When it comes to wedding planning, finding the perfect dress and venue are usually at the top of your to-do list. But there’s one thing you can’t forget: skincare! Every bride (and groom) wants to look their best on their special day, and whether that involves perfecting your complexion or restoring volume loss, you’re going to need more time than you think.
You’re likely going to want to start preparing months (if not a full year) in advance! If this sounds like one more thing to stress about, don’t worry—we’ve created a wedding countdown timeline for you! Read on to learn what steps you should take to prepare for the big event.
Wedding Skin-Prep Timeline
1 Year Before Your Wedding
Schedule a Free Consultation
The first bullet point on your skin-prep checklist should be booking a free consultation with a well-established and credible med spa (like AESTHETICS 360°). You’ll meet with a specialist who will learn about your medical history, listen to your skin concerns, provide a facial anatomy and skin assessment, and get an understanding of your budget and timeline.
If you schedule a consultation at AESTHETICS 360°, you’ll receive a free VISIA Complexion Analysis (although not every med spa offers this) so we can truly get to know your skin. We’ll scan, analyze, and classify your skin’s surface and sub-surface!
Why Start Early: By scheduling a consultation sooner rather than later, skincare professionals are able to create a customized treatment plan for you to follow (and it’s much more accurate than your last-minute guesswork).
9 to 12 Months Before Your Wedding
Incorporate Medical-Grade Skincare Products
If you’re not already using medical-grade skincare, it’s time to start! Medical-grade skincare products are backed by clinical research studies and formulated with high concentrations of active ingredients—such as retinoids, hydroquinone, AHAs (Alpha Hydroxy Acids), BHAs (Beta Hydroxy Acids), vitamin C, advanced peptides, and antioxidants.
They’re meant to provide long-term medical and cosmetic advantages, and as a result, can only be sold by a physician or physician-supervised licensed skincare professional (not plucked off the shelves at drug stores).
Why Start Early: By incorporating these products into your skincare routine early, you’re giving yourself enough time to build cellular turnover and repair skin, adjust to the higher level of active ingredients, and enjoy the results (without any last-minute reactions).
Start Sculptra
Although Sculptra may seem like a type of dermal filler, it’s actually an FDA-approved biostimulant that comes in the form of an injectable. It uses poly-L-lactic acid to stimulate your body’s natural collagen production process, giving your skin enhanced volume and structural support.
It’s clinically approved to treat mild to moderate wrinkles and folds on the face, add mild contour, and improve the appearance of textured or uneven skin. That means you’ll look naturally rejuvenated on your wedding day!
Why Start Early: Because Sculptra gradually builds up collagen over the course of 3 to 9 months, you need to give yourself enough time for the subtle, natural looking results to appear.
Begin Laser Hair Removal
Avoid the nightmare of stubble or ingrown hairs on your wedding day—it’s time to finally toss the razor, cancel your next dreaded waxing appointment, and opt for laser hair removal. Schedule a laser hair removal treatment to safely and quickly target hair growth from the root, anywhere on the body.
Why Start Early: Because most areas require 6 to 8 treatments split up among 4- to 6-week intervals (to catch the hair in its many different stages), you’re going to want to give yourself time to begin the process. But the end result of a 70% to 90% reduction in hair is worth it!
Get Botox
Botox is the #1 non-surgical cosmetic treatment—and that’s because it’s an FDA-approved injectable that effectively (and safely) blocks nerve receptors, relaxing the muscles that cause expression lines to form (while also preventing the formation of new wrinkles).
It reduces or eliminates the appearance of:
- Frown lines between the brows
- Crow’s feet
- Horizontal forehead lines
- Neck wrinkles
And can be used to help reduce:
- Excessive underarm sweating
- Chin dimpling
- Gummy smile
- Platysmal neck bands
It’s an all-around lifesaver! And don’t worry, an experienced injector, like the ones at AESTHETICS 360°, will strategically place the Botox to make sure you appear subtly refreshed, not “frozen” at your wedding. After all, that’s a day full of smiles!
Why Start Early: Results from Botox take up to two weeks to develop. You’ll also want at least one full treatment cycle completed before your wedding, and treatments need to be spaced 3 to 4 months apart. Plus, if you’ve never had Botox treatment before, you will want to account for at least one full treatment cycle to be sure you like the look of it.
3 to 6 Months Before Your Wedding
Schedule Chemical Peels
Chemical peels are a popular rejuvenative treatment among brides of all ages, and we promise that they’re not as scary as they sound. Chemical peels remove the superficial layers of skin, revealing the smooth, brand-new skin underneath. There are a variety of chemical peel options to meet your skin goals, whether that’s softening wrinkles, reducing the appearance of melasma or unwanted pigmentation, or improving tone and texture and the appearance of enlarged pores.
Why Start Early: Depending on the type of peel and your skin, recovery will range from 0 to 2 weeks after each treatment.
Experiment With Dermal Fillers
Dermal fillers are an injectable treatment that uses hyaluronic acid (a safe, naturally occurring sugar molecule in your skin) to promote collagen production and encourage your tissue to retain water to stay plump, full, and firm. It can add volume, contour, structure, and symmetry to your wedding-day appearance.
Dermal fillers are incredibly versatile, which means they can be used for:
- Lip, jawline, and cheek enhancement
- Skin quality and hydration
- Loss of volume
- Chin projection
- Jowling
- Under-eye shadowing
- And more!
Why Start Early: Although filler appointments can be spaced out anywhere from 6 to 24 months, in order to achieve your desired results, the fillers may need to be staged out in multiple sessions.
Consider a BBL Photofacial
If you’re interested in reducing signs of pesky sun damage spots, freckles, or broken capillaries, consider getting a Broadband Light (BBL) Photofacial! It’s a non-invasive skin treatment that reverses UV damage through the use of lasers that gently heat both the upper and lower layers of skin, stimulating new cell growth.
Why Start Early: Although you’ll notice improvement in the weeks following your session, results will continue to improve for months after treatment, and you may need multiple sessions to meet desired skin goals.
1 Month Before Your Wedding
Get a Relaxing Facial
While you’re counting down the days until you finally say “I do”, give yourself a much-needed break with a specialty facial treatment. Although every facial is different, they offer a rejuvenating experience consisting of:
- A deep cleanse
- Dermaplaning to remove peach fuzz and dead skin cells
- Exfoliating mask and massage
- Steam and extractions
- Hydrating masks
- Microdermabrasion
- LED light treatment to boost collagen and reduce inflammation
Ready to Begin Your Wedding Skin Prep? Come to AESTHETICS 360°
Come to AESTHETICS 360° for a free consultation, and get started with your wedding skincare prep! We understand planning a wedding can be hectic; that’s why we’re here to take some of the work off your hands. We’ll help you become the most confident bride (or groom) you can be with the help of a customized treatment plan. That’s what it means to experience the 360° difference.
