We found out I was pregnant last September, the week before our 10 year anniversary trip to Italy. We were thrilled of course, but the big news did come with it’s share of complications. As first time parents-to-be, we had some concerns about how my pregnancy would effect our business. With a busy fall and spring wedding season, I wondered how toting a baby bump was going to change things for us and for our couples.

It’s not unusual for our clients to book us for their wedding more than a year in advance so our calendar was already pretty full. We had to wait until we got home from our 3 week long trip to have the ultrasound that would tell us our due date. We were crossing our fingers that it would be late May/early June. As it turned out, our little guy was scheduled to make his appearance on May 12th. Yikes! We already had a wedding on the books just three weeks prior to his due date and at least six more in the weeks leading up to that one. It was hard to imagine doing something as physical as shooting a wedding at 8+ months pregnant when most mommies-to-be are trying to spend as much time as possible on the couch.

To ease our fears (and any fears our clients might have), we put a plan into place to ensure our couples would still get our very best. And, of course, we also learned a wealth of tricks along the way. Today, I’ll be sharing some tips for my fellow “mom-togs” for how I survived wedding season with a baby bump and some of the tools that helped me do it!

Communicate with your couples.

First things first. You have to be open and honest with the couples you’ve already booked. While you’re in no way obligated to share your personal news with your clients, you should consider how a bride might feel if you showed up on her wedding day 8 months pregnant and she didn’t even know. No bride wants to be concerned that their photographer might go into labor as she’s walking down the aisle. For us, communicating the news to our clients was super important.

As soon as we hit our 2nd trimester , we were more than ready to announce the news to the world. But FIRST, we sent out an email to all of our clients letting them in on the big news. The last thing we wanted was for our couples to see it on Facebook or in a blog post. When they asked us to document their wedding they invited us to be a part of one of the most important and intimate moments of their lives. We wanted them to feel that we were willing to do the same thing. And you know what? Our brides (and grooms) responded with nothing but joy! They were incredibly supportive in every way. Many of them even sent baby gifts! How awesome is that?

Have a backup plan in place.

With our last wedding only 3 weeks before our little guy was scheduled to arrive, we wanted to make sure we had a plan in place if he decided to make his appearance early. Starting three months before our due date, we hired a photographer friend to come along with us and act as an assistant and third shooter. If I needed a break or just didn’t feel like bending down to fluff a train while lugging a huge baby bump, she was there to help out and our couples never got anything less than the awesome customer experience we’ve always given. For the last few weddings, we even had a fourth shooter on call in case I went into labor and we both needed to head to the hospital. We made all our couples aware of our plans right from the start so they wouldn’t have to spend a minute worried about it.

Bring snacks and drink lots of water.

While you couldn’t see on the outside that I was growing a little person in those early weeks of pregnancy, having to run to the restroom and throw up in the middle of a ceremony would have been a dead giveaway. I was lucky not to experience a lot of nausea but when I’m did, eating frequent snacks rather than big meals was a huge help. So every wedding day in my first trimester we pulled up with a cooler full of goodies I could grab on the go. Pairing that with A TON of water to stay hydrated helped me ward off that not so yummy feeling in the middle of a brides big day.

Wear something comfortable and supportive.

When your on your feet lugging a rather large bump AND a ton of camera gear for 8+ hours, being comfortable is a must. Right around the 30 week mark my feet got really swollen. I literally couldn’t wear a single pair of my normal shoes. So plan to invest in some supportive flats that are a size larger than you normally wear. You’re feet will thank you.

With that cute belly also comes the not so cute back pain as your body adjusts to the extra weight and the change in your center of gravity. I wore a belly support band like this one under my clothes to help ease the discomfort. It made a big difference, not only on the day of a wedding but the next day too as I was resting up from all the activity.

Adjust your gear.

Another change I needed to make was lightening my camera bag and redistributing the weight of my gear. I started to keep as little as possible in my shoulder bag and leave the rest in our rolling back up bag which our assistant kept with her throughout the day.

As my belly grew, my usual cross body straps for my camera and bag no longer fit comfortably so for Christmas Ryan got me a Hold Fast Money Maker. This strap is designed to hold two camera bodies, one on each side distributing the weight across your entire back instead of just a single shoulder. In my case, I don’t shoot with two cameras, but I was able to fashion it to put my camera on one side and a small bag on the other. Since the straps don’t cross the front of you, my belly didn’t interfere and it actually helped keep my back from hurting too. My other favorite perk is that it allows me to wear necklaces while shooting! They used to get tangled in the cross-body strap. Even with no more bump to get in the way, I can’t imagine going back to my old system. Oddly enough, people compliment me on how it looks all the time too! Can’t complain about the compliments ;-)

Keep a positive attitude.

Having gone through it now, we actually laugh about how much I didn’t need our wonderful assistant! At our last wedding, just a couple weeks from giving birth, Ryan still had to remind me to ask for help because I felt perfectly capable of doing all the things I had always done . . . even if I was a little slower. We shot a total of 16 weddings while I was pregnant and honestly, my biggest issue was trying to fit myself, my gear and my big belly between the chairs at the reception. Turning to the side has always been my go to move to wiggle between tightly placed chairs, but that’s not nearly as effective when you’re width has suddenly doubled or even tripled in size!

Overall, you just have to stay positive and remember that pregnancy is NOT an illness. It may come with it’s own particular brand of aches and pains, but it doesn’t make you disabled. If anything, you can’t help but wonder at all the amazing stuff your body is doing as it’s growing another human. I’ve never had more respect for this body God has blessed me with! It’s a good idea to proceed with caution at times and follow your doctor’s orders, but you’ll probably find you can do pretty much anything you put your mind to – unless it entails fitting through a very tiny doorway.

Hope you all found this post helpful! Hit me up in the comments section or drop me an email if you have any other questions. I’m more than happy to talk pregnancy OR photography!