First of all, congratulations! You've set the date. Now we get to the fun part.
My bridal prep is really about fast-tracking your skin towards the best version of itself for your wedding day.
We curate your skin together. I'll see you every month or every second month, depending on your lifestyle, your budget and what your skin needs next.
And when I work with a bride, I really do put myself in her shoes. I approach it as though I'm getting married all over again. I know how much goes into wanting to look your absolute best, because I didn't take my own bridal preparation lightly.
For my own wedding, I went after 30 years of accumulated sun damage on my arms, back and chest. I used many of the products and treatments you'll find throughout this website, and I was incredibly happy with the skin I had for my October Sydney wedding.
So when you come to me as a bride, I'm not going to give you a generic bridal package. We're going to create your own plan, work within your budget, and make every treatment count.
The bride, the groom, the mother of the bride and the bridal party. If I have the room to take everyone, I will. But there is one very important rule: I only treat one client at a time.
This isn't a champagne party disguised as a treatment day, although champagne is always welcome! These are the same treatments I perform in my clinic every day, but with one very important difference: we have a destination. We're working towards a specific goal on a specific date, rather than treating your skin with an open-ended plan.
We'll decide what we're trying to achieve, what your budget is, and what treatments are genuinely going to move you towards that goal. And yes, we can throw quite a lot at the wall, but only the things that are going to stick.
I'm not interested in doing ridiculous treatments just because it's your wedding and you feel you have to do everything. Your skin still needs to be healthy, and I'm not prepared to jeopardise that for a short-term result.
You're committing to the process, and I'm committing to you. I'll be with you from the beginning right through to your wedding day, adjusting the plan as your skin changes and making sure we stay on track.
And honestly, this is one of my favourite things to do. There is nothing quite like getting a bride to the day she has been dreaming about and knowing we've done everything properly.
This is one of the most important parts of bridal preparation, because there isn't one bridal timeline that works for everyone.
How far in advance we start depends on your age, your skin and what you want to achieve. If you're in your 20s or 30s, you can probably get beautiful results starting around six months before your wedding. If you're in your 40s, 50s or beyond, particularly if you're new to advanced skin treatments, I'd much rather have a full year to work with you.
As I said earlier, if you're younger and already doing a good amount of skincare, I'm happy to start around six months out. If you're older, or you're starting from scratch with more significant concerns, having 12 months gives us much more to work with.
And if you've only got three months, don't panic, I can still work with the skin you have.
We just need to be realistic about what we can achieve within that timeframe.
This is where we can really do the deeper work.
We'll start with the treatments that need the most recovery time, particularly laser and more substantial resurfacing, because I want those treatments well behind you by the time your wedding arrives. If you're going away for your honeymoon, I certainly don't want you having just had a significant laser treatment before you get on a plane and head into the sun.
If we're treating the body, we can also start addressing things like sun damage, pigmentation, crepey texture and overall skin quality. The exact order will depend on your skin and what we're trying to achieve.
By this stage, we're well into your plan and starting to refine everything.
We may still be doing some resurfacing or other targeted treatments, but we're becoming increasingly mindful of recovery time, your wedding date and your lifestyle. This is also when I start thinking very carefully about the areas that are going to be on show.
Your face and neck, obviously, but also your décolletage, back, arms, hands and legs, depending on your dress and what you want to wear.
Now we start moving away from the bigger interventions and into refining, hydrating and maintaining the beautiful skin we've created.
This is where treatments such as peels, LED and selected lighter treatments can become particularly useful, depending on your skin. If we're working on the body, the timing of resurfacing and peels becomes especially important and will depend on where you're going for your honeymoon, the season, your sun exposure and how much skin will be exposed at the wedding.
There is no point giving you a beautiful treatment plan that doesn't fit your actual life.
Everything now is about keeping your skin calm, hydrated, healthy and looking its absolute best.
We'll choose treatments that give us refinement and radiance without creating unnecessary recovery.
The last week is about polishing, hydrating and leaving your skin alone enough to be happy.
I want your skin settled, comfortable and beautifully hydrated so that your makeup sits beautifully and your natural skin looks its best.
So we sit down, we have a proper consultation, and we work out the treatments, the timing and the pricing together. There is no script, there is a goal.
I don't use the same combination for every bride. We generally start with the treatments that do the deeper work, then gradually move towards refinement, hydration, nourishment and maintenance as the wedding gets closer.
The treatments I may combine include:
For the body, I may combine CO2 Laser Body Smoothing, body resurfacing treatments and professional peels, depending on the areas we're working on and what your dress and honeymoon plans look like.
The closer we get to your wedding, the more protective I become of your skin. I don't want to be creating problems that we then have to fix.
