We’ve Moved!

Check out our new fresh website as well as our uber awesome blog:

http://www.bellesoeurstyles.com/blog.html

 

Xo.

Ten Reasons why go team Belle Soeur.

So, I’m up this morning preparing for a few consultation. I’m headed first to Arlington, Va by 10 then to Falls Church, turn around hit up a lovely Catonsville, Md bride to be followed by two more in the Baltimore area. I’m going to spend my whole day talking to some amazing 2011 brides. I basically have to answer questions, go over the process, eye some fabulous wedding dresses and chat up some sweet girls. The thing that they’ve figured out and our readers may not have, is why were so awesome. So I’m going to tell you 10 reasons why you should go team Belle Soeur. Lets do this Letterman style.. that means backwards folks.

 

10. Its super relaxing. Working in the salon I saw it time and time again: wake up wedding day, jump on hotel bed until bridesmaids wake up, Mcd’s breakfast, carpool to the salon, sit around wait for stylist, get squeezed between a highlight and haircut, be sorta happy with the style, pay some price the salon made up, wait for bridesmaids to get finished, console one bridesmaid because she got stuck with a terribly outdated tight upstyle, rush to makeup counter, check watch 35 times, get prom makeup, pay random price, rush back to hotel room, wash off 1/3 of your makeup, try to fix upset bridesmaid with tendril’s hairstyle, jump into dress and breath. It doesn’t have to be that way people!

How about more like this: roll over, order some breakfast, we show up, you hop in the shower while we set up, climb into one of our  super comfy robes, grab a glass of champagne, munch on a strawberry, chat with your ladies, listen to some sweet jams and get completely pampered by people who do this all the time. We clean up leave you all beautiful with enough time for you to relax and get dressed. Better? I thought so.

 

9.  We use only professional grade products. We use a hodge-podge of professional brands. Our girls do major research on what products do the best job. When new things come our it’s like christmas. We really know our stuff. It’s seriously would cost you 3-4 times what our traditional makeup application would cost you to go out and purchase the makeup we would use on your wedding day for you. I mean, are you really going to wake up every day and use that eyelid primer? Let us do it.

 

8.  Our artists. I am insanely picky. Our artists go though a rigorous training session, that’s with us after their professional training. We have monthly trend meetings and meet almost every Sunday evening for education courses. Our girls are into their continuing education and we attend regular classes taught by anyone from Mirabella to Graftobian.

 

7. We’re a family run business. Alison & Caitlin [my self & my sister] own, run, manage and generally rock Belle Soeur. On top of that, we have a set of artists who are also sisters. Gabriela and Martha are two of our uber talented artists. [All four of us pictured below] Not only that but one of our freshest artists is Lana, Caitlin & I half-sister. [Ridiculous I know] The other girls who are not technically related to us feel like a family. <3 lotta love over here.

 

6. Super Customer Service. Really, I will answer your email in less than 24 hours. Seriously, if I don’t I’ve been hit by a car or I’ve passed out on my keyboard. I’ll be up in a few hours. No, seriously though. With a 5* rating on responsiveness it doesn’t get much better than that.

5. Our convenient trial runs. We come to you, when your available. We cut out on average 4 hours for your trial. We’ll schedule your hair and makeup together and we wont leave till your happy. Sounds amazing huh? Yeah there’s no cattle call evening trial 45 mins away from where you live and you get more than a 30min trial appointment. You get to sit with our artists while they go over all of your ideas and then they walk you step by step through your service. We want to make sure your happy.

 

4. Our Menu. Just like our philosophy, simple. We offer just a handful of services at set prices. Completely upfront -no surprises or weird discount if you can talk your step-cousins girlfriend into getting her makeup done too. You and your bridesmaids all pay the same. Yes, you heard me.

3. We can handle your whole party. Seriously, our average bridal party size is 7 people. Since we have so many talented artists we are able to work efficiently. No rushing, no running behind and minimal sitting. Sound good?

 

2. We love what we do. Seriously, ever gotten a greasy cheeseburger thrown in a paper bag, made by a sweaty teenager who forgot your tomato and hates his job? Have you ever gotten a cheeseburger made by a grill master wearing a ‘kiss the cook’ apron who’s been slow roasting your burger made from his super-secret recipe for the last hour? Yeah, we’re currently wearing our ‘kiss the cook’ aprons over here. You get a much better product from someone who puts passion into what they do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Our brides love us. No Joke. Check out our reviews. We don’t have any control over what our lovely past brides say about us, we can only respond. We’ve been blessed to be able to work with literally the most awesome set of ladies.  See for yourself.

