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Engagement 101 - Special Features
A New Nose, Then the 'I Do'
By MARCELLE S. FISCHLER
Published: January 30, 2005
TO get ready for their November wedding, Yaisy Linares and Martin Casal of Miami decided they needed to do a few things together.
Bride and bridegroom both had nose jobs, while Ms. Linares, 24, had fat removed from her cheeks and Mr. Casal, 26, had an implant in his chin to make it look more square. He also had his teeth whitened.
"It is something we both wanted to do," Ms. Linares said. She added that she loved Mr. Casal with his crooked nose. "But now I love him more. Now he is hot."
Along with reserving the church and reception hall, brides are increasingly putting plastic surgery on their wedding to-do lists, according to doctors and wedding planners.
Comprehensive statistics on the phenomenon do not exist, but Cho Phillips, executive director of www.lovegevity.com, a wedding and marriage preparation Web site based in Durham, N.C., informally surveyed wedding consultants who use her site. She found that 7 of 10 brides the consultants work with have procedures from full body lifts to collagen injections before their weddings.
"Brides-to-be are not afraid to say they are going under the knife to look their best on the big day," Ms. Phillips said. "It is an increasing trend not only to have plastic surgery but also to talk about it."
Dr. Lyle S. Leipziger, chief of plastic surgery at North Shore University Hospital-Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Manhasset, N.Y., said he is seeing many more brides-to-be as patients. "Where it was relatively obscure 10 years ago, now 5 to 10 percent of my overall cosmetic practice is doing body procedures prewedding," he said. "They want to look great in their wedding dress."
Breast augmentation, breast reduction and liposuction for brides in their 20's and 30's are the rage, he said, and "some brides and mothers of the bride consider Botox and Restylane just as much a necessity on their wedding checklists as having their hair and makeup done."
Some brides begin identifying their cosmetic surgery needs as soon as they get engaged, said Dr. Keith LaFerriere, the immediate past president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. "You can plan out what to do so everything is maxed out by the time of the wedding date," he said.
Prewedding makeovers add a chunk to wedding budgets, which already average about $35,000 in major metropolitan areas, said Gerard J. Monaghan, president of the Association of Bridal Consultants.
Dr. Steven Pearlman, the surgical academy's current president, said a Botox injection usually costs $400 to $500. Eye-lifts, which cost $3,000 to $10,000, and face-lifts, which can cost $8,000 to $16,000, are particularly popular among mothers of the bride and bridegroom.
Breast augmentation or reduction can run $5,000 to $12,000, Dr. Leipziger said. Operating room and anesthesia costs are extra.
Ms. Linares and Mr. Casal said their procedures cost more than $11,000, but the feeling they got afterward made it worthwhile.
Other brides are intent on creating a "wow" moment at their wedding. Nine months before she got married, Elisa Nanni, 49, had a face-lift.
"I said I have to absolutely get this done before the wedding," Ms. Nanni said. She was bothered by the tired look around her eyes and sagginess by her mouth, though her fiancé, Michael Lenzi, said he loved her the way she was.
There was a collective "ah" as she walked down the aisle at St. Philomena Roman Catholic Church in Livingston, N.J., on Dec. 31, 2003, she recalled. "People who hadn't seen me in a long time told me how beautiful I looked, how gorgeous," she said. "I am attributing some of that to what I had done."
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