Weddings are an exciting time for everyone involved. Attendees and participants do their best to look their best for the photographs that they will look back on for a lifetime. Wedding photos are a huge part of the experience. They create a time capsule for brides and grooms to jump back into when they want to reflect on one of the biggest days of their lives together.

Taking wedding photos as a photographer is special too but does require physical stamina. As a wedding photographer, you are on your feet for hours roaming around the venue making sure to not miss a moment. Certain photos will require you to crouch down into tough positions. Over the course of an entire wedding day, there’s a good chance that your back hurts and your posture is shot. If you have weddings coming up that you plan to take photos of, this guide is here to help.

Here are several effective ways to improve your posture and prepare your body for taking photos at an upcoming wedding.

1. Visit a Chiropractor

Your spine and back are your main support systems when you are on the go. Over the course of a long day, it’s easy for our postures to slowly curve downward. Gravity is heavy, and so are the requests of some brides! To capture a wedding in its entirety, you’ll need all of the physical stamina and strength that your body can offer. Have you have taken photos at a farm or large estate venue? When there is tons of ground to cover as a photographer, your posture is crucial to helping you feel strong throughout the day.

Seeing a chiropractor helps improve posture through focused adjustments along the neck and back. If your spine is out of alignment, imbalances can occur. These can make having good posture more challenging. Chiropractic care can help wedding photographers prepare for a big event or recover from a long weekend. Chiropractic adjustments increase the blood flow throughout areas of the body that are stressed. If you are experiencing back pain, this helps the body recover more easily. Prepare your body through wellness practices like chiropractic care to help maintain your posture and back strength.

2. Practice Yoga

Yoga comes in a variety of forms and techniques. There are physically challenging yoga classes that involve intense workout sets and weights, like Yoga Sculpt. There are also yoga techniques that focus more on restoration and spiritual connection. You may need to experiment with a few before finding the one that best fits your needs!

For wedding photographers that want to improve their posture, restorative yoga is a great place to start. The stretching positions are gentle yet deep. When practicing this type of yoga, you’ll likely be able to stretch deeper than you’re accustomed to. This will help keep your posture strong throughout a vigorous wedding weekend. The more relaxed your back muscles are, the easier it becomes to maintain your normal posture. Yoga is something that you can do at home as well! If the wedding starts early and you need to arrive for photos before it begins, consider doing a few yoga positions before leaving your house.

3. Watch Out for ‘Text Neck’

‘Text neck’ is known as a curvature in the neck and upper back that can occur from looking down on your phone for long periods of time. Over time, this can lead to poor posture and eventually injuries if not corrected. While text neck most commonly occurs in teenagers that are on their phones constantly, wedding photographers are also vulnerable to it. For photographers, the solution is not as simple as ‘don’t text as much’. The requirement to do your job is to constantly be checking the photos you just took to gauge how good the lighting was and make sure no one had closed eyes.

Since wedding photographers are required to use technology and devices for their job, the solution is not so cut and dry. Honestly, it’s something to just be aware of. If you notice that your posture is trending downward, take note of how long you look down at your camera with your neck angled towards the ground. If there is a position that you can look at your camera after taking photos that is comfortable and upward, try it out. Experiment with what feels most natural for your body and be aware of text neck.

It's a marathon, not a race

Weddings are a marathon, not a race. This saying is true for everyone involved, including wedding photographers. It’s important that you do everything that you can to physically (and mentally) prepare for a big event. Your posture is a key component to helping you maintain your strength through a long wedding weekend. Avoid back and neck pain by implementing these wellness practices into your routine.

Photos by Pixels by Emily