pregnancy

‘People assumed it was a shotgun wedding.’ 9 women on what it's like getting married while pregnant.

Planning a wedding is certainly no easy task. But when you’re pregnant, things can be a tad more challenging. 

Not only do you have to find a dress that fits your growing bump, but you also have the added joys of morning sickness and fatigue while planning for your big day. 

On the plus side, your soon-to-be-bub gets to part of your wedding and you get to celebrate before your baby arrives.

Watch: The Mamamia team confess the worst request we received as a bridesmaid. Post continues below. 


Video via Mamamia. 

To find out what it’s really like to get married while pregnant, we asked the Mamamia community to share why they decided to tie to the knot while pregnant and if it was always part of the plan. 

Here's what they had to say.

"The invitations to our wedding arrived the day I found out I was pregnant." - Morgan, married at 17 weeks pregnant.

"The invitations to our wedding arrived the day I found out I was pregnant, so we just pushed forward. I was 17 weeks on the day of the wedding. I did the end stages of planning with awful morning sickness. I also had to cancel my hens (due to it being on a boat and not wanting to tell people I was pregnant. I would have been only nine weeks). I was sooo tired from about 10:30pm the night of the wedding and being sick the next day with all the hungover people. Should we have postponed? Perhaps, but I think we probably would never have found time to actually have gotten around to it!"

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"I found out I was pregnant a week before the big day… I was very tempted to cancel!" - Nicole, married early in pregnancy. 

"We planned our wedding two-and-a-half months before the date we set. Due to COVID-19 we hadn't set a date as we had a lot of friends over East and International but we gave up waiting for borders to open.

"I found out I was pregnant a week before the big day. I had always said I never wanted to be pregnant for my wedding... so I was very tempted to cancel! I would love to have a 'do over' for our first anniversary and do it all again where I can drink and enjoy the day (a few pregnancy complications caused a lot of stress on the wedding day).

"We didn't announce it at our wedding, however, I had mocktails disguised as cocktails and a lot of people clued on when they could sense I was pretty damn sober. A lot of my girlfriends laughed as I had made such a song and dance about not being pregnant when I got married!"

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"We decided to get married to fit my brother’s cancer treatment." - Sarah, married at 14 weeks pregnant.

"We got engaged, found out we were expecting and my brother had terminal cancer all within three weeks. We decided to get married to fit his treatment, even through in the end he was too unwell to attend. We chose not to announce the pregnancy until after the wedding to keep the day about us. 

"Our day was perfect for us. Maybe a few celebration drinks might have been nice but honestly it was perfect regardless if I was pregnant or not. 

"Absolutely [we had people make assumptions about us]. We even had 'friends' - no longer friends - question the wellness of my brother thinking it was all exaggerated to cover a pregnancy. I was devastated to find this out. Regardless, I still wouldn't change anything about planning a quick wedding and doing so while pregnant."

"I felt free that I didn’t have to be the perfect bride." - Shari, married at 32 weeks pregnant. 

"We booked the wedding and then found out about the pregnancy. I was 32 weeks with my first on our wedding day. I felt free that I didn’t have to be the perfect bride, I didn’t have to be slim or anything other than me. Plus, I was blessed to have an easy pregnancy without complications. Of course we were concerned about the possibility of baby coming early, but that didn’t happen. I was lucky to be able to swap my dress at the shop from the size eight I ordered to the size 12 from in the store, the seamstress still had to let out every seam for my bump."

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"I was three months pregnant with our second when out of nowhere I decided I wanted to get married." - Tracy, married early in pregnancy. 

"My partner and I were always planning NOT to get married, we were engaged and both happy like that. We had a nearly two-year-old, and I was three months pregnant with our second when out of nowhere I decided I wanted to get married, ASAP!? I said to him all freaked out one day I didn’t know if it was hormones or what but I didn’t want to be the only one in our family with a different surname, so we got to planning! We just scraped in, I think it was a 30 day notice we had to give, once we decided, and invited friends and family around for Christmas Eve drinks and surprised them with a wedding! 

