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Tips that every bride should know before her big day!
Congratulations, you are getting married! I’m sure by now you’ve already booked your venue, makeup artist and photographer, and brought your long awaited special wedding dress and jewellery! As soon as you announce you are getting married, you’ve probably been inundated with plenty of wedding advice, but often there are some important details that is overlooked. Having over 15 years of bridal artistry experience, and personally being married for 17 years, I have discovered so many amazing tips over the years that occur during or pre-wedding day.
Here are my top tips on some of the situations that may occur to you, and advice on how to tackle them.
Tip #1 - Talc Powder
You have spent a long time selecting the most perfect dress with the correct fit, colour and embellishes. Beautiful wedding dresses can credit their charming form to layers of velvet, taffeta, silk, beading, embroidery, lace, and crystals gems. However, the beautiful exterior can often make you forget you will be wearing the dress for a rather long day, retaining all of your body heat inside your dress. You will recall that when you were trying on wedding dresses in the shops, the stores were usually set to a relatively cool temperature, to allow you to feel comfortable when trialling on their dresses.
Now, by the time it comes to actually wearing your wedding dress, with matching full on bridal jewellery and the dupatta, you are going to feel like a very hot mess! Unfortunately this can result in excessive sweating, including in between your legs, leading to painful chaffing. Not a great start for your honeymoon! To avoid this from happening, I would advise you to rub some talc-free baby powder in between your thighs, before putting your dress on. If you can’t find talc-free baby powder then regular invisible antiperspirant will also do the trick of keeping you chaff-free. Both products will work a dream and help to avoid the uncomfortable chaffing episode. Oh, and for obvious reasons do remember to pop to the ladies before you put your dress on!
Tip #2 - Dupatta Prep
No wedding attire would be complete without a stunning embroidered matching dupatta! A lot of dupattas these days are rather heavy, and since you probably wouldn’t have thought of wearing your dupatta on your head at the dress trials, you will never really know how heavy they are until it is pinned on your head on the day of your wedding. By then, it’s probably too late to re-consider your dupatta options!
To help you prepare for the weight of the dupatta being on your head all day, I would recommend to practise wearing it on your head a few times prior your wedding day, just to get used to it.
For all our brides we ensure to use the appropriate amount of padding in the hairstyling, which gives enough structure and support for the dupatta to be pinned into and secured safely. This will also help you, the bride, to feel more comfortable throughout the day. A little practise a day of wearing the dupatta will definitely help you to be more prepared, and quite possibly strengthen your neck muscles.
I also advise on taking some pain killers prior to wearing your dupatta, leaving you pain-free to enjoy your special day. Thank me later :-)
Tip #3 - Shots
I am definitely not suggesting you take THOSE types of shots before your wedding! Rather it’s the camera shots I am referring to. It is so important to capture those all-important “getting ready” images for your wedding album. So, what time do you suggest your photographer to arrive? When I am working on a bridal booking, I always advise my brides that their photographers should arrive when we are ¾ ready, so just about when the makeup and hair is almost completed. Photographers like to arrive a little early to capture some images of the wedding dress, jewellery and shoes. And whilst this is going on, it gives us time to finish the hair. When the bride is completely dressed in her wedding outfit, we ensure the photographer is present to capture the important finishing touches of lipstick application and blusher. If the photographer is running late, then these can be the pretend shots at the end when you are completely ready aswell.
Most bridal artists and photographers are usually good at working around each other but having said that, they should both be given ample time to complete their roles without interruptions, so the bride can be ready and off to marry her Prince Charming on time.
The all-important shot has to be the dupatta setting, so we usually do a few “pretend” dupatta shots with the family, before we actually place and secure the dupatta onto the head.
Tip #4 - Handbag Saviours
Your chosen bridal artist will inevitably do an amazing job of finishing your look to a high standard and leave you feeling like the ultimate Asian bride you’ve always dreamed of. Although the makeup will most definitely last you all day, and will be waterproof, it’s always recommended to put some essentials in your clutch bag. We would recommend popping some, or all of the essential items you may need for later on:
- Top up lipstick – your bridal artist will probably have applied long-wear lipstick on you, but it’s good to know that you are not restricted with eating or drinking, with fear of your lipstick coming off
- Tissues – we are not suggesting you having a full on waterworks, but inevitably weddings are very emotional events, so having some tissues at hand will be handy. All good makeup artists will know to apply waterproof makeup, including mascara and eye liner for this very reason. If you do feel like you are watering up and you need to cry, then use the tissue to dab the inside corner of your eye to soak up the water. Even if your tears do come out, again just dab where the tear has fallen. As bridal makeup is applied in stages with various products, you don’t need to worry about streak marks
- Blotting powder or blotting paper – this is a saviour for your clutch bag if you suffer from oily skin or getting married on a very hot day! Blotting powders essentially absorbs shine and diffuses the look of pores for an instant flawless look. Blotting powders are translucent, so completely traceless, and won't disturb your makeup.
Tip #5 - Beauty Sleep
We know it is bound to happen. The night before your wedding, you are so excited and anxious that you probably won’t get a good night’s sleep. Either that or your house is full of buzzing wedding guest whose sole mission is to keep you entertained all night because it’s your last official night in your maternal home J A good sleep is essential but we all know that isn’t going to happen the night before. Fret not! To help with any redness or puffiness in your eyes, I recommended you to use cold cucumber slices prior to your bridal artist arriving, for a minimum of 10 minutes. Cucumbers have an anti-inflammatory effect that helps in reducing puffiness. The high water content also helps in hydrating the skin and brings the temperature around your eyes down to decrease the flow of blood around the area. Both these elements combined help to soothe the skin around your eyes and alleviate any swelling. Clever, huh!
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