Danielle McNamara had often thought about getting a nose job. But it wasn’t until she was reviewing photos from her proposal in July 2021 that she began to seriously consider scheduling a surgery. Ms. McNamara, 36, of Vancouver, Wash., knew that she wanted to be able to look at images from her wedding and “not be like, ‘Gosh, I wish I would’ve done that or done that sooner.’”
In early February 2022, she called Dr. Michael Kim, a double-board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Portland, Ore., and was told it could be a year before an appointment became available. Ms. McNamara joined the doctor’s cancellation list and was able to undergo her rhinoplasty that September, giving her plenty of time to recover before her wedding on Oct. 13, 2023.
Ms. McNamara, an office manager at the bookkeeping firm Number Crunchers, said she couldn’t be happier with the results. “There’s one photo in particular that our photographer captured of my profile, and it is everything I could have ever wanted,” she said. “I was like, ‘Yes, this is what I’ve been looking for.’ I look feminine. I felt like I looked youthful. It made it absolutely worth it.”
Dr. Richard Reish, a board-certified plastic surgeon based in New York, said he saw bridal surgery treatments increase threefold over the past five years. Dr. Reish, whose surgical practice specializes in rhinoplasty, explained that brides were eager to “obtain that perfect side profile view” for their wedding photos. “There are few other situations in life that require so much emphasis on pictures,” he said.
Dr. Reish added that the couple’s parents might also wish to “look as good as possible or restore a youthful appearance” before encountering their own friends for the first time in years. “The pressure felt by the parents can sometimes be just as large or greater than the pressure felt by the bride and groom,” Dr. Reish said.
Social media filters have also increased interest in plastic surgery, said Dr. Sagar Patel, a double-board-certified facial plastic surgeon who founded his own practice in Beverly Hills, Calif. “Five years ago, I would get a lot of people showing me images of celebrities,” he said. “Now, they show me images of themselves with the filter.” He added that in his experience, rhinoplasty and chin liposuction were the most common procedures that brides requested before marrying.
