Your wedding day beauty regimen will appear to be one of the most important aspects of your big day (it’s actually getting hitched and you’ll look beautiful no matter what, but this is a huge deal for lots of brides), but it’s not just hair and makeup to take into consideration.
Hair and makeup: Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Once you’ve selected your day-of hairstylist and makeup artist (we recommend checking with your regular stylist first to discuss bridal hair and then getting suggestions from friends and family from there”if you’ve been a devout client to your stylist for a while, you may be able to negotiate pricing if you’re ˜maids are getting their hair done, too), make sure to get some inspiration for what you want on the big day and bring it to your trials.
You can start going in for trials as early as six months, but any earlier and your stylist and makeup artist will likely tell you to wait a bit longer to prevent you changing your mind too many times. What you want on your big day is obviously your personal preference”no one can choose this for you but you”but we will suggest that you skip the airbrushing, especially if you’re going for something a bit more natural. Why, you ask? Well, more often than not, it just doesn’t look the way you want and comes off as fake and overdone, instead of the gorgeous blushing bride you really are. Foundation and blush”as long as they’re the right ones”will still do the trick.
Waxing: For many brides in this day and age, fuzz-free ladyparts are a must (especially if you’re going on your honeymoon right away), so to get you going, we spoke to Jessica Frampton, co-owner of Fuzz Wax Bars in Toronto. Frampton recommends, when planning your pre-wedding appointments, about four days before your event; no sooner and no later, because we don’t want you to be prickly and we want to give your skin time to calm down.
When getting ready for your appointment (if you’re a diligent waxer, you’ll already know this), exfoliation before will help remove the hairs a little easier and prevent ingrown hairs”and don’t forget you should aim for at least a quarter of an inch long going into an appointment. First-timer? Frampton explains, We use a hard gel-based wax, which is a game-changer”especially for brides because no one wants to be red down their on their wedding night”but the hard wax adheres only to the hair and not the skin, so it literally just plucking at the hairs, instead of irritating the skin as well, keeping the pain down a bit. If you’re particularly susceptible to ingrown hairs, consider working Fuzz’s vajacial service into your pre-nuptials prep, which is, well, a facial for your vajajay, complete with cleansing, exolfiation, extraction, a mask and a moisturizing finish.
If you’re waxing regularly every four weeks or so (the general cycle for hair growth), Frampton suggests that you come in for your wax and two weeks later come in for your vajacial and then two weeks later you come in for your next wax. On a budget? Fuzz offers memberships that make appointments like this super-easy.
Tanning: Many brides want that coveted glow, and there are a number of ways to get it without hitting up the tanning beds. Have a late-summer wedding? Get outside, but beware of tan lines depending on the cut of your dress. No time to get your vitamin D naturally? Try a spray tan, like the ones offered by Vita Liberata, available at the new Benefit Boutique in Toronto and Four Seasons. On a budget? Vita Liberata and St. Tropez both have amazing at-home glow-getters, like the Vita Liberata pHenomenal 2-3 Week Tan Mousse and St. Tropez In Shower Gradual Tan.
Teeth whitening: We’ll keep this short and to the point. You can totally get awesome results from whitening at your dentist’s office, but there are so many at-home options that get the job done. Go to your local pharmacy and choose the one that you like best.
The Wedding Planner is an ongoing series where we give you some real-life wedding planning advice, from finding the dress to dealing with that ever-growing guest list, over the next few months as we figure it out ourselves.
