On a lighter subject. During wedding days, I drink water before, coke/pepsi during the reception and pump milk and orange juice when I get home.

Green tea in the morning and a high protein breakfast.

Any meal served on the day of the wedding is a bonus and I usually eat light so I can move around without feeling bloated etc.

Once I get home I usually order a take away as a sort of 'celebration' job well done for myself !

I am always sure to take along plenty of bottled water. At least 6-8 500ml bottles. It's amazing how much fluid you can lose especially running around on a hot day.

I always drink water now, no coke, pepsi, juice, or anything that has sugar or high fructose corn syrup in it. Snacks are high protein bars and complex carbohydrates.

Sparkling Water. Done.

water, maybe milk once. If the day is very long, I may do a coffee around 4pm for the caffeine, and last night I broke and had coke around 9pm since we went until midnight. I really needed the sugar.

I will often have some chocolate on hand, in case my mood is bad - like, say, yesterday, when the photographers were pretty awful to us. The third time it happened, and taking a deep breath wasn't cutting it, we had the chocolate.

water, maybe milk once. If the day is very long, I may do a coffee around 4pm for the caffeine, and last night I broke and had coke around 9pm since we went until midnight. I really needed the sugar.

I will often have some chocolate on hand, in case my mood is bad - like, say, yesterday, when the photographers were pretty awful to us. The third time it happened, and taking a deep breath wasn't cutting it, we had the chocolate.

I understand. I had a photographer yesterday that bounced back and forth in front of the B&G like a pendulum. I felt I needed something pretty strong to drink at that point.

I bottle my own water. I have a well that produces pure, Rocky Mountain spring water from 185' below my property, which is at 8,000' elevation. It is nicely chilled right from the ground and I don't treat it with any filters or chemicals. I have yet to taste a bottled water that comes close to the quality of my well water. I'm a lucky dude and I know it.

Yes a good breakfast is important to keep you going throughout the day! I'd also have a few bottles of water.
I have in my contract that the if the shooting is over five hours the client will provide a meal for us, usually we would get a meal voucher but sometimes we've been put at a table with the guests, not the best thing though! On Friday last, they insisted that we join them!

Hi Rob

Being with the guests is a real pain for me too but it rarely happens. Venues here normally supply a special table away from the guests for the photog/dj/video and that works great as there is space for our gear plus it allows you an overview of the whole wedding in case something starts to happen so you can jump up and spring into action.

Here the normal for meals is mains only plus soft drinks but some venues do give us the whole shooting match as well. I did an Italian wedding where we sat at our table at 7pm and the food just kept coming and coming and it was only after 10pm when the events restarted.

Yep, a decent breakfast (usually late anyway on a Saturday!) and then lots of water during the hard work period combined with some snack bars usually keeps me going. I do interviews during pre-dinner drinks so I also get soft drinks during that period plus a few canapés!!

Chris

Why is everyone on here so health conscious? I now feel guilty for going through 3-4 energy drinks on a standard wedding!

Clive, for me it's simply about the caffeine. It only takes two weeks for your body to adapt to a new level of caffeine, so if you usually drink two cups of coffee, or two Monster energy drinks, then after 14 days, it no longer provides a benefit.

Once I found that out, I cut my caffeine a lot precisely so that IF I need a boost, I can have a cup of coffee or an energy drink and actually get a benefit from the caffeine.

Throw in the fact that most energy drinks are just soda with guarine, but cost three times as much, and I had no reason to pick up that habit. I get a better boost from chocolate milk, with vitamins and minerals (including B12), sugar for quick energy, protein for helping keep blood sugar level, and chocolate as a mood booster.

Just coffee...and my Marlboro's :) 95% of the time i don't eat until the dinner reception.
Not really a breakfast guy so in the rare times that there is a bit of a lull after the ceremony, i just grab a beef jerky, banana and Coke. If there is a Starbucks nearby, a peppermint mocha latte for sure.

Sparkling Water. Done.Agreed. If I am going to pay for water then at least I want it with bubbles.

Why is everyone on here so health conscious? I now feel guilty for going through 3-4 energy drinks on a standard wedding!

Health conscious when i'm working ... eating like a pig when i'm not.

Don't worry!

I don't pay much attention to what I eat or drink during the wedding, but there is one sure thing: beer afterwards.

Why is everyone on here so health conscious? I now feel guilty for going through 3-4 energy drinks on a standard wedding!

Back in April, I went to the doctor for a health assessment since I didn't do it for a year, and at times it felt like my heart was pounding. My blood pressure was 140/80 (high) my cholesterol was 236 (high) and my blood glucose was borderline high! I was about 15 lbs overweight then. My doctor said that I was on the verge of being a diabetic type 2.

