When to get a facial before a wedding: a treatment timeline

Typical timings, furthest out first

1. Laser hair removal: a plan, not a booking

   It’s a series of sessions spaced weeks apart, so start many months ahead, and ask your provider how many you’ll need and when the last one should be.

2. Ablative laser resurfacing: 4 months or more, or after the day

   These are the lasers with real downtime. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says healing takes up to two weeks after a CO2 laser and about a week after an erbium laser. Then the new skin is pink, fading over two to three months, and it can take up to a year to fully go, with redness often lasting longer in blondes and redheads. Add the healing to the pink phase and four months is the realistic minimum. For wedding photos, ask your provider whether after the day makes more sense.

3. Wrinkle-relaxing injections (botulinum toxin): a trial months ahead, the real one about a month out

   The AAD says most people see results within 3 to 7 days, and they last about 3 to 4 months. That makes a neat plan for a first-timer: a trial about 4 months before shows you how your face looks and moves, and wears off around the time of the real appointment. Booking that one about a month out gives the result time to show, with room for a follow-up visit if anything looks uneven. Ask your injector for their timing too.

4. A series of light peels or microneedling: start about 3 months out

   The AAD says light peels often take 3 to 5 sessions, repeated every 2 to 5 weeks, and microneedling for scars is often 3 to 5 sessions every 2 to 4 weeks, with full results over several months. Here’s the math: three light peels four weeks apart, with the last one two weeks before the wedding, means starting about 10 weeks out.

5. Medium or deep chemical peel: 2 months or more, or not at all

   For a medium peel the AAD lists 7 to 14 days of healing, with redness, swelling, crusting and peeling, and camouflage makeup only after 5 to 7 days. Some people also follow a pre-peel skin plan for 2 to 4 weeks first. Add those up with a buffer and two months is a comfortable minimum. A deep peel means 2 to 3 weeks recovering at home and months of strict sun avoidance, so it isn’t a pre-wedding treatment.

6. Fillers: at least 2 weeks out, more for a first time

   Most fillers have no downtime, the AAD says, but redness, swelling, tenderness and sometimes bruising can take 7 to 14 days to clear. A few fillers need an allergy test first, and you have to wait for the result before treatment, so a first time needs extra weeks on top.

7. A light peel or microneedling you’ve had before: at least 2 weeks out

   Per the AAD, a light peel can mean 1 to 7 days of redness, then 3 to 7 days of flaking. After microneedling, redness, a sunburned feeling or a little swelling usually go within a few days to a week, and makeup waits 24 hours. Two weeks is the minimum for either, more if your skin took longer last time.

8. Brows, threading and waxing you’ve had before: 3 to 5 days out

   Waxing can leave skin red or swollen, and the AAD’s advice is to see a dermatologist if that lasts more than two days, so a few days’ buffer matters. Using retinol or a prescription retinoid? The AAD says to stop it 2 to 5 days before a face wax. Never wax sunburned skin, and skip waxing altogether if you’ve taken isotretinoin in the last six months.

9. Spray tan: 1 to 2 days out, last of all

   After any waxing and exfoliating, so you don’t scrub it straight off, and in a shade you’ve worn before, ideally tested at your dress rehearsal.