Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life. It’s one you will want to look back on with only the fondest feelings. Naturally, every bride wants to look her best on that day. But looking good takes time, and some things don’t just take hours. Even maintaining the proper skin care, diet, and workout routines require at least a few months for the results to show. Here’s a list of wedding beauty preparations you should get an early start on:
Take care of your skin months ahead
It can take a while to get great, glowing skin. While breakouts clear within a few days, it can take a few months for acne scars and hyper pigmentation to fade significantly. Your skin also needs time to recover from the effects of bad habits such as eating too much sugar and dairy and not getting enough sleep.
Months before the big day, make sure you have a regular, tried-and-true skincare routine and stick to it. If you haven’t started yet, get regular facials. These can really help your skin look amazing over time.
If you’re planning on having any peels or slightly more major treatments done, that’s fine. Just make sure to do them months before your wedding, in case something goes wrong, to give your skin some time to recover.
Remember to take care of the skin on the rest of your body, too. Exfoliate your body skin once a week. Moisturize your hands with hand cream. Close-up prenup shoots and wedding day photos tend to focus on the hands.
If you want to take beauty supplements such as collagen and vitamin E, start doing so months ahead so that you see the best results on the big day.
Do a hair and makeup trial
Most brides will hire a professional makeup artist and hairstylist. Unless you are a professional hair or makeup stylist, it’s just better that way. This way, you’ll know that you and your entourage will be in well-trained hands. See to it that you book a hair and makeup trial—or two if the first doesn’t leave you satisfied. This allows you and your stylists to try different things and see what works best for you and your wedding theme.
During the trial, you’ll determine whether to wear weft hairpieces, what hairstyle best complements your dress, and what your perfect bridal lip color is.
Once you’re happy with your hair and makeup styling, test them in photos with and without flash. Look for sunscreen you can use on the big day that won’t give you a white cast in photos.
Start your pre-wedding diet ASAP
This is an integral part of your skin care, too. Start cutting sugar and dairy from your diet months ahead. Sugar and dairy cause inflammation and trigger breakouts. Swap out dairy milk for almond instead; it’s a great source of vitamin E, which is great for your skin. Consuming refined sugar also causes premature aging in a process called glycation. Here, the sugars in our body break down proteins such as collagen and elastin, which keep our skin looking plump and radiant.
Start cutting down your sodium intake, too. Excess salt in your body can lead to water retention, which can bloat you.
Avoid drinking alcohol because this can dehydrate your skin and break you out. It can also make fine lines appear more visible. Skip the wine and sugary drinks and drink a lot of water. By all means, drink alcohol at your bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, and the big day itself. Just don’t go overboard at the rehearsal dinner and on the wedding day. You don’t want to be so intoxicated that you won’t remember the happiest day of your life.
Exercise
Unfortunately, you can’t work out one day and see significant results the day after. While it’s unlikely you’ll be training on the level of Marvel or DC superheroes, it’s still best to give yourself ample time for this.
Regular exercise has many short-term and long-term benefits for your body. Apart from helping you stay trim and toned, working out is great for your overall health. It lowers levels of depression and anxiety, boosts your mood, and helps you sleep better. The blood circulation you’ll get from moving around will also give you an effortless, lit-from-within glow. It also promotes collagen production and skin regeneration, keeping your skin plump and radiant.
Looking good takes time, so give yourself that time. Your wedding day will be immortalized in photos and videos, so see to it that you look and feel like the best version of yourself. Maybe these healthy tips we’ve given might even become long-term habits so that you’ll continue to look and feel great long after your wedding day.
