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.
How cute is this shot of Laura with her dad?Totally dreamy First Look location
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.
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!
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.
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:
Photo by Lindsey Mae PhotographyPhoto by Simply K StudiosPhoto by Hitlin Photography
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!
Photos by Russell’s Photography Studio
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 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)
Christmas weddings… it’s that special time of year when things seem a little more romantic, a little more cozy and a lot more festive. I chose to have a Christmas wedding myself, because it’s my favorite time of year! White lights everywhere, fires roaring, snow softly falling. I just love it!
Our bride Dana opted for a Christmas-themed wedding as well, at the perfectly decorated Publick House Historic Inn here in Sturbridge. I did the makeup for the party of 6, while our hair stylist Renee took care of the hair design. Dana wears her hair in a long bob, but Renee was able to pull some tricks out of her bag and created a beautiful twisted updo for her!
Here are some photos from Dana’s beautiful winter wedding, captured by photographer Juliane Karlgren for The Pros.
It’s that time of year here in New England when the temps have gotten colder and the only foliage left behind on the trees are the burnt umber-hued oak leaves. Autumn is always a popular time of year for weddings here in Massachusetts due to our brightly colored fall foliage, but November tends to get a bit quieter as the leaves drop. This late autumn wedding I’m about to share with you shows just how beautiful a November wedding in New England can be! Golden grasses and shades of rust in the trees lends for a perfect backdrop for warm neutral-toned eyes and a gorgeous coral lip. This is the look our makeup artist Betsy gave Katie for her fall wedding at Harrington Farm in Princeton, MA, captured here in photos by Bridget Parmenter of Charlie Little Photography.
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!
