Dana's Day in Beautiful Bristol

What a day Dana had for her wedding! So we are three for three for beautiful Saturday weather--our lucky streak continues....

This weekend, Leah, Amy, Pam and I (Courtney) packed our beauty bags and didn't have to travel far...we walked across the street to the Bristol Harbor Inn to prep Dana's uber-fun girls for her wedding at Blithewold Mansion (www.blithewold.org).

This is just a cool shot of a bit  of our make up--Cargo and Smashbox.

Ahhhh...the preparation. We LOVE our Bumble Spray de Mode hairspray (www.bumbleandbumble.com)!

After Dana's hair and make up trial where we got a sneak peek, we talked about this dress for weeks. The scoop collar had hand-sewn silver, pewter and black beading. Amazing...and once again, we didn't get to see our bride wearing it! (Dana, you promised you would send us pictures:o)

Here is Amy, doing Dana's future mother in law's make up. What a pretty lady!

This is Leah, styling this beautiful and elegant updo on Dana's sister in law.

Brides, pay attention! Bridesmaids don't always have to have their hair long, so please don't insist that your girls  grow their hair  for your wedding. There are plenty of ways we can style short hair--

it's so fun and different!

Pam is working on Mollie's sassy 'do.

Mollie's AFTER...we love the flower accents the girls brought along.

Meet Oliver, a French Bulldog. He chilled, and I mean chilled, with the girls all day. We dubbed him New Leaf's newest mascot. Is he not the cutest dog you've ever seen? I wish my dog was as laid back as Ollie (yes, this Frenchie even has a nickname).

Ollie is all packed up and ready to party.

Here I am working on Dana. She was another fabulous bride--totally fun, funny, and wanted everyone to feel really comfortable. She must get all these wonderful traits from her equally as fabulous mother, Sandy. Sandy must have been hiding from our camera!

This is Sarah's stunning style. She had pretty amazing hair and tons of it!

Ah, a bride after my own heart...Dana LOVES volume. A big mistake brides make is not wanting enough volume. Sometimes, at trials, when you are just wearing regular clothes, you feel funny seeing your hair all fancy and 'bigger' than usual. We don't like pageant hair either, we swear. But trust us, when you put on your glam dress, heels and veil (maybe), a little height never hurts. That is unless, you are taller than your groom;o)

Apparently, there was an 'issue' with Dana's veil. This was not her real veil because her new one was being delivered later. Fortunately for us, Dana's seamstress whittled her a shorter version for us to play with. Love, love, LOVE the vintage style of a birdcage veil--such a classic.

I love this shot. Leah and Amy are working on our mother and daughter duo. 

So sweet.

Because I am photographically obsessed, you can imagine my disappointment when we got back to the salon and found we didn't have an after shot of Dana...WHAT?!? I know, I know...we really dropped the ball on this one. Wedding preparation can be pretty crazy. 

I promise to post Dana's glamorized version (hopefully, in full get up) when she sends us pictures. 

Time to get married! Wow, this pooch is pooped. Was this before or after the wild reception?

Sometimes after all the excitement we feel like this too, Oliver.

Thanks to Dana Ropper and her fantastic wedding party. I know you thought we "have to say" this, but you were an absolute pleasure to work with and stop in at New Leaf next time you are in town. Maybe your one year anniversary? And, hey, bring Oliver, will you? 

Stay tuned for our next wedding post...another stellar day for Melanie's wedding in Colt State Park.

New Leaf In The City...Providence, that is!

What another great Saturday in May for Natasha's wedding. If the weather for our first two weddings of the season is a sign of things to come, our brides are going to be very happy this summer...I'd like to think we are good luck.

 Imagine how many brides would be lined up for New Leaf if we guaranteed perfect weather!

Amy, Leah and Ashley headed to help Natasha and her girls get ready at the Biltmore in Providence, Rhode Island (www.providencebiltmore.com). It's a historic, charming hotel right downtown near everything in Providence.

 

Here's Natasha before Leah glams her all up...so pretty, and so au natural too!

Meet Ashley, who is prepping Natasha's bridesmaid. Ashley is so much fun, very stylish and does a phenomenal job with wedding hair and make up. 

New Leaf was the wedding party's morning wake up call, so notice the coffee in hand!

She doesn't even need any help looking gorgeous! If we were all so lucky...

Here's our Amy, the wedding make-up guru, 'playing' with Cargo make-up (www.cargocosmetics.com) and our newest addition to New Leaf....drumroll, please...SMASHBOX (www.smashbox.com)! 

We'll talk about that in an upcoming post....

Like I noted in the disclaimer from Katie Armstrong's post last week, we are not photographers. HOWEVER, I think we might be improving our snapping skills...I love the lighting in this photo, it's so classic and vintage. 

Don't worry, we promise to stick to "beautifying" brides! 

I bet Natasha's bridesmaid feels like J-Lo here, having her hair and make-up "entourage" working on her at the same time!

