Most women want to look their best on their wedding day.  After all, the bride is the central focal point during a wedding ceremony…she is kind of hard to miss with the fancy dress and bright flowers. 

For many women the upcoming wedding day becomes a sort of count down for a certain amount of weight loss.  They use the impending event as justification for slimming down as much as possible so that they will look dazzling on the day and also look great for the wedding photographs. 

While there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to look nice on your wedding day you should be sure to temper weight loss with common sense.  Adding a sensible workout plan while watching what you eat is a great idea, but going on a liquid diet and working out to the point of exhaustion is not. 

You have undoubtedly heard that although crash dieting and obsessive workouts will likely result in weight loss they will also result in a quick reversal upon termination.  In other words, if you lose twenty pounds using these methods and then abruptly stop the strenuous workouts and then start eating whatever you want you’re going to quickly gain those twenty pounds back…and probably some additional weight to boot. 

So unless you want to start out your marriage with some inevitable weight gain during the honeymoon then you need to pace yourself should you decide to lose a little weight before the wedding. 

Above all, remember this: your fiancé proposed to you as you are now, and he won’t love you any more if you go down a dress size.   

Try out new hairstyles and makeup early in the game. 

Many brides either do their own makeup and hair job on their wedding day or instead pay a professional to do it. 

Whichever route you choose to take you will probably want to look your very best, and for some women this means trying a look which is much more formal than they are used to.  Of course you want to wow everyone when you make your grand entrance and walk down the aisle (you especially want to wow the groom!) and sometimes a completely new look does the trick. 

Although you may have an idea in your head of the look you’re going for you should certainly try a sort of “dress rehearsal” to make sure everything works well for you.  Maybe you saw another bride who had a hairstyle which looked great, but until you try it out for yourself you won’t know if it is indeed what you’re looking for.  Therefore, even if it means you have to shell out some extra money for a hairdresser or makeup artist to do a trial run it is worth it. 

It would be a shame to be twenty minutes away from walking down the aisle and absolutely hate the way your hair and makeup look.  You can avoid this unfortunate situation by trying the hairstyle and makeup beforehand. 

You will more than likely find yourself pulled into many different directions all at once and you might feel a little overwhelmed at times. These are the sorts of times when people find themselves more prone to catching a cold or getting the flu because they aren’t taking care of themselves like they should. 

Try your best to keep yourself well, especially in the week or two leading up to your wedding ceremony.  You certainly don’t want to wind up sick on your wedding day, so it is worth it to invest some time taking care of yourself. 

Make sure you’re getting enough rest and taking some time for relaxation.  If all else fails, declare that you need some scheduled down time and go get a massage or something.  Your body will thank you.

Getting married is so much more than just the event.  You are making what is supposed to be a life-long commitment to someone and you need to make sure that you are ready in every sense of the word. 

When you do decide that you are psychologically ready, you need to work on being physically ready without going overboard. 

While it’s probably true that everyone expects some form of an awe-inspiring look from the bride on her wedding day, nobody wants to see a starved and exhausted woman stumbling down the aisle, delirious from lack of calories and sleep.  Take it easy on yourself, and simply make a concerted effort to stay well for the big day.