Your wedding will be one of the biggest days of your life, so you will want to remember every single moment. You spend hours choosing your wedding dress, your hairstyle and make-up. So, now it is time to consider the perfume you want for such a special occasion. Your wedding perfume should be really gorgeous to wow your guests and capture the magic of the day. So, when you smell it in the years to come, your mind will be filled with wedding day memories.
Allow yourself plenty of time
The golden rule is not to leave choosing a perfume until the last minute. Then you can give it plenty of thought! Of course, the easy option is to plump for your current, favourite perfume. However, you might feel that a new, special fragrance is needed for your wedding day. Some experts suggest that you and your partner should both wear the same fragrance. On the other hand, something that will complement your partner’s fragrance is also worth considering.
The hunt for a new perfume
When looking for a new perfume, consider finding one to match your personality. If you usually choose fresh, soft perfumes, your wedding day is not the time to experiment with a stronger, bolder statement fragrance!
Relax and enjoy choosing your wedding day perfume because buying perfume is a lovely romantic thing to do! It is fun to admire all the beautiful bottles and to try some of the new fragrances. Maybe you have always wanted a signature fragrance but never had the chance to pinpoint one. What better reason to find it than your wedding day!
Look at your current favourite perfumes to see if they follow a certain pattern. Do they have the same style? Are they light, sultry, floral or woody? Do your current perfumes have any heart notes in common such as neroli, jasmine or rose? The easy way to establish this fact is to look them up on www.wikiparfum.fr. Gathering all this information will definitely help you to narrow down the search! Think about your chosen style for your wedding day. For example, are you a boho bride that would suite a sensual woody perfume? Or are you a classic bride that suits a light floral perfume?
A visit to your favourite store can be worthwhile. If they have an experienced person on their perfume counter, they can suggest similar fragrances to the ones you like. Remember to consider when your wedding is taking place, as the changing seasons can impact your choice.
Your perfume choice is personal, but you may experiment with some of the traditional and contemporary classics! The most iconic choice of bridal perfume is Chanel No 5, elegant and timeless. Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede is modern, soft and luxurious.
Or, a very special choice is Le Labo Lys 41. Each bottle of perfume is hand-blended and personalised. What a special keepsake that would be! The perfume is light and fresh with notes of jasmine and lily. Containing the fragrant notes of roses, peony and magnolia, Chloé is another perfume that has become a popular classic. Or, Narciso Rodriguez Eau de Parfum is a sensual cocktail of musk, amber and peach. Other popular classics include Yves St Laurent’s Black Opium and Estée Lauder’s Beautiful Belle. For a gorgeous contemporary fragrance, try Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb. So, the choice of beautiful perfumes is almost infinite!
Choosing the perfect perfume
Once you have narrowed down your choice, allow plenty of time to test a few once again. Make sure you use unscented soap for your shower that morning and no moisturisers or perfumes. Test a different perfume on each wrist, sprayed on your pulse point. Smell the fragrance straight away as the delicate top notes will soon disappear. Walk around town and smell the perfume as its heart notes develop and later as the base notes become more pronounced. Keep an eye on the time to see how long it is before the perfume fades completely. This will be valuable information for your wedding day so that you schedule in a quick refresh!
If you find that you cannot find the perfect perfume, why not experiment with some perfume blending? You can use several layers for a totally unique fragrance. Interestingly, perfumes containing one of the most favourite fragrances for brides is orange blossom.
Once you have chosen your new perfume, it is a good idea to wear it a few times before your ‘big’ day so that you are comfortable with it.
Aligning your wedding day fragrances
Once you've chosen a beautiful perfume, you need to consider other fragrances you will be using on your wedding day such as shower gels, hair shampoos and antiperspirants. You should opt for unperfumed versions otherwise your wedding perfume could be drowned out! Baby toiletries are a good option as they have a subtle but attractive smell.
A few days before your wedding, pop a few tissues that you have sprayed with your wedding perfume inside your wedding dress. Then, it will absorb the fragrance. You can choose the same trick for your wedding lingerie, stockings and shoes.
Making your perfume truly memorable.
Having found your wedding perfume, you could turn it into one of the wedding themes. The sense of smell is the strongest of our senses so your chosen perfume will evoke lovely memories in many family members and friends long after the event.
You can enhance the smell of your perfume by spraying it lightly on table linens and having complementary candles on the tables. When you send thank you notes after your wedding, a lovely touch is to spray the envelopes with your perfume too.
Your wedding day has arrived!
Trying to smell sensational throughout your wedding day is going to be a challenge, but there are some really good tricks that will help you to be successful!
Start with a refreshing shower
- Enjoy a leisurely and refreshing shower, using either a shower gel that will complement your fragrance or a very light almost neutral one. Pat your skin dry gently with a nice fluffy towel.
- Then, apply a body moisturiser to your skin. A good trick is to add a few drops of your chosen perfume to an unperfumed oil-based moisturiser a few days before your wedding. Shake the bottle each day. Apply the moisturiser to your skin and very gently rub it in.
- Then, apply an unperfumed antiperspirant or one that will complement your perfume. If you are styling your hair yourself, spray your perfume onto your hairbrush and then brush your hair- this is more effective as spraying perfume directly onto your hair can be very drying.
Time for your perfume
- It is best to do this quickly after your shower, whilst the pores of your skin are still open. Best to apply your perfume before you put on your wedding outfit too, for fear of marking the material or ruining your jewellery.
- For maximum impact, apply your fragrance to your body’s pulse points. These are the places where your body is warmer and this is important as it helps your fragrance to develop.
- The main pulse points are the back of your neck, the inside of your wrists, in the crook of your elbows, behind your knees and your ankles – although several top perfumers would add your ear lobes to this list!
- Lightly spray or dab the perfume on these points but don’t rub the perfume as this will ruin the fragile top notes of the perfume.
- Allow the perfume to dry on your skin before dressing to ensure you do not mark your outfit.
- If you are wearing several layers, lightly spray perfume between the layers. When wearing a beautiful white or cream wedding dress, it is worth patch testing before your wedding day to ensure that the perfume will not mark it.
- If you will be wearing a veil, you can lightly spray a new paintbrush with cream bristles, with your perfume and then lightly ‘paint’ your veil.
Top Tip: Ask your photographer to capture your chosen perfume bottle with your wedding rings or accessories and the moment you put your wedding perfume on. It makes for a really gorgeous shot.
Make your perfume last well.
Perfume usually lasts 3-4 hours before it needs to be freshened and this is something that is worth planning for your wedding day. The easiest way to freshen up is to use a travel size perfume and maybe your mum or bridesmaid will be happy to pop this in their handbag for you.
Another clever trick is to spray your perfume onto a few cotton wool balls and to keep them in a small plastic bag which can also be kept in the handbag! Whenever you feel that you need to ‘refresh,’ simply dab one of the cotton balls on your pulse points – this works amazingly well!
Well, now you are ready and smelling sensational, it is time to leave for your wedding celebration – relax, enjoy and don’t forget to breathe!