Look (And Feel!) Great for Your June Wedding!

Jett makes sure he drinks enough water.

I'm getting married in June! Here are 10 ways I'm making sure I look and feel my best by next month!

1. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. As the wedding date comes closer, the pre-wedding jitters are going to start setting in. Water keeps every system in your body working at its best! It will also keep your skin clear if anxiety makes you break out. 

2. Sleep. Sounds easy, right? Well, not really. We are so busy getting ready for the wedding and, if you're like me, you're going to want to make sure that everything is perfect. That doesn't make for very good sleep. But, if you make sure you get between 7 and 8 hours of good sleep every night, you will feel better and, by extension, look better. Do not sacrifice your sleep!

Jett and Dorian definitely get enough sleep.

Dorian loves yoga to keep his tone!

3. Tone. I'm in decent shape; not perfect, but alright. But even if you're small, you can still look not quite "good," if that makes sense. If you want to look good (at any weight), tone. Don't just quit eating and think that will take care of it--that's the worst thing you can do! Lift light weights, do lunges, dance, walk, swim, do yoga; all of this will help tone your body. Let's face it: we're a month away from June--not a lot of (healthy) body changes can be made right now. But anyone at any weight can tone up a little bit! Toning helps your body look better and any exercise helps your emotional state--gotta love those endorphins!

4. Eat healthy foods. I would just like to start out with a disclaimer: I am not a dietician. That being said, it is common knowledge that the more processed your foods are, the less good for you they are. Get fresh fruits and veggies, whole grain breads and pastas, and cut back on the processed sugars. My biggest weakness is chocolate chips (they're so small--how could they hurt me?! haha). I am doing my best to cut way back on eating those. The more unnatural chemicals you keep out of your brain, the better your brain will function, and the better you will feel! 

Also: check your portion size. I realized that yesterday I accidentally ate two servings of quinoa instead of one just because I didn't read the package. Don't eat more than you need to--eating too much makes you feel sluggish and tired.

5. De-stress. Easy for me to say, right? If you're stressed, your wedding photos are going to have worry lines all over them! Well, not really! But the little baggies under your eyes and your skin not looking as good as it could will definitely be real.

Dorian and Jett both like watching TV to de-stress.

6. Tan. With a bottle. Do not go outside and try to cook yourself to get the right "bronzed" or "sun-kissed" look. You're just going to fry your skin (and your hair) and 90% of the time, you won't get it even anyway. And it's Skin Cancer Awareness Month and if you're outside getting cancer for your wedding, you're defeating the purpose. 

If you're going to tan, invest in a good spray tan. Yes, they're on the pricier end of things, but it's worth it. However. Do it at least 24 hours before your wedding (but not more than 48 hours). You do not want orange on your beautiful white dress. That would be devastating. 

Along with this, if you go to the pool before your wedding, wear sunscreen. The last thing you want is tan lines in the wrong place on your wedding day.

Jett thinks he knows what's appropriate
when it comes to hair products.

7. Do a hair trim/color the week before. This example is brought to you by the movie "Bride Wars." We all remember when Anne Hathaway's character switched the dye for Kate Hudson's character and Kate ended up with blue hair. The only reason that was not a complete disaster is that it was a week before the wedding. If you dye or cut your hair the day before or the day of your wedding while you're having your hair done, you might be in for a very unhappy day. 

8. Get the hairstyle appropriate for your wedding style. Now this sounds kind of stupid, but think about it: if you have a 4pm wedding, should you have a formal up-do? If you have a beach wedding should you have a hairstyle that cannot deal with wind? If you have a 7pm wedding should you have beach waves in your hair? If you're planning on doing photos outside in the summer sun, should you have your hair down so that it makes you sweat and get greasy? 

The correct answer to all of those is "no." If you want your hair up, make sure it's appropriate. I have a 4pm ceremony with photos outside beforehand. A beautiful formal up-do is inappropriate and out of the question. Yes, it's pretty. No, it doesn't fit. A low chignon or loose bun with some loose curls is appropriate. For the beach, if you have long hair, sure, it's the perfect time to have those gorgeous beach waves. But, can you handle your hair blowing around? A half-up style is probably the best for you, or if you want it up, a messy bun is perfect. 

This is the area that, having looked at a lot of wedding photos lately, I feel has the most disconnect and leaves the most to be desired, even if it's a beautiful style.

9. Best shoes = wedges. Some ladies go for the glitz and glam when it comes to shoes. If you can stay vertical on those things for 8 hours (and walk down the aisle without tipping over), go for it. But I've seen a ton of brides with beautiful shoes who kick them off halfway through the evening. Knowing what I pay for shoes, I don't feel like that's a good investment. However, going with cute ballet flats or flip flops gives you zero height. 

