Lesson: Migraines and Wedding Receptions Don't Mix

Still in full wedding weekend recovery mode, I thought I would take a moment to talk about the important lesson I learned from this event. The very nature of a wedding reception is intolerable for my migraine prone self. I've decided that this was my last wedding reception.

I went into the weekend feeling as prepared as I could have been. With all the family coming into town there were gatherings being planned Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I had made up my mind that I would attend the Saturday and Sunday events, knowing that 4 days of activity was just not going to be possible. That included the wedding, the reception and a small, informal gathering on Sunday afternoon with family who was still in town. 

The wedding went well and after we had some down time to return home to eat, rest and feed our animals before the reception. The rest did me good and the pain medication I took during that time allowed me to pull myself together again and head out to the reception. The reception hall was beautiful and the temperature was perfect. The meal was hot and quite tasty. But the noise, oh my word! The din of the 300+ guests was overwhelming, add in the live band, who played throughout dinner and then got louder for dancing after, and it was just too much. There was no way to mitigate that. 

I was in rough shape after all that and by Sunday I was in even worse shape as my body was still dealing with the fallout. I ended up having to take even more medication that morning to be able to attend the casual Sunday gathering. I knew then that wedding receptions were just something I shouldn't be doing. The price is too great. 

Looking back, I probably should have planned to attend the Friday evening event and the Wedding on Saturday, with the option to attend the casual Sunday thing only if I was up to it. That would have allowed me the opportunity to talk with more family and I could have done it without putting my body through the extreme stress of the reception environment. I can't really do any amount of dancing with my feet pain, I can't really have much conversation in that loud environment and the late night nature of the reception pulls me out of my routine in a pretty significant way. There is almost no benefit and a whole list of detriments.

Healthy, young me always loved wedding receptions. I loved loud music, I loved dancing and all the merriment that surrounds it. I wish I could go, have a great meal, a nice glass of wine and then spend the evening dancing with my husband and laughing it up with all my family. I wish it wasn't all so very painful. I wish I could just have a small vacation from my pain long enough to do something normal like attend a wedding. BUT I can't. This is my truth. It's hard to accept but that is exactly what I need to do.