When it came time for Julie Nutter to plan her pre-wedding beauty session, she was ready to go beyond her daily make-up application. "I thought, 'This is the only time I am ever going to be able to look this amazing, so I should just go all out.'"

Nutter, who lives in Ellicott City, complains that her eyelashes are short and thin. "I really wanted my eyes to pop in pictures," she says. "My sister had gotten lash extensions for her wedding and she looked amazing. I was going for the same effect."

Whether they choose an intimate make-up application to achieve the perfect wedding look, or go for broke with on-site spa services for the entire bridal party, many brides make beauty treatments a priority on the wedding day.

But while every bride wants to look her best for the walk down the aisle—not to mention the all-important wedding photos—many realize that a single application of make-up might not have staying power. New procedures like lash and hair extensions, as well as skin treatments, can begin well in advance of the wedding and last beyond the honeymoon.

"Photographers love when we add lashes to a bride," says Ashley Riddle, owner of Up-Do's for I Do's in Catonsville. "They enhance the overall look. Lashes can really make a big difference in photos." Darkening the eyes, says Riddle, make them appear bigger and brighter.

Lash enhancements are one of this year's biggest trends, says Riddle, and treatments range from lash tinting to prescription applications that encourage lash growth.

Riddle recommends NovaLash extensions, individual eyelash extensions, that, while pricey at around $200, "are the most striking and semi-permanent option," she says. "They intensify, add depth, and offer more to the eye then mascara can."

Individual synthetic eyelash hairs are applied with a special adhesive, and an application can take anywhere from one to three hours. Riddle suggests making the appointment about a week before the big day to make sure the bride has a chance to get used to the extensions, which can last for six weeks or more.

"My eyes were brighter," says Nutter. "When I looked at the pictures, I felt like a princess."

Bride-to-be So Yun experimented with temporary lash extensions and used strip lashes for her wedding, but after the big day switched to Latisse, the prescription eyelash enhancer that is applied to the lashes at their roots. Yun says she did not experience any of the product's listed side effects (such as darkening of skin and eye pigment). "The best part," she enthuses of her lashes, "is they are mine."

Yun, who lives in Laurel, began her wedding beauty preparations six months before the ceremony, setting up a consultation with Dr. Jane Chew, a cosmetic and medical dermatologist in Columbia. Dr. Chew helped her go over several options for long-term skin treatments, including one for freckles. "My freckles were something that bothered me personally," says Yun. "And I knew that they would be more defined in any black and white photos."

To be on the safe side, Yun chose simple procedures. "Some of the more invasive procedures had side effects that could still remain on my wedding day," she learned. "Or worse, be non-reversible."

Yun choose micro-dermabrasion, a process she describes as "a mild sand blast to the skin."

 "It made my skin feel shiny and new." She also chose medical chemical peels, and Photo Rejuvenation treatments for her freckles, performed at Pura Vida Medical Spa in Maple Lawn.

For less elaborate treatments, Natalie Sams, general manager of All About Me Salon + Day Spa in Towson, recommends procedures that will tighten pores and give skin a fresh healthy glow. One of the most popular is a Pear and Poppy Microderm facial that uses products from the company Éminence. "It consists of exfoliation using natural fruit acids, and a deep cleansing process helping reduce pore size. A final mask is then applied to hydrate and moisture to the skin's surface," says Sams. A good skin treatment, Sams, says, can also help conventional make-up provide the best results.

Good Hair Day

Getting a new hair style too close to the wedding date can easily turn into a disaster. But these days, hair extensions and color corrections have reversed those fears.

Meghan Kasten of Owing Mills loves the look of long hair and wanted flowing curls for her wedding day. "Unfortunately, I cut about eight inches off a year before our wedding and my hair was nowhere near as long as I wanted to be able to get the perfect wedding-day look," she says. She went to Tunde at Mason & Friends in Columbia, where her short brown bob was supplemented with 18-inch long straight extensions with blond highlights, curled with an iron for the wedding day. For the ceremony, Kasten wore her hair in a celebrity-style sideswept ponytail, with curls cascading over her shoulder. "It's the hair I always wished I had been born with," she says. But the extensions had a price—in addition to the money, there was the discomfort of having them sewn in. "The extensions were tight and heavy," Kasten reports. "And they took absolutely forever to blow dry." But overall. the look—and the compliments she received—made the project worthwhile.

Up-Do's for I Do's specializes in hair extensions for elaborate up-dos or more dramatic looks, says owner Riddle. "We also do hair extensions when brides want extra length and fullness," she says. Temporary extensions, $45-$150, are fused in with an adhesive to the scalp, or pinned with bobby pins, only last for the wedding day, or, at the most, for a few days. A more elaborate extension, such as Kasten's, which can take three to six  hours, cost $500-$1500, and will last three to 6 months. "With rigorous maintenance, you can get a year out of them," says Riddle.

There are also the brides who complain about too much hair, especially if it's naturally thick, but dry or frizzy. Jasmen Davis, a make-up artist at the Darrell Barrett Salon in Hunt Valley, recommends a $300 Keratin Treatment, which promises manageable hair and "cuts your blow-drying time in half," she says. The best part is, the treatment sticks. Davis says the resulting smooth, manageable, strands last three to five months—long after the wedding day.

Faux lashes, hair extensions, and skin regiments are just the beginning of a list of long-lasting, non-surgical, beauty treatment options available. A bride can treat herself to acrylic French-tipped nails, laser hair removal, toth whitening, and a bronze spray-on tan in any season. All of which can last for days to weeks and months.