Suntan and not sunburn
Of the 4 years I have planned destination weddings in Hawaii, I have seen so many brides who got sunburned right before their wedding. Not only does it look painful, it’s also going to show up in every single picture that the photographer takes. It will definitely be very expensive on the photo retouching part.
Let me share with you what I did when I had my destination wedding on Oahu a little over 4 years ago…
As I was planning my wedding, I knew I wanted to add some color to my skin but I didn’t want to get burned. So I started going to a tanning salon in San Francisco, my hometown, about 2 months prior to the wedding. I heard about the Mystic Tan (the spray on one), and the tanning salon that I went to actually has that tanning booth, but I just wasn’t sure how even the color would get, so I stuck with the tanning bed instead.
For the first few weeks or so, I had to go every other day to build up my base tan. Once I had some color, I started going every 2 days until I achieved the color that I wanted. The best thing about indoor tanning with a tanning bed is that I could go completely naked to get a very even tan without any tan lines or anything. That was important to me as I had a strapless wedding gown.
Once I got to Oahu, I wore only strapless tops during the day for the entire week. After the sun went down, I would change back to short sleeve shirts or tank tops. It worked out perfectly. The UV rays are very strong, even on a cloudy day. After just 15 minutes, you will get some color. So if you don’t want any tan lines, that’s what you need to do, OR you can wear long sleeve shirts and cover up your arms and shoulders completely… but you will get really hot though, that’s why strapless tops are the way to go.
If you look at the photo below, see how even my tan was - from my shoulders to my arms to even my legs (wow, they were actually pretty dark)! :)
IMAGE SOURCE HERE
Tags: Sunbathing
August 26th, 2009 at 1:46 am
For what it’s worth, another vote against spray on tans. I’ve spent more time photoshopping out improperly applied tans than I can recall. You’re spending the money to get your wedding done proper in a beautiful environment, take the time to get a base and the care to not get burned. Everything Evonne states here is pure gospel.