Read all of our Wedding Hair & Makeup Reviews at

Personal: Merry Late Holidays!

Hi everyone! So I’ve taken a little mini vacay. I mean ideally the next vacation I decide to take will be to somewhere warm, minus my cold and many more pena coladas. So sorry for not updating and writing a really sweet blog about the holidays. I had some family in town [which was awesome.] Even more awesome was what my mom did the night my brother and sister-in-law landed. I came to her house and she had converted her entire living room and kitchen area into a race track. She bought us all remote control cars so we could race. It was awesome because in the end we donate all of the gently used cars to the children’s hospital.

 

Heres the line up of smart cars.

Sorry all these photos are sideways, I took them with my phone.

The only dilemma came in the fact that all of our frequency interfered with each other and no one could control their own car. [I have an awesome mom]

So anyhow, I put together a little video. It has clips from my family’s ugly sweater party, Christmas morning, the christmas play my cousins were in and a few other little things. I do apologize, all this footage and clips were taken with my phone. I got a new video camera for christmas so no more poor footage!! woo. I’m not too sure why its name is produce, but I’ll take it. Anyhow, enjoy. We hope everyone had a great holiday no matter which one you celebrate.

Winnnnnnaa…

Wanna know which of our 2010 brides have won a lovely little makeover?

Please watch this lovely little clip.

[my bad -its a tad bit dark, we'll call that ambiance]

::3.5 hours later::

I can’t figure out how to rotate this clip. I’m sorry!

Just turn your head to the left and it will be fine!

 

Megan’s Wedding Day

“ Ev’ryone can see we’re together
As we walk on by
 and we fly just like birds of a feather
I won’t tell no lie
All of the people around us they say
Can they be that close
Just let me state for the record
We’re giving love in a family dose

We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up ev’rybody and sing”

 

 

Weddings are first and foremost about the couple, after that they are about merging your families together. I’ve been in quite a few bridal suites in my time. Never before have I seen such a wedding group. Megan’s maid of honor was her aunt, her other bridesmaids were her sisters and cousin. It was seriously refreshing to see such a beautiful yet down to earth woman make her family such a priority.

 

 

It was really sweet, Megan’s little sisters were on hand and were very excited about getting their hair done.

 

 

This here is Megan, looking positively radiant. She wanted a sleek, clean and natural look. I think we nailed it.

 

 

Another one of Megan’s sisters getting all dolled up.

 

 

So I have to thank Megan & her aunt for some of these fabulous photos. The nicer quality photos are from them, the poorer quality ones are obviously from my camera. ha. Isn’t she beautiful?

 

 

Here I am putting Megan’s beautiful little clip in her hair. You can see it a little better righhht below.

 

 

I literally cannot stop posting pictures of Megan. I mean you would think it would get old.. but she had such a understated elegance. Her dress, look and accessories were so simple. She looked stunning.

 

 

Megan left us a lovely little review on wedding wire:

   “Alison was fantastic to work with. She came and met me near my house for the first time. I liked her right away. She knows what a bride wants from a stylist and comes up with great ideas to make everything work out. She wants to make sure that your day works out perfectly. She also came out for the hair trial which turned out great. It was nice just chatting and having a practice hair style done.

The day of the wedding was so much fun. Alison and Katy came to do everyone’s hair and my make-up. They did an awesome job. I loved how everyone’s hair turned out. I really loved mine. It was just how I wanted it. My make-up also turned out great. It was very natural looking and made me feel beautiful. I wish I had someone to do my make-up like that everyday.

I would highly recommend Belle Soeur to anyone. They helped make my wedding day all the more special!”

 

 

Love it!

Heather’s Trial Style:.

Hi there! I’m going to introduce Heather today. I am so excited to write about her wedding. There are a few times where I get really excited for a bride. Heather and her hubby to be have been together for quite a while and have two beautiful children. [trust me I saw pictures] He’s a hard working fire fighter and she was a busy busy working woman. Seriously, she would text me when she couldnt talk. I swear I haven’t met a bride yet who worked full time without snapping so close to her wedding. Anyhow, I am so excited for Heather and her hunny. I am sure she’s heard this a thousand times “It’s about time!!”

 

 

She is seriously pretty. Not in a kinda sorta way, more like a serious way. Know what I mean?

