He finally proposed. Now it's time to go overboard getting gorgeous.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Kris Terrano takes part in a recent "Fit Brides" body sculpting class at Pittsburgh Dance Arts in Lawrenceville. To the right is her niece, Sarah Petitta. Click photo for larger image.

That's the trend among many brides who have set the date and wouldn't blink at spending thousands to achieve a picture of bridal perfection.

Rosie Amodio, editor of "The Knot" www.theknot.com,an online wedding magazine and an October bride, estimates she will fork over nearly five figures in an aesthetic makeover that includes braces and laser whitening for her teeth and thermal conditioning treatments to straighten her hair.

"You have those pictures for your entire life," said Amodio, 31, who lives in Manhattan, N.Y., "and you want to look good."

While that always has been a bridal mantra, many women are taking wedding-day makeovers to the extremes of plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, and pound-shedding workout regimens, bridal-industry experts say. In the process, brides are spending $606 million annually on matrimonial glamor, according to figures released in May by the Fairchild Bridal Group, a New York publisher.

"Anything that we see going on in beauty and appearance always translates to brides," said Mary Clarke, beauty director of "Modern Bride" magazine, part of the Fairchild chain.

Clarke noted that the popularity of reality makeover television shows was fueling a wedding-day beauty craze. "I think that whenever [ABC Television's] 'Extreme Makeover' debuted, all of sudden it seemed like plastic surgery [became popular]," Clarke said.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Tammy Faull teaches the "Fit Brides" class. Kris Terrano, along with her four sisters and mother have enrolled in the class. Click photo for larger image.

A little weight loss, fancy nails and big hair are small change compared with what's available to polish today's bride. Consider chemical power peels for radiant wedding-day skin; lithe liposuctioned thighs; and brightly bleached teeth.

Her braces, Amodio said, went on several months before she got engaged. "I figured I'd better make sure my teeth were straight. I want them ready for the wedding," Amodio added.

Working in an industry that celebrates the wedding ideal has only fueled Amodio's obsession with wedding day beauty. "Ninety-four percent of brides invest money in new beauty products," said Amodio. "And 93 percent pamper themselves with professional services, spa treatments, manicures and makeup."

Day spas in particular, have capitalized on wedding makeovers in recent years. At the minimum, brides are booking salons for "spa days" with their bridesmaids, girlfriends and family members, complete with manicures, pedicures, massages, facials and body wraps. Some brides fly favorite salon hairstylists and makeup artists to their out-of-town weddings.

At La Pomponnee, a day spa with locations in Mt. Lebanon and Canonsburg, owner Kristin Peckich said she frequently saw bridal parties booking the salon and importing champagne and snacks for pre-wedding pampering sessions.

"The whole idea of the spa is really perfect for brides. They are spending more. They are doing whatever it takes to feel good," said Peckich, whose services start at $20 for an eyebrow arch and can cost as much as $350 for a thermal conditioning hair-straightening process.

Some are visiting dermatologists and plastic surgeons or "corrective medical spas" for collagen shots for plumper, more sensuous lips and botox injections to erase wrinkles. These outpatient procedures can cost from $150 to $1,000.

Grooms, added Peckich, aren't above getting buffed and waxed for their wedding day, too.

"The brides send them in for massages and pedicures for the beach," said Peckich. The salon also offers a pre-wedding couples massage for $120.

For the more cost-conscious bride-to-be, there are alternatives.

Large cosmetic companies have caught the trend. This spring, makeup giant Estee Lauder Inc. began marketing a $30 white leatherette makeup compact with concealers and powders -- just for brides.

And then there's "bridal-rexia," or, as Amodio puts it, the weight-loss inducing stress and frenzy accompanied by planning a wedding. She reported 74 percent of brides diet to make slipping into that bridal gown much easier.

The pounds melted off Gibsonia's Kris Terrano, who alongside her four sisters who also are her bridal attendants, enrolled in Lawrenceville's Pittsburgh Dance Arts bridal "boot camp" shape-up program.

Bucking the notion that bridal beauty can break your pocketbook, Terrano, 30, whose wedding is next weekend, has trimmed 15 pounds and toned for a mere $40 a month.

"If you can't afford liposuction, you come to Tammy," said Terrano, pointing to Tammy Faull, the dance studio's co-owner.

But liposuction was the preference for Caity, 29, of Greensburg, who declined to use her real name because she still didn't want her parents to know that she shelled out $3,000 to tighten her diminutive 5-foot-4-inch, 94-pound frame. Despite vehement protestations from her fiance, fear of wearing a bikini on her honeymoon drove her to have her "saddlebags" removed shortly before her September 2001 wedding.

"The whole time I was like, 'Thank goodness!' I needed it," Caity said.

But Caity wasn't alone in her desire to reshape her body before her wedding. Her mother had a tummy tuck just weeks before.

At 4 feet 10 1/2 inches, Felicia Valasek Rizzo of Kittanning gained nearly 20 pounds during her courtship. After her boyfriend proposed, she was on a mission.

"I'm short, and it really looks worse; if I put on five pounds it looks like 15," she said. By adhering to a junk food-free diet, visiting Curves, a women-only gym chain, and forcing herself to do home workout videos such as Leslie Sampson's "Walking Away the Pounds," she lost 10 pounds.

It wasn't "bridal-rexia" that emptied Rizzo's wallet in the months before her wedding. It was her hair.

Rizzo, 30, tried growing out her cropped blond style in the months before her wedding, but there wasn't time to attain the long, flowing hair look she used to have.

So she opted for hair extensions. They weren't cheap.

For about $1,700, Jacques Dessange Pittsburgh Salon and Day Spa lengthens bridal locks and matches hair color.

"They actually put five different colors in my hair, and my hair looked totally natural," said Rizzo, who said she was thrilled with the end result.

Clarke pointed to seemingly ubiquitous celebrity worship as another factor fueling the wedding beauty craze. "It's this whole celebrity culture. We see the red carpet on TV, and this is the bride's 'white carpet moment,' " she said. "You're your own celebrity for a day."

If they are willing to pay for it, of course.

Several brides interviewed for this story declined to reveal exactly how much they'd spent on obtaining their wedding look, fearing their fiances and family members would be horrified.

Amodio warns brides to proceed with caution when making changes to their appearance in the months before the wedding. "As with anything, research, ask your friends who they've used [for beauty procedures]," she said.

"It's your wedding. You don't want to burn off all your hair, two weeks before," she said.