On the morning of my wedding, my stylist looked me straight in the eye and said “Honey, a glass of champagne and a bite of a muffin do not breakfast make.” Guests have it so easy, sitting there in pews or folding chairs while the bride, groom, and their attendants stand stock still in dress shoes for the duration of the wedding ceremony.
Unless, that is, they fall over, like this groomsman, who probably did not have any breakfast. The temptation to skip the pre-wedding meal is always there… think of the bride or bridesmaid who wants to avoid a foodbaby or the groom or groomsman who is in too much of a rush to grab a bite. Unfortunately, some of us do not handle low blood sugar as well as others, and a fainting bridal party, while occasionally humorous, does not make for picturesque ceremony photos.
Brides and grooms, do yourselves a favor and bring a little snack with you to wherever it is you’re getting dressed and prepped for the wedding ceremony. Remind your bridesmaids and groomsmen that it’ll be a while before the reception meal is served, especially if you’re taking wedding photographs after the ceremony. Better yet, equip the bridal (and, uh, groomal?) chamber with a fruit plate or a platter of bagels for everyone, including your stylist, to nosh on while ties are tied and makeup is applied.
I think the best pre-wedding meal is a smoothie. A solid one, preferably with a banana and some other fruit blended in. You may have too many nerves and distractions to eat, but chances are you’ll be thirsty, and this way you’re getting some decent nutrients.
The one thing I’d like to add to this excellent advice is this: alcohol cannot effectively substitute for food. A jittery groom of my acquaintance dealt with his wedding day nerves by taking a couple of shots of single malt on an empty stomach.
The results were NOT pretty.
Eat something easily digestible. You’ll be much, much happier.
I was a guest at a wedding in which a bridesmaid fainted–TWICE. (Why she insisted on getting back up there after fainting once, I will never understand.)
The other tip is DO NOT lock your knees while you’re standing up at the altar. It’s guaranteed to make you faint!
This happened to my aunt on her wedding day– she hadn’t eaten properly, and she started fainting in the middle of the dance floor. Luckily, someone half-carried her off and gave her orange juice. For emergencies, drinks with high sugar content are a good idea, since they’re absorbed more quickly than food. Hopefully, things won’t get to that point, but it’s still good to know.
evening weddings are tricksier – that much more day to be nervous and not eating. i will be forever grateful to my maid of honor, who looked at me around 4:30 (7pm wedding) and said “all you’ve had is a cup of tea and half a muffin. i will bring you anything if you will eat it. what will make you want to eat?” and then returned with a giant fruit salad. i don’t know where she found it (in a strange city, not near any grocery stores), but it was all i ate. no fainting here…. 🙂
One of my friends suffered from spells of fainting when she got nervous or stressed and didn’t eat enough, so when she got married, there were predictably unfortunate results. The ceremony took place in an orchard at 4:30pm in July, which wasn’t hot per se, but was in direct sunlight. She fainted not once, but twice, and the wedding party and immediate families finally retired to the farmhouse to finish the ceremony and then came out to present the happy and vertical couple to the rest of the crowd. It was definitely not how she intended that to work!!
On my wedding day, my sister, mother, and bridesmaids practically force-fed me all day. Our money was on a groomsman to faint, but he never did.