simply gorgeous!
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