Rachel is one classy girl.  She was so elegant and poised on her big day.  She & I, and her bridesmaids / friends / family all got together on New Year’s Eve to get them ready for the big event.  I really love the idea of getting married on New Year’s Eve.  New York City on that holiday can really be such a nightmare.  I love that they decided to spend it with friends and family, away from the slobbering drunken masses screaming in the streets.  Such a nice way to spend it!

Rachel & I did another practice run the day before her wedding, just to make sure we were still on the same page.  Thankfully, we were.  She didn’t want a ton of color, or a super made-up look.  Which is generally not my preference anyway.  She was just glowy perfection, without a lot of obvious products on her face.  Just soft and pretty.

And, doing the practice run at her home allowed me to meet and hang out with Zac, the groom, who was also there.  First of all, he is one of the funniest dudes I’ve ever met, and I actually had a hard time working, he was cracking me up so much.  And secondly, it was refreshing to meet and hang out with the groom for once!  It’s such a rare occasion.

I prepped them at the Gramercy Park Hotel, one of my favorite hotels in all of NYC.  Just beautiful, from top to bottom.  And this was the weirdest weather day ever.  Continuing my cycle of EXTREME WEATHER WEDDINGS, this one was no exception.  Remember, we had the hurricane in August, a blizzard in October, and then – New Year’s Eve – it was in the mid 60s.  They had planned for a wintery, cold, Christmassy wedding, and they didn’t quite get that.  Not that I’m complaining, I’m sure they were thrilled.  But still.  Freaky weather.  I actually got Chris to pick me up on the Vespa afterwards.  And we had lunch at Maialino (the hotel restaurant) which is absolutely fantastic.

These gorgeous photos are courtesy of Natasha Montero.  Lovely gal, lovely photos!

Congrats you two, I hope you are both having a very happy New Year!!!

Megan was so great to work with!  She and her family were so sweet.  She tied the knot last fall at the Queens County Farm Museum, which is just on the border of Queens and Long Island.  I hadn’t been out there yet, and wow – what an amazing place to get married.  There were adorable baby piglets and farm animals galore.  I was psyched.  In addition, there were hay rides, a petting zoo, a Van Leeuwen truck, and lots of other food vendors and activities.

So, unsurprisingly, the place was mobbed with very loud kids.  Megan and the wedding crew were a bit worried, I think, that a hayride full of yelling children was going to interrupt the ceremony – but, thankfully, the farm had cleared everyone out by the time the wedding rolled around.  It was peaceful and lovely.

Here’s some more shots of her – isn’t she gorgeous!?!?!  I loved working with her.  And, our ideas about makeup were really similar.  She didn’t want so much foundation on that you could no longer see her skin… I was totally on board with that… and she wasn’t afraid to play with a little color… again, something I love to do!  To complement her eyes, skintone, and florals, we decided on shimmery greens and plums on her eyes.  It was gorgeous, colorful, yet understated.

And here’s some shots of her lovely family that I also had the chance to work with – gorgeous ladies!

And a special shout out to J’adore Love Photography, who shot this wedding.  Jenn and Efrain are a husband and wife photo team out of Brooklyn, NY, and I can’t recommend their services enough.  They are super sweet and talented and I would recommend them in a heartbeat!  Thanks for the lovely images, you guys, and Megan – thanks for having me around on the big day!

1940s Glam.  That’s all I can think when I see Kelsey’s amazing wedding photos.  What fantastic style she has.

Kelsey and Adam were married on a chilly day this past March.  We prepped her and her lovely ladies at the Gramercy Park Hotel, which I seem to visit quite a lot.  Lovely, old vintage feel to that place.  The whole day was captured by Levi Stolove,  a super sweet, professional guy who takes amazing photos – highly recommended.  He’s definitely someone I’d want to have around on my wedding day.

