Take A Vow - Bridal Basics

By Anne Marie Scanlon

So after a long search you finally found a guy. Not just any guy, the guy. And this guy, THE guy, finally did the decent thing and popped the question. You said yes. Game over. Cue happy ending, a swell of music and a silhouette of the pair of you walking hand and hand into the sunset.

If you live in a romance novel that is. For those of us who live in the real world the proposal is not the end, it's only the beginning no not of the rest of your life but of months and months of planning, preparations, stress and wondering if it's all worth it, if he's worth it. There's the dress to worry about. Oh yes the dress, its all about the dress, or so we're told. You spend months searching; trying on various designs, studying bridal magazines like they were sacred scripture, all to find the perfect dress and then your work is done. Right? Far from it, once you've sourced THE dress then you have to worry about caterers, venues, party favors, presents for bridesmaids and groomsmen, the speech (oh yes it is usual for a bride to make a speech these days and rightly so), hitting the gym and dieting like crazy, the seating plan (that alone is enough stress for anyone in this and several other lifetimes), transport to and from the church, the flowers, the color scheme, the theme (spare me). Oh yes, if you're getting married the list is endless, they don't call it the BIG DAY for nothing.

Honestly planning a wedding is a full-time job but the chances are that you already have one of those so you're going to have to devote a particularly large percentage of your spare time to putting it all together. This can result in your feeling exhausted, overworked, over-stressed and underappreciated. If your fiancé thinks that you're overreacting do remind him that event planning is an occupation in itself and most event planners have a couple of staff and don't have a future mother-in-law/sister-in-law/aunt-in-law making 'suggestions' every five minutes.

Considering the amount of work the average wedding takes and the ensuing amount of stress its amazing so many couples make it up the aisle at all. With all of stuff on your wedding 'to do' list on top of the normal demands on your time it's easy for something to get lost in the mix. Don't let that something be your hair and makeup. It is said that a wedding is 'the bride's day' and this is true. It is the one day of a girl's life when she can be assured that she'll be the centre of attention - unless someone has the bad grace to drop dead at the ceremony, or streak across the altar.

With that in mind donning a fancy dress isn't enough - your hair and make up need to be as close to perfect as you'll ever get them. No pressure, eh? Seriously though, the dress will be hung in a clothes bag in the wardrobe but you'll have to live with the pictures for the rest of your life - or until the divorce at any rate.

Most brides spend the months prior to their wedding dieting and exercising in an effort to achieve 'the perfect figure'. I'm not going to get into the whole size debate right here, the fact is, right or wrong, most brides attempt to lose weight before walking down the aisle. However, with all of the emphasis on the dress and being the 'right' size it's often easy to forget that your skin can often need a bit of advance preparation. In fact considering that you are probably under a great deal of stress, apart from the change in diet, your skin deserves extra attention. The last thing you need to see on your wedding day is skin blemishes and/or break outs. 3LAB have a preventative care system that will help alleviate one form of pre-wedding stress - worrying about breakouts. Spot Erase Complex ($75) is a botanical treatment to diminish pigmentation and discourage future pigmentation. It contains molasses extract, bearberry, mulberry, bilberry, grapeseed and liqurouce extract all to help erase age spots (oh yes, brides are getting older), sun spots or acne scars.

Perfect Balancing Toner ($65) provides antioxidants to protect skin from environmental damage and to stimulate circulation. It also removes residue from the skin while restoring natural moisturizers. Ginseng root extract is the ingredient which helps increase circulation, removes toxins and decreases puffiness. And remember girls puffiness is not something you want at a wedding - not your skin, your eyes or your dress.

Shine Stop Moisturizer ($65) is a lightweight, oil-free moisturizer which contains Vitamin E, Allantoin and Hydranox™ and leaves a matte finish on the skin. Apart from being make up friendly this moisturizer contains chamomile to help reduce redness and inflammation.

Perfect skin is as essential to your wedding day as something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. To ensure your skin looks its best try the appropriately named per-fékt skin perfection gel ($57.50) a multitasking product which helps reduce redness, disguise enlarged pores, fine lines and wrinkles, even out pigmentation, lock in moisture and fight aging. The per-fékt skin perfection gel comes in five sheer shades - Translucent which is clear for all skin tones and types; Luminous, a very light neutral shade ideal for fair skins; Radiant, infused with additional color for fair to medium tones; Rich, for darker or olive skin tones and Decadent which is a deep mahogany. With its variety of shades and uses its no wonder that per-fékt skin perfection gel has a number of celebrity fans including Heather Locklear, Desperate Housewife Nicollette Sheridan, Dream Girl Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Ripa and all of the Hilton women - Paris, Nicky and Mom Kathy.

Brides are supposed to look radiant and to glow but you certainly don't want to shine. Well, not your skin at any rate. Shiny greasy-looking skin is a no-no at any time but most especially on your wedding day. Ensure that you look radiant from love alone by organizing some shine control Bioré® have a whole system devoted to mattifying your skin - Bioré® Shine Control Collection. Start off with Bioré® Shine Control foaming cleanser ($5.99) which provides a deep clean without stripping your skin of its essential moisture.

When it comes to moisturizing you have a choice between Bioré® Shine Control Moisturizer ($5.99) which is lightweight and oil free or Bioré® Pore Minimizing Moisturizer ($12.99) which makes the pores look smaller, skin look smoother and also contains an SPF 15 (if you're getting married out of doors you'll need to lash on the sunscreen).

Other oil-control and mattifying products to check out include Dermalogica Oil Control Lotion ($44.50 4 oz, $31.50 2 oz.) which will keep your skin shine free all day long. This lotion is easy to apply and absorbs really quickly. Just be careful when applying around the nose as if you don't blend well enough you'll end up with a white crust around your nostrils and people will think your natural wedding high comes from somewhere else. Clarins Ultra-Matte Rebalancing Lotion ($36) is one part of their new Truly Matte Skin Care for combination & oily skin line and guarantees a matte appearance, anti-shine protection and smooth skin. This product is especially good for oily skin. The line also includes Pore Minimizing Serum, Hydra-Matte Lotion, Blemish Control and a Pure & Radiant Mask.

For on the spot upkeep of your shine-free complexion Clinique Pore Minimizer Oil-Blotting Sheets ($13.50) are perfect. These oil-absorbing sheets instantly remove oil and shine which not only helps keep you looking cool and collected but also will help prevent all that muck from blocking your pores and causing future breakouts. Each packet contains 50 sheets and is tiny enough for even the most discreet evening purse (or pocket for when you take off the bridal gown and get back into your jeans.) Proactiv Solution also do a handy pocket pack of 130 Oil Blotter Sheets which instantly absorb excess oil and control shine.

Next week: Take A Vow Part 2 - Faces & Frocks.