Hello all! Captain Obvious here again with some wedding tips! Well, in this case, pre-wedding tips. At this point in my career, I’ve come close to seeing everything, and I feel I should use my knowledge for good instead of evil. Today I’m going to give some advice that could save you from wedding misery. This article is primarily geared toward brides, but can also be great advice for the groom or bridal party as well.
Here is my advice on the top five things you should avoid doing the day before your wedding, lest you suffer consequences. Let’s get rockin’!
1. Get drunk
I know people like to party on their last night of singleness, but remember, whatever you do will come back to bite you the next day.
One time I was waiting with a bride and her bridesmaids before the ceremony, and the bride kept saying, “Uugghhh… I’m gonna throw up… I’m gonna throw up…”
Her mother informed me that the girls all went out drinking the night before and stayed up all night.
All the girls were on the fringe of hurling, completely miserable. They were exhausted, sick, had headaches – you know, the general wicked hangover. Not smart, girls. Not smart.
*As a side note, filed under “Duh,” don’t show up drunk at your wedding either. That can cause some problems for everyone else in the wedding, as well as the vendors. And you can’t have clear, special memories of your day if you’re not lucid.
2. Get your hair colored and/or cut.
Of course you want your hair to look great for your wedding – freshly-colored, healthy and coifed. But take it from a stylist: you do NOT want to chance something going awry with your hair the day before your wedding, leaving no time to fix it.
While I was coloring my friend Mari’s hair last week, and she was thrilled with the color, she said, “Did I ever tell you about when I went to get my hair colored and it came out Bozo orange?” A stylist had completely botched her hair color and DID NOT have the training in color correction that was necessary to fix it. After six hours and multiple failed attempts to fix it, she colored it the darkest brown she had. Mari was incredibly upset. And of course, she’s too sweet and still paid the stylist. She should’ve demanded money for pain and suffering, in my opinion.
I’ve been doing hair for six years, and I have extensive training in cutting and coloring, including color correction, and even I have had things go very wrong. One time I was taking a client from brunette back to blonde. I had done a heavy bleach highlight, but her hair still had quite a bit of brassiness in it. I mixed a toner with a violet pigmentation to offset the orange and put it on her wet hair as she lay in the bowl. In three minutes, the section I had put the toner on was Barney purple. Holding my poker face, I mixed up some bleach and conditioner in a bowl, put it on the purple hair, and started working out the purple with my fingers.
As soon as I saw the purple was going to come out with a little work, I started laughing hysterically. My client said, “What? What’s so funny?”
“Your hair is purple! Hahahaha!!!”
“What?!”
“Oh, don’t worry, it’s coming out. Hahaha!”
Imagine if I HADN’T been able to get the purple out and she had an important even the next day, like……. maybe her wedding or something? Disaster city!
So even if you go to your regular stylist whom you trust, something could still go wrong. So, when should you get your hair done? I suggest one week before your wedding. Your color and cut will still be fresh, but if something goes wrong with either, the stylist will have time to correct it.
3. Use Nair or another hair-removal depilatory cream
Three days before my wedding, I got a bikini wax from my trusted esthetician, Andrea (check her out at www.andreas-skincare-bodytherapy.com). We ended up not waxing my legs because the hair wasn’t long enough and it was irritating my skin. Later that night, I used Nair on my legs. I had three huge patches of skin on my upper thighs that were completely red – I got a chemical burn – because the wax had already irritated the skin, and then I put that Nair crap on top of it! BAD IDEA! However, I had three days to repair my mistake. I used some different creams on my skin and it healed up enough that my skin was no longer irritated for my wedding. I should’ve just shaved.
When I told this story to a woman I know, she said that she knew a girl who had used Nair the night before her wedding and had a HORRIBLE reaction. She put the Nair on her legs, then got in the bath tub with the stuff still on her legs!!! She got a horrible infection (I apologize to the men) where you do NOT want one for your wedding night, and could barely walk the day of her wedding. Miserable for her AND the groom.
Also, don’t use a depilatory on your face the day before your wedding. You’ll be photographed. A chemical burn on your face would be very noticeable.
4. Get Botox, lips plumped, or any other injectable in your face
Botox and other injectables are supposed to be very safe, and I know a lot of women like to get Botox to look fresh, well rested, and younger. Misotherapy is another injectable that women love because it makes your skin glow, as well as dissolving extra fat on the face, such as under the chin.
For the love of God, do NOT do ANYTHING to your face the day before your wedding. Botox can look pretty good immediately, but not if the doctor doesn’t inject it perfectly. Any other injectables cause swelling and sometimes bruising. If you want to have “a little work done” before your wedding, consult with a doctor six months before the wedding and come up with a game plan that will have your face healed and looking non-puffy the day of your wedding.
*This goes for chemical peels as well
5. Get a sunburn
So you’re having your wedding in beautiful Hawaii (or San Diego, or Florida, or anywhere else with sun and ocean), and you decide that you’d like to get some color the day before your wedding. But you’re exhausted from all the wedding planning, so you fall asleep on the beach, and wake up four hours later. The next day, you walk down the aisle looking like Lobster Bride. How adorable…
Not only would you look pretty ridiculous, but you’d be in pain from the burn, which would make for a very uncomfortable day and night.
I hope this article was helpful. Pass it on to anyone you may know that’s planning a wedding. Like G.I. Joe says: Knowing is half the battle!
Peace!