You’ve set the date, picked the colors, and maybe even gotten the dress. You’re off to an amazing start, but you still have a lot of planning to do. And your biggest of days will be here before you know it! That’s why it’s important to start early, and that goes for getting your glow on too.
Of course, you want to look and feel your radiant best on your wedding day, but with everything else going on it’s easy to lose track of time and let self-care slip through the cracks. As with most wedding planning to-dos, having a list will help make sure you don’t forget anything, including yourself.
Here’s a list of tips you can get started on right now. Add them to your bridal beauty plan and get a head start on that healthy glow.
Nourish Your Hair, Skin & Nails
Who says beauty is only skin deep? The health of your hair, skin and nails says a lot about your overall health, and just because it shows at skin level doesn’t mean it stops there! Beautifying nutrition starts from the inside out.
By making sure you fill in your nutritional gaps, and taking some time to get to know a few A-lister ingredients for getting brilliant hair, glowing skin and thicker nails, you’ll be well on your way to looking and feeling like your best self.
Here are our favorite bridal beauty ingredients to try:
Flaxseed Oil for Wedding Day Skin
Flaxseed oil helps skin in two ways. As a supplement, flaxseed oil is an excellent source of omega-3 essential fatty acids, and research shows it may help hydrate and smooth the skin while decreasing skin sensitivity.1 Plus, you can use flaxseed oil topically to lock in hydration to help keep skin firm and supple. Either way you use it, you can’t go wrong.
Vitamin A and Skin Health
This carotenoid vitamin plays a big role in healthy skin cell production. Vitamin A helps stimulate and support cells responsible for skin tissue and collagen development.2 And if you’ve ever heard about the brightening benefits of retinol for skin, you might be surprised to know that retinol is actually vitamin A. Retinol skin cream is one of our favorite bride beauty products.
Hyaluronic Acid Serum for Glowing Wedding Day Skin
Hyaluronic acid is a natural component of the skin that helps maintain fluid balance in skin cells. Despite that somewhat harsh-sounding name, it doesn’t strip your skin. Topical hyaluronic acid serum helps soften and soothe skin to give you a beautiful, healthy glow that’s perfect for your wedding day. Try it in Swanson Premium Hyaluronic Acid Serum.
Coffee for Bridal Beauty
Coffee, you say? Absolutely! And for several reasons. Antioxidants in coffee may help protect your skin from free radicals, which can contribute to signs of aging.3 Coffee also has a mild diuretic effect, which may help you avoid retaining fluids, and topical caffeine eye creams may help with under eye circles.4 Who knew your secret to bridal beauty could be so simple? Check out the article What is Keto Coffee? for ways to give your morning coffee a boost.
Biotin for Beautiful Hair, Skin & Nails
Few nutrients have such a stellar reputation as biotin for boosting radiance. In fact, it was once known as vitamin H, named after the German words Haar (hair) and Haut (skin) because of biotin's benefits for hair and skin.5 Biotin helps skin cells absorb nutrients and stimulates hair and nails to help give you a beautifying boost ahead of your wedding day.6 You might find biotin in some of your favorite beauty products, but biotin supplements are the way to go for optimal biotin benefits.
Keratin for your Bridal Beauty Plan
Keratin is a protein that makes up your hair, skin and nails.7 It might not sound all that glamorous, but keratin provides both strength and resilience, helping keep hair and nails stronger while boosting skin quality, moisture retention and elasticity.7 You may have heard of salon keratin treatments for your hair, but you can reinforce your body’s internal supply of keratin with keratin supplements. Definitely add this one to your list of must-haves for bridal beauty!
These beauty nutrients are our go-tos for bridal beauty health. Learn more about them in Brilliant Beauty Basics: Our Top Five Ingredients for Brilliant Hair, Skin & Nails.
Get Active
Nothing beats breaking a sweat for getting your skin glowing. You’ll feel stronger, more energized, and look more radiant if you make time to get moving every day. As a bonus, exercise releases mood-boosting and stress-quelling hormones that may help you avoid any would-be bridezilla moments.8 And let’s be honest here—we all have them!
You don’t need to exercise for hours each day to feel the benefits. You can accomplish a lot in 15 minutes or less. If you can fit in two, 15 minute workouts every day, you’ll be well on your way to slaying that bridal beauty timeline.
Check out Move More: How to Move More Each Day for simple ways to sneak in a stealthy set and get moving more every day.
Build Lean Muscle
Being active every day is a great start to building lean muscle. The more you move, the more calories you’ll torch. Want to take it up a notch? Add some resistance training to your daily routine to help build more muscle. As you build muscle you will naturally start to burn more calories even when you aren’t working out because muscle burns more calories than fat.9
You can also get leaner faster and gain more muscle by doing interval training—alternating between high and low intensity workouts. But getting in a good workout is only part of the picture. Staying hydrated and eating healthier is important too. And learn about energy supporting supplements to kick your metabolism into high gear. Read Be a Lean, Mean Body Machine for more tips for building lean muscle.
Eat Healthier & Love Your Gut
Fueling your body with nutritious, real foods every single day will help keep your energy levels up and nurture that radiant bridal beauty we all want. Real foods that are not processed or are minimally processed are chock full of antioxidants, fiber, good fats, proteins and all the essential nutrients we need to stay healthy and get glowing.
What else can you do to help nourish your body to its core? Build a healthier gut with probiotics! Your gut is home to trillions of bacterial flora, both good and bad. Eating a healthy, real food diet helps feed the good flora, and adding probiotics to your bridal health and beauty routine may help support a balanced gut microbiome, which promotes digestion, immune function, and more.11 Learn all about it in Trust Your Gut Health: Build a Healthier Gut with Probiotics.
