To tan or not to tan???

angel11

I had decided to forgo fake tan for the big - I'm naturally very pale, and fake tan just looks, well, "fake" I'm have a loosely vintage theme, and, tbh, the colour of my dress actually compliments my natural skin tone.

Now I'm having second thoughts There's a few reasons for this
1. my bms have a split in their dresses to the knee, so will have to wear fake tan, & 1 is quite naturally tanned
2. my oh is quite naturally tanned
3. I've been looking through photos of other brides, who all have very healthy looking tans
Basically, I don't want to be looking like a milk bottle beside oh & my bms on the 1 day when I want to look my best. But at the same time, I have no idea what fake tan to go for, how this would sit with my make up etc, which I've already trialled & agreed with mua.

What is everyone else planning? Any other brides going "au naturale?"

Stephb1986_2

I went on the sunbeds twice a week for the last 4 weeks just to get a bit of a warmer tone my MUA was brilliant and had everything we needed

Steph x

CH27

angel11 wrote: »

I had decided to forgo fake tan for the big - I'm naturally very pale, and fake tan just looks, well, "fake" I'm have a loosely vintage theme, and, tbh, the colour of my dress actually compliments my natural skin tone.

Now I'm having second thoughts There's a few reasons for this
1. my bms have a split in their dresses to the knee, so will have to wear fake tan, & 1 is quite naturally tanned
2. my oh is quite naturally tanned
3. I've been looking through photos of other brides, who all have very healthy looking tans
Basically, I don't want to be looking like a milk bottle beside oh & my bms on the 1 day when I want to look my best. But at the same time, I have no idea what fake tan to go for, how this would sit with my make up etc, which I've already trialled & agreed with mua.

What is everyone else planning? Any other brides going "au naturale?"

I'd stick with that then.

CompBunny

I'm a redhead, ghostly white and wouldn't be fooling anyone with fake tan!

If your dress compliments your skin tone then just go with it You will also look more like "you" to your new hubby!

Also remember when looking at wedding pics online a lot are of "blogged" American weddings with huge diamonds, perfectly themed detailing, white white straight teeth and a glowing tan to match! I always see pics with 6 or so bridesmaids and lots of ushers and think maybe we should have more but have to remind myself our wedding is for the day and more so the marriage, not to showcase online Our wedding will never appear in google image searches for other people to aspire to but it will be lovely all the same!

Tashatutuw

I might hit a couple of sunbeds in the last few weeks even though as an also very pale skinned, moley person I know it is the last thing I should do but I definitely wouldn't suggest a spray or mousse fake tan as was told by my dress shop that they have seen it rub off on dresses and the last thing you want is orange staining on your beautiful gown from where your arms have rubbed...

minerva_windsong

I'm not tanning. I think I'm still scarred by the photos of myself at my sister's wedding when I got a fake tan and I look orange.

There is an E45 body lotion with a bit of shimmer in it that I'll be buying as a kind of 'halfway house' between fake tanning and being milk-bottle pale though. Plus I'll probably be wearing tights as it's in November and I think I'll have closed-toe shoes, so hopefully that will help as well...

duchy

I think your pale complexion will simply make you stand out more from the bridesmaids........as a bride should.

Don't do the fake tan if it isn't "you".

Fuzzy_Duck

I don't think anyone should feel like they HAVE to tan- provided the dress colour compliments your skin tone and you feel comfortable, what's the problem with being pale?

I'm sure you will look lovely and will stand out in a good way You can always dab on a bit of blusher to give you an English Rose look, and as minerva_windsong has mentioned, shimmer body lotion is a great way of warming up your skin tone without tanning.

I am biased admittedly as I'm a pale bride-to-be myself with goth bridesmaids and a H2B who would run away screaming if I turned up to the wedding orange (which is probably what would happen if I had a go at self-tanning!) I genuinely think it's a bad idea to tan if you don't normally bother though. You want to look good yes- but you still want to look like you if you see what I mean.

TopQuark

Totally agree with everyone here. I am a super-pale, blue-white skinned, blonde-haired bride-to-be (mouthful that is!) and I'm not going down the tanned route. I'll use one layer of my tried and tested Clarins 'delicious self-tanning cream', just to take the snow-blindness edge off me and I'll be done with it. Everyone has asked if I'll be spray-tanning and I have said no; I look ridiculously fake. Especially next to OH who is the real deal when it comes to suntans - a born and bred Frenchman from the cote d'azur in the Med. He's effortlessly bronzed after a sunny afternoon and I just cannot compete with it, so I don't even try and just embrace my paleness. His family and friends think I'm somewhat exotic with my English Rose/ Nordic looks so I just go with that.

You should too OP - your OH loves you as you are!

mountainofdebt

Please don't use sunbeds.......horrible things

Mellypoos

I am having this same debate. Although i am quite pale skinned in the summer i do tan a bit, but i usually wear short sleeved tshirts and so my tan stops halfway up my arm and I just don't seem to be able to get a base on the upper arm. also my neck and upper chest burn/tan. i really don't want to look patchy but i have never used fake tans or beds before and i'm not really keen. any ideas on how to keep a nice even tone?