What should you be doing 6 months or more from your Big Day?

As a hair and makeup artist I’ve always felt that the most important part of your wedding is you. (and your partner of course!) That being said, your friends and family aren’t there for the pretty flowers or the venue. They are there for you! This is the day where you are the center of everyone’s attention. I cringed at the thought of that for my wedding as I am pretty shy. There are two reasons I as a hair and makeup artist didn’t do my own hair and makeup on my wedding day. One, I wanted to relax. Your big day should be stress free and you should be pampered! Secondly, I wanted it to be perfect! I obviously can’t see the back of my head, so when I do an updo on myself it is often something super messy. I wanted a more classic and sleek look which I could only achieve by paying someone or cloning myself. You can see the back of my hair below. I did however have a lot of other things I did in the months prior to my wedding to prep for the big day. I wanted to share with you my timeline I suggest to brides (I will admit, I didn’t follow it to a T, but no one is perfect!)

This is the time that you want to be growing your hair out and working on any changes to your hair color. I never suggest super drastic changes here, but you want to perfect your color well before the wedding so that there are no mishaps. I have had countless brides go from dark to light and vice versa only to go back before the wedding. If you don’t currently have a stylist this is when you should be searching. It is best to stick to one person and it is a bonus if they do hair and makeup for weddings as well. It is extremely important to take care of your hair! My favorite care and styling products are UNITE and SEVEN. They have a wide variety of products that are treatment oriented and thermal protectant to give you not only healthy hair but gorgeous style!

Visit a dermatologist or an esthetician to begin your skincare regimen. You want to find the right products well before to avoid any allergic reactions and to be sure you are getting the results you want. You will want to have a good cleanser, exfoliator (to be used weekly), moisturizer and sunscreen. The idea is to maintain a good balance of healthy oils in the skin. My go to products are Epicuren which the amazing esthetician at my salon Jessica May turned me on to. I am still quite new to the products but I really like them! I will begin to go more in depth with product recommendations soon!

The last thing on the list which is super important and probably the most difficult is to take care of your body. First, cut down on junk food and caffeine. Junk may be obvious, but caffeine? Although in small quantities it does no harm, when taken in large amounts it can cause sleeplessness, irritability, nervousness, and increase in blood pressure, amongst other conditions. These are all counterintuitive to maintaining a stress free environment for wedding planning, so do your best to cut back. It is also very important to take multivitamins. Lack of many necessary vitamins will take its toll on your skin, hair, and nails. Click Here for my previous post on healthy diet for healthy hair. The next one is one is exercise daily. This is a no brainer as most brides want to be sure to fit in their wedding dress. It is a great way to reduce stress and give yourself more energy to get all your wedding planning done. Spend at least 30 minutes a day doing something you enjoy. My favorite is Hot Yoga because it is low impact and so relaxing!

I hope this has helped you on your bridal journey! If you would like more info on any of these subjects or you are looking for a hair and makeup artist for your big day, I would love to help you out! Here is a link to my bridal page where you can message me and subscribe to my monthly newsletter for more tips and info! Happy planning!