How I got ready for my wedding

Your wedding is undoubtedly one of the most important days of your life. So it’s pretty logical to want to be impeccable for your big day. When it comes to beauty, your beard, hair, and complexion are the most important elements. To offer you a guide as wedding season approaches, we asked two guys to tell us how they prepared to be at their best on this festive day.

Vadim, 27 years old

"For my hair, I knew that the appointment I made for 3 weeks before my wedding was too far away, but I couldn't wait another week. So I agreed with my hairdresser to come back the same day, to clean up around the back of my neck and trim on and around my ears.

Since all my friends know me as bearded, I chose to keep it. No barber, but I trimmed and maintained it myself. First, I trimmed it to my desired length four weeks before my wedding just to test it out. Then, I trimmed it a second three days before, followed by the last touches, like shaving around my throat to define my beard line a bit more. I did a similar strategy for my cheeks: I removed my cheek hairs with wax and tweezers ten days before, and then I touched up with tweezers 48 hours beforehand. For my eyebrows, I just took care of them on sight.

For facial care, I followed the famous Korean skincare routine for 30 days, then continued to exfoliate and moisturise regularly. for two weeks. I used an anti-blackhead peel-off mask three days before the ceremony. And in my pocket, I had a Horace wipe. Just in case."

Sebastian, 33 years old

"I just had 6 months between my proposal and my wedding. The proposal happened on a whim, and the wedding was taking place on what was an already busy last quarter of 2017. So the idea was to organise a small wedding that was easy to plan and to continue to live life as usual and avoid complicating it.

It turned out that even though the wedding was very simple to prepare, the idea of having a wedding after two vacations, including one to Japan, could have been a little better thought out. I’m thinking all of the litres of delicious ramen I ate that made me need to go on a diet for a few days before my wedding ceremony.

Although my hairstyle choices are limited by my baldness, I still managed to complicate my life by deciding to shave the beard that I had for more than 10 years so I could switch to a moustache. This caused a series of existential questions (Is it normal to look so much like Bronson? Why can't I take myself seriously anymore? Has my chin always been so weird?).

The final blow struck the morning of my wedding: there was no hot water. A lot of my preparations were shortened but fortunately, my few basic care steps (exfoliating, cleansing, moisturising) helped me present myself more honourably. At least, I hope."