5 Wellness Hacks Every Anxious Bride Needs On Her Wedding Morning!
written by women’s wellness leader and hypnotherapist Sally Potter
Keep Calm + Be Prepared
Greetings, beautiful brides-to-be, it’s Jo here! I am super excited to dive into this post on wedding morning wellness, with many juicy hacks for staying calm under the pressure of your wedding morning.
Even the most stoic of brides can experience a little pre wedding excitable and nervous energy, so Sally Potter [ Hypnotherapist and Women’s Wellness Leader] has distilled some simple ways you can help yourself to create a relaxed mindset, for the big day and also the run up to it!
- Just Say No!
Imagine yourself in a time capsule 6 months after the wedding, looking back on the day. What would you like to see? What would you be saying to yourself about how things went? If there are things you can see from your time capsule 6 months after the wedding, that you don’t want to be there, now’s the time to change them!
- By putting yourself at the centre of things, you can make sure the days goes as you want it to. There’s nothing wrong with this. Don’t be afraid to say what you need or want. If you’d rather go to the make up trial alone, that’s OK! You are getting married, hopefully for the only time in your life, it needs to be right for YOU.
- Be assertive. Don’t allow anyone else to come between you and your dream day.
Assertive doesn’t mean aggressive. It can be very graceful to be assertive when it comes from you being certain about what you want. Other people will respect you for saying what you mean. There may be a few grumbles, but if you’ve got the right people at your wedding (the ones who really know and love you) they’ll be pleased to help you make the day go just as you want it to.
- Pick a brilliant chief bridesmaid or maid of honour. When you have a great friend at your side, she’ll be able to help make sure everyone knows what you need. A bit like having a really good PA, she’ll be able to take some of the pressure out of decision making.
- Let go of anything that really isn’t important. Part of the fun of a wedding day is the things that go wrong! Decide what’s important and what’s not, and let go of the worry about the small things.
HOW – practice a simple phrase such as ‘No thank you, I’m going to do …. ‘ The more you can see yourself saying it, the easier it will become. There’s no need to add anything extra. It’s enough that you have stated your case. Practice it on non-wedding related things first and notice the difference it makes!
2. Planning
- Plan ahead so that you’re not making last minute decisions. If the room where you’ll be getting ready is too small for the whole bridal party, arrange it so that you can have the room to yourself and your mind of honour for the finishing touches to your hair, makeup and dress.
- Let all your contacts know that you won’t be answering any messages on your wedding day. Better still, arrange for someone you trust to have your phone on the day. This way you’re not overwhelmed with all the good wishes as you’re getting ready. Maybe it would be lovely to have some of the messages read out at the reception as a surprise for you and your new husband or wife? It’s all part of ensuring that you can relax and enjoy the day.
- Make sure your PA (your maid of honour) knows what the plans are, so that she can take over when you need to do other things.
Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect! You want to remember a happy day thats relaxed and full of joy. That comes from knowing you are marrying the person you love, and being with your friends and family, not from the venue, your dress, the flowers, your hair or any other outside thing!
3. Walking Down The Aisle
This is a big one! If you normally shy away from being the centre of attention, you probably already feel anxious about it.
This type of anxiety – commonly known as performance anxiety, can be managed by visualising the outcome you want.
HOW – Create a really rich visual image of how you want things to go, rather than how you don’t want them to go. Here’s a little technique you can use called SWISH.
- First create a picture in your mind of how you don’t want things to be. This will be easy if you’ve already been worrying about the walk down the aisle!
- Put this picture in your mind, as if it was on a big screen
- Now create another picture in your mind of how you want things to go. Make this everything you want it to be. Smiling, relaxed, happy. See the faces of your guests smiling too, your venue just as you planned it.
- Pop that picture beside the first one, but in a smaller frame, a bit like a preview.
- Now SWISH (swap) them over, so that the desired picture is on the big screen. Make it big and bright and beautiful and keep adding to it so that it becomes really strong. The other image, of things going wrong, disappears onto the smaller screen.
- Swap them back, and notice how the wrong one feels, just for a moment.
- SWISH them over again and really enjoy looking at the desired image, where everything is exactly as you want it to be.
- Keep SWISHING them, focusing on the desired image, until the old, unwanted one becomes difficult to see.
4. Sleep
Lots of brides dip out on sleep before the big day. Here are some tips for ensuring you get your beauty sleep and Jo doesn’t need to use too much concealer!
- Keep to your usual routine
- Eat what you’d normally eat. If you want to add some foods great for sleep, I’d recommend kiwi fruits and almonds. These are great for little snacks as well if you’re experiencing butterflies.
- Finalise your preparations in good time – delegate jobs so that you have less to worry about.
- Avoid alcohol the day before your wedding. Sleep is always affected by alcohol, and the last thing you want is a hangover when you want to be at your best.
- The evening before, pamper yourself with a warm bath an hour or so before bed. This prepares you for sleep by lowering your body temperature, which helps with falling asleep.
- Give yourself time in the morning, to wake up and do things easily.
- Ensure the people you spend time with before the wedding are the right ones – living, supportive and helpful. Banish anyone else. You’re Queen here, right?!
5. Breath
Take your time. No need to rush this day. Take it all in and allow yourself to relish all the moments. Everything is taken care of, you’ve planned this well. Now enjoy it!
If you feel overwhelmed, practise this breath for getting back on top of your thoughts.
1.Breathe in deeply through your nose
Pause
2.Without breathing out, take another breath in through your nose
Pause
Breathe out
This will lower your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, and put you back in control so that you can focus on what’s important.
Have a beautiful day and a wonderful marriage!
Any of these tips a game changer for you? Let us know!
Sally Potter, Hypnotherapist and Women’s Wellness Leader
Sally offer’s online relaxation classes where she teaches techniques for managing stress. If nerves are overwhelming, a course of hypnotherapy can help.
