Last summer, I was asked to be a bridesmaid in my cousin’s wedding.
When I agreed, I had no idea what I was getting into.
My cousin was absolutely insane with her demands. The whole bridal party was continually expected to join in on ridiculous and expensive activities. We all went skydiving together, took a wine tasting tour and went whitewater rafting. We rented a limousine for a bar crawl and took ballroom dance lessons. My cousin took non stop pictures and posted everything on her Facebook page. The only thing I actually enjoyed was our sessions with a personal trainer. My cousin was determined to get her wedding party in shape for her big day. Everything was targeted at looking good in the photos. The personal trainer met with each one of us individually. We talked about nutrition, fitness goals and weight loss. He then set up a personal plan and a one-on-one training schedule. We also participated in group fitness classes. Since my cousin is completely uncoordinated, she struggled with this. I thought it was great and loved every minute of it. We worked with resistance bands, free weights, weighted balls and kettlebells. We had access to a whole bunch of machines, including treadmills, ellipticals and rowing machines. The personal trainer included a lot of flexibility exercises, static holds and breathing techniques. By the wedding day, I lost fifteen pounds and felt fantastic. While I couldn’t wait to be done with all of the duties of being part of the bridal party, I decided to keep meeting with the personal trainer.