Bridal Pampering - Spa Services Guide for Brides

Use this spa treatments guide to decide on the right beauty regimen for your wedding day.

No doubt about it: One of the best parts about being a bride-to-be is a bona fide excuse to indulge in a little pampering. Not only does a relaxing massage or facial better equip you to handle those pesky seating chart conundrums, a little self nurturing can also ensure you look your best on the big day.

But like a kid in a candy shop, the plethora of spa treatments available can be intoxicatingly exciting and a tad overwhelming. Use this guide of the most common treatments to decide on the pre-wedding pampering package for you.

Pre-Wedding Massage

The ultimate path to relaxation and tension relief, massage involves kneading the body’s muscle and connective tissues through various methods.

Here are the basic types of massage:

Swedish massage

This type involves kneading the muscles with firm yet gentle pressure to ease aches and tension, improve circulation, and promote relaxation. This traditional form of touch therapy forms the basic techniques for deep tissue, sports, and aromatherapy massages.

Deep-tissue massage

This type of massage uses the techniques of Swedish massage with more intense and focused pressure to release deeper muscle tension and knots.

Sports massage

Typically applied to athletes to enhance performance, prevent and heal injuries, a sports massage is designed to focus on specific muscle groups.

Aromatherapy

This traditional massage uses scented oils designed to address specific needs such as relaxation, energy, stress reduction, or balance.

Hot-stone massage

During a hot-stone massage, smooth, heated stones placed strategically on the body to relieve tight muscles. This form of massage is perfect for those with muscle tension that prefer a less-intense massage.

Shiatsu

This Japanese massage employs rhythmic finger pressure on your body’s meridian points. This relaxing style is designed to release energy blockages and regain balance.

Pre-Wedding Facial

This procedure treats the face to cleansing, toning, exfoliating, massaging, and moisturizing – all designed to reveal glowing skin.

Pre-Wedding Body Treatments

Like a facial for the entire body, body treatments are designed to exfoliate, hydrate, and rejuvenate the skin.

Here’s a guide to some common body treatments:

Body scrubs

Scrubs and creams are applied to exfoliate and polish your skin, leaving your entire body soft.

Body wraps/masks

Designed to improve appearance and texture of skin by ridding the body of toxins, body wraps cover your body in a mask of mud, lotion, algae, or seaweed, then you’re wrapped for 20 minutes or so, rinsed off, and finally covered with lotion.

Skin exfoliation

Abrasive cloths and micro-bead face scrubs remove dead skin cells from the body to reveal smoother and healthier skin.

Manicures & Pedicures

You’re probably already familiar with this one; however, nail treatments at full-service spas tend to be more luxurious than your basic mini-mall variety. Be sure to schedule your manicure and pedicure appointments for the day before the wedding to ensure your nails dry fully. Also, purchase a bottle of the polish you plan to use so you have it on hand for touch-ups.