 

 

So at the trial, they decided that her hair just wasn’t long enough on the side. Time for extensions!!!! [My fav]  You wont be able to see that till her wedding day blog article. [haha] But just trust me, its awesome.

 

 

I love hair accessories. I thought this was a beautiful flower. It really encompasses the modern hair accessory. I’ve seen a ton of flowers and feathers this year. This was a really soft accessory that was able to balance both. Good Pluck!

 

 

Really, isn’t she beautiful? Wait till you see her in her dress!

Christine’s Wedding Day!

Happy Saturday!

 

I’m sure you’ve seen the article I wrote about Christine’s trial. If you haven’t you should take a look. Let me tell you a little about Christine and her wedding.

 

A few months back our phone rang. I pick up.

 

“Good afternoon. Belle Soeur Styles, Alison speaking”

::throat clearing::

“Hi, I need hair and makeup for my wedding in two weeks”

[normal enough statement, except it came from a deep baritone, manly voice.]

“ahuh..                 um, ok when is your wedding exactly?”

“The Saturday after next in Cambridge”

 

It took about a good minute and a half for me to figure out that he was calling for his future wife. Never in the history of this company have I ever had a guy call on behalf of his soon to be wife. I mean can you imagine? Really how many men do you know that would hunt weddingwire while your working to find you a makeup artist..

 

 

You can read in the trial article about how well that went. Christine’s hunny Titus was around for the trial as well as the day of the wedding. We had to kick him out when it came time to throw the dress on. Gabriela and I  drove our happy butts out to Caimbridge, Md. They said I do right by the water. It was a beautiful afternoon and I don’t think they could have had a better set of friends to celebrate with.

 

 

This was a pretty cool. This is a picture of Christine holding a photo. In the photo is her mother grandmother helping her mother put her veil on for her wedding, on the table is a photo of Christine’s grandmother on her wedding day. Kind of like a kaleidoscope of wedding photos.      

                                                                                                              

 

 

Awesome, yes? As you can see in this photo Christine decided to go with the half up style we did at the trial. She hasn’t gotten her makeup done yet, you can see that in this photo.

 

 

[Don't worry, I cropped out the goodies Christine!] She has the best shaped eyebrows. Beautiful!

 

 

So here is my creepy sneak photo I took. The photographer is obviously standing where they are all looking.[ Please forgive the fuzzy face in the center. I don't like to put kids up on our blog or facebook & I couldn't figure out how to crop her out.] But I can tell you she was adorable. This was just such an awesome picture, Christine & her moma. <3

 

As many of you know I am a super fan of veils. I thought the edging on hers was stunning. Simple. Light. Traditional.

 

As Gabriela and I were leaving we were walking through the lobby when we saw a bunch of people staring out the window. Being as nosey as we are, we stopped. Of course we stared. For about 35 seconds I thought.. wow. There are two weddings here?

 

Uh. no. It was Christine walking down the aisle to her now husband Titus! Seriously stellar. It is really rare for any of us to actually get to see any of the ceremony. So I whipped my camera out and snapped away. Christine was a really awesome bride. Thank you for letting us be a part of such a special day. I wish for a life of happiness for you two! <3

Random Picture Roll!

So I’m looking around my desktop computer at a ton of pictures. I’ve got a lovely little list of scheduled blogs to write. You know, there are times when you know you are supposed to do one thing and you knowingly roll your eyes and do something completely different. This is one of those times. Here we go! Random Picture time!

 

One of our beautiful brides, Erin & her party. Gorge. Yes, seriously.

You know, You ladies are very good at pretending to talk to each other.

 

A very interesting photo of Caitlin and I back in the day. [which was a Wednesday, check your calendar] We used to do a ton of photo shoots, then we got busy doing real work. haha.. just kidding.

 

On of my favorite veils/head pieces. If you’ve read this blog ever you’ll know I’m pretty much obsessed with veils. This one, one of our past brides Hilary wore.. tops my list.

 

I took this photo back in February on the way to Atlantic City, NJ. I was mainly impressed with the simple fact that I took this with such accuracy while the car was moving. This is a serious talent, I mean the chances of this kind of photo coming out clearly is slim. Read slim. I love NJ, this was the only time I’ve been there.. but I love Jerseylicious. [not that that is related in any way to this post] Oh by the way, I think that was the last vacation I’ve taken. Sad.

 

One of the beautiful models Gabriela made up at a photo shoot with Paumen Photography. Gorg.

