Getting Happy, Healthy and Fit Before Your Wedding: A Bridal Editorial with SoulCycle

As a wedding photographer I get to meet brides early in their wedding planning process.  Over the next year of planning those brides will be constantly inundated with marketing and media telling them to lose weight for their wedding.  In the last few years there have been multiple reality tv shows involving brides competing for plastic surgery or undergoing massive weight loss through extreme methods before their wedding.  Every bride wants to look her best on her wedding day and there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a wonderful goal to get healthy and fit and feel great both inside and out before and after your wedding.  As someone who’s never been very athletic, discovering SoulCycle was a game changer before my sister’s wedding.  It was the first exercise I ever actually enjoyed doing and all the instructors were very welcoming and encouraging no matter where you are on your fitness journey or where your fitness goals lie, there’s no judgement.  The idea is to focus on health and fitness not inches and dress sizes and pretty quickly you end up feeling great and that confidence shines from the inside out on your big day.  When it comes to dress shopping there are so many articles about how to dress for your body type- pear shaped, busty, apple shaped, short, boyish, etc.  All of these focus on how to hide or minimize imperfections.  Instead when dress shopping we propose you focus on your personal perfections.  Every girl, no matter where she is in her fitness journey, has at least one body part she loves.  Focusing on highlighting that instead of hiding the others will completely change your mindset and they way you hold yourself on your wedding day.  SoulCycle devotees will tell you it doesn’t just change your body, it changes your mind.  Their priorities are happy, healthy and fit- and in that order.  On your wedding day you may have that stunning dress and gorgeous hair and makeup, but it’s the confidence from within that will shine through in your smile and give you that bridal glow in your photos.  We asked five Soul Cycle instructors to model wedding dresses that show off their favorite body part and asked Kleinfeld’s bridal expert, Terry Hall, for some tips on how every bride can show of their favorite feature.  Head over to Style Me Pretty to see Terry’s tips and fitness advice from the SoulCycle instructors themselves as well as their delicious recipes to keep you energized!