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” →

Meet the Team! | Chelsea | Bridal Hair Designer

Posted on February 1, 2018April 10, 2018 by ChristyL

Today’s ‘Meet the Team!’ blog post is an introduction to our fantastic hair designer Chelsea! Born and raised in Michigan, Chelsea started in the beauty industry 11 years ago, and received her cosmetology license in 2009. She moved to Massachusetts in 2014, and the Christy & Co. team has been blessed with her presence ever since! She is a master of updos and is the ultimate braid whisperer. She’s also been told that her hair creations are #hairgoals (yes, the hashtag was included!).

Christy & Co. hair designer, Chelsea — Meet Chelsea! (Photo by Meredith Jane Photography)

Chelsea’s love of hairstyling started at a very young age – namely when she decided to use her sister as a real-life mannequin head and chopped off her ponytail (she swears she’s come a long way since then!). Her younger siblings – 2 sisters and a brother – were often models for her to practice on, and in high school she could be found doing formal hair for her sisters and friends for homecoming and prom. It was never any surprise that Chelsea would eventually make a career in this industry! Here are some examples of the gorgeous bridal hairstyles Chelsea has created for our clients since coming on board with us in 2014.

Bridal Hair Design Wedding Updo by Christy & Co.

As I’m sure you can see, Chelsea is a perfectionist with her work. She will keep going until the final goal is perfectly achieved, even if that means switching things up in the middle of a style if it’s not working the way she envisioned. Where other stylists may make accommodations to continue on with what they are doing, I’ve seen Chelsea take apart what she’s been working on and start from scratch, to ensure the client gets EXACTLY what the client wants. This results in a lot of happy brides and bridal parties!

And speaking of happy bridal parties, Chelsea thrives on the energy surrounding a wedding day. She’s always excited to get to work, loves how she gets to make people feel special and even more beautiful on such an important day, and often goes home wishing she could get married all over again! She is truly a wedding addict!

When she’s not working, Chelsea loves to spend time with her husband (she’s married to her high school sweetheart!) and their rescue dog, Cornelius. She enjoys cooking, traveling, and working out, and she and her husband are what some might consider “beer snobs” – they love to travel all over to different breweries and try the different beers.

I’ll finish off this blog post with some of the professional photos we’ve received showcasing Chelsea’s beautiful hair work over the years.

Wedding hair by Chelsea for Christy & Co. — Photo by Jen Walts Photography

Gorgeous work, Chelsea! We’re looking forward to our 5th wedding season together with you this year!

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!

Christmas Wedding Hair and Makeup | Publick House Historic Inn | Sturbridge, MA

Posted on December 30, 2017 by ChristyL

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.

Christmas wedding hair & makeup for Dana's Publick House wedding Continue reading “Christmas Wedding Hair and Makeup | Publick House Historic Inn | Sturbridge, MA” →

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.

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” →

Makeup for Christmas Wedding | Publick House Historic Inn | Sturbridge, MA

Posted on January 10, 2016December 27, 2016 by ChristyL

Since it’s just after the holiday, and there’s a forecast for snow in the next couple days, I figured today would be a perfect time to share images from Lindsay’s beautiful Christmas wedding, held at the Publick House Historic Inn here in Sturbridge, MA. We’ve had the pleasure of working numerous weddings for this group of ladies. Years ago one was a bridesmaid in a wedding I did, and then one of them was getting married… and then more got married… and we were honored to be the ones to provide bridal beauty services for all of their events! (How much do I love that?!)

For her own wedding, Lindsay opted for a natural bridal makeup look, which looked gorgeous on her. I added a hint of shimmer to her eyes and cheekbones to give off a bit of glow and reflect the lights used as decor around her reception. The whole thing looked magical!

Here are some photos from Lindsay’s wedding, taken by Binaryflips Photography.

Bridal makeup for Lindsay's Christmas wedding at Publick House Historic Inn

Bridal photos in the snow?! Oh yes! What every Christmas bride dreams of!

Bridal makeup for Lindsay's Christmas wedding at Publick House Historic Inn Continue reading “Makeup for Christmas Wedding | Publick House Historic Inn | Sturbridge, MA” →

Hair and Makeup for Lindsay’s Spring Floral Wedding | The Collection at Wight Farm | Sturbridge, MA

Posted on December 10, 2015December 14, 2015 by ChristyL

We love making people look pretty for their weddings, and we especially love when we get to work with the same people again and again! One of the biggest compliments we could ever receive is to have a bridesmaid from a prior wedding hire us to do the hair and makeup for their own wedding. Is there any better way to say “Hey, I LOVED what you did, I want you to do it for me again!” That is exactly the case for our beautiful bride, Lindsay! We did hair and makeup for Lindsay’s sister’s wedding a few years ago, as well as one of her best friends last year, so I was SO happy when she contacted us for her own wedding earlier this year. Lindsay has an amazing sense of fashion (she has a design background and owns her own hat company, French Knot), so I was excited to see the details from her wedding at The Collection at Wight Farm here in Sturbridge.

Here’s a little peek! Photos by Fidelio Photography.

Hair and makeup for Lindsay's floral wedding at Wight Farm

Those flowers! And that dress!

Hair and makeup for Lindsay's floral wedding at Wight Farm

Lindsay’s wedding had a very fun, casual, outdoorsy feel to it. She opted to wear her hair in a side-swept ponytail, while keeping her makeup pretty natural with a pop of color on her lips. She looked gorgeous!

Hair and makeup for Lindsay's floral wedding at Wight Farm