I recently got married a few months ago. Well, without the help of our vendor friends, and family we would not have made it through. I have been getting asked how I made it through such a stressful time working full time and planning my wedding and remaining sane. Below are the things I did that got me through my wedding. I hope you can give some of these things a try!

Diet:

Making sure my diet was clean and on point was an integral part of my wedding planning. It wasn’t actually hard because I ate like this before and I still continue to eat well. My digestive tract is very sensitive especially when stressed. So, I continuously worked on eating clean, unprocessed foods, many fermented foods, while avoiding my food sensitives and intolerances like gluten and dairy. I was continuously working on my improving my gut, liver, adrenal and thyroid making sure they were all functioning optimally. Juicing is great for me because I get my veggie intake for the day as well as tons of fiber. I’ve been juicing for over 2 years now regularly so I know how to do it well. I also did a lot of nourishing bone broth which is great not only for digestion, thyroid and immune system and the glycine, hyaluronic acid and collagen is great for your skin! Because my adrenals were kicking high, my immune system was weaker; the bone marrow from the bone broth really kept me feeling great!

Self care:

I got massages regularly, had reiki sessions and meditated 2 times a day leading up to my wedding. These all helped me stay sane, calm and grounded throughout the whole wedding process.  I woke up earlier during my wedding events so I could incorporate meditation. It was a stressful time and I wanted to be sure my energy was contained, I was composed and I was radiating peaceful aura during my events that were chaotic. I had numerous vendors compliment me on how calm I was and they were impressed with my composure.  In fact, my perception of my wedding was that everything went smoothly and peacefully just like I had been projecting.

Exercise:

Two of my favorite exercises to do are vinyasa yoga and running! I love to do both; so I alternated between running and get my cardio work out in with my strength training from yoga. Between the two, I stayed lean, strong and continued to build muscle. I also incorporated sauna time so I would sweat and get rid of toxins on my off days. Spending time in the sauna is something I still continue to enjoy!

Supplements:

Incorporating supplements is something I have been doing for over 6 years. These are the ones I used during this time.

• Probiotics- I have been high quality probiotics for a while. It’s great for gut health; the more strands of bacteria and CFU, the better. The more diverse bacteria you are exposed to, the better your GI system. In fact, I made a point to incorporate more bifido bacteria since that’s been linked to healthy weight and reduce insulin resistance (1,2).
• Tumeric– I took 2g of this mainly for anti-inflammation, to help my skin stay clear. My pitta personality is prone to a lot of redness and irritation so this helped me keeps things at bay.
• Fish oil– I have been on omega 3 fatty acids for years for it’s anti-inflammatory properties.
• Ashwagandha– This adaptogen helped me stay calm, relaxed and deal with the stressors in a good way. I took 500mg up to 2x/day especially the week before the wedding; it really helped!
• Chamomile tea– I drank a lot of this. Not only is it great for digestion, but it also helps you wind down and helps ease stress.

Beauty sleep:

I slept all the time. I can’t tell you how important that was during my pre-wedding planning. There were times we would be up going through details of our wedding but I always made it a point to get 7-8hours of sleep especially since I have adrenal fatigue and my cortisol were overshot during this time. Check out my Adrenal Fatigue blog for more info.

Skin Care Regimen:

• I exfoliated 2 times a week alternating with a natural microdermabrasion and glycolic face peel.
• I exfoliated daily with my clarisonic. It cleans 50 time better than washing your face alone.
• I’m prone to break outs especially when I’m stressed and eat dairy, so I strictly cut that out of my diet.
• I used Face masks with turmeric before my wedding and even allowed turmeric to stay on my face for 6 hours the day before my wedding for that natural glow.

Check out how to deal with Acne Naturally and some of my Anti-Aging Secrets. I actually do these things.

For all the brides out there, hope this helps! My last advice is soak it all in and appreciate every single moment of the day; it goes by fast so truly be in the now and in the moment!

 

A big thank you to all our vendors:

Lighting/Production/Lounge Furniture/Floors: Jay Gandhi with Indaglow Productions

Decor/Floral: Ragini Patel with Weddings Instyle

Wedding Planner: Nirjary Desai with KIS (Cubed) Events

Henna/Styling: Nirjary Desai with Bridal Elements

Makeup: Erica Bogart with Erica Bogart Beauty

Hair: Samantha Gunn with Gunn Glamour

Hair/Makeup for Prewedding festivities: Nadia Hussain

Photography: Rachael Ann Gliebe with R.A.G Artistry

Sataak Photography: Peter Nguyen with Peter Nguyen Photography

Videography: Paul & Elaine Larson with Walk on Water Productions

Saatak/Sangeet/Wedding/Reception Venue: Daniel Henson with Grand Hyatt Buckhead

Mendhi/Casino Party Venue: Eliana Baucicault with The B Loft

Sangeet/Reception Food:  Ricky Walia with Cafe Bombay

Sataak/Wedding Food: Dhaval Patel with Thali Resturant

 

References:

1. Rashmi H. Mallappa,Namita Rokana,Raj Kumar Duary, Harsh Panwar, Virender Kumar Batish, and Sunita Grover. Management of metabolic syndrome through probiotic and prebiotic interventions. Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Jan-Feb; 16(1): 20–27
2. Brahe LK,Le Chatelier E,Prifti E, Pons N, Kennedy S, Blædel T, Håkansson J, Dalsgaard TK, Hansen T, Pedersen O, Astrup A, Ehrlich SD, Larsen LH.Dietary modulation of the gut microbiota – a randomised controlled trial in obese postmenopausal women. Br J Nutr. 2015 Jul 2:1-12