The whole day was coordinated by the ladies of Little Miss Party Planner, Seri and Michelle.  They pulled together all the details to make the show run smoothly and keep everyone accounted for and happy.  SUCH an invaluable, and often overlooked resource to have on the big day.  Check out their blog on this wedding for more photos and a lovely shout out to me!  Thanks gals!

Some of my favorite vendors were on board that day.  The amazing Rebecca Shepherd on florals and design.  She never fails to impress me with her gorgeous arrangements.  And Mr. Joseph Borokhov of NY Curly Bride was the other half of that day’s beauty team.  Check out his amazing, soft romantic hair.  I wish mine would do that!

And there’s the bride and Mom – mom was very specific about not wanting too much makeup – which is great, that’s always my inclination as well.  She really didn’t need much – gorgeous lady!

And there’s me!  Looking slightly insane!  But with a very happy bride.

After everyone got ready, they all headed down to the Clover Club to celebrate.  I understand that they don’t normally do weddings — but I think they totally should, it’s such an awesome venue.

And then here’s some shots of her many, many hours later – still looking faboo!  Yay for airbrush technology.

And yes I had to include not one, but two photos of their amazing dog Rocky.  What a cutie pie.  I love him.

Stephanie & Dan came over from London for a small courthouse wedding, with just Stephanie’s sister and her husband. They had amazingly balmy warm December weather, lucky them.

Stephanie is one of the coolest, most stylish brides I’ve had the opportunity to work with. It’s so interesting to me how stylistically, peoples’ makeup preferences are usually linked to where they’re from.  I find that my international clients are way more into glamour and full makeup than NYC gals, who usually prefer to keep it natural.

Something super important to note… Attention future clients: See how the makeup reads as fairly dramatic, but not crazy overdone? In person, she had quite a lot of makeup on. As she was coming from the UK, we didn’t have time for a trial run, so I had to just wing it on the day. She wanted a silvery bluish, fairly heavy smokey eye. It was pretty dramatic in real life – but notice how in the photos it’s not that much? Here’s a great example of what I mean when I say that the camera erases a lot of the in-person drama.

Thanks so much to the crazyamazingtalent that is Katie Jane Photo for these photos – such a gorgeous addition to my body of work.  And a shout-out to the very talented Sissi Chan on hair – again, having not done a trial run, and coming up with that awesome creation?  Well done.

I loved getting to work on these two gals.  They both wanted fairly dramatic makeup, which I rarely get to do for weddings, so that was a lovely change.  More importantly, they were both so happy to be in NYC and so appreciative of everything the city was offering them (a boat cruise down the Hudson river after the ceremony…etc).  They really helped remind me why I moved here in the first place, all those years ago!  So thanks Stephanie, and congrats!

The Foundry is one of the prettiest spots in all of NYC to get married.  It’s modern, bright, and super versatile.  I always know when a client is getting married there, that they have fantastic taste.  Cathy is no exception to this rule!

I really loved working with her and her bridal party.  It was a really creative day for me – as you can see, all the bridesmaids look totally different.  Different skin tones, eye shapes, and bone structures.  So I couldn’t get lazy and do the same face on everyone – it makes for a much more interesting and challenging work day.

Cathy’s makeup design was comprised mainly of shimmery neutral tones – coppers, bronzes, and a hint of gold.  And a nice sharp eye line to go with the modern line of the dress.

Her skin is like porcelain.  Lucky girl!  Congrats!

I had a raffle on my table to win a free trial run with me, and I had little slips of paper for people to submit their names on.  Me, being me, thought the whole thing needed some fun added to it, so, the form read like this:

Just because I was super curious as to what kinds of answers I would get. Also I thought it was a pretty good icebreaker. Weirdly, hardly anyone asked about it, but almost everyone dutifully answered. Here are the results. (the non-responders didn't get a slice of the pie).

Pretty cool right? Unicorn, of course, was the clear winner (as well it should have been). Centaur had a surprisingly strong showing. And I was psyched by the more creative answers (Marcel The Shell and seahorse with wings, I'm looking at you!). These are the kinds of people I want to be working with! Kisses to all!!!