In the age of Botox, Ozempic and injectables, some brides are revolting against the wedding ‘glow up’
I
got engaged last summer. Immediately, I started imagining how I would look at my wedding. The woman who appeared in my mind had different hair, different teeth and a completely different body than me. “I will transform my arms by the time of my wedding,” I kept thinking, though I did not take any action to transform my arms. It was inconceivable that I would show up to my wedding looking like myself.
Each social media app fed me wedding prep recommendations, including dieting (rebranded as “eating clean”), working out five times a week, regular laser treatments and facials, red light therapy, lymphatic drainage massage, teeth whitening, Russian manicures, eyelash extensions and multi-step hair routines. I saw an essay by a woman who wrote about spending $30,000 on her physical appearance. “In the lead-up to my wedding I treated my body like a design project and gave myself full [rein] to indulge in every and anything I had ever remotely considered,” she explained.
That number sounds extreme, but I can see how she got there. When I called my local med spa in San Francisco to get a quote for skin treatments I had heard about in bridal forums, the receptionist told me that a single session of BroadBand Light laser would be $550, plus $1,200 for microneedling. “Those are typically done in a series,” she said; the salon sold laser treatments in packs of three and five.