 

The view from my front door. Really. I live across the street from a horse farm. In the summer I open the windows in my office and I’ll see the horses galloping around. At night, my dog runs right across the street and under the fence and proceeds to harass the horses until they nay at her.

 

This is one of my favorite photos of one of our recent brides. Emily got married in October and her photographer Michelle Lindsay [www.michellelindsayphotography.com] is awesome. I love this photos.

 

 

So here are a few random photos that I saw on my computer. Maybe sometime this week, I’ll get down to business and I’ll post a wedding or trial post. Maybe. Don’t get excited.

Personal: Thank you!

Hi there! So I am sitting on my couch with my dog, watching the Macy’s day parade [and twilight commercials] while eating a delish Dr.McDougalls vegan cup-a-noodles trying to stay warm in my freezing farm house.. mulling over all of the things I am thankful for. [which is a rid-ik amount of things] I mean, this is what you are supposed to do on Thanksgiving day. I packed my boyfriend up in warm cloths, sent him to go play football with all of my uncles and cousins and like all the honest, hard-working females in my family I nursed a hangover while cooking something for later tonight. [I can gladly say that I much prefer watching the parade and eating and baking a pie [[even if its in my cold house]] to playing full tackle in the rain with a bunch of middle-aged men.. yeah -pass]

 

 

 

So anyhow, I told myself I wasn’t going to actually do any work today. I guess this wouldn’t be considered working if I throw some personal things in. So. I wanted to take this time to list off things that make my life as fabulous as it is and what I am thankful for.

 

>For starters I am thankful for all of our brides. We have not been in business for a very long time, but we have expanded so quickly. I have only our past and future brides to thank. Without you I wouldn’t be able to employ all these lovely girls. Thanks to you all I am living my dream. [ok well my real dream involves a lot more water, sand and mini umbrellas but this will do] I am very blessed to run my own company. We work for such awesome clients, I hear other vendor’s horror stories, watch bridezilla and thank all my lucky stars that all of our brides seem to be the most awesome people. [don't make me regret writing that!]

 

 

[one of our very first brides, Jeanie hugging me before we leave -so sweet!]

 

>I am thankful for such a wonderful supportive staff. All of my artists are friends with me on some level. They have had one of the biggest hands in making this company such a success. I am thankful to have such talent, team work and support from them.

 

 [Caitlin getting Emily one of our past brides all ready]

 

>I am thankful to all of our troops who make it so I can sit on my bum in my living room watching the parade today. Not only am I thankful for all that they do but also for the sacrifices their families make for me. Thank you.

 

 

[my bf Jd & I. <3]

 

[my little stinker, Cameron]

 

>I am thankful for my family, my lovely dog Cameron, my moma, & grand mother, all 4 of my siblings, my 2 sister in laws, 2 half siblings, 9 aunts, 5 uncles, infinite number of cousins, my bf, his whole family and all my friends [and now some of their off spring!].

[my mom, 3 of my aunts and my g-ma]

 

>I am thankful for the following things in no particular order: omg.yahoo.com, cheese, edward cullen, the fact that my car is still running, god, the fact that my family will cook separate stuffing with vegi broth for me to eat, Millionaire Matchmaker, taylor swift,  99.1, pie, how its made, Rudolph claymation special, the fact that for the first time in almost 3 yrs I get to spend a whole holiday with my bf [he's just gotten out of the Army!], you my readers, pandora, Jillians Micheals 30 day shred workout tape [actually I take that back].

 

Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya.Thank ya. <3

Monica’s Trial:.

Happy Monday! Allow me to introduce Monica!

Whenever I meet someone named Monica, I just want to call them ‘mon’. You know, the nickname? Well this Monica was no exception. Super sweet and she looked like a super model.

 

I know I sound crazy, she had the most beautiful hair. When we met for her consultation she told me about her “hindu-infusion” wedding with peacock accents. [sounded like heaven]. She mentioned this beautiful peacock hair accessory. To be honest when she was talking about it didn’t sound very ‘bridal’. Well blow my mind, it was beautiful and so unique.

 

 

 

Gabby did a full front braid surrounded by loose gorgeous curls. How hot? Josephine followed up with a nice champagne eye color. A little subtle shimmer finished off with a nice smooth gel liner.

 

 

She literally had the best skin. Seriously, I can’t get over how amazing she looks. Wait until you see the photos from her wedding day!