Edgy Wedding Inspo for the Bold Bride

Given that we are all working from home more than usual these days, I feel that it is the perfect time to bring you all a little more new inspiration! These images are all from our recent styled shoot with Melissa of Iron and Honey Photography at Salonlb in the Bridgeport neighborhood!

I swear I was a florist in a past life. Seeing such beautifully arranged blooms bring me so much joy!

This hand lettered leather jacket is available to be rented for your wedding day. Interested? Check out the vendor details below!

And now for our favorite part- the beauty shots!

Thankfully, someone was willing to ride his bike across the city on a January day with single digit temps to make these next ones possible.

Everything about this imagined event was so dark & glam yet with just a touch of playfulness.

This shoot could not have been pulled off without the entire team of dedicated vendors!

Photos: Iron + Honey Photography

Production: Lionhearted Events

Hair and Makeup: Beauty by Ann Krause

Wedding gown: Honey Bridal

Floral Arrangements: Dirty Boots Flowers

Floral Arrangements: Studio Poppy

Catering: Lula Cafe

Lettering (Stationery & Leather Jacket): Pretty Script

Wedding ring: Mineralogy

Venue: Salonlb

Models: Taylor & Merlos

Meet Your Wedding Day Beauty Pros!

A few weeks back, I held our annual team appreciation brunch and photo shoot, and I am so excited to share all of our new photos with you! Over the past year my team has grown a little bit and I want to take this opportunity to introduce the talented hair and makeup artists behind all of the beautiful Brides in our portfolio!

Front Row L to R: Mary, Nikki, Ann (me), Liz & Viki

Back Row L to R: Nicole, Becca, Nancy C., Tilly, Brittany & Michelle

Not Pictured: Nancy G., & Athina

Mary is an incredibly talented hair stylist whom I have known and worked with for over five years now, time sure does fly! She is always so calm and put together that you would never guess that she has identical triplet daughters!

Nikki is the only dual artist currently on the team. This means that she can provide our parties with both hair and makeup services, and she's absolutely killing it at both! Nikki is a big fan of country music, anything cheetah print and traveling to Cali any chance she gets!

It's me, Ann (your Beauty Coordinator and Lead Stylist)! Aside from doing hair and managing your wedding day beauty services in the most organized way I know how, my current obsessions include; sustainability, minimalism & financial independence (as well as making my own candles).

Liz is originally from Kentucky, and on occasion you may catch her souther accent. She worked a French beauty brand for years and it influenced the style of her make up artistry a great deal. Liz's favorite downtime activity is hammocking.

Viki has a degree in Fashion and she absolutely never leaves her house without at least one accessory! She came from Europe when she was 20, and has lived and worked in Italy as well as traveling around the world exploring different cultures. Viki loves to work in airbrush makeup, and when she's not keeping busy with our Brides, she also works in film.

Nicole's favorite kind of work includes hair styles that incorporate softness and texture (nothing too tight). She is a big fan of superheroes and comic books, and she also loves to draw in her free time. Nicole is a great listener and an incredibly efficient stylist!

Becca is one the artists who is new to the team for 2020 and she's already off to a great start! Aside from providing our clients with lovely, soft, romantic hair styles, her bubbly personality is a welcomed addition to the wedding day.

Nancy C. and I have been working with each other for several years now, as we met back in 2016 when we were each developing our own Bridal Beauty Brands around the same time! Over the years, we have been able to celebrate in each other's successes, and give each other support whenever possible. Nancy provides makeup artistry for our Brides and is a lover of all things Disney!

Tilly and I met at our first "real salon job" over seven years ago. It's so cool to get to stick together over the years through different phases in our lives and get to see each other grow in our careers. What I really love about Tilly is that she is a makeup artist with a knack for making absolutely anyone feel perfectly comfortable and at ease.

Brittany is a down-to-earth makeup artist and esthetician (which means that she's skin-care obsessed). She has a way of making you feel like you're great friends, even if you've just met her. You may never guess it, but Brittany has a secret love of tarot cards!

Michelle has been obsessed with makeup for as long as she can remember. Even as young as elementary school, she remembers begging her mom for her very first eyeshadow one day when they were out running errands. Her Mom agreed, and Michelle happily picked out a light purple shade; obviously it was the 90's.