As a 5'3" bride, I would like height, but I can't stay in stilettos all day. Also, heels are incredibly impractical for photos outside if you're in grass. Nobody wants their heel sticking in the ground and getting dirty. 

Solution: wedges. I found the cutest strappy pair of 4" wedges for $30 that a) give me height without killing my feet because of the platform under my toes, b) I can walk and dance in them so I won't have to take them off, c) I can wear them in grass, and d) I can wear them again with shorts, jeans, or a dress. 

If you're not a wedge fan because of the way they look and you don't feel like we need to be bringing back the 70s, make sure your dress is long. Since my hem is long, no one is really going to be seeing my shoes anyway. Getting this extra length, especially if you're short or a little on the "plush" side of things, is really important if you're concerned about your image. It slims you down and gives you those extra few inches that those of us who aren't supermodels crave. ;-)

10. Have fun! Leading up to your wedding day, make sure you're having fun! If you're happy on your wedding day, it shows. If you're worried about how everything will turn out and making sure that everyone else has a good time, you're going to be miserable, which also shows. The way to know whether or not your wedding day was successful is this: If, at the end of the day, you're married to the person you were supposed to be married to, your day was a success! So have fun!

Dorian has (too much) fun!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Women's Appearances in American Society

On Friday I watched "Katie," Katie Couric's new talk show on ABC. I am an infrequent viewer of the show, mostly because I'm so tired of television by that time of day, but I saw a commercial about Friday's topic: a woman who gave up makeup and hairstyling for a year; so I had to watch!

The show was great--Phoebe Hyde Baker gave up makeup and hairstyling for a year. The entire audience of "Katie" took their makeup off in solidarity and so did Katie, herself! She talked about makeup and how much time and money women in our society spend on it. They also talked about the fact that it is actually important in our society for women to look a certain way to be successful.

As I watched the show, I realized that I've already written about three of these topics.

Katie did an experiment in which one of here staff went on the street all glammed up and asked for directions or use of their cell phones from strangers. Then she did the same thing with sweat pants, no makeup, a big coat, and sneakers on. Was there a difference in the way she was treated? Yes there was--same as the results of my own experiment back in October:
Social Mini-Experiment: Does Appearance Actually Matter?

On Katie's website for a while (I can't find it anymore, for some reason) there was a "Beauty Wealth Calculator" that you could use figure out how much money you spend on your looks each year, as well as how much money you've spent accumulating your "beauty wealth." It was fascinating! It reminded me of another piece I wrote in October:
How Much Do Celebrities Spend on Their Looks?

One of Katie's guests was a woman who has worked in the fashion magazine industry for years. They showed a photo of a model on the runway--and then a print ad of the same model. Vastly different looks! In the print ad they had edited the photo to the point that she looked deformed, she was so skinny. This point, in my opinion, wasn't touched on enough during the show (but, really, they had enough material in that show for an entire week of shows!), so I thought I'd pull this piece out of the archives again. It's the most popular piece I've written to date.
Mini-Experiment: Swimsuit Photo Retouching

I absolutely loved Katie's show on Friday! It was geared toward making women feel great about themselves and learning how to work with what they have in their appearance instead of putting a mask on every day. There were beautiful stories shared about personal victories and growth. There was courage shown by Katie and everyone there with them not wearing makeup. It was fantastic to see women baring their faces on that stage and talking about how we need to overcome so much more than what we usually talk about.

One of the things I was most intrigued by was that this "Au Naturale" show aired the day before the Miss America 2013 beauty pageant. Miss Montana, Alexis Wineman, has Aspberger's syndrome and wants to be an art therapist. Miss Washington DC, Allyn Rose, is getting a double mastectomy to prevent her family's long history of breast cancer from taking her life. Miss Iowa, Mariah Cary, has tourettes syndrome. But Miss New York won. She wants to get a degree in cosmetic and fragrance marketing. And is from Alabama. And doesn't embody "Brooklyn" any more than I do.

It blew my mind that there were (at least) three very real women baring themselves (not only in the swimsuit competition) on that stage who were passed over for a tap dancer posing as a Brooklynite. Allyn Rose (DC), a guest on "Katie" back in the fall (I watched that episode, too!), didn't even make the semi-finals. Alexis Wineman (MT) won the "America's Choice" contest, but didn't make it past the top 15. Mariah Cary (IA) came in fifth.

I think the "Au Naturale" episode of "Katie" can teach us all about how women need to take stock in what they are really about. I think if the judges of Miss America hadn't been interviewing the contestants and watching their routines on Friday but had watched Katie's show instead, the outcome of Saturday night would have been different. Being real and loving who you are is the most important thing, and I think--no, I know--that if more celebrities like Katie bring it into the headlines, this will change. Women will feel less threatened by society to focus so much on their appearances and, as a byproduct, will have more time and money to spend on other things that make them happy and successful.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi