Healthy Bride Series - Aphrodisiac Foods!

If you have read previous Healthy Bride Series blog posts you will know that Everything Wedding DIY is no stranger to promoting a healthy sex life and satisfying marriage... If you are new to this blog and I have peaked your interest you can check out some of the other sexy blog features below:

Learn to Burlesque dance with the Toronto School of Burlesque
Create a Blissful Honeymoon with Holistic Wisdom's gift sets!

Today's blog feature is all about naturally enhancing the mood with food... so, without further ado let's talk aphrodisiacs! For those who don't already know what an aphrodisiac is, it is a substance that when consumed increases sexual desire. It is highly unlikely that you have never consumed an aphrodisiac before because they are common sometimes everyday foods in some cultures. Surprisingly aphrodisiacs for men and women can differ. 

It is said that the top aphrodisiacs for women are:

* Fenugreek
* Ginseng
* Cacao/Dark Chocolate
* Cinnamon/Ginger/Nutmeg
* Flaxseeds
* Red Wine
* Watermelon
* Pumpkin Seeds

And the top aphrodisiacs for men are:

* Oysters
* Bananas
* Avocados
* Nuts
* Shrimp

No that your interest has been peaked, you can learn more about aphrodisiac foods on A Touch of Erotica! Whether you are saving yourself for your wedding night or are hoping for some extra romance on your wedding night, aphrodisiac foods should definitely make an appearance on your honeymoon to enhance a healthy sex life. Touch of Erotica has a detailed list of aphrodisiac foods along with the reasons they work; so go take a look and design the perfect menu to set your hearts on fire!

Enjoy!!

Healthy Bride Series - The Ultimate Wedding Workout

Well here it is ladies...  The Ultimate Wedding Workout, perfect for my Healthy Bride Series! You and your bridesmaids can do this workout program together to get the picture perfect bodies you have been hoping for before the big day :)

They've designed an Ultimate Wedding Workout program for women wanting to look and feel great on their Wedding Day. For only $25.95 you will receive an 8 Week Workout Program with all the exercises, including pictures and descriptions on how to do them. Meal and Nutrition Guide, Success Journal and a Wedding Planner so you don't miss those important tasks in planning for your big day.

All the exercises require NO equipment so they can be done at home, outdoors or just with your bridesmaids. A lot cheaper than an 8 week Gym membership :)

You can check out video reviews and comments from brides that had great success with The Ultimate Wedding Workout on their website.

Tamra Brown - Bristol, United Kingdom

It's amazing what's possible when you have the right information in your hands. Thank you Ultimate Wedding Workout for making me look my best on my special day. Everyone wanted to know my secret...........

With all the money that gets spent on your wedding day this is a great price for something that you can continue using beyond your "I dos" and you will look great and feel amazing when your groom falls head over heels again with his bride!

Get Fit and Stay Healthy

Healthy Bride Series - Honeymoon Bliss!!

In this Healthy Bride Series you will get a sneak peek at some sensual products that can help set the mood for that infamous first night as a married couple!! 

Interesting Fact:

• Poll of 2,128 newlyweds found 52% don't have sex on wedding night
• A quarter of the time groom gets too drunk, 13% of the time, bride
• One in ten couples argue before the reception finishes

For those who would like to be a part of the lucky 48% I have found a great resource for sexual wellness products that would surely compliment any honeymoon!! Holistic Wisdom sells only phthalate free, and paraben free products. Many people would be shocked at what is just lurking in their personal lubricants let alone some of the chemical interactions they can have with sexual products. Sexual health is part of a healthy lifestyle and what better place to talk about it than a DIY wedding blog. No one else can improve your sex life but you so take control and check out some of these great products to enhance your sexual health and marital relationship.

Holistic Wisdom has adult gift sets that would be perfect to give at a bachelorette party or bridal shower to be used on the honeymoon and throughout a marriage.

Want to buy yourself a little something to create that honeymoon bliss? Try Holistic Wisdom's massage oils made of the highest quality materials and ingredients. Their purity award winning massage oils and lotions are good for your health with organic lines and paraben free formulas.

You can also join Holistic Wisdom's Reward Program and instantly get $5 off any order as well as future coupons, free products and savings that will last beyond the honeymoon!!

Have fun creating your own Honeymoon Bliss!!