Nancy has always been a lover of trends and fashion, and she enjoys being a Bridal Hair stylist because it allows her to be a part of a special moment in a woman’s life. When she's not busy providing our Brides and their Bridesmaids with flawless up styles and blow outs, you can find her going to the movies, drawing, or listening to music as well as spending quality time with her seven year old daughter.

Athina is a Hair stylist who describes her style as effortlessly chic. As a woman with curly hair herself,  she doesn’t try to fight the clients’ hair too much, but rather finds it’s best qualities and works with it.

When she is not working, you can find Athina rollerblading and talking to her bully dog like he is a human.

And now a couple more group shots from our party...

Photo Credit: Jenn Marie Wedding Photography (except for Athina and Nancy G.'s portraits)

Photo Credit for Athina & Nancy G: Kerri Carlquist Photography

I Think Everyone Should Have a Happy List!

I don't really love the term "New Year's Resolution". Never have. To me it seems to require implementing drastic 180degree changes all at once until they inevitably taper off... making way for yet another need for major change come the following year end. I am however, a big fan of goal setting. I love to really dig in, assess all areas of my life, analyze what stands to be improved, figure out how to do it, make a vision board, charts, to-do lists... you get the picture. I even took a day long goal setting class on Dec 30th! Yes, I'm obsessed.

What's crazy is that this time around, I have found my major all-encompassing goal to be the same for both my personal and professional life! Above all else is PRACTICING DAILY SELF CARE, second to that is ACHIEVING NEXT LEVEL TIME MANAGEMENT & EFFICIENCY SKILLS.

I've been fortunate to be able to schedule some time for reflection in the past few weeks and it is clear that everything depends upon taking better care of myself. I know, this is old news here.... but somehow I have allowed myself to pretty much neglect self care for the past 2 1/2 years. I have been in a phase of life where my (business) baby has needed a lot of love and I was happy to buckle down and focus and make things happen. Not enough hours in the day to finish all my work? Not a problem, I'll just open my laptop during breakfast and work until bed time. You get the picture; and I know I'm not the only woman to overwork herself these days.

Recently, I've had an awakening that I want to share in case someone needs to hear it. I have learned that the more time I give to myself intentionally doing things that make me happy, the better I am at work. I find myself feeling so chill, even when things get stressful, and also being able to really connect with my clients and have a good time with them. Practicing daily self care allows me to feel like the best version of myself across the board!

Now, more about the approach that is working for me...

1. I CLOCK MY HOURS.

Even though I have some freedom when it comes to my schedule, and I don't need to punch in in order to be paid, I track my hours each day. Now I have a goal to stay under 45 hours per week- instead of being proud of myself for working 60+. I break down each work day into the time that is scheduled with clients and then I schedule in time blocks for specific tasks, with the day to not total more than 8 hours. This gives me a focused mindset to not let personal things creep in during work time or to tackle a random work task while I'm supposed to be relaxing at night.

It's working so well that I can't believe I haven't done this before.

2. I USE MY HAPPY LIST.

This is something I just thought of and it is seriously so easy! I tend to have a hard time leaving work alone (see above) and if I find myself with 30 minutes to spare I still sometimes need to force myself to think of something self-care to do instead of just starting work early. It's like I completely draw a blank and can't think of any of my hobbies or interests.

So here is what I did, and you can do it too! I sat down and had a brain dump (into the last page of my 2020 paper planner). I titled the top "Things that Make Me Happy", and then I filled in the page. I came up with things that are free and take less than 5 minutes to things like travel that can take several days and cost a bit more.

To put the Happy List into practice I simply make sure to do at least one thing on the list each day and if I am able to do more than that I celebrate it, I don't shame myself for not working day and night.

Need help with your happy list? Check out mine below for inspiration!

Things that Make Me Happy

Reading

Biking

Sitting in a coffee shop alone

Getting outside

Biking

The Art Institute

Mani-Pedis

Farmer's Markets

Having a Tidy House

Gardening

Baking

Cooking

Hiking

Exercising

Eliminating Debt

Unplugging

Travel

Reducing/Donating Posessions

Candle Making

Learning about Sustainability

Body Brushing

Facial Masks

Getting a Massage/Facial

Stretching

Going for a walk in a different neighborhood

Accomplishing a one-and-done task

Spending time with a friend

Trying a new restaurant

Happy New Year!

Ann