Ashley looking very focused...

Leah is putting up with the finishing touches on Natasha's updo...

W-O-W!

I doubt Leah could make her hair ANY prettier...Oops. I lied....She did.

She adds this beautiful silk flower to the Natasha's style.

I love this shot of Natasha here...she looks so darn cute holding her veils. Good thing too, I believe it's her wedding day!

It's safe to say that Natasha's face (and amazing cheekbones) is that of a supermodel. 

Leah loves when brides make her job easy without even trying!

The proof is in the picture.

 Natasha is what we call a 'stunner'...That smile, that dress, and that happy. We can only imagine how she must have felt when she put on the gown.

This shot is perfection.

Our thanks and congratulations to Natasha and her wedding party for inviting us to Providence! 

Stay tuned for more wedding fun this weekend...

New Leaf's Newport Wedding Season Kickoff with Katie Armstrong

We love weddings. We prepare all winter long for them. And New Leaf LOVES a great bride. What a great way to kick off our 2009 wedding season this weekend with Katie Armstrong. She invited the New Leaf girls to  Newport to help 'beautify' herself and seven others at the Marriott on Saturday.

Disclaimer: We hope you are impressed with our wedding hair. We promise we will NOT impress you with our photography. Please remember we are hairstylists, and we should stick to our day jobs. Maybe we will get better behind the lens throughout the summer...we can only hope. 

Why was Katie a perfect bride? Well, besides being beautiful inside and out, she was totally laid back, she loved to smile, had us all laughing and was such a great sport when I teased her that this photo would be on our blog...

How cute is she? She said we had to put a before picture up to show the transformation!

This is Pam, working hard on Abby, Katie's cousin.

The fabulous Amy, our make-up artist extraordinaire...she made everyone feel pretty glamorous and perfectly natural. New Leaf uses Cargo (www.cargocosmetics.com), our high-definition make-up line, created to look flawless in any lighting, day or night, especially in photos!

This is Leah working hard on Katie's sister and maid of honor, Allison. 

Katie and Allison are so lucky...

you could tell how much they loved being sisters!

The before....

And voila!

One of my favorite updos...so 'hollywood'!

This is the beautiful bridesmaid, Jackie, who  told me she has never loved her hair so much. I asked, "What about for your own wedding two years ago?" 

She made me laugh when she said she liked this even more! 

From the back...

One of the reasons it is so fun to travel to do wedding hair is that we get to watch all the fun wedding day 'happenings'. The groom, Ryan, sent over the best gift--a beautiful sapphire ring and a monogrammed Snuggie...I always wondered about those things on television. 

Katie tried it on and I must say, she looked  pretty darn cozy! Then, 

we were so excited when Katie's amazing dress was brought to the suite...

Too bad we didn't get to see her in it!

Here is Leah again, our talented hairstylist/make up artist, glamorizing Katie.

Katie had this fantastic sparkly comb that we tucked above the veil.

That's me, Courtney, making sure everything was pinned and placed to perfection!

Even though Katie's not smiling, which is surprising because she was all day, I like this photo. If there is one thing NOT to be afraid of as a bride on your wedding day, it's false eyelashes. Every bride needs a few! No one can ever tell, and your eyes just pop 

without having to wear heavy eyeshadow. 

Trust us...Still doubtful? Just check out Katie's eyes...WOW!

When we first did the hair and make up trial, Katie did not have any highlights. Imagine my excitement when I came to the suite and found Katie had 'gone blonde'. There's nothing I love more than perfectly placed highlights in a sleek updo. They always create so much texture and reflection. I always recommend at least a few to frame the face of all our brides.

This is Katie's textured chignon. During the trial, her hair was 5 inches longer, making the chignon VERY BIG. I advised her to cut off a few inches. She listened and it worked out perfectly! Brides, your hair doesn't have to be super long if you plan on wearing it up. Just ask your stylist for suggestions.

Our thanks to Katie and her entire wedding party. These ladies knew what a wedding day was all about. We love going to Newport on a beautiful day for such great people. 

Stay tuned for more wedding action this summer on the blog...

new you @ new leaf #2

So, Jamie was our next stylist up for the challenge of a 'blog' makeover. She extended her expertise (and highly talented services) to Kristina, an at home, do-it-yourselfer, bathroom colorist. Here is Kristina before:

Jamie had a consultation with Kristina and found out she loves her long hair but would like it a little more updated. She wanted her great new look to be low maintenance...quite an oxymoron, but Jamie was up for the challenge.

"We decided to keep her hair warm, so we toned down the red into a chocolate base color with hidden peek-a-boo highlights, which are lo-to-no maintenance", Jamie said.

Jamie transformed her cut by adding textured layers. This gives Kristina more styling options and loads of volume. The face framing layers really open up her face, which Jamie made more beautiful with Cargo Cosmetics. Call or e-mail us if you, or someone you know, would like a 'blog' makeover.