"I still remember going into Sportsgirl to get my dress on my own and being December they were like ‘oh you have a Christmas function coming up’ and I said ‘nope, shopping for my wedding dress!’ They were so lovely and excited, and helped me pick out something really simple... I wouldn’t have postponed it, as I still wouldn’t have a big wedding. I don’t like being the centre of attention, and too much stress, I wouldn’t change a thing with how we did it. We now have three kids and have been married for 20 years this year!"

"We eloped while I was pregnant." - Danni, married at 32 weeks pregnant.

"My husband had only just saved enough to buy my ring after 10 years when we found out I was pregnant! We eloped after having a big engagement party (I was 32 weeks pregnant!) and it was so nice. I'm definitely glad we did it before because there is no time after with now two kids under three." 

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"We decided we would try to conceive a few months out and hope I’d be in my first trimester at the wedding." - Alyshia, married at 10 weeks pregnant. 

"We had planned the large, traditional wedding, however, the closer we got to the date, we realised we were planning a large, very expensive, party for all our guests, when in reality we wanted an intimate wedding with our closest family and friends. We’d been wanting to try to conceive for a while and we both kept saying as soon as the wedding was over we’d try. The large wedding just didn’t feel right so we decided to cancel it and plan the one we wanted. We began planning a smaller one for our original date, and we both desperately wanted to begin our family so we decided we would try to conceive a few months out and hope I’d be in my first trimester at the wedding. My husband's grandmother passed away, and it highlighted to us how quickly life passes by. We were continually planning and planning, and in the end we thought life is short, let’s live it the way we want! We booked our wedding to be on our seven-year anniversary - a Monday night - and had 21 guests in attendance. 

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"I purchased a dress I loved off the rack, which ironically fit perfectly, it was slightly tight around my waist on the day but it was fine. I’m not a huge drinker anyway so the fact I couldn’t drink didn’t bother me at all. I had horrible morning (all day) sickness and did vomit the morning of my wedding and made a quick phone call to my Obstetrician to fax a script for Zofran to the closet pharmacy, but it was fine. Our immediate family knew we were expecting, but we announced it to the other guests in my husband's speech that evening... It was a day filled with so much love and excitement, and I’m so, so glad we did it that way. We welcomed our little girl a few days after our six-month wedding anniversary. We had a lot of comments assuming this was a surprise pregnancy - some people who rudely asked us straight out. Others who assumed it was a shotgun wedding. The truth is, we did things our way, and it’s the best decision we’ve ever made."

"We found out we were pregnant and the following week my partner asked my dad for my hand."  - Jocelyn, married at 28 weeks pregnant. 

"My husband and I got married in 2012, about two years after meeting in Darwin. I was 28 weeks pregnant with our first when we got married. We found out we were pregnant (unplanned) and the following week my partner asked my dad for my hand, and then five months later we were married. I had always imagined my wedding a certain way, a certain price tag, a certain dress. In the end we didn’t stress about much at all. No official wedding party. I got the only dress at my local 'wedding dress shop' that the dressmaker could adjust to accommodate my belly. We were just so thrilled to be starting a family and so thrilled to be getting married. I’m sure that others thought it was a shotgun wedding, and that perhaps it wasn’t great taste. But we have never been happier. We have four kids now and our eldest daughter is always happy to be part of our wedding story too." 

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"I felt like the day wasn't about me anymore but about our family," - Rachel, married at 27 weeks pregnant.

"I got married 27 weeks pregnant with my twins (babies two and three). The drive was so we could all share the same name. I was much happier with a low key wedding as I hate being centre of attention. We decided not to wait because we knew once the twins were born there was no chance we would have any time to plan anything.

"I had to get my make up and hair done at home by myself while my daughter had her nap. I was worried the whole time she might wake up and I wouldn't finish getting ready.... I guess because we already had our daughter I felt like the day wasn't about me anymore but about our family. I just brought my dress from ASOS and hoped it would fit. I am a huge introvert so a traditional wedding with a huge party and people all day sounds exhausting to me. I had severe morning sickness and was on medication until around 22 weeks but was married at 27 weeks so it had started to subside. I loved having my daughter there and we still got married in a church which is what we wanted."

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Feature Image: Getty/Supplied/Mamamia. 

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