Healthy Bride Series - Natural Hair Straightening

In this Healthy Bride Series you will learn all about natural hair straightening methods from NoHeatForHair.com. There are so many hairstyles to choose from for your wedding day and it all depends on the weather, your hair length and style, and for some the texture of your hair. When thinking about your wedding hairstyle you may think, there's no way I can go straight!! Or if you do decide to stick with straight tresses you may be assuming it will involve a long drawn out process of heat and styling to get your hair looking fabulously straight. But you are wrong, you can go straight on your wedding day and you can do it without heat!! Check out these gorgeously straight wedding locks and read on to find out how you can get the look without damaging your hair with heat.

How to get Straight Hair with Coconut Milk

Ever wanted to know how to get the shiniest and most silky hair? Click the image below to find out how to get straight hair…

Natural Hair Straightening with Milk

Check out NoHeatForHair.com's natural hair straightening with milk post by clicking the image below; you can also check out the video for a tutorial :)


Camille is the author of NoHeatForHair.com and explains how heat can damage your hair:


"If you wish to have longer and healthier hair, you should avoid applying any type of heat to your hair. I am saying this from my personal experience. I have tried using all types of many straightening products, but I was unable to protect my health from being damaged. So that, now I have to keep any type of  heat appliance away from me. In order to avoid heating my scalp, I am searching the web to find out those straightening products that can straight my hair without applying heat. Though, I have found some of the straighten products that don’t use heat, but they are not perfect in all cases. Among them, I have found two best straightening products and now I am going to share them for you..." To learn more check out NoHeatForHair.com.

For other healthy bride tips check out:

* How to get in shape with the Toronto School of Burlesque 

* How to loose inches with Skinny Wraps

Healthy Bride Series - Show Him What Your Mama Gave You! with the Toronto School of Burlesque

This Healthy Bride Series blog may seem a little unconventional however you will see why Burlesque dancing is a healthy activity for brides-to-be in a number of ways...

#1. Offers Pre-Wedding Day Workout Routines

The Toronto School of Burlesque offers brides-to-be a sexy way to get fit for your wedding with Drop-In Classes, Workshops, and Private Parties with your bridesmaids. Classes range in intensity from Dance for Dummies sessions to Circus Flexibility: Splits and Headstands. You can attend one class to learn some tips on how to introduce some extra tease in the bedroom, or buy a class pass card to incorporate cardio and dance into your pre-wedding day workout routine.

#2. Provides Social Bonding as a part of Social Wellbeing

The Toronto School of Burlesque provides brides-to-be with a unique bachelorette party experience as one of their private party options, which includes an hour of tease instruction, and fun extras like gourmet cupcakes (some flavours include booze!).

The party takes place at The Toronto School of Burlesque's gorgeous downtown Toronto studio, located right on Queen Street West or they can come to you in the downtown Toronto area.

PARTY PRICING

Studio and Home Party Package Pricing *Rates are subject to HST

• Groups up to 6 people $250. Add $35 per person above 6 guests
• Groups of 10 people $350. Add $35 per person above 10 guests
• Parties of 10 and larger, your guest of honor is free!
• Extra Time in the studio available at $75 per half hour, $125 per hour
• A $100 deposit is required for all parties. Your party is NOT confirmed until we have received a deposit!
• For travel outside of downtown Toronto, a $50 fee applies.

Book Your Party Here!

#3. Enhances Skills in the Bedroom, for a Healthy Sex Life ;)

Your Partner will be more than happy you took classes at The Toronto School of Burlesque and didn't only stick to running on the treadmill or doing crunched at the gym. Even after the wedding you can continue to be a Healthy Bride by continuing to attend classes at The Toronto School of Burlesque!

 

Healthy Bride Series - Getting Started with Skinny Wraps!

There are many times in our lives that we begin to feel it is time to get into a healthy living routine with eating healthier, exercising, and taking care of our body and mind a little more than we have been. These times tend to come with major life events such as after graduation, landing your first job, GETTING MARRIED, getting pregnant, and retiring. When you are planning a wedding you want to look and feel your best on one of the most personal and special days of your life. For some it is easy to start putting in the extra time and effort to take care of yourself because it has always been a part of your life. For others it may be a bigger change, some brides-to-be have never put themselves first and the thought of actually putting the focus on yourself and working towards feeling your best may be a foreign concept. In this new Healthy Bride Series I will be sharing great products, healthy living strategies, and workout routines that can help you on your way to looking your best on your wedding day.

When I began planning my own wedding it gave me the jump start I needed to start incorporating a workout routine into my life. I wanted to loose about ten pounds and bring a little more definition to my shape. At the time I had a Wii Fit so that was my go to training tool to jump start my fitness routine. You are in the spotlight on your wedding day so why not work towards looking your best.

