The Ultimate Wedding Beauty And Grooming Timeline: 1 Year Out

Congratulations on your engagement! We understand how exciting this period of time is, but we also know how stressful it can be. That’s why we’ve put together the ultimate wedding beauty and grooming timeline to get you and your S.O. looking and feeling your best for the big day. From the surgeries to consider a year (or more!) before you walk down the aisle to the last minute treatments you can enjoy in the final weeks and everything in between, allow us to be your guide to wedding beauty and grooming.

Welcome to our ultimate wedding beauty and grooming timeline! If you’ve selected this article, you are clearly thinking ahead. Sure, a year can feel like a minute in the world of weddings, but it does provide a good deal of time to recover from larger cosmetic surgeries or enjoy the cumulative benefits of routine aesthetic procedures.

At this point, you may have painted a picture perfect wedding in your head and even conjured up an idea about what you’re going to look like on your big day. While no one ever ‘needs’ cosmetic surgery, if there is a procedure you’ve had your eye on, now may be the time to seriously consider it. With a year to go before the big day, brides and grooms alike should think about consulting with a board certified dermatologist or plastic surgeon about any cosmetic surgeries that will require an extended recovery period or treatments that need multiple sessions.

Pre-Wedding Cosmetic Surgery & Invasive Procedures

When it comes to making larger or permanent physical changes, surgery may be needed. Some common pre-wedding cosmetic surgeries include:

• Rhinoplasty (a.k.a.nose job)
• Breast Augmentation
• Gynecomastia Surgery (i.e. male breast reduction)
• Liposuction

These face and body procedures can have a big impact on physical appearance and self esteem, which might explain why brides and grooms are so interested in them. With that said, it is important to find a board certified provider who understands your goals and timelines to ensure you are in tip-top shape to walk down the aisle.

Recovering from Cosmetic Surgery

While each surgery and patient is unique, a full recovery from any one of these procedures can take a minimum of six months to a year. In the case of a rhinoplasty, for example, the final nose shape can take 12 to 18 months to fully reveal itself. Most surgical procedures heal within three to six months but residual swelling can persist, which is why it is best to undergo the procedure as early as possible.

For brides, it is particularly important to complete more invasive procedures well in advance to ensure the recovery process does not interfere with other bridal milestones. As it relates to the face, most brides will have their makeup and hair trial months before the wedding. In addition to making the makeup trial uncomfortable, any facial bruising or swelling could make it difficult to envision what the wedding day look will be.

Oh, and then there is the wedding dress. Brides typically need to order their dress(es) around eight months in advance. Once a dress is decided on, sizing and fittings go on for months. While a bride’s measurements are not expected to remain the same throughout the entire process, choosing to undergo a breast surgery or body procedure can dramatically alter the way a gown looks and feels. Even if the procedure is done in advance of wedding dress shopping, be sure to account for any lingering swelling or healing during fittings. The same rings true for grooms and their suits or tuxedos.

Pre-Wedding Multi-Session Treatments

Cosmetic surgery isn’t the only thing that should happen at least a year in advance. There are a number of less invasive cosmetic treatments that require multiple sessions to yield results. Some common treatments brides and grooms undergo before their wedding include:

• Laser Hair Removal
• Laser Tattoo Removal
• Laser Skin Resurfacing
• Non-Surgical Body Contouring
• Dermal Fillers and Injectables

Because these treatments require multiple appointments, they are best started well in advance of the wedding day. If you don’t have a relationship with a board certified dermatologist or plastic surgeon already, it is important to find a provider that understands your aesthetic and desires and can put you on a treatment plan that will work best for your needs.

Laser Hair Removal

Laser hair removal is a popular treatment for brides who are tired of waxing and shaving — but it typically takes around six sessions, spaced six weeks apart (complementing the natural hair growth cycle) to see a significant reduction in hair growth. As a result, the entire laser hair removal process can take nine months or more.

Laser Tattoo Removal

Laser tattoo removal, on the other hand, can take even longer. There are a number of factors that dictate how difficult a tattoo will be to remove. Where a tattoo is located on the body will impact the removal (the further away from the heart, the longer it will take), as will the age, color (green and light blue ink are the hardest to erase), and depth of the ink. Additionally, a patient’s skin tone will dictate the tattoo’s ‘immunity’ to the lasers. Since even the smallest black designs can take six to 10 sessions, spaced three to 12 weeks apart, starting as early as possible will ensure the best results.

Laser Skin Resurfacing

Just like the lasers used for hair and tattoo removal, many of the lasers used to brighten and tighten the complexion have cumulative benefits. Laser skin resurfacing with non-ablative (read: non-wounding) lasers like pulsed light, pulsed dye lasers, and fractional lasers do not remove layers of skin, which means an initial series of treatments spaced four to six weeks apart will be for best results.

Non-Surgical Body Contouring

Non-surgical body sculpting treatments, like CoolSculpting®, SculpSure®, and UltraShape®, work by freezing fat rather than surgically removing it. As a result, they work a bit slower than liposuction and deliver less significant results. Toning treatments like Emsculpt®, meanwhile, need a quartet of initial sessions over the course of two to four weeks, followed by maintenance every three to six months. With that in mind, patients will want to leave themselves enough time to (1) receive the ideal number of treatments and (2) pursue any additional workout routines.

Dermal Fillers & Injectables

While brides and grooms will want to get their final dermal filler and/or neurotoxin injections much closer to the big day, anyone who has never tried the minimally invasive procedures before should be sure they have a trial run well in advance. While hyaluronic acid-based fillers can be dissolved (with mixed results), there is no way to reverse a bad Botox® experience other than to wait it out.

The Takeaway

If you take one thing from this article let it be this: brides and grooms should get larger procedures out of the way as early as possible and start scheduling treatments that will require multiple sessions ASAP. The last thing you need is the added stress of feeling like you are behind schedule or unable to accomplish what you would like to before the big day. In the upcoming checklists, we’ll continue to address the maintenance and cadence of non-surgical cosmetic procedures, in addition to outlining the best time to opt for smaller treatments like spray tans, eyelash extensions, facials, teeth whitening, and more.