I avoid anything that could cause significant peeling, prolonged redness, swelling or an unpredictable reaction close to the day. That can include deeper CO2 resurfacing, more aggressive laser treatments, stronger peels, and anything new that we haven't already established your skin tolerates well.
Your wedding is not the time for experimentation.
Instead, we move into treatments I know your skin responds well to: nourishing facials, LED Light Therapy, selected lighter peels and carefully chosen skincare, with the emphasis on hydration, calmness, refinement and luminosity.
And I'm particularly mindful of your sun exposure and honeymoon plans. If you're heading somewhere sunny immediately after the wedding, that influences what I'm willing to do beforehand.
The final weeks are about protecting the work we've already done. By then, we're not trying to create a dramatic change.
I've decided not to make my bridal preparation a rigid package where every bride receives the same treatments simply because they've paid for them.
Your wedding date, your age, your skin, your dress, your honeymoon, the season, your lifestyle and your budget all change the plan.
Instead, we agree on your investment at the beginning and I build your treatments around you. You can come in for a combination of laser, resurfacing, facials, peels, LED, skin needling and body treatments, or keep things much simpler if that is what your skin and your goals call for.
Not every bride wants a big laser program, and that's completely fine.
If you're in your 20s and your skin is already in good condition, your preparation might be much more about keeping your skin clear, hydrated, smooth and beautifully polished for the wedding.
You might have a gentle laser treatment, a skin needling session, a couple of professional peels and several nourishing Dermaviduals or SkinCeuticals facials. We can also build in extractions where they're needed and use LED throughout your preparation.
You may not need an intensive program at all.
If what you want is beautiful, healthy-looking skin for your wedding day, we can build the plan around that.
As we get older, the skin often needs a little more work.
For a bride in her 40s, 50s or beyond, or a mother of the bride who wants to look her absolute best, I'm much more likely to incorporate treatments that address pigmentation, sun damage, vascular concerns, texture, collagen loss, laxity and overall skin quality.
That might mean laser or IPL for the face, neck, chest, hands or arms, Sublative Rejuvenation RF, CO2 resurfacing, skin needling, professional peels, LED and nourishing facials throughout the year.
Your face is not the only thing that gets photographed.
Some brides come to me wanting much more than their face treated.
They may want their arms, back, décolletage, hands and legs improved as well as their face and neck. That becomes a completely different treatment journey, particularly when we are addressing years of sun damage, pigmentation, crepey texture or ageing skin across large areas.
For those brides, I'll create a bespoke bridal plan and quote the investment according to the areas we are treating and the treatments required.
I'm not going to squeeze a very large skin project into a package price that doesn't make sense for either of us.
Once we have had your consultation, I'll map everything out around your wedding date.
The treatments are chosen as we go, they are not predetermined just to fill a package.
Your skin may need something completely different six months from now than it needs today. That's why I want the freedom to change the plan as we see your skin responding.
We'll decide on a budget at the beginning, stick to it, and I won't keep adding treatments unless you decide you want something we haven't already discussed.
You're not buying a certain number of treatments. You're investing in your skin for one very specific date.
Some will start with relatively simple skin concerns and discover along the way that they want to do more.
You have the date. I have the plan. And we work towards it together.
Call me for a clear picture of current pricing.
Give me time.
This is probably the thing I find myself repeating most often. If you simply want a few beautiful facials, a peel or some extractions before your wedding, we can work with a much shorter timeframe.
But if you're looking for a real skin clean-up, particularly pigmentation, sun damage, redness, uneven tone or texture, I need ample time to do it properly.
We live in Australia, and our skin has a lot to contend with. Years of sun exposure can leave behind pigmentation and other changes that don't disappear overnight. If we're going to remove pigmentation, I want to be able to treat it, let the skin recover, see how it responds and then decide what we do next.
A couple of months is the absolute minimum I would want if pigmentation removal is part of your plan. Ideally, I'd much rather have six months, and for some brides, particularly if we're doing more extensive work, twelve months gives us a much better canvas to work with.
I don't want to be doing aggressive treatments at the last minute because we ran out of time.
So if you've just set the date, come and see me early.
Absolutely not.
Your bridal preparation is completely personalised.
There is no age-specific treatment, there is skin-specific treatment.
Then please tell me at your first consultation!
If you're wearing a sleeveless, backless or low-cut dress, I want to know so we can plan for your arms, back, décolletage, hands or legs as well as your face.
Body skin can take considerably more time to treat, particularly when we're addressing years of pigmentation, sun damage or crepey texture. I may recommend body resurfacing, laser, IPL, peels or other treatments depending on what I'm seeing.
The important thing is that we don't leave your body until the last minute.
Your wedding dress tells me where we need to look, and your skin tells me what we need to do.
Results vary from person to person.