I did it! I got this put together and published before March lol! I L O V E putting together these recap blog posts, BUT they are A LOT of work! It’s worth all the effort in the end though. It’s one of those blog posts that makes my heart feel so full when I can look through it and see all of my amazing couples in one place. I love all of these people for individual reasons, but one thing that I say to myself for each and every one of them is “I’m so glad they picked me”. Each and every one of these couples will always have a special place in my heart, all of my couples I’m able serve do, but 2019 couples got to be with be during such a special time of my life, my transition into motherhood.
I was nervous going into this wedding season for so many reasons. How was I going to handle being away from my baby all day? Would I even remember how to use my camera?? Would I be in enough physical shape to photograph a wedding like I normally would? Would I crash halfway through because I basically didn’t move during maternity leave? (PS – not all new moms do that, I was just navigating the waters of motherhood and I didn’t really know what to do with myself or my new baby besides sit and hold her). And last but not least…how in the world was I going to find a 15 minute chunk of time to pump?? I was stressed but I was excited to get back into doing what I love, photographing people’s love stories!
I would be lying if I said that I was nervous for no reason and everything turned out fine and 2019 was a completely normal wedding season. I’m not saying it was bad by any means, but it was definitely different. My body wasn’t 100% back to normal and I was in more pain that I would have normally been in and not only that, I still had my postpartum belly so I got a lot of “Congratulations!” “How far along are you?” and “I love your baby bump!” I tried to not let it get to me, but it just cemented the fact that even though I was no longer pregnant, I most definitely still looked the part. And yes, I did miss my baby a lot, but honestly, my brain was so distracted with what had to be done at each wedding, unless I saw a baby at the reception that reminded me of her, or watching the special parent dances, yea I was a hot mess then, but aside from that I was okay!
As far as pumping was concerned, I would be more than fine if I never had to pump at a wedding again. Ever. Honestly, if I were to get pregnant again and had to pump over the course of a wedding season, I would invest in a Willow pump or something similar. You just throw those suckers in your bra and carry on your merry way. Even though all of my couples were so accommodating and understanding, it was still up to me to make sure I had a private place to go, preferably on the other side of a door with a lock, a wall outlet, a chair, and I had to make sure that I wasn’t going to miss anything super important for at least 15 minutes. It wasn’t something I could plan or put into my couples timelines, so I had to make the call when would be a good time to squeeze it in day of. This was something that I communicated to my couples beforehand so they wouldn’t be caught off guard and all were so sweet about it and understood completely, but that didn’t mean I didn’t run into complications…I ended up missing the toasts at one wedding because there was miscommunication between myself and the DJ about the order of events on the timeline AND the venue we were at didn’t have a private spot I could go, so I ended up having to run across the street and pump in a Starbucks bathroom…less than ideal but the staff was so sweet and I was so thankful they allowed me to do that! However, when I got back and spoke to the bride and found out I missed the toasts, I was devastated. I felt completely awful and like I had failed but my bride was a sweetheart and assured me it was totally fine.
Another time, I was a second shooter at a wedding on one of the hottest days of the year. I snuck into the handicap bathroom stall (please don’t judge me, it was the only private area at the venue with a small chair and wall outlet) and was about 5 minutes into pumping when I heard the brides voice enter the bathroom. She had to pee before the ceremony and because of the assistance she needed with her dress, she was only able to fit into the handicap stall. I had to stop pumping and leave so she could do her thing which was totally understandable! But if you have never experienced pumping before I’ll tell you this, if you’re stressed, you won’t express as much as you would if you were relaxed and comfortable, so on days where I was only able to pump once, I wanted to be able to completely empty so I could go longer in between sessions with as little pain and discomfort as possible. I won’t go on but those were only two of the many difficult situations I ran into so moral of the story is, if you’re going to have to pump and are not 100% sure that you will have access to a private comfy spot with a wall outlet, get yourself a hands-free, cord-free pump.
OKAY NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO because let’s be honest, do you really care about my pumping during wedding season struggles? No, lol! 😉 Here is the pretty you came here to see in the first place! Enjoy! And PS – this really was a great season and I appreciate you all so so much!
