I have an event coming up that i'd like to not have my period for. If I start a new pack of pills and don't take the sugar pills, does that in any way decrease the effectiveness of my birth control pills?

If you do it just once it doesn't really have any effect....and that means you could also still have the period you are hoping not to have.

There's a few ways to do this depending on how much time you have. And if it is YOUR wedding the first way makes the most sense as you don't want to have it on your anniversaries in the future.

Let's say for the sake of argument you usually start to take your first active pill on the 1st of the month and you take your first sugar pill or skip a pill on the 22nd day. And you are getting married on the 26th of the month.

Let's say you want to have your period 4 days later and the event is four months off. Skip the first day (22nd) of your sugar pills this month, and then start your next pack one day later (2nd), skip one day (23rd) the next month and then start the next pack one day later (3rd) - in 4 months time your period should be starting 4 days later than it is now.

Missing 1 pill and only 1 pill at the very BEGINNING (#1) of your active pills will not have effect on whether you get pregnant. NEVER miss 2 pills in a row - then you need to double up on your pills.

Or if you want it to start earlier you can take less than 7 pills. Here again the best way is to skip only one pill and start your active pills one day earlier (30th or 31st). So after doing it for 4 months your period would start 4 days earlier.

Your body then adjusts to the change gradually and it is most likely to work.

BUT if you have no time to do that. You can just skip the pink pills and take the active pills straight thru and you will not have a period. But there is a chance your body won't notice you've changed the schedule and you will still have your period at the same time as usual.

But then when it is time for the next round of pills you have a decision to make. You can

1. Start the next pack of pills the same time you would have if you have not done anything different (1st) BUT then you might have a very long menstrual period. And you should use protection for the whole month once your period starts.

2. Start the next pack of pills directly after you finish this pack of pills. No need for extra protection. Your menstrual period will now have a different start date.