Planning a wedding is no picnic. There’s buying the dress,
hacking away at the guest list, and trying to balance the wedding
visions of family members with those of the betrothed. By the time the
dress, flowers, cake, location and hairdresser are all booked, the
bride-to-be could use a little pampering. Here are three ways she can
unwind before the big day.
Get hennaed
With careful strokes, Kim Allcock paints vibrant, reddish-brown
swirling patterns on her feet. They twist toward her ankles, staining
them like a lace sock run amok.
The dye and the process of applying it is called henna, or sometimes
mendhi. It comes from the henna plant, Lawsonia inermis. When
the leaves of the plant are finely ground and, liquid—water, tea,
essential oil, and lemon juice are common—is added, it creates a
burgundy paste used to stain skin, as well as hair and fabric, for
weeks.
The sort of “temporary tattoo” Allcock is giving herself
has been used for good luck for all manner of celebrations since about
3000 BC, particularly in East Asia and the Middle East. It’s been
especially popular for weddings, with brides getting the most complex
patterns to signify support for their greatest joy and best wishes for
luck.
“The color itself—that red color—is supposed to
protect against evil eye, and the henna plant is thought to be
protective,” says Allcock. Through her business, Henna Blessings,
brides-to-be, expectant mothers or anyone looking for some interesting
adornment can have their body part of choice “hennaed.”
Traditionally, it’s on the hands and feet, where the stain also
tends to be darker and last longer than other, thicker parts of the
skin. But as henna has migrated into other uses and across the West,
people have done trails of vines down their shoulders, or across their
chest or pregnant bellies, or as a bridal garter belt.
“The application is a nice ritual of everyone getting together
and spending time together,” says Allcock. “It’s a
time-consuming process. It’s really a chance for the bride to be
pampered—sitting and having someone work on you is not too
dissimilar from getting a manicure, so it feels like a special
treat.”
In a traditional Indian wedding, for example, the henna would be
applied a couple of days before the wedding, and women would get
together to decorate the bride and each other. The custom is that the
bride wouldn’t have to do any housework until the henna wore off.
Allcock says there are stories of people staying up at night to retrace
the design for that reason.
“A classic Indian style of bridal henna will be a massively
intricate design that looks like elbow-length lace gloves and
knee-length lace stockings,” says Allcock. “Something like
that should take all day. Bridal henna can take eight hours on one
person.” And Jewish bridal henna has been known to take four to
five days to complete.
Brides may not have that kind of time and can opt for something a
little less intricate that could be applied within an hour or two. The
paste, which has a mud-like consistency once dried, has to stay on the
skin for at least four hours before being scraped off, leaving behind
the stain. Allcock advises keeping water off the design for a day or
two to allow it to set in and last longer. The dye disappears as skin
exfoliates, so depending on your skin type and the placement of the
design, it could last anywhere from one to four weeks.
If reddish brown isn’t in the wedding color scheme, Allcock
offers a couple of other ideas for henna body art. One is to make the
design with a glue made for the skin, to which she can add a
cosmetic-grade glitter or mica powder that sparkles. Another idea is to
apply the henna design but then glue crystals and other adornments at
strategic points along the design, “so you get some bling with
the traditional henna,” she says.
“The whole significance is blessings on the skin, the idea of Photo By
conveying favor on the person wearing it.”
Henna Blessings, 972-1362, kimberly.allcock@gmail.com, $65 per
hour.
Soak it up
The best cocktail in Reno is not at a bar, but at a nail salon. At
least that’s according to readers of RN&R’s 2009
Biggest Little Best of Northern Nevada poll, who praised Soak Nail
Salon’s Pink Drink. It’s a vodka-based concoction of
passion fruit, blood orange and mango with a sugar rim. A cocktail is a
nice way to unwind all by itself. Add a foot-soaked pedicure, pretty
nails, a quaint, 1920s bungalow setting, and your wedding party’s
best girls to the mix, and you’re set for a stress-relieving
afternoon.
“Some bride groups will come in the morning, and you can tell
they’ve been out all night because they don’t talk,”
says Soak owner Shannon Dunlap. “They just drink the Bloody Mary
and deal. There may be uncomfortable tensions because sometimes that
happens during weddings. So we try to lighten the mood and take care of
it. Some are just great because they haven’t seen each other for
ages. I think my staff is good at making everyone feel comfortable
during what can sometimes—even though it’s a joyous
time—be an uncomfortable time for them.”
Soak’s large staff can accommodate large or small groups.
They’ve hosted parties of up to 60 people, which can include a
massage chair, catering from Back of the House (or parties can bring
their own food) and nail service for nine people at a time. If a
bride’s nails smudge or chip before the wedding, she can come
back in, and they’ll fix it at no charge.
“We’ve done tons of weddings and tons of brides, so we
have a lot of different twists on the regular French manicure so your
nails can look a little bit unique,” says Dunlap.
Soak, 628 W. Second St., 324-7399. Adult mani-pedi starts at $49.
www.soaklounge.com
Spa day
A sure-fire way to relax is a massage. L’Essence Day Spa is
one local place to get it. From its Victorian home setting, brides and
grooms can choose from a Swedish, hot stone or chakra massage, all of
which take at least an hour. The building contains three levels, with
hair, makeup and retail on the ground floor. The quieter, upper levels
are where manicures, pedicures and massages take place. The third level
is called the atrium, where people can wait between treatments during a
long day of beauty, sip a glass of wine, or have lunch. L’Essence
can order lunch from the nearby The Cheese Board. Brides are also
welcome to bring in champagne, muffins and bagels for the bridal party.
The spa offers a five-hour, “special occasion day of
wellness” package that includes a trial hair and makeup session
before the wedding date and the day of the wedding, which includes a
mani-pedi, facial or massage for $357-$365. Packages for grooms and
bridal attendants are also available for $190-$210.
“We do a lot of brides, so we’re very
experienced,” says Suzanne Iremonger, front desk manager.
“It’s overall, a nice, relaxing, happy place to
be.”
L’Essence Day Spa, 242 W. Liberty St., 323-2040. Massages from $80-$90.