Also, check out Real Food: A Revival or a Revolution? and Pack Your Pantry: How to Make a Real Food Pantry for ideas on stocking up for a healthy bridal diet plan.
Embrace Self Care
Planning a wedding can be stressful, and all that stress can add up to leave you feeling less than your best, plus it can show on your skin. Embrace self-care to keep stress at bay. Make time for both little and big things that will make a real difference in your overall wellbeing. Practice deep breathing, meditate, start a mindfulness journal, check in with your emotions daily, and nourish your mind and body to cultivate a foundation of centeredness and self-love.
Stash away a few secret weapons for self-care, like aromatherapy essential oils and Mellow Mag, a magnesium powder drink that promotes everyday calm. Pack some wellness essentials to take with you on the go. Put a few drops of lavender essential oil on a cloth and tuck it away in your bag. Add some Mellow Mag to your water bottle and take it with you. And make a playlist of your favorite chill music to listen to while you’re out and about.
Get more ideas in Take Care of U: 6 Ways to Take Care of Yourself, Say Om: 6 Tips to Help You Relax and Reduce Stress and Find Your Everyday Calm with Magnesium.
Say Yes to Beauty Sleep
The idea of beauty sleep isn’t myth. Sleep does many things for our bodies, and better skin is one of them. If you don’t get enough sleep, your skin cells won’t get the much-needed downtime for repair and recovery, plus people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to lose skin moisture and show signs of aging than people who get enough sleep.12 And that’s the last thing a bride wants before the wedding!
Sleep also leads to better focus, memory, immune health, better relationships, fewer accidents, and a whole lot more.13 So, make sleeping a solid 7 to 9 hours each night a priority as a part of your bridal health plan. You can set the stage for better shut-eye by starting a night-time routine that signals your body when it’s time to start winding down. Get tips for your night-time routine and learn all about the benefits of sleep in Zealous About Zzzs: Sleep Benefits & Sleep Hacks for Everyone.
If you are having trouble sleeping, check out some of our sleep solutions to help you catch more Zzzs, like time-proven melatonin or relaxing magnesium.
4 Supplement Tips for Brides
Kick off your bridal health and beauty routine and get glowing with nutritional supplements to help nourish your body, support healthy and beautiful hair, skin and nails, keep your digestive system in tip-top condition, and banish the stress of wedding planning. Here are our favorite supplements for bridal beauty and health.
Swanson Ultra Real Food Multivitamins
Featuring vitamins and minerals from organic food sources, our Real Food Multi promotes healthy hair, skin and nails, supports the immune system, boosts bone health and includes a trio of herbs to aid in stress and urinary tract health, as well as provide powerful antioxidants.
Swanson Ultra Real Food Biotin
Widely sought after for its ability to promote skin, hair and nail health, biotin is a part of the vitamin B-Complex that’s also noted for supporting natural energy production, healthy metabolism and aiding mental health. Swanson Real Food Biotin is sourced from 100% organic Hummingbird Tree (Sesbania grandiflora).
Swanson Probiotics for Digestive Health
Swanson Probiotic for Digestive Health helps support digestion with 16 carefully selected strains for digestive health, plus prebiotic fructooligosaccharides (FOS) to nourish probiotic organisms to ensure that they thrive.
Swanson Premium Mellow Mag
Mellow Mag from Swanson Health Products is formulated with a higher concentration of easy-mixing magnesium powder than leading magnesium drinks to ensure you’re getting enough to satisfy all your body’s relaxation needs. Plus, with two great-tasting flavors to pick from—Raspberry Lemonade and Orange—Mellow Mag will be a welcome addition to your relaxation routine (without more pills to swallow!).
Health & Beauty Tips to Try Before the Wedding
Cultivating healthy beauty from the inside out will have you looking and feeling like wedding royalty on your big day. So, forget the wedding crash diets and become a healthy, radiant bride with these bridal beauty tips that will stick with you long after the bouquet has been tossed.
What is your plan to get glowing for your wedding in a healthy way? Share your own pre-wedding health and beauty tips below!
About Lindsey Toth, MS, RD
Lindsey is a nationally recognized registered dietitian and nutritionist with a soft spot for pie. She empowers people to take charge of their health by finding the balance between the pleasure and nourishment in food. Her philosophy is that you should take care of your body because it’s the only permanent home you have. It’s what inspired her to pursue a career in nutrition.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Sources
1 Supplementation of flaxseed oil diminishes skin sensitivity and improves skin barrier function and condition. PubMed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21088453
2 Improvement of naturally aged skin with vitamin A (retinol). PubMed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17515510/
3 Role of antioxidants in the skin: anti-aging effects. PubMed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20399614
4 Infraorbital Dark Circles: A Review of the Pathogenesis, Evaluation and Treatment. US National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4924417/
5 Vitamin H. The Dermal Institute. http://www.dermalinstitute.com/us/library/94_article_Vitamin_H.html
6 Biotin: WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ ingredientmono-313-biotin.aspx
7 Keratins: National Library of Medicine (NLM). https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/ genefamily/keratins
8 7 Hidden Benefits of Exercise. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/7-invisible-ways-exercise-improves-your-life#1
9 8 Ways to Burn Calories and Fight Fat. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/features/8-ways-to-burn-calories-and-fight-fat#1
10 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines 2015-2020.https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ chapter-1/
11 The healthy human microbiome. US National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4848870/
12 Esteé Lauder Clinical Trial Finds Link between Sleep Deprivation and Skin Aging. University Hospitals. http://www.uhhospitals.org/about/media-news-room/current-news/2013/07/estee-lauder-clinical-trial-finds-link-between-sleep-deprivation-and-skin-aging
13 How is the body affected by sleep deprivation? https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/sleep/conditioninfo/sleep-deprivation
