As your wedding day approaches, you can feel your shoulders creeping slowly up to your ears as the stress builds-not necessarily the best way to show off that strapless ball gown you’ve brought. A pre wedding massage may be the perfect way to set those tense shoulders straight, says Marlene Peterson, certified medical massage therapist at the Medical Massage Center of St. Joseph, Michigan.
“Given all the details that have to take place with a wedding, it can be very stressful. Just taking the time to relax clears your mind and calms your spirits,” she says. “A massage can bring you back to a level where you feel like you can cope with everything that’s going on.”
Stress isn’t the only great reason to get a rubdown, says Kathryn Vanderplough, owner and operator of BioTouch Massage Therapy in Michigan City, Indiana. Massage increases blood flow in the body, bringing more of it to the surface. It’s the healthiest way to get that “blushing bride” skin every girl wants.
Relaxation has the added benefit and helping you to focus, something you can easily lose track of in the hubbub of a wedding. “You can remember the real reason behind the whole ceremony,”Peterson says. “Massage kind of gets you back in touch in that.
Both therapists offer this warning to ladies seeking a pre-wedding massage: know your therapist and get your massage at least a day before. A deep-tissue massage on the morning of the big day could leave you in to much pain to walk down the aisle. If you’re new to massage, get references of practitioners from friends and ask the therapist to use lighter techniques. Drink plenty of water after your treatment.
Perhaps most importantly, Vanderplough says, is that you take your time, relax and enjoy yourself. After all, she says, it may be one of the last times you’re alone and indulging as a single woman.