Today may be Black Friday but tomorrow is Small Business Saturday! In lieu of our favorite studio project, Focus on Wallingford, we wanted to remind you of some of our favorite local businesses. On behalf of ourselves and these places, we want to thank you for your business and loyalty! Shopping local not only benefits your town but families and people who are just like you and doing something they love for work. Although it may cost a little more at times, you can't put a price tag on the added customer service and knowledge of these business owners. Enjoy these few weeks of the holiday season and the new year! Don't forget to shop local tomorrow and all year long.

You heard right, Focus on Wallingford is back! There’s so many businesses to feature we weren’t sure where to begin so we went with one of our favorite places, which is located right in the center of it all. The Dressing Room is a high fashion boutique with great prices and customer service. Its storefront is right on the corner of Main and Center Street at the top of the hill. The owner, Chris and I, have become friends while working on a number of projects together and I admire her love for fashion, approach to client relationships and work ethic. We met up with Chris and asked her to tell us a little about her store, read below!

“With 25+ years of business experience both in the corporate world and as a business owner, it is a joy to incorporate my love of fashion, my passion to empower women and my creativity into The Dressing Room Boutique. I have worked in the world of finance with a fortune 100 company as well as in the position of CFO for an insurance brokerage that my husband founded. I then followed my passion into the world of fashion and currently am the CEO of CM Clothing, Inc. which includes my clothing line Gogirlwrapperz, my retail store The Dressing Room Boutique and my online store The Dressing Room 24-7. www.thedressingroom24-7.com. I just recently partnered with Shoptiques.com which is a global e-commerce site of the best boutiques from all over the world. Just last week we shipped our first order to the UK!

I discovered Wallingford when my oldest daughter Ashley, was attending Choate Rosemary Hall. I loved the charm of the town and have come to love the multi-generational families that live here. It is a privilege to have earned the trust of so many women who come to us to dress them for some of the most important and memorable days of their lives. Whether it’s a wedding, anniversary, reunion, gala or any special occasion where any old dress just won’t do. Our customers know they can rely on us to put them in something that makes them feel beautiful.

In 2012, I was able to expand the store when the frame shop next door went out of business. We were able to double the square footage of the store, add dressing rooms and expand our formal wear offerings. Now half of the store is dedicated to sportswear, jewelry, accessories and shoes and the other half dresses and gowns. We carry everything from denim to evening gowns and all things in between.

One of the things I love about being a business owner is collaborating with other businesses and organizations in town to promote each other and improve the community. Recently we held our 6^th Annual Fundraiser in collaboration with The Rotary for the Liberty Bank Thanksgiving Day Project. We put on a Fashion Show and donate a portion of all sales to feed the homeless at Thanksgiving. It was a huge success and a record breaking year. I am thrilled to be able to make a nice donation to such a great cause.

We have some fun events coming up in the month of December with the Holiday Stroll in conjunction with Wallingford Center Inc. and a fun ladies night we are hosting with local Fashion Blogger and makeup artist Jenna Poitras. Just a few of the fun things we will be participating with other folks and organizations in the near future.

Please stop in just to introduce yourself, browse around and let us help you in any way we can. Our saying is “Enter as Strangers and Leave as Friends.” 

Make sure to poke your head into The Dressing Room this holiday season and keep an eye on the blog to see what other Wallingford businesses we feature in the coming weeks! 

If you are a Wallingford business owner and interested in being featured in FOW in the coming weeks, feel free to contact us HERE.

I've been dying to share these images from another styled shoot with our friends from Salon Le Rae and The Dressing Room! I have loved each of our collaborations in the past but the edginess and overall idea for this shoot was so different from anything else we had done, I couldn't wait to put it into action! 

We decided to switch things up a bit and went from fancy prom dresses to the complete opposite edgy look with leather, black, dramatic makeup and hair. Our model, Marissa, is not only beautiful but also an amazing athlete and all around great girl. She’s the only girl on her high school's weightlifting team, an amazing softball player, crossfitter AND an Impressions Studio employee! You can find Marissa assisting me on on-location shoots in the summer and fall, carrying lights and reflectors. (Good thing she’s strong!)

I showed Jessica from Salon Le Rae some high fashion hair looks I loved and she pulled the vision together with the braided fo-hawk. Jessica also did Marissa's makeup. We started off doing something edgy but not over the top...we decided to take it to the full potential. This isn't something you get to do everyday, so why not! It was so fun to see Maris dressed in such a different style than usual! 

Now, let's talk location! Once we got the concept for styling hair and makeup down we needed a space. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a loft type space with big windows, high ceilings and exposed brick. In talking to Chris from the Dressing Room, she said she knew the perfect space…and it was right in the center of town! She showed me a photo of The Confetti Room and I was sold! It was exactly what I had envisioned. When I walked in, it somehow was even better than I imagined, I was in LOVE! The light and overall feeling of this place was a photographers' dream.

Jess from The Confetti Bar was so warm and welcoming and has done such cool things with the space. We can't thank her enough for allowing us to play in Confetti Land for the day! Side note: Jess and I plan on working together more in the future. We will be offering a Confetti Session add on for our Class of 2016 Seniors that is going to be a BLAST! Stay tuned for the date and details on that.

I LOVE these black and white pictures. I really can't pick a favorite from the whole shoot but something about Marissa's expression and the painted radiator against the brick and showing the space makes my heart smile! Love it!!

Below are a few more of our favorites from this session. Keep an eye out for next weeks blog post...a FOW featuring who else but Jess of The Confetti Bar!

Hair and Makeup: Jessica Finn of Salon Le Rae

Oufit Styling: Chris of The Dressing Room

Outfit: Dress; Nicole Miller. Leather jacket; Blue Pearl by Allen B. Schwartz. Pants; Articles of Society. Top; Nicole Miller

This winter at Impressions, I've had the pleasure of partnering up with The Dressing Room and Salon Le Rae for a multitude of styled shoots. I have collaborated with both vendors before for a variety of things and getting to do these shoots together has been so much fun! 

We started our series with an Audrey Hepburn inspired shoot to showcase some prom dresses from The Dressing Room. When we came up with the idea I knew just who to ask to model! I did Maggie's senior pictures this summer and she's such a sweet girl! To top it off, not only is she beautiful to the eye but on the inside as well - I couldn't wait to work with her again. 

Rachel and Jess from Salon Le Rae nailed the hair and makeup.  I was so happy with how much it looked like the Breakfast at Tiffany's Audrey hair - 100% the look we were going for. The Dressing Room offers dresses from top designers. Maggie rocked these dresses by LM by Mignon 

I feel like this shoot really complimented my "classic style of photography". I enjoy the simplicity of an image and working with high contrast black and white was fun. Being able to photograph and showcase each business in a different "light" has been one of the best parts. I enjoy playing with angles and focal lengths to capture the beauty of the makeup done by the Salon as well as the details of the garments. Playing with the images in post production to give them a slight vintage feel with a modern twist was great because I don't often get the chance to do that. 

I really love these images and I hope you do too! 

We decided to jump in on the shoot with our lovely model.  From left to right, Rachel of Salon Le Rae, Maggie, Christine Rinere of The Dressing Room and myself!