Wedding beauty in the run up to your big day

Getting groomed for your wedding day can be a lengthy process. Suzanne Baum looks at treatments that can be scheduled ahead of the main event. 

Looking perfectly groomed as a bride can be very stressful so the less you have to do the better. Aside from getting your hair and make-up done on the actual wedding day, you can set aside other beauty procedures to be done in advance to ensure your skin is glowing and you look perfect.

You’ll look back at your wedding day snaps for decades to come and the last thing you want is to appear washed out, particularly as ivory dresses can make the skin appear pale. This is why many brides reach for the fake tan which can often prove a tricky process if not done professionally. Too much of a colour and you could well come out looking tangoed against a white dress but not enough and you’ll wish you had gone a shade darker.

As a regular fake tanning girl (yes, that golden glow I sometimes have is sadly not natural),I have learnt from trial and error that to achieve the best colour it is important  to have your tan at least a few days before the big event. That way you are absolutely guaranteed that the initial brown guide colour has calmed down and more importantly there will be no fake tanning marks transferred onto your dress. In my opinion, a spray tan’s optimum colour is on day two – so if you’re getting married on a Saturday, have your tan on the Thursday. There are many tanning products around but my favourite is St Tropez which can be self-applied or sprayed on at a beauty clinic.

Moisturise daily to prolong your tan, especially if you are planning on taking an exotic honeymoon afterwards as having a base colour will certainly help.

Brow grooming may seem ludicrous to our male partners (although I believe many men are starting to take a shine to it!) but having perfect eyebrows is a huge necessity for brides. Eyebrow shapes can frame the face and the right arches not only emphasize your eyes and make you look younger, they can even let you get away with wearing less makeup. So what happens when your brows require a beauty makeover? The celebrity treatment HD Brows, available in salons throughout the country, can help you create the perfect look for your big day.  Book a few sessions well in advance to follow a treatment plan for flawless brows.

On the subject of body hair, waxing is one of life’s necessary evils and your wedding day is the one time you’ll want to ensure more than anything your hair free. The week before your wedding is the best time to have your waxing done to ensure any red marks have gone and skin has calmed down if you are planning on applying fake tan.

Such is the need for waxing, the King’s Road salon Wax in The City-that is dedicated solely to hair removal- is constantly busy.

With all of the beauticians trained at the flagship academy in Berlin, the highlight is on their strip-free warm wax formula. The wax is reported to be the closest thing to pain-free that clients have experienced.

For brides, the salon recommends a full arm wax as they are on show a lot more than our legs and they would also recommend waxing of the upper lip, eyebrows and any other part of the face that might have some small amount of fine hair. This allows the make up to go on smoother.

The only place you really want to encourage hair growth is on the head and it is definitely worth having treatments in the run up to your wedding day to ensure your locks are silky smooth. If you wish your frizzy curly hair was straight and sleek, and like me are fed up of using straightening irons, then it could be time to consider a more permanent lasting treatment.

Many salons offer Brazilian blow dries if you are after straight hair but from my experience it’s difficult to know just how much damage this does to your hair. Instead, it may prove costly, but I believe having a straightening treatment from a reputable hairdresser is worth every penny.

The treatment I had at the Daniel Hersheson salon in Harvey Nichols has revolutionised my daily beauty routine. I had frizzy and hard to manage hair which has been ironed so much it had become dry and brittle. Now that I’ve had my hair permanently straightened, I wake up and simply brush it and it looks shiny, sleek and expertly blow dried in minutes – it has saved me so much time every day. You are issued with three small commandments: don’t get your hair wet for three days, don’t tie your hair back, and avoid touching it. Afterwards, it’s simply a matter of wash and go, making bridal hair so much more manageable.

On the subject of vows, having taken steps to ensure your bridal beauty has been taken care of, you can finally relax and enjoy your special day knowing you look picture perfect.