You have your dress, venue, and, of course, your perfect partner. Now, it’s time to take charge and start prepping your skin for your big day! Your wedding day will arguably be the most photographed day of your life, so taking proactive care of your skin before your wedding is essential. The skin on your face needs to be sculpted & smooth as the perfect canvas for your bridal glam makeup, and having tightened, toned skin on the body will help you feel your best in your wedding dress. Here’s a quick start guide to getting your best skin before the big day.
1 Year-9 Months Out: Consult with the Pros
Beginning as early as possible, you’ll want to consult a trusted skin care professional to address your unique skin needs before your wedding. A dermatologist, with their expertise and medical-grade prescription topical products (like retinol), antibiotics, and medications, can help with skin conditions like acne, rosacea, dermatitis, and eczema. Many of these treatment plans take several months to work, so getting a head start is critical to a glowing complexion on your wedding day.
Your aesthetician is another key player in your skin preparation journey. They can assist you with a variety of cosmetic treatments – from popular options like Hydrafacials or professional NuFACE Microcurrent Treatments. During your visit, they will help identify your skin goals – from tightening loose skin to sculpting facial muscles or getting deep hydration for a radiant look. It's important not to wait until the last minute to schedule your facials – many clients experience ‘purging’ after facials and extractions, and you don’t want to have breakouts on your big day.
9-6 Months Out: Try Out New Facial Treatments
When you're nine months away from your wedding, it's the perfect time to explore new facial treatments. Whether you’re considering laser treatments and chemical peels to smooth wrinkles and improve skin texture or injections to add fullness to lips, you’ll need time to allow your skin to heal properly from these more invasive procedures. Popular facial treatments like laser resurfacing and microneedling cause damage to the skin to stimulate the healing process and enhance collagen production, but they often cause the skin to look worse before it looks better.
Many brides opt for Botox® before the big day to diminish forehead lines. Unlike injectable fillers, injectable freezers like Botox or Dysport cannot be dissolved, so if your injections are less than stellar, you’ll be stuck that way (literally). Botox and Dysport will naturally wear off in 3-6 months, so give yourself plenty of time to see how your skin reacts if you’re trying out injections for the first time.
For a less-invasive way to transform skin, consider trying out at-home or professional microcurrent treatments. Rather than using needles to treat skin (like fillers, freezers, and microneedling), microcurrent uses gentle electrical currents that pulsate and re-energize your skin and facial muscles. This helps, in turn, to tone and contour the facial muscles while promoting collagen production for a more lifted, sculpted look and smoother skin.
Many microcurrent newbies like getting a professional treatment to see instant contoured results and learn lifting techniques from the pros. If you’re more of a DIY girl, you can replicate pro-level results at home with handheld microcurrent devices—like the FDA-cleared NuFACE MINI+ or TRINITY+. Both devices have three treatment depths to target skin and facial muscles and can be synced to the NuFACE Smart App, where you can follow along with guided treatment tutorials for daily lifting to see maximum results.
While NuFACE Microcurrent Devices provide instant results in just one use, they are even more effective when used consistently – just like a workout – so starting several months from your wedding will give you the best results.
6-3 Months Out: Establish Your Routine + Amp Up Your Body Skincare
Six months from your wedding is the time to set the stage for your bridal glow with a solid daily skincare routine. Of course, keep the basics going strong: daily cleansing, removing makeup before bed, moisturizing skin, and protecting with SPF daily. Now is also the time to consider adding special products like targeted serums or masks to amplify hydration for dry skin. Consider what your skin needs: enhancing radiance for lackluster skin, reducing the look of dark spots and discoloration, or protecting skin from free radical damage. No matter how you treat your skin, look for high-quality ingredients and be consistent to get the best results.
If you’ve started sculpting skin with microcurrent technology or utilizing red light into your daily routine, remember to keep up with these habits in the months leading up to your wedding. The experts at NuFACE recommend starting with just 5 minutes a day, five days a week, for the best results. You can track your treatments with custom reminders and the Selfie Tracker right in the NuFACE Smart App leading up to your wedding day.
While you’re giving plenty of attention to your facial skincare, don’t neglect the skin on your body. Body care has come a long way from just bar soap and loofahs. You can now treat your body with skin-active ingredients like retinoids, AHAs, and vitamin C infused in luxe body wash formulas. You might also like using a skincare tool, like a dry brush to buff away dead skin cells and enhance circulation, or the NuBODY® Toning Device to smooth dimpled skin.
The NuBODY® Device uses the same iconic microcurrent technology NuFACE is known for, but with larger device spheres to treat the abs, arms, legs, and booty. If you’re wearing a strapless gown, try out the Arm Tightening Treatment in the NuFACE Smart App, or firm up the bum and smooth dimpled skin with the Bum Firming Treatment for your hottest honeymoon looks.
