Photo snapped by Savannah Soskin of Savannah Smith Photography
Happy Friday, y’all! I hope you had a GREAT week! I am about to head into my second real weekend in a row!! After a steady two months of working every Saturday (and some Sunday’s!!), this girl is PUMPED for some downtime & some fun time with friends!
Today’s post is for all my fellow vendors! We’ve been at this wedding season for a few months now, and I’m sure we have all become too familiar with the dreaded and inevitable next day wedding vendor “hangover.” Now, before we get too far into this post I need to clarify something: A wedding vendor hangover is NOT a result of drinking too much while on the job! It’s not even a result of drinking!! I have never and will never drink at a wedding that I am working!! OK… now that we are all on the same page, let’s chat about what a wedding vendor hangover really is!
I’m sure my industry friends know this feeling all too well… after a wedding, you go to bed a bit exhausted but fulfilled, excited to get to your plans for the next day. And then you wake up… and feel like you got hit by a bus. Your head hurts, your lower back feels like it is no longer part of your body, and you just kind of feel well… hungover. You’ve spent between 8 & 12 hours on your feet, oftentimes driving 2 or 3 hours just to get to your venue for the day! You’re busy and making decisions, hydration is the first thing to go, eating is usually in the form of a protein bar between portraits, and it is usually hours before you remember that you should sit down for a second to rest your feet. Someone please tell me I’m not alone!!
I recently worked on 5 weddings in two weeks! It was crazy, crazy, crazy, but this allowed me to do a little unintentional experiment. I had to bounce back FAST between weddings, and I learned a lot about how to fuel my body well to be able to serve at my best while I was out working! Now… some of these tips may seem super obvious, but when you’re out working, they can be hard to remember! I wanted to share these with you today in the hopes that they’ll help shorten the recovery process after your next wedding!
(And another quick disclaimer before we get started: These are simply tips and tricks that have worked well for me!! By no means am I a doctor!)
Drink ALL the Water
We’re about to get real personal up in here… but we’re all friends, so that’s okay, right? Raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten to the end of a wedding day and realized you didn’t use the bathroom once? Yes, this happened to me once (at the end of a hot 12 hour day, nonetheless!!), and the next day was ROUGH. Think about it: we are in summer wedding season, you’re outside for most of the day, and even if you aren’t dripping in sweat, your body is still losing water! One of the biggest reasons that a drinking hangover not so fun is because of dehydration… which is why it is no surprise that a vendor hangover can feel very similar to the morning after a big night out!
Because I don’t trust myself to drink water throughout the day (see above…), I have started drinking a full liter of water the morning of each of my wedding days! When I’m working, I keep my 40 ounce Hydroflask with me in my bag and try to chug a little bit of water in between all of the wedding day festivities! I’ve been trying to finish this bottle before the reception. I honestly have to say that, if you take anything away from this post, it would be to drink all the water before, after and while you’re out working! Prioritizing my hydration has been key to bouncing back quickly after a long wedding day!
Fuel Up
Eat good food, y’all! This helps SO much while you’re out working! I always pack a bag with protein bars, some fruit, maybe some nuts… and if you know me well, you know that I also bring along a giant bag of gluten free chicken nuggets (because I am secretly 5 years old at heart). Staying fueled throughout the day through tasty and nutritious food is really key to helping your body bounce back because you have been given the calories & energy needed to sustain a full day of hard work. I love to start each wedding day with a big breakfast (Usually breakfast tacos with guac or avocado & fruit!!) and try to snack throughout the day! I’ve noticed that the days I focus on fueling myself when I have a moment are the days that I wake up feeling the best afterwards!
Left: My bag of wedding day fuel… yes I ate all of them. Right: my favorite bag, loaded up with all of my gear & my trusty water bottle! I swear by Hydroflask’s 40 ounce water bottle!
Do your squats, your curls and your planks
Shooting a wedding can often feel a little bit like a marathon… you’re squatting and power walking and contorting your body into funny shapes to get “the shot,” your bag probably weighs about 30 pounds, and on top of that, you are probably also wearing a dress or some other kind of non-breathable clothing! It is a lot for your body to take in at once! If you are waking up feeling like you just did a full on Body Pump class the morning after a wedding, it may be time to incorporate some physical fitness into your routine during the week! Cameras are heavy, y’all! I’ve found that keeping up with some light and heavy weight lifting during the week, with a little cardio & yoga thrown in here and there, has done wonders for helping me get through the crazier parts of my seasons! (And NO this isn’t a plug for you to come take FlyBarre with me, but I have found that this workout is GREAT for keeping my body ready to tackle a wedding!)
Photo by Savannah Soskin of Savannah Smith Photography
Change your Shoes
This is a tip that I just started implementing this year, and it has made a huge difference! I have just a few pairs of shoes that I trust to get me through a wedding day, and they usually ALL come to a single wedding with me! Have you ever gotten out of bed the morning after a wedding, set your feet on the ground, and then felt like you couldn’t even walk because your feet may actually fall off? Yeah… me too!! Changing your shoes at some point during the day can REALLY help curb this! I usually try to start the day in a pair of flats and change in to sandals or something comfier during the reception. Even just this tiny change has made a huge difference with post wedding recovery! As a bonus: You’ll feel so much better during the day when your feet feel good AND you’ll feel much better the next day!
Sleep, sleep, SLEEP!
This one seems to be a really challenging one for me to keep up with during busy season! BUT, keeping a regular sleep schedule is vital to bouncing back quickly after a wedding. No one feels good when they’re sleep deprived. Be sure to keep a regular sleep schedule during the week and grab a few extra minutes (or hours… let’s be honest!!) after a long wedding weekend. Your body will thank you!
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