Sometimes the hardest part is getting started and finding the motivation to make a change; I have found that once I start seeing results I get energized to keep going to meet my goals. Often times the goal you create as a bride is about how you envision the way you want to look in your bridal dress. That could mean taking off a few pounds or firming your tummy, arms, and maybe even a little back fat that has accumulated over the years to get the right fit in your dress. Not only do you want to look good but you want to feel good too.

I've come across something that could help give you the motivation you need to get started with a healthy living routine and give you the results you have been looking for. It's called It Works! Body Contouring Wraps. These wraps tighten, tone, and firm in as little as 45 minutes! Hence the name... When it comes to products that make claims about results I feel I must try them for myself before sharing them on this blog as I do not want to provide false claims. I have tried these wraps and below is my review and results after using only one wrap!

                                                                    Before                           After

My Review: 

Sandy Griego is an independent distributor of It Works! products and she was able to share with me a sample of the Body Contouring Wraps. There are different packs you can get where you save money when combining items however, you can also purchase a pack of four Body Contouring Wraps on their own for $99.00 or $59.00 at the loyal customer price. I was able to try out one Body Contouring Wrap and was pretty pleased with the results of using a quarter of what you would get at home with a full purchase (check out my results above). You can check out even more results on the Griego Skinny Wraps Facebook Page where others have used full packs and up to 6 wraps, the results are pretty amazing.

So when my wrap arrived I was pretty excited to try it, I have been married for almost 3 years and after the big day life caught up with me and I had gained back the weight I took off for the wedding and my body was not looking as firm as it once did in my wedding photos... it was time to get back on track. I followed the written and video instructions provided by Sandy which were so helpful and followed them with some assistance from my husband with the wrapping.

The wrap itself smelled great and healthy, no strong chemical smells as many of the ingredients are derived from plant extracts. It smelled like a mixture or tea tree oil and eucalyptus... it made me feel healthy just putting it on lol! So I chose my tummy as that is where I get the most bloat and the area I would like to work on toning. When you first put the wrap on you must drink 8oz of water right away then half of your body weight of water in ounces each day for 72 hours. I actually had a sample of the It Works! Greens so I mixed that in my first 8oz of water.

                                                                               All Wrapped Up!

The whole process was kind of fun and once I was all wrapped up with saran wrap (plastic) my muscles felt quite firm. I could feel I was sweating under the plastic which made me feel good thinking of the toxins I was sweating out, this was as a result of being wrapped up in saran wrap. But I also felt a cooling sensation from the gel on the wrap, that is the botanical mixture you want your body to absorb to work at shrinking those fat cells. I kept my wrap on overnight which was a little strange feeling all wrapped up but I slept fine... just extra sweaty in the morning which I'm sure is a good thing when you are cleansing toxins from your body. When taking off the wrap I made sure to rub the remaining gel from the wrap into my skin to get the full effect. I drank all of the required water during the 72 hours after taking the wrap off and took the after picture on the 3rd day. I felt less bloated, my skin looked more clear, and my midsection and lower waist measurements had reduced by about an inch and a half. The results after using only one wrap definitely made me curious about the results I would see if I had used a whole pack or 4 or more. One of the best things using the wrap did for me was it gave me the motivation to start a work out program to firm up the rest of my body and continue toning my tummy; after seeing the change I wanted more!  The Body Contouring Wraps are not a water weight loss wrap and work different from some other body wrapping techniques on the market, with these wraps you can expect the results to last 2-6 months. Below are some links to It Works! products in the news!

Featured in the News

Better Nashville Channel 4 News

CCN News Channel 3

For those who are skeptical and feel that the body can have many changes on its own you may be right with a certain degree of change however, sometimes the body needs a little something extra to go even further. Using the wrap was an enjoyable experience, I did not experience any side effects and I felt quite healthy doing it. I think this product would be a great product for brides-to-be to try on any of the key problem areas (tummy, back, arms, legs, or butt), the least you will get is a mental shift making you feel healthier and gain the motivation you need to push harder to reach your wedding day goals. It Works! boasts that that body contouring wraps work every time and that 90% of people see results after the first wrap, so try it out for yourself and keep an eye out for the next blog post in the Healthy Bride Series!

If you would like to purchase your own body contouring wraps from It Works! click on the Shop link here ----------> https://smarvel.myitworks.com/Shop and choose the items you would like from one of the categories on the left products menu.You can also contact Sandy Griego directly at (913)-563-0936 or send her a message on her Griego Skinny Wraps Facebook Page. When making a wraps purchase from Sandy you can get a FREE It Works! Greens sample when you mention you heard about It Works! wraps on this blog!

If your a bride who has tried the It Works! wraps or plans to try them out please post a comment to share your thoughts and results with future brides-to be :)