A wedding is always jolly good fun. Once all the stress and expense of organising it, whether you’re the couple or the guest, is over, on the day itself you can just kick back and have an amazing time. In some cases, at some point before the big day doubts could start to arise with the couple to be. It’s a pretty big decision after all. You might want to suggest premarital counseling if you are aware of these issues and they aren’t already looking into getting outside help yet. Once any issues with cold-feed, backsies area dealt with and you’ve successfully avoided the inevitable family drama, the next step is best: food, drinks and fun!

Sadly, those elements usually come with a drawback, and your head, liver and feet will be paying the price the next day. But as long as you come prepared with a few life-saving essentials, you’ll get to have a killer night and won’t be the worse for wear afterwards! Also, these little items are also compact, so you can easily bring them in just your handbag.

1. Prep your liver

The liver falls under a lot of stress on a big night out, so you should do everything you can to help it out a little. Allow us to introduce you to a wonderful, but little known herb – milk thistle. Milk thistle contains a substance called silymarin, which has many beneficial properties, including antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and is a great, natural remedy to protect your liver. You can get milk thistle from pharmacies or health shops or order online, in the form of either tablets or a liquid tincture. The latter is a particularly great choice as you dilute a few drops in a glass of water, so you hydrate whilst consuming the silymarin health benefits. Start taking the milk thistle regularly in the few days leading up to a “heavy night” and have some the day after – you’ll be amazed at home much easier that hangover will go.

Berocca is also a popular post-night out cure, so make sure to pack it in your washbag! If you’re travelling light, just take out a couple of tables, wrap them in foil and pop them in with your makeup. Keep in mind that you will be drinking alcohol and exerting yourself with all that dancing, plus, what’s for dinner won’t be up to you.

2. Prep for sniffles and sweating

It’s a wedding – people might cry. They might also be under the weather. And they most certainly will likely spill. Do not leave the house without a pack of tissues! For the management of perspiration or running makeup, grab a pack of facial or wet wipes as well. Brands like Simple make little travel size packets that are perfect to fit into a handbag or even a clutch.

3. Be Kind to your feet

Let’s face it, you’re going to dance. Even if it’s not your thing, the bride and groom will want you to join in, and after enough drinks, anyone can channel their inner Saturday Night Fever Travolta. But the problem with drink dancing is that your senses are too numbed to realise that you’re destroying your feet, once poor toe at a time. Be it heels or dress shoes, they’ll never be as comfy as your converse, so bring a little TLC with you. Make sure to bring a packet of plasters – compeed have the perfect small-sized boxes, but you can just bring an assortment from home and pop them in an inner pocket of your bag or even into your wallet! Next to, you know, whatever else you might have in there…

But plasters are applied when it’s already too late. If you want to avoid those nasty blisters altogether, then this is the pair of shoes you need! You may not have heard of these, but you can get collapsible shoes. They fold up into a nice and small lump so you can even fit them