5 Days Until My Wedding: What I’m doing to Prepare!

I can’t believe it, but in just 5 days, I’m going to be a married woman!

Am I stressed… yes.

Am I a little nervous…yes.

Despite all that, given the fact that I am planning a wedding in a city other than the one I am living AND that I was sick leading up to this week, I think I’m handling it all pretty well.

In response to my last post on my bachelorette party, a lot of you have been asking me what I’m doing to prepare for this big weekend. To be honest, given that my job is to eat for a living, it makes it slightly more difficult to get into “shedding for the wedding” mode. Somehow, I’m managing okay and I am excited to share these 5 tips with you on how I’ve been preparing!

1) Staying active.

Even if it’s only taking the stairs instead of the elevator once in a while, I’m trying to make sure I am doing SOMETHING active every day. Being sick makes that really difficult (especially given that I have mono), but for me, it’s critical to my mental health and feeling good. Some days I do yoga, some days I work with a trainer and some days I just walk to lunch instead of ordering delivery. Whatever it is, I always make a conscious decision to move around every day leading up to the wedding.

2) Drinking tons of water

I’ve always been a huge water drinker. In fact, those close to me will tell you that it’s rare you will see me drink anything else ever. I wish I could claim to be this super health guru who understands how valuable water is, but the fact is, I just like it and don’t like any other forms of liquid too much. They hurt my stomach. That being said, with the wedding coming up, I’ve upped my water intake by a TON. My secret to doing so? This AWESOME portable Brita water bottle. I live for it because I can carry it around with me everywhere and fill up whenever I’m out and it will always be delicious and fresh water. OBSESSED. Order one.

3) Eating

I’m so sick of hearing people on these crazy diets leading up to their wedding. If you radically change your diet, you may lose a bunch of water weight, but you’re setting yourself up to be unhealthy (and gain it all back plus some) the minute the clock strikes midnight after your wedding. Instead, I’ve taken this time to work on consciously eating a little bit less than I normally would and trying to make healthier decisions. So to answer your question, yes I am eating everything I post, just not as much of it. Am I going to be the skinniest I ever was in my entire life? Probably not. But I’m going to be happy and healthy and that’s all that matters.

4) Keeping my friends/family close to me

Getting married is SO stressful and there is this tendency to want to push everyone away as a coping mechanism. I saw myself going down this path for a bit and I realized that those people are you biggest advocates and best support system! Forcing myself to have conversations about what is stressing me out has actually made me feel better.

For example, last night, I was feeling so overwhelmed and just wanted to get home, not talk to anyone and crash. Around 5:00, my friend Kelly (www.eattravelrock.com) called me and invited me over for a healthy meal, some girl time and a good vent session. My initial reaction was to say no, because honestly, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. However,  after thinking about it for a few minutes, I quickly called her back and asked if I could change my mind. It turned out to be amazing and just what I needed. Sometimes getting it all out is the hardest part, but once you do, you can start to feel whole again.

5) Trying to stay connected to my man!

This one, surprisingly, has been the most difficult for me. Between my fiancé’s hectic work schedule, our travels and how sick I have been, we’ve barely been in the same room for the last month. It’s been hard, but this week I am making it a priority since this entire wedding is really about us (not my weight, the food or the dancing).

What are we doing? Well, this weekend we took some time to go to a fun arcade bar, rent a few movies and cook dinner together. Tonight, we are going to practice our first dance. Seems silly, but losing sight on why you’re actually having a wedding can happen. You can so inundated with details, that you lose sight of what actually matters.

So…that’s what I’ve been doing and will continue to do to prepare for my wedding in a few days! I can’t believe it’s almost here. Do you have any extra tips for me as I enter into the final countdown?

Love always,
Erica