BLOGGING AWAY MY FEARS

Welcome to my Wedding Day Prep…Disclaimer: It may not be what you expected.

Nightmares……It never fails; every night before a wedding, I have nightmares. I have dreamt just about everything you can imagine that a photographer would fear and I won’t go into detail for the sake of sparing myself from reliving it again. Because when I dream, it does…feel like I’m living it. And it’s a terrible life during the moments when I’m living in a bad dream.

Preparation……I do the best I can to prepare the night before, checking and double checking lists, making sure everything is in order. The morning/day of the wedding, I wake up, check again…grab my folder of contact information and wedding day details, my equipment, I pack up and head out. Along the ride, I think and rethink over things and even when I pull up, I still feel jittery.

Big Girl Panties…...At least I don’t feel nauscious anymore. I can still remember when I first started shooting weddings. There is one wedding in particular that I remember. I was sitting in the driver’s seat of my vehicle, snacking on a quick Honey Nuts & Oats bar as I couldn’t manage to make myself eat a meal (I later learned this was a big mistake). Anyway, I sat in my car feeling scared and nauscious, giving myself an inner pep-talk and prayer and forcing myself to get out and put my big girl panties on. And you know what, everything turned out ok. 😉

Some have said things to me like, “You’ve got it all together” or “How are you never afraid of taking risks?”

My response: Are you KIDDING me?!!!!! I am scared to death. I am obsessive with a Type A personality, and taking things lightly and being unafraid, although they seem natural are far from the truth. I do my best to “have it all together” but I’m human and I definitely make mistakes….all the time.

Wanting Things to Be Perfect……I LOVE shooting wedddings and there’s no moment I love more than after everything is all said and done, getting on my computer to look at the moments that have been documented. Being a part of a wedding is an incredible experience! And it’s that LOVE that creates the fear. I just want everything to be P-E-R-F-E-C-T-I-O-N [I had to like triple check to make sure that was spelled right] :). I want the couples I work with to be happy, to enjoy their wedding day, and to have the ability to relish in their love for one another and their friends/family.

I mean….wouldn’t YOU want things to be perfect for their wedding? Look at them; they are so sweet together!!!!

So these are a few things that I do to relieve my stress just before a wedding:

*NAP: And HOPE this time isn’t filled with nightmares

*BROWSE FACEBOOK: I know….it’s sad to admit, but there is something SO mindless about flipping through a newsfeed. It takes my mind off of me and allows me to focus on others.

*LISTEN TO MUSIC — LOUD MUSIC: I sincerely hope you don’t pull up next to me at a stoplight on the day of a wedding….yes, I’m one of THOSE people. You know, the ones who roll their windows down and pretend their cool. Guilty.

*EAT…[[PRERFERABLY CHOCOLATE]: I understand why chocolate is called a comfort food; there’s not much that makes me feel better than a chocolate caramel filled egg.

*BLOG: So here I am, the day of Addie + Justin’s wedding. Since I met Addie, I’ve been looking forward to her wedding. She’s like THE perfect bride. She has the most wonderful personality, she’s beautiful, and she loves her  fiance (as of today — husband). There’s nothing that I want more than for her to have the best wedding day today. So, I’m blogging away my nerves.

WOW>>>>I really do feel better now. 😉

What do you do when you’re nervous about things; How do you get past your fears?

Live Simply, Love Freely,

Catherine

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