Like your shadow, diabetes is always following you. It never takes a holiday or sick day (other than making you sick), and it certainly doesn’t take a day off for all those important moments in your life. So when my boyfriend asked me to marry him on a sunny day in May last year, I knew that on top of sorting through wedding colors, choosing vendors, and slimming down to wear that pretty white dress, I also needed to figure out what to do with my diabetes.
My main concern was my insulin pump. Earlier in the spring I wrote about all my options for what to do with that pager on a string, but it wasn’t until the day before my wedding that I actually knew for sure what I was doing.
The most common suggestion was creating a pocket inside my dress for my pump to chill. Unfortunately, my dress was made from material that wouldn’t allow it to be cut into. My dress was made from a layer of organza covered with lace, beads and sequins, which was sewn in various places to a layer of silk. A slit in the organza would have been very noticeable, so the pocket options was tossed out as soon as I knew this was my dress. And ladies, you know how it is when you find The One. Nothing can stand in your way. Not even diabetes.
Once the pocket option was nixed, I immediately started devising ways to incorporate the Spanx I knew I’d be wearing. I’m a large-ish girl, and despite my twenty-pound weight loss since last summer, I was not prepared to forgo the Spanx. I asked my seamstress to create a pocket on them that could hold my insulin pump. I wasn’t entirely sure how I would get to my insulin pump, but needless to say, the insulin pump needed to be somewhat accessible and close enough to my insertion site for the tubing.
One idea I had was to try the Animas Ping. With its remote bolusing glucose meter, I thought it would be the perfect temporary pump. It would be my “something borrowed” so to speak. I managed to secure one with the help of my diabetes educator, but I didn’t have any time to get properly trained on setting it up. Using the Animas pump is something I’ve done with children I babysit for. Setting it up for myself? Surprisingly different! Who would have thought that setting up an Animas Ping would be so different from the Medtronic Minimed? But I couldn’t get the darn thing to prime to save my life — literally!
Sadly, the Animas Ping Project ended up not working so well. In the end, I wore my Medtronic Minimed insulin pump, which actually worked out just fine. By sitting down and carefully lifting up my dress, I bolused twice in the privacy of my bridal suite (well, as private as someone can get on their wedding day), and once while sitting at our sweetheart table. Since the pocket was at my thigh, it was easily reachable while sitting. The rest of the time? Didn’t touch it. Didn’t even think about it.
Here I am. Hiking up my dress for all the world to see how I carried my insulin pump. You’re welcome.
Funny story: When I walked out of the dressing room for the first time with my Spanx on under the dress and lifted up the dress to ask my mother and the seamstress if they thought the pocket was in a good location, one of her co-workers asked me what the pocket was for. I said, “It’s to hold my insulin pump!” and she replied, “Oh! I thought it was maybe for a flask of whiskey or something.” I totally think there could be a market for a flask-slash-insulin pump pocket, don’t you?
And here I am with my dress down. The dress, an A-line, had enough tulle and layers that it completely covered any hint of an insulin pump.
Testing my blood sugar, on the other hand, ended up being more trouble. Although I had my blood glucose meter with me, I never ended up finding a bag to carry my things. I left my glucose meter in the bridal suite after testing before walking down the aisle (to a comfortable 197 mg/dl). I never did bring it down with me to the reception tent (a mere 200 feet away), because I thought, “Of course I’ll come back to the bridal suite. I’ll have to use the bathroom at least once tonight!” Nope. I didn’t. Lessons learned. Of course, even if I did have it with me, I probably wouldn’t have thought to stop dancing, chatting with my guests or taking crazy photos at our photobooth to check my blood sugar. My mother, armed with a purse, did have a can of Sprite at the ready during the ceremony.
My back-up emergency supplies were also on-site at the wedding, since we were leaving immediately for our hotel after the reception. All my insulin and pump supplies were safely in my suitcase in the event of an emergency.
Was I the perfect PWD on my wedding day? Hardly. But the day itself was perfect and diabetes stayed as far back on the burner as I could get it without spontaneously regenerating islet cells. I think that’s as much as any pancreatically-challenged bride can ask for.
(Thanks to my photographer, Paul Rich, and his assistant Alexis for helping to document diabetes on my wedding day!)
Great pictures! You look gorgeous!
Allison, congratulations on your wedding! You look sensational in your beautiful wedding dress. Great idea about adding the pocket to your spanx — your pump doesn’t show at all under your lace and silk.
What a radiant bride! I’m happy the ‘betes’ didn’t intrude TOO much on such a momentous day. Congratulations…
You’re a beautiful bride! Best wishes for a long, healthy, happy future….CONGRATS
You were a beautiful bride
And I wasn’t the ideal PWD on my wedding day either. But you know what? Not going so far as totally ignoring it, we deserve a big day like that!
Gorgeous Bride!!! Love the pics, thanks for sharing your special day with us. Love the pocket idea on the spanx, could work for many occasions where one needs to wear a pretty dress! Congratulations to you both!!!
You were/are a gorgeous bride!! What a beautiful dress! Congratulations to you and your husband…
Wow, you are so beautiful!! Your hair looks awesome.
