To tan or not to Tan...

elishanb

Ok so I am not a tanner (Dj Tanner or a fake and bake Tanner)I have very pale skin but at the pool or the beach I pick up a slightly darker shade of pale pretty easily. My BMs have been asking me if I am going to tan when I wear my ivory dress next fall. (Here I thought I was rocking this pale) So I was wondering how many of you are (or did) rock the pale or got a spray tan, or faced the tanning bed? And did you go all out for the full on tanned look? Or just a little glowy?

jlryan1

I hit the tanning bed for my wedding, but for a fall wedding, I don't think you'd have to worry about it too much if you didn't have a tan. I definitely had a full on tan and it wasn't necessary (at least not in May!) but I couldn't help myself.

dreamalotmp

I went to the beds (Love the beds even tho they are SO bad for ya). My wedding was ni the winter and we were going to the Caribbean, so I wanted to have some color for the wedding and not burn on the HM. I was very happy with my choice. I started going about 3 months before the wedding, but not every day.

kbielak17

I am doing a combination of tanning bed and pool/beach tan, but nothing outrageous. Just enough to get a nice color/glow.

AMK2009

I did the tanning bed for my wedding.  I've also had a spray tan before, and I liked it.

KimWard

I have a naturally darker complexion, so this prob. doesn't count, but I didn't fake bake and never will. I will spare you my lecture on fake baking (my BM had skin cancer at one point), but I think that between your natural summer tan and maybe a self tanner/spray tan, you will be fine. :-)

cobrien1976

I am extremely pale!!  I've been able to tan once in my entire life, long story short, I was so badly burned, that I couldn't sleep, bathe, or walk for 3 days - hospitalized!!  But after the angony was over, I had a beautiful tan on the front part of my legs ONLY - it was a sight. So no, I will not do any type of tanning, real or fake, it is just way too painful and I am afraid the outcome of spray tanning would make my skin orange or something horrific! 

elishanb

Ok yowza! co- that's a bad thought! I hope that was a long time ago you poor thing!Kim- I agree tanning isn't the best thing in the world and I'm not saying I would take it up as my next part time job for the next year I was just thnking about it because my BMs seem to think it's a good idea for me since I blend so well with my dress. (peer pressure is an amazing thing isn't it)

McBridetobe

I tanned for the wedding a little.  DH has a darker completion than me and was already tan from coaching spring sports and I didn't want to look like the palest bride in the world next to him.  I've vowed to never tan again though!  I'm done!

elishanb

KR I'm trying to picture how that vow went... "I vow to love honor and respect you, and to never compete with your tan again."  ;-)  hehe j/k

McBridetobe

LOL, I should have!  Seriously, the boy has a tan from April until November!  And he wears sunscreen!

morganphd

I agree with Cheryl, I say don't tan!! I am pale and I burn when I hit the sun. I was married in June - in white - and didn't do one bit of tanning. I looked like myself. It would have been really weird for me to be tan in the pics. Do whatever you are most comfortable with.

elishanb

see that's my fear, if I tan I won't look like me (I mean I will just a tan version of me) cause I am never very tan. and it would take me MONTHS to get a noticable tan. and that would be extra $$$

dreamalotmp

Elisha-  I'm super pale and I use this ([URL]http://tinyurl.com/mtpc3x[/URL] when I don't want to go to the tanning beds. It works GREAT cut with a little bit of regular lotion (so as to negate streaks). I've tried TONS of self tanners and it is my fave.

morganphd

To see a pale bride, take a look at my outdoor wedding photos (the ones at Kennywood and on Mt. Washington). Especially #5 on Mt. Washington. You don't get much paler than that, but I think it looked just fine. Several of my BMs really pushed me to tan as well, since they are on the dark side, but I just ignored them :P

cobrien1976

I agree with Shannon, I wouldn't look like myself at all with a tan.  And my incident was 16 years ago, but I've been burned many times since then, just never that bad.

dreamalotmp

I JUST got what you meant by DJ Tanner.  LOL!

KimWard

Don't feel bad Molly, I just got that after reading your post. :-P I loved Full House...I am just a little slow today!

reannalynne

I say no tan. My BMs are pushing me to, also, but I, like you, don't think i will look like "myself". why am i going to do something completely different for that day? Why can't I be me? My mom already talked me into an updo (i want half up half down, more "me") because seh said I would be really hot after a drink or two and after dancing.

LaFemmeRousse

Elisha, one vote for no tanning from a fellow uber-pale lady.  Agreed with many PPs- unless you normally tan, you won't look like "yourself" on your wedding day.  I feel like it would be weird to look back on my wedding pictures and think, "I was never that color before and I will never be that color again."Plus, if you dress is ivory (LOVE), that's usually automatically more flattering to a pale skin tone than a bright white!  You will be vintage elegant

brivb10

I'm late to this party, but I am going to tan for my January wedding since we are headed to the caribbean after. I am going for glowly look on face arms and hands, but going to get a little darker on my bottom half (to becovered at wedding anyways). I haven't been tan in a few years, because i'm always working!!! But, I love looking tan, and I think a little stress relief in a tanning bed is not a bad idea. My BMS and I are going together, and DF will go a few times too. I wear daily spf everywhere, so as long as I don't burn, I figure there are worse things in life that may kill me other than 10 visits to a tanning bed before my wedding.

[Deleted User]

I'll probably tan a little for my December wedding, because we're going to Cancun for the HM, and if I don't tan, I'll BURN like it's going out of style once we get there.  For me, it's not so much about tanning for the wedding but for the honeymoon! 

PensChick20

Late on this post. I am pale. Everyone who knows me IRL knows this. I cannot tan no matter how much tanning bed or laying out. I burn and burn. And I get freckles. But no tan. I have Irish skin so it loves to burn. But honestly I wore a white white dress and I looked tan in it because it was so white. And personally I thought I looked fine. If I would have tanned I would have looked terribly fake to everyone I know.

elishanb

Thanks for all the opinions on this ladies. And I'm glad a few of you got the Dj Tanner reference I didn't even take into consideration being prepared for the HM (which we haven't even begun to thnk about) I don't really want to have to look at the pictures and think "Why the H am I so tan?" but I don't want to burn to a crisp if we go somewhere after the wedding and spend a lot of time in the sun. I love the idea of rocking the pale to keep the old hollywood glamour (since nobody tanned back in the day) I guess time will tell but I'm leaning towards the no right now. Thanks yinz guys  

JennyBee1018

I absolutley rocked out my pale skin and loved being the Greek goddess my DH thinks I am :-) Seriously, tanning does not work for my skin, not to mention it is really bad for your skin. For me, I knew I would look most natural with my regular skin tone. So I did not tan at all for my Fall wedding, and it was the best decision for me. HTH!

pinksonya

I would say if anything (like everyone else has said), tan just a little.  Enough to give you a slight color and prepare you for the HM.  I actually think it looks weird in late fall/winter when people tan like crazy and look all indian while the rest of us are white.  Then throw that red skin into a white gown and it really looks out of place!  And don't worry yourself too much so far in advance about the little things.  I still had slight strap lines when I wore my strapless gown, and no one noticed.  I tried to wear a tube top when I was outside throughout the summer, but there wasn't much else I could do.