1 Month Out: Get Your Final Treatments + Schedule Your Makeup Trial Run
When you’re about a month away from your big day, you’ll want to get your final treatments and give your bridal look a test run. Now is the time to get your final Botox treatments or injections. Allow 2-4 weeks for your botox to settle fully and reduce post-treatment bruising. You’ll also want to schedule your final facials, including hydrafacials and dermaplaning about one month in advance to reduce the risk of irritated skin or breakouts on your big day.
Getting your last pre-wedding treatments isn’t just about having a gorgeous glow on your wedding day – taking time to pamper yourself will allow you to rest and relax, which is much needed during this hectic period. Reducing stress when possible will help you to look and feel your best on the big day, so using this month to treat yourself will undoubtedly pay off.
The month before your wedding, schedule your spray tan, hair, and makeup trial runs. Consider these a ‘dry run’ where you can still make adjustments and troubleshoot for potential issues, like a spray tan formula that’s too orange or a concealer that creases under your eyes. Ask your stylist and makeup artists for precisely what you want on the day, and they will write down the process and products they use to replicate on your wedding day.
Week of the Wedding: Go Back to Basics
The week before your wedding is sure to be extra busy. From last-minute bridal nail appointments to picking up your dress, greeting out-of-town guests, and hosting your wedding rehearsal, you’ll likely have long days and late nights before the big day. It’s important to take time for self-care.
Remember to hydrate adequately and drink plenty of water in the week leading up to your wedding. This will help flush out toxins and salt from your system, reducing facial puffiness and giving your skin a healthy glow. While your wedding week can be chaotic, don’t neglect the skincare basics – like removing your makeup and cleansing your skin. Sleeping in your makeup will put you on the fast track to clogged pores and risk developing breakouts on your big day, so thoroughly cleanse your skin before bed. Many experts recommend double cleansing – first with an oil-based formula to wipe away makeup and then an oil-free cleanser to remove oil and impurities.
If you exfoliate on the week of your wedding, do so gently to avoid irritating skin. Buffing skin with a washcloth or using a gentle AHA toner a few times a week is enough to buff away dead skin cells without drying skin or damaging your skin cell barrier.
Additionally, protect your skin from UV rays on the days leading up to your big day. The last thing you want on your wedding day is a sunburn. For a healthy, tan glow in your wedding dress sans sun damage, consider getting a spray tan or opting for bronzing serum drops to give skin a sun-kissed look. To avoid unfortunate self-tan streaks, use the same self-tan products or spray tan you used in your trial run to get the perfect bronze glow.
Day of the Wedding: Create the Perfect Canvas
On your wedding day, creating the perfect, polished canvas for your bridal makeup is crucial. To achieve a smooth and glowing complexion, take it easy with harsh products. It’s tempting to go ‘all out’ with your skincare routine before saying ‘I do,’ but don’t experiment with new products, treatments, or routines on your wedding day. Switching up ingredients could create flare-ups or breakouts. Instead, use your gentle, established skincare routine to soothe and moisturize skin.
Cleansing, toning, and moisturizing your skin are the only steps you need before getting your glam done. Try to use the same products you used when you got your bridal makeup trial done, as this will ensure that the products your makeup artist uses blend well with your skincare and last all day. Your wedding makeup artist will also help to prep your skin for makeup to create a long-wearing bridal look that photographs beautifully on the big day.
If you want an ultra-sculpted look that will help you look contoured and defined at any angle, you may want to do a NuFACE facial treatment with your MINI+ or TRINITY+ before applying your skincare and makeup. This helps tone, tighten, and instantly lift your face – like a lymphatic drainage treatment or intense gua sha session - to help reduce facial puffiness before your makeup application. Our experts recommend the 5-Minute Facial-Lift® or Ultra-Sculpted Facial for instantly contoured, lifted results. You can follow along step-by-step in the NuFACE Smart App to take the guesswork out of lifting and get sculpted in a snap.
Your bridal makeup artist may recommend a FIX Line Smoothing Treatment before your makeup application. This quick microcurrent treatment uses the FIX® Device to gently smooth the surface layer of skin for a flawless, filtered look – making it the perfect way to prime for makeup.
Getting the Glowing Skin You’ll Love
Your wedding day is sure to be one of the most important days of your life – so it’s critical to prepare your skin to get glowing. Use this bridal prep timeline to sculpt skin on the face and body, address your unique skin needs, and get a radiant complexion before you say ‘I do’ to look and feel your best on your special day.
*BOTOX® is a registered trademark of Allergan Inc.
