Plastic surgery and Botox are the new essentials in a bride’s wedding prep

UNITED STATES – Ms Danielle McNamara had often thought about getting a nose job. But it was not until she was reviewing photos from her proposal in July 2021 that she began to seriously consider scheduling a surgery.

The 36-year-old from Vancouver, Washington, knew she wanted to be able to look at images from her wedding and “not be like, ‘Gosh, I wish I would’ve done that or done that sooner’”.

In early February 2022, she called Dr Michael Kim, a double-board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Portland, Oregon, and was told it could be a year before an appointment became available.

Ms McNamara joined the doctor’s cancellation list and was able to undergo her rhinoplasty that September, giving her plenty of time to recover before her wedding on Oct 13, 2023.

Ms McNamara, an office manager at bookkeeping firm Number Crunchers, said she could not be happier with the results.

“There’s one photo in particular that our photographer captured of my profile, and it is everything I could have ever wanted,” she said. “I was like, ‘Yes, this is what I’ve been looking for.’ I look feminine. I felt like I looked youthful. It made it absolutely worth it.”

Dr Richard Reish, a board-certified plastic surgeon based in New York, said he saw bridal surgery treatments increase threefold over the past five years.

Dr Reish, whose surgical practice specialises in rhinoplasty, explained that brides were eager to “obtain that perfect side-profile view” for their wedding photos.

“There are few other situations in life that require so much emphasis on pictures,” he said.

He added that the couple’s parents might also wish to “look as good as possible or restore a youthful appearance” before encountering their own friends for the first time in years.

“The pressure felt by the parents can sometimes be just as large or greater than the pressure felt by the bride and groom,” he said.

Social media filters have also increased interest in plastic surgery, said Dr Sagar Patel, a double-board-certified facial plastic surgeon who founded his own practice in Beverly Hills, California.

“Five years ago, I would get a lot of people showing me images of celebrities,” he said. “Now, they show me images of themselves with the filter.”

He added that in his experience, rhinoplasty and chin liposuction were the most common procedures that brides requested before marrying.

After some weight loss, Ms Jennifer Napierskie, 31, also wanted to focus on her face before tying the knot.

In early February, she underwent chin liposuction from Dr Munique Maia, a board-certified plastic surgeon and the founder of Maia Plastic Surgery in Tysons, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

“I didn’t overall want to change my appearance,” said Ms Napierskie, a nurse anaesthetist who lives in Alexandria, Virginia. “I just wanted to kind of go back to what I looked like a couple of years ago.”

Ms Napierskie credited her July 2024 celebration as one of the main reasons for booking the procedure. “Having a wedding coming up with a photographer and 100 people with their phones taking pictures of you definitely motivated me a little bit more,” she said.

Dr Maia said the pre-wedding procedures that she performs significantly correlate with the age of her clients. She noticed that brides ages 20 to 30 often come in seeking body-contouring procedures, such as liposuction and breast alterations.

Patients who are marrying later in life – or are the mother of the bride or groom – are seeking what Dr Maia calls “major transformations”. Facelifts and tummy tucks, in particular, are popular with women over 40.

One of her patients, preparing for her sons’ back-to-back weddings, scheduled a tummy tuck before the first wedding and a facelift before the second.

Instead of going under the knife, other brides-to-be have chosen injections, such as Botox treatments, which are often a less expensive alternative to surgery. Patients who visit Dr Reish’s office for Botox treatments on average spend from US$1,000 (S$1,350) to US$1,400, targeting multiple areas of the face during their appointments.

“Most patients will need to do this three times per year, as it is a maintenance treatment,” he said.

Ms Lindsay Edgar, 42, a wedding planner and owner of 22 Weddings & Events in Austin, Texas, said that her facialist encouraged her to try Botox for the first time before her November 2022 nuptials.

“She said it would just make make-up look smoother in pictures, so it wouldn’t so much look like you were wrinkle-free, but everything would lay nicer and photograph better,” Ms Edgar said.

Still, she never thought that she would get Botox. “Wrinkles on my forehead have never really been a thing that I have noticed or been worried about.”

However, she said she chose to go forward with Botox to feel her best on her wedding day. “I think one of the reasons I wanted to look so good for my wedding is because sometimes it is hard being around so many younger brides,” she said.

“The wedding industry often feels like it’s built for someone closer to their late 20s who is small and trendy.”

For other brides, pre-wedding Botox is more than a skincare regimen. It is a group activity.

While helping to plan a close friend’s February bachelorette party in Palm Springs, California, Ms Carly Hill suggested an afternoon of Botox and relaxation by the pool.

Her sister is an aesthetic injector at the Fitz, a medical spa in Chicago, and the bride’s sister is a children’s nurse practitioner who also runs a medical aesthetics practice. The two were expertly able to administer Botox to the 10 other women in attendance.

“I’ve become quite a bachelorette party planning pro these past few years, and this felt unique and practical as an activity for the weekend,” said Ms Hill, 32, who lives in Brooklyn and runs an influencer marketing firm.

“Everyone took turns receiving injections while the rest of us hung in the pool, tanned, listened to music and caught up.” NYTIMES