SPA EARLY Your goal is to be at your most radiant, glowing best for your wedding celebrations. As you walk down the aisle you want your skin to look marvellous from any angle. Ditto for the photo ops so that you will enjoy looking at your wedding photos and watching wedding videos throughout the years. At the very last dance at the reception, you want your guests, and your new husband, to be thinking: “Look at her, still looking spectacular after such a long day”. Get ahead of wedding planning stress by scheduling regular massages to keep you as relaxed as possible. Try different techniques from relaxation to deep tissue massages. Explore how a hot stone massage or an Ayurvedic Indian head massage can bring down stress levels. To ensure your skin has that coveted bridal glow, Kim Assar, Spa Operations Manager at eforea: Spa at Hilton Toronto/Markham Suites, recommends starting a body and skincare regime, including exfoliation and facials, about eight weeks before your wedding day. It’s a great way to treat your mind and body to rest, and for rejuvenation before the big day. Schedule your trial hair and makeup session about a couple of weeks before the wedding. Having a facial last-minute probably isn’t a great idea; be sure to have facials well in advance, in case your skins proves to be sensitive to a specific treatment or ingredient. GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT SKIN Spa services might include a series of photorejuvenation facials that use broad band light with the aim of improving skin tone and texture. Skin redness, rosacea and sun damage are some of the targets for this kind of treatment which is not limited to the face. Syneron Medispa Equipment that involves extensive training with medical personnel can have many benefits. Glenna Hainer, owner of Shangri-La Hair Studio & Spa, finds not only the bride and her attendants but also the mother-of-the-bride and mother-ofthe-groom use these services. The treatments are designed to re-firm skin, and to get spider veins and rosacea and other skin issues under control before the wedding. GIFT & GIFT WRAP YOURSELF Consider wrapping yourself as a special gift from you, to you. Advocates of seaweed wraps and eucalyptus wraps tout their detoxifying benefits. Spas’ wrap offerings are creatively unique. At the Spa at White Oaks in the Niagara Region, the “Nectar of Niagara” treatment is a whipped honey salt scrub with agave nectar oil, followed by cocooning in warm blankets, then a rinse in a warm buttery nectar milk bath to soften and hydrate skin. The finish is a Shea butter moisturizer. Sandals Resorts’ Red Lane Spas source indigenous Caribbean ingredients to enhance treatments. The “Lively Up Coffee Wrap” uses the stimulating qualities of green coffee beans to draw out impurities and increase the benefits of an antiaging, anti-cellulite treatment. continued on page 52 Wedding Essentials 2013 51