As the 2026 wedding season arrives, many brides feel overwhelmed by beauty standards. A beauty columnist shares her personal struggle and insights on resisting the pressure to look perfect.
The Pressure to Look Perfect
Jessica DeFino, a beauty columnist, is planning her second wedding and facing the same anxieties she thought she had overcome. She recalls her first wedding, where she subjected herself to extreme diets and treatments to achieve a certain look. Now, she wants a different experience.
DeFino's grandmother, at 91, looked at her 1954 wedding album and sighed, 'I wanted to remember how beautiful I used to be.' Her mother also fixates on her weight in wedding photos. DeFino admits that despite her professional critique of beauty culture, she still feels the pull.
The Bridal Beauty Industry
Cosmetic surgery and treatments are increasingly normalized. Botox is available at Nordstrom, and Wegovy is used for wedding weight loss. A survey by The Cut found that over 53% of respondents spent between $1,000 and $5,000 to appear 'effortless' on their wedding day, with nearly 2% spending $20,000 or more. One participant got a $13,000 nose job six months before her wedding to avoid regretting photos.
DeFino notes that wedding day beauty can become a form of 'body horror,' where digital perfection is achieved through physical sacrifice. She understands the desire to look good but rejects the extreme measures.
Redefining Bridal Beauty
DeFino's therapist suggests leaning into a 'sense of occasion' without capitulating to patriarchal ideals. For her, this means choosing decoration over augmentation. She plans to wear a swan-shaped headpiece instead of a veil, embracing silliness.
She opts for pale blue eyeshadow and 60s-inspired eyeliner as a nod to Barbra Streisand, rather than corrective makeup. She will wear some concealer and blush but rejects full-coverage foundation and invasive treatments. Her skincare routine remains simple, and she skips manicures.
A New Approach
Instead of a costly hair treatment, DeFino plans to swim in the Atlantic Ocean on her wedding morning, finding the beach-waving effect magical. She chose a loose, swingy, zipperless dress to accommodate her body without stress.
She acknowledges her appearance anxiety but refuses to act on it. 'I can feel the feeling and leave it at that; I can refuse to resort to colonics and sauerkraut,' she writes.
Ultimately, DeFino wants her wedding memories to focus on love, dancing, kissing, and cake, not on her appearance. 'I don't want to remember how beautiful or skinny or frizz-free I was,' she says. 'I want to remember the love, the dancing, the kissing, the cake.'
