Getting started

Set the Date

The first and the most important step is setting a date. Deciding on a date helps you manage your time more efficiently.

Style of Wedding

This is the time to decide whether you’re having a formal wedding, a casual affair or a theme wedding. It’s also the time to decide on having a religious or secular ceremony. In short, decide how you want your wedding to feel like. A good way to begin is to sit down with your partner and do some free writing about your ideal wedding. Look at the ideas that each of you wrote and use them as a starting point.

Choose Your Attendants

Having attendants is very helpful in planning the wedding day, you need them to help you out with little things moreover a different eye perspective is always useful

Start Looking for Venues for Ceremony and Reception

Many venues are booked a year in advance, so the more in advance you start looking, the more likely you are to get the time, date, and cost that you’ve looked for.

Six months before

• Experiment with haircut styles and hair color.
• Search for a hairstylist if you aren’t using your regular one. Bring along pictures of hairstyles you like and your veil and headpiece, if you’re going to use them on your wedding day.
• Begin deep conditioning your hair regularly.
• Make appointments with makeup artists. Take pictures of your made-up face and see whose work you like most.
• Visit a dermatologist to begin a skin-care regimen if you have any acne or scars you want to get rid of.
• Begin to get facials regulary.
• Start to take care of your body. Meet with a personal trainer if you need help with an exercise routine or if you have unhealthy eating habits (like most of us), talk to your doctor to develop a healthy nutrition plan.

Five months before

• Begin to get monthly manicures and pedicures. If you want longer nails, start experiencing artificial nails or lengthen your own nails. If you have problems like brittle nails or dry cuticles,address them to your manicurist.

Four months before

• Shape areas of your body that will be prominently displayed in your dress- chest, arms and waist.

Three months before

• Book your makeup artist and hairstylist for the wedding date. Discuss a wedding-day schedule.
• Begin to have your hair trimmed every four to six weeks.
• Test-run your makeup and hair. Mimic the wedding day. Use the same cosmetics; wear your veil and headpiece.
• Make an appointment for a tooth cleaning for one to two weeks before the wedding day.
• Consider having your eyebrows shaped professionally. Get them waxed or tweezed monthly.

One to two months before

• Get your teeth professionally whitened.
• Start drinking at least eight glasses of water a day.

One to two weeks before

• Get your final haircut or coloring. That way, the cut and color will have time to adjust.
• Go for final eyebrow shaping. Get any other waxing you’d like, such as your upper lip or bikini area.
• Get your last facial, it will give your face time to tone down if it looks red or puffy.
• Start getting enough sleep.
• Avoid the sun, or wear sunblock to prevent tan lines or redness.
• Get teeth cleaned by your dentist.

One day before

• Avoid salty foods and alcohol, which can promote bloating, puffy eyes or other conditions.
• If you get last-minute breakouts, visit your dermatologist. He or she can give you an injection to reduce the swelling.
• Get a manicure and pedicure.
• Go for a massage.
• Take a mid-day nap and go to bed early.
• Put your skin in gear. Exfoliate your skin with a body wash. Apply lots of moisturizer all over your body. Use only products that you’re familiar with.
• Drink two extra glasses of water.

Wedding day

• Eat! No one wants a bride to faint.
• Get your hair and makeup done. Wear a robe or button-d own shirt so you don’t ruin your face or hair.
• Relax and smile! It’s your wedding day, so enjoy it!