Wedding Blog

Last I left you, I had one month left to find my bridal glow. I had been working on my Plan of Action for four months. I was doing pretty well; I hadn’t lost that much weight, but I felt strong and lean. And more importantly than weight, my pants were falling off me. Literally. I could pull most my pants off without unbuttoning them. WOO HOO!

Yet with 30 days to go, my search for my bridal glow changed dramatically.

First, after my second fitting, I was told not to lose or gain an ounce of weight. Okay—that was not not really what a bride trying to lose weight wants to hear, but from that moment on, in order for my dress to look good, I had to maintain, maintain, maintain. Which in my mind also meant tone, tone, tone.

Second, I took a good look in the mirror, and let me tell ya, I was looking shabby. Not shabby chic, but  rough-around-the-edges shabby.

While I never really had acne, I have been prone to ’woman related’ breakouts my entire adult life. Basically, I get one to two craters a month that last about 2 weeks. I thought I was taking care of my skin, but honestly, the only time in my life I was ever on a skincare regimen was when I was 14, and that was when Mama Peep bought me the Clinique Skincare Line with my first introduction to real makeup!! Since then, I have been washing my face once a day with some sort of acne skin wash with salicylic acid. I have really dry skin and washing my face always dried my skin out so much that my skin could never handle any more than that.

Yet, after reading about what all the other bees were doing to get their bridal glow on, I decided that there had to be something better out there.

So on May 1, I ran into Origins, explained my problem, and begged for help. I guess I really could have ran into any Skincare store, but I like that Origins uses natural products and it’s the closest skin care store to my office.

I listened and watched the women wash my hand with a whole suite of skin care products. And like a kid drinking Kool Aid, I bought all of it.

This was my first big bridal splurge on myself, and man, was it worth it. I followed the regimen religiously morning and night. And by week two, Mr. Peep started commenting on how much better my skin looked, which sort of surprised me because I never really thought I looked that bad. Oh well, lesson learned.

Here’s the awesome regimen:

Twice a week, start with a dry face and scrub on Modern Friction, “nature’s gentle dermabrasion“.

Dry your face and gently scrub on Clean Energy.

Dry your face one last time, and use their toner. You’d think with all this washing and drying, my face would be dry as a bone, but surprisingly, it was clean, fresh, and oh-so-soft.

In the morning, I’d apply a SPF face moisturizer and their Youthtopia Eye Cream.

Two months later, I’ve barely put a dent in the Modern Friction, Clean Energy or the Youthtopia products, and my face looks so much better, so I feel like it was money VERY well spent.

With my face clearing up, I started noticing a tinge to my teeth. Damn coffee and tea addiction!! After reading the boards on teeth whitening and a little online research, I went and bought Mr. Peep and myself each a pack of Crest Premium White Strips. They were kinda pricey at $35 each, but once you start drinking the bridal Kool Aid, it’s hard to stop.

The claims are right. You do start seeing results after three days. So much so, that Mr. Peep and I split one pack of these babies and by the end of the week,our teeth were the pearly white we were looking for.

With one week to go before the wedding, my glow was peeking through. Yet, I noticed it was getting lost with all the extra hair that was here:

Here:

And oh my, here:

So, the Monday before the wedding, the Mr. and I went for a little waxing. Yep, Mr. Peep came with and had some of his own help here and here. (But don’t tell him I told you, hee hee!).

After all that, I was starting to feel a bit pampered. Oh, and did I mention my big bridal oops? In the last month, due to stress and possibly some minor major toning workouts. I lost another 5 pounds. With days to go, I had reached my goal weight without even realizing it.

Even with a five month POA, I was still waiting to feel bridal. But that didn’t happen until the Thursday before the wedding. I’ll let you know what sparked the glow next time.

What bridal Kool Aid have you been drinking to find your bridal glow???