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Posted on January 30, 2015 by Liz Mahlich

Looking for a whiter smile before your wedding day? There is a wonderfully natural way to accomplish this without spending tons of money at the dentist office, or wearing annoying strips on your teeth. Oil pulling. If you are crunchy, or mildly interested in natural health, you may have heard of this term before. For others, you may think I’m crazy. Oil pulling??

Oil pulling is amazing and has been around for thousands of years. Just recently it has become trendy, along with many other natural health remedies.  Not only will it give you a whiter smile, but it has numerous other health benefits. Whiter smile, and become healthier before your wedding day? Are you intrigued now? 

The method to whiten your teeth, and better your health, requires you to swish around an oil, preferably organic coconut oil, in your mouth for 20 minutes. Sounds a little intense, right? Even being on the crunchy side, I thought so too. But I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to heath, and might be a little vain…who doesn’t want white teeth (especially to remove all those red wine stains! eek!)?

Being a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner in training, I also was very interested in all the added health benefits. Coconut oil has antibacterial, antivirus and anti fungal properties, which help clean out germs in our mouth and prevent gingivitis, bad breath, and boost the immune system. Our oral health is very important to our overall health. With a healthy mouth there is less chances for inflammation in our body. Other great side affects are healing cracked lips, moisturizing sinuses and throat.

One morning, I took the plunge. I put a big glob of coconut oil in my mouth. It is solid, so I had to wait for it to melt…then I swished it around. One minute in and I was bored out of my mind. Being the queen of multitasking, I realized I could do this while I took a shower and blew dry my hair.

Be careful not to go over 20 minutes. The full 20 minutes to key to ensure the toxins and stains are removed, but if you go longer than 20 minutes, the toxins can start to be absorbed back into your blood stream. You don’t want that to happen after all the hard work of swishing! Spit the oil out in the trash (not down the drain as the oil will harden, and that can’t be good…unless you have a cute plumber of course!)

The last step is to brush your teeth. I was so surprised at how white my teeth looked after my first time! They also felt as smooth as a dental cleaning. It might have been a foreign routine, but one I was willing to add into my daily life.

I would recommend starting this a few months before your wedding to ensure you have time to remove all the stains from your teeth. Happy swishing!

Posted by Liz Mahlich on January 2, 2015

Happy New Year to all! Crystal Lake Wedding’s wishes you all a fabulous 2015. In preparations for our next wedding season, we are looking back at some of our favorite weddings from 2014. More specifically, our first wedding reception of the 2014 season.

Claire and Rich’s Love Story started out on October 22, 2011 at a mutual friend’s wedding. The couple had went to school together in the Plymouth Canton area, but never crossed paths until that night. Little did they know, they would be dancing the night away at their very own wedding reception in Beulah, Michigan less than three years later!

Although they still live downstate, Claire and Rich love visiting Northern Michigan any chance they get, so naturally they wanted to share their wedding vows in their favorite vacation spot. 

With Claire being a teacher, she was an extremely organized bride! She knew exactly what she wanted, and made sure to share every detail with us. (I especially loved all her directions on sticky notes!) With Rich working for the Sheraton, he expected a high level of service to be provided at their reception. Crystal Lake Wedding’s staff went above and beyond to ensure Claire and Rich were not disappointed!

From the Groom, via Wedding Wire:

“Choosing a destination wedding presents so many challenges. Being over four hours away requires special trust between you, your bride/groom, and the wedding coordinator and staff. With all things considered, we could not have imagined a better experience that Liz and her staff provided. Our level of expectations were incredibly high, and She and her staff exceeded every expectation we had. Both of us went outside of our comfort zone and laid all our trust in Liz and she delivered. We wouldn’t change a thing and have adopted a lifelong friend after our special day!”

The couple picked a beautiful rustic beach theme for their big day. They shared their vows overlooking Lake Michigan on Elberta Beach. While the ceremony was taking place, Crystal Lake Weddings staff was hard at work making the tent look beautiful by the time the guest showed up. It was an easy task with the creative decor the couple brought in. Accents of canary yellow, light green went marvelously with the burlap and large pieces of wood on the guest tables, gorgeous flowers, and Mason jars galore. A personal touch was the S’mores as favors for each guest. Instead of the traditional wedding cake, the couple had a Sweets table featuring Cherry Hut pies and cheesecake.

Claire’s dress came from The Bride’s Project in Ann Arbor. Wedding dresses are donated to the association and the money raised from the sale of gowns supports families touched by cancer through the Cancer Support Community of Ann Arbor. This is very close to the bride’s heart, as she lost her father nine years ago to cancer. The family made sure to honor her Father’s memory in my other ways throughout the night. Laughter and tears during speeches, a photo on the bride’s bouquet and a special wish lantern at the end of the even were few touching moments.

Honorable mentions to the fabulous wedding vendors whom helped make the day go off without a hitch. : Magic Shuttle Bus for their fantastic service, Chef’s Pride for the amazing food and service and Lindsay J Photography for the beautiful photos.

Quote from bride:

“ I loved everything about our reception, It turned out so amazing!! I loved seeing everyone having a great time. My favorite part had to be our first dance. We just had so much fun with it and that is so us!!”