You could also put the pump in a garter type thing on your calf right under your knee so you wouldn’t have to lift your dress as high. I red about someone who puts his pump in his sock! I wouldn’t go that low for a wedding though. Congrats.
I almost sweated off my Omnipod during our wedding. It was a really hot and humid July day.
Allison… this post bring tears to my eyes for so many reasons!
First and most important- BEAUTIFUL! You look so beautiful! Weddings are such special days…
I love seeing where you kept your pump and I’m so glad D behaved well for you! I think what gets me is that I can see myself armed with a Sprite on Sweetpea’s big day. At the ready – always. I am so happy that D didn’t interfere – not with your choice of dress and not with the fun you had. I love that. It’s inspiring. Truly!
Thanks for sharing this! Wishing you a lifetime filled with laughter and love!
Love. It. You are simply radiant, Allison!! And oh-so gorgeous, even when hiking up your dress!
Allison!!!! You look soo beautiful!!!!!!! I am so happy for you. Thank you for sharing your success so I can rest a little easier when my big day comes as well. Gorgeous!!!
Allison, you are such a beautiful bride! The pocket is genius.
Congratulations, Allison! You were a beautiful bride! I wear a MM pump, too, and recall that when I still wore the Paradigm (522, I think) the MM rep. told me that they sold a remote for the purposes of bolusing. Wonder why they stopped making it, or don’t make it for the Revel (which is what I now wear.)
[...] I don’t normally cross-link between the posts I write on DiabetesMine and the posts I write on Lemonade Life, but today’s post is all about my wedding! For those interested, I go into great detail about how I managed my diabetes and my solution for how to incorporate my insulin pump into my wedding dress. [...]
Congratulations! Your photos are gorgeous! I love your solution for the insulin pump.
Beautiful dress, sorry I couldn’t make it to the wedding.
I’m amused you didn’t mention running out of test strips and having to borrow mine.
Diabetic Bridesmaid FTW!
Love the photos and you looked gorgeous!
What an absolutely gorgeous bride!! My 16 yr old daughter was diagnosed 3 years ago, and as a Mom, these are the things I think about as I wonder and worry about her future. What a humorous but inspiring tale you have told. Thank you for giving me hope!! Best wishes for a long, healthy and happy life with your new husband!
ps – can’t wait for the baby blog. But no pressure!! lol
gorgeous! congrats Allison!
Allison, you look like a million bucks! I trust you enjoyed every moment of your wedding even though it goes by in a flash. riva
Inspiring Story! Congratulations!
Beautiful wedding! We wish you all the best in your future!
Thank you for sharing! The insulin pump is a wonderful tool for managing diabetes and making it easier to function like a person without diabetes, but it certainly is not an easy fashion accessory.
Congratulations on your marriage!
Thanks for sharing such personal information. We had a bride who was having the same predicament and your idea was really helpful to her, including what didn’t work. She actually ended up buying a dress that came with pockets! Apparently pockets are the big “in” thing this year – who knew?
I’ve been in the wedding business over 12 years now, seen a lot of brides (you looked amazing, really!!) and heard a lot of whining. You handled yourself and your issue with complete grace and acceptance. Kudos and happy life!.
hey Allison — Congrats, girl!! well, it seems you didn’t know about my PortaPocket carrying cases before your big day, but YES there IS a market! and not only for insulin pumps…it’s for all us gals who want to make sure the things we need are always handily accessible without worry…like ID, cash, cards, keys, lipstick, cell phones, etc. makes life easier. i designed this after accidentally dropping my spare tampon on the gym floor and getting mad. whoops! true. patent issued last year
) love for you to help me spread the word to gals (& even guys) everywhere… and even to Sara Blakely (spanx)…works over those too. come see me! http://www.portapocket.com (demo: http://bit.ly/dt71V) xoxox — Kendra (@PortaPocketGal)
Congrats Allison! You look fabulous!
late to it, but just wanted to say that:
a) I’m glad everything worked out on your wedding day!
b) That I’m glad you shared your experience, I linked this to a friend of mine who got engaged last week and already started stressing.
and of course
c) you look great!
[...] hold Allison’s insulin pump. She writes all about it on DiabetesMine in an article titled Diabetes on My Wedding Day. Allison and Erik also clearly had a vision for their wedding day – one which incorporated [...]
[...] stand there and look pretty. After I was dressed, we took a few minutes to snap a picture of my insulin pump holder under my dress. I’m pretty sure I am one of few brides to ever request a photographer take a picture under [...]
Allison,
Another spot to store your pump, that I think is more convenient, is in your bra. I keep mine tucked in there all the time. Congratulations on your marriage and I wish you many many years of happiness and good sugar levels! : )
Amy G
Type 1 for 44 yrs.
[...] “Diabetes on My Wedding Day” by AllisonB on http://www.diabetesmine.com [...]
Allison — I can’t believe I have never seen this before!! And I also didn’t realize you were using an insulin pump when you got married. I found this on pintrest and was like wait a min… “I know that girl!” Haha