Let’s be honest, planning a wedding can be stressful! Once, merely a person in love, you now enter the world of becoming a part-time pseudo event planner, a decorator, a researcher, a budget-manager and more.All this while navigating the transformational waters and all that entails becoming newlyweds: dealing with new in-laws, discussing personal finances with your partner, possibly planning honeymoon travel – maybe even moving house. Oh yeah, and having an actual job or completing studies at the same time!!
Planning your wedding is likely to be one of the most exciting, creative, but also demanding periods of your life. To avoid turning into a total stressball, it’s important to make sure you’re looking after your health like never before. Your physical, mental and emotional health.
Today we’re in for a real treat as we turn to recent newlywed, and owner of Blush Nutrition, Brittany L. Jones, MS, RD, LD. If you recognize her smiling face, it’s because we shared all the amazing deets of her neutral, organic themed-wedding (complete with foodie details) right here, just a couple of weeks back! We’re so thrilled that one of our very own brides, also a registered dietician and wellness expert, is able to share her wellness strategies for coping with all the demands that wedding planning brings. Over to you, Brittany!
Above: Brittany and husband Trevor on their wedding day, photographed by Jenna Marie Weddings.
Wellness tips for Busy, Stressed Brides
Planning your wedding is such an exciting time, from choosing the theme, to wedding bands – it truly is a once in a lifetime experience. However, being a newlywed myself, I completely understand the stress that comes with working full time and planning a wedding.
In the midst of a million color swatches, loaded up Pinterest boards, and trying understand what the difference between a peony and a ranunculus – it is way too easy to lose sight of taking care of your health and wellbeing. Here are some of my top wedding wellness tips for busy and stressed brides!
- Come up with a health and wellness commitment schedule. It’s true – there are just not enough hours in the day when you’re working and wedding planning. Make a commitment NOW to invest in your physical and emotional health during this incredible time – whether it is through meal planning, exercising, or just taking time to do things outside of the wedding. Do you want to go grocery shopping every Sunday, or exercise three times per week? If you are using a wedding planning calendar, take a couple of minutes each week to mark your wedding wellness items in your calendar and stick to it. Make time to invest in yourself.
- Meal plan the easy way. Dinner is typically where we tend to end up in the drive thru line, or on the phone with the pizza place. If you have a meal plan in place, you’ll be less likely to turn to unhealthy options when you’re in a pinch. Try meal planning by writing out healthy options for just 3-4 dinners, and include leftovers into the plan. Many of my clients love meal delivery services, and this utilizes that same concept, but you will save even more money, and cook healthier if you meal plan instead! If you need help, I offer packages with 1-3 weeks of these custom meal plans that include a recipe book and grocery list. Here’s an example of what a 1-day healthy meal plan looks like.
Brittany L. Jones, MS, RD, LD is a Registered Dietitian and owner of Blush Nutrition, a nutrition coaching and meal planning company that focuses on wedding wellness. Images: Chelsey Ashford Photography
- Feeling stressed? Boost endorphins with exercise and munch on your favorite veggies. Physical exercise can help decrease stress. Plus, eating whole foods and less processed foods can also keep your diet very anti-inflammatory. Remember: stress is inflammatory in the body so the more you can focus on fueling it with fruits and vegetables, the less stressed you will be!
- Bring your fiancé into the fun. Life can be more fun with a partner, and that includes healthy eating and exercising. Talk with your fiancé about engaging on a path to wellness together as a team. Perhaps they would like to go to the same gym as you, train for a race with you, or help meal plan and grocery shop. It’s more than having an accountability partner, it’s a way to ensure the results you see before the wedding last long after you say “I do!”
- HYDRATE. Drinking water throughout the day will not only keep your skin glowing, staying hydrated will also help you combat stress, keep your metabolism high, and fight fatigue. Aim for at least 10 cups of water per day, and maybe event invest in a cute ‘Future Mrs’ water bottle to carry around with you!
- Have healthy snacks on hand to avoid skipping meals. Wedding planning often means late nights. This is also when our hunger hormones are at their peak, and our fullness hormones are their lowest. Try to eat a healthy meal or snack every 3-4 hours, and avoid skipping meals to be sure you are well fueled for a busy night of wedding planning.
- Find an exercise that you love. My clients always ask me “What is the best workout for my wedding?” Brides want to know if they should sign up for a half marathon, start a HIIT workout, try barre, or become a yogi. My Answer: Focus on whatever exercise you love the most! There are SO many boutique fitness studios out there, and many have wedding wellness packages at discounted rates. BONUS: exercise is a great stress relief! Take it all out on the treadmill or in the weight room. You will feel way better afterwards, I promise.
- Have realistic expectations of what healthy bodies looks like and avoid the wedding crash diets. The best wedding diet is not a detox or a cleanse. It is a healthy lifestyle change that you can carry over into your life as newlyweds. Be leery of diets that promise you rapid results, and keep in mind a healthy weight loss is at a rate of 0.5-1 pound per week for women, and 1-2 pounds per week for men. The last thing you want is weight gain after the wedding!
- Have planned ‘cheat days’ for the big celebrations coming up. Use the 80/20 rule. The engagement party, the wedding shower, the bachelorette/bachelor parties – all of these are being thrown in YOUR honor! So don’t limit yourself to just eating vegetables. Focus on your functional foods 80% of the time, and give yourself 20% of the time to enjoy the fun foods and drinks (responsibly of course). This balance will help you see results without depriving yourself.
- Cut back on dining out. Not only will this help stick to your budget, but dining out will ensure that you can stick with your healthy eating plan! Dining out even a couple of times per week can add up in dollars and excess calories, not to mention the bloat that can come from eating a dish too high in salt.
- BONUS TIP: Block out time “you time” in your calendar. My biggest tip for stress is writing it down and planning it out, including time for you. Making time to focus on YOU and not just the wedding day can help decrease your stress.
Enjoy this exciting time, and remember a healthy lifestyle balance is possible while wedding planning, it’s just making it a priority!
Natural Neutrals: Organic Wedding With Rosemary Details {Jenna Marie Weddings}
About the author:
Brittany L. Jones, MS, RD, LD is a Registered Dietitian and owner of Blush Nutrition, a nutrition coaching and meal planning company that focuses on wedding wellness.
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