The Healthy Bride

Today is our first Fit and Fabulous Foto Friday.  We are hope you will send us your coolest, wackyiest, most beautiful, fun fitness fotos for our ongoing Friday blogpost.

The Fotos below are from Mindy Bush of Memphis, Tenn.  She sent me her work with the following explanation:

About the wedding:

• Almost all of the gym equipment was cleared out to transform it into a place fit for a wedding, but the couple was careful not to overdo it. Michael said, “It should still look like a gym. That’s what we want. If we wanted to get married in a church, we would have.”

• They had approximately 200 guests in attendance, and their colors were mocha and pale blue. The couple had a huge wedding party of 20, and the groom and his groomsmen wore black and white plaid Converse with their tuxes, while the bridesmaids wore blue Converse with brown laces with their dresses. Ashley changed into her matching Converse for the reception.
• “….Ashley is a trainer at CrossFit Memphis. She married Michael Bledsoe, the owner of CrossFit Memphis. She’s always been athletic, but she will be the first to tell you she’s never been as fit as she is now, after doing CrossFit for about two years. She’s coming back from her honeymoon tonight, so I can ask her if she’d like to comment on her fitness regime and perhaps what she did to prepare for her wedding. I know that she had a specific plan, designed by Doug Larson at CrossFit Memphis, to target her core and her butt.
• Featured in the photos is Ashley Bledsoe (then, Ashley Mays), who married Michael Bledsoe in Memphis, TN, on January 23, 2010. Because the gym is so much a part of Ashley and Michael’s lives, he proposed to her there. When they were planning their wedding, they figured, “why not get married it at the gym, too?” So when it came time to do her bridal session, there was only one place fitting for the shoot: the gym!

• Ashley is approximately 5’3” and 115 lbs. Because she is so fit, and because there is no other frame of reference in the photos with which viewers may be familiar, it’s impossible to tell that she is, in fact, incredibly petite!
  
• If you’re unfamiliar with CrossFit, the official definition is “constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity.” The unofficial definition is “it’s hardcore.” I can say from experience that CrossFit workouts are so challenging that most everyone basically lies on the floor for about 20 minutes after they’ve finished the workout of the day (WOD).  It is definitely a sub-culture of fitness enthusiasts all its own, but it’s starting to hit the mainstream. It’s worth noting that CrossFit gyms are typically housed in some sort of hole in the wall, as the equipment is minimal, but open space is required. CrossFit Memphis, as are many others, is located in a warehouse.

Thanks so much Mindy Bush (3-Cubed Photography) with Gary Baldwin on lights for kicking off our Fit and Fabulous Foto Friday!