My problem was the American diet. I had way too much sugar in everything I ate and drank. The problem with sugar is that it's addictive. When I was hungry or tired, I had to fill myself with sugar in order to feel better...not a good sign. My doctor gave me a treatment plan to cut the sugar and simple carbohydrates, and replace them with protein. It worked!! Today, my blood pressure is 117/68, cholesterol is 180, I lost 10lbs, and my blood glucose is normal. All this happened without medication, and just because I cut sugar from my diet. The bad drinks for me: all sodas, including diet drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, alcohol, and fruit juice. Good for me: water and green tea. Have you ever been so hungry that you felt weak? That doesn't happen any more once I substituted sugar with protein.

I don't pay much attention to what I eat or drink during the wedding, but there is one sure thing: beer afterwards.

Yes, or a nice glass of Macallan.

Back in April, I went to the doctor for a health assessment since I didn't do it for a year, and at times it felt like my heart was pounding. My blood pressure was 140/80 (high) my cholesterol was 236 (high) and my blood glucose was borderline high! I was about 15 lbs overweight then. My doctor said that I was on the verge of being a diabetic type 2.

My problem was the American diet. I had way too much sugar in everything I ate and drank. The problem with sugar is that it's addictive. When I was hungry or tired, I had to fill myself with sugar in order to feel better...not a good sign. My doctor gave me a treatment plan to cut the sugar and simple carbohydrates, and replace them with protein. It worked!! Today, my blood pressure is 117/68, cholesterol is 180, I lost 10lbs, and my blood glucose is normal. All this happened without medication, and just because I cut sugar from my diet. The bad drinks for me: all sodas, including diet drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, alcohol, and fruit juice. Good for me: water and green tea. Have you ever been so hungry that you felt weak? That doesn't happen any more once I substituted sugar with protein.
Congrats Warren, I'm overweight too, sugar is a toughy, I like tea and coolaid. That's awesome news for you.

Thanks Steven! I had to make the change because I learned that diabetes, loss of eyesight, kidney failure, and heart disease goes hand in hand....it scared the crap out of me! How good of a videographer would I be without eyes?? The promising thing is that diabetes 2 is reversible, simply by changing your diet and exercising more. The good news for me was that I caught it before it started, and I began to see significant changes in just 2 weeks.

The bad news is that young kids in the U.S. and U.K. today are diabetics, something we haven't seen before. Watch your intake of sugar, everyone! Sugar can kill you! Here's a great article about sugar:
9 Reasons To Avoid Sugar As If Your Life Depended On It | Popular Science (http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-03/9-reasons-avoid-sugar-if-your-life-depended-it?page=0%2C1)

If anyone is interested in the diet plan my doctor gave me, I would gladly share it with you!

I used to take water but I find sports drinks such as Lucozade Sports are far more effective. I can get through 6 or 8 on a hot mid-summer all day job but 3 or 4 is more normal and just 1 in the winter. They are not fattening - not according to the calorie count on the label anyway.

Remember your body does need salt on those hot sweaty days.

Warren, there's no tradition of eating out several times a week in the UK, or of manufacturers pumping up the fat and sugar levels of processed food to anything like the same extent as in the USA so we have a headstart in that sense.

Pete

I don't pay much attention to what I eat or drink during the wedding, but there is one sure thing: beer afterwards.

Haha, yep! Yuengling brother.. j/k. I typically drink sprite at wedding & in real life when getting a soda, tho I don't drink much soda. I do like to place a beer in the fridge for when I get home. Gives me a little something to look forward to & celebrate.

I there's no tradition of eating out several times a week in the UK, or of manufacturers pumping up the fat and sugar levels of processed food to anything like the same extent as in the USA so we have a headstart in that sense.
Pete

If you have a chance, please take a look at this documentary that was produced in the UK. Very informative, and what it contains may surprise you...it sure surprised the heck out of me!
The Men Who Made Us Fat ''Episode 1/3'' - YouTube

I used to take water but I find sports drinks such as Lucozade Sports are far more effective. I can get through 6 or 8 on a hot mid-summer all day job but 3 or 4 is more normal and just 1 in the winter. They are not fattening - not according to the calorie count on the label anyway.

Remember your body does need salt on those hot sweaty days.

Yes, I forgot that part. During the hot summer, I'll often have a V8 with me for the salt. Maybe a sports drink.

Yep I saw that on terrestrial TV Warren. Fascinating. They've also made a "the men who made us thin" - an expose of the diet industry - but I haven't watched that one.

Pete

water, coke, water, coffee, water, fanta lemon, water. get home and crack open a couple of strong beers

In the morning before I leave for the wedding, and after a breakfast of either pancakes with eggs and sausage or waffles with bacon on the side, I make a double espresso with a shot of sambucca.
I always carry 4 bottles of water in a plastic bag, one bottle was frozen overnight. That is just to keep the other 3 cold throughout the day. When I get back in, a triple shot of bourbon on the rocks makes me sleep tight and stay warm.