As a fellow Sauna Boxer it was only natural that I was going incorporate a sauna session somewhere within our wedding. Our wedding day or “love party” as we referred to it as was more surreal, emotional, spiritual, chaotic, romantic, grounding, enlightening, loving and full-on than we could have ever imagined and hoped. It’s fair to say the nervous system had been sufficiently tested. There were only few moments during the day that I personally was able to keep it together and not be completely overwhelmed with emotion. Perhaps this says more about me than the day, but I’d say it’s pretty rare that you get the opportunity to bring all your closest family and friends who have had such an influence on your life and share a day to celebrate the love and connection between your chosen partner in life and yourself.
We had opted for a relatively intimate wedding with just under 40 guests on the big day and we had a core group of 18 staying with us over 4 days at the incredible venue of Barn Drift, just outside the North Norfolk village of Cley-Next-the-Sea. As a couple we have done most of the “big life events”, i.e. house, marriage and kids, in somewhat of an atypical order, with the birth of our first child, Barney, happening first 6 years ago, then going through the process of buying a house, having our second child, Robin, and then finally deciding to get married after having been together for 10 years. By getting married perhaps a little later in life than normal, it meant that many of our friends had also had kids and therefore the wedding was rather kid heavy, and as we all know, with more kids means more energy, more chaos, and generally more fun! It is safe to say that by the end of the day everyone involved was exhausted.
When planning our wedding we were adamant in making the day our own and using as many local suppliers as possible. We had a sports day event including things like the classic sack race, welly throwing and wife carrying race (there’s actually a world championship, check it out!); cycling to the beach for a cold dip in the sea; a mobile coffee barista in their piagio tuk tuk; and a chippy van providing the evening meal. But the cherry on top of the wedding cake was the mobile horse box sauna that visited us the day after, hosted by the big dog, the beautiful sauna aficionado Tom Sutton. Tom carries the relaxed calm air one might expect of someone who hosts and has dedicated his life to providing stunning authentic Finnish saunas on wheels. We had the sauna for the afternoon along with the ice bath and whilst we were enjoying (or in some cases, bearing) the cold water immersion, Tom was waxing lyrically about all the health benefits and why having hot and cold therapy after a big event such as a wedding is so great for you. And it turns out it really is! We came away completely blissed out from the endorphin and dopamine cocktail, colloquially referred to as ‘happy hormones’ which are released from the hot and cold exposure.
Allowing guests and ourselves to unwind after a day of, let’s face it, excess: excess food, excess drink, excess conversation, excess crying, excess laughing, excess dancing, excess entertaining, was so important to us. Resting is something that I think a lot of us struggle with, but research is continuously backing-up it’s importance for our health and wellbeing, whether this is in the form of mediation, yoga, reading a book, going for a walk, or simply having a nap. It’s something that we as a couple having been trying to incorporate into our lives more over the last few years and sauna its such a beautiful way to do it. The Scandinavians have been doing it for hundreds if not thousands of years, and everyone knows these guys are consistently regarded as some of the happiest folk in the world. We could not recommend a post wedding sauna (and cold bath) enough. Come to think of it, it should be the thing to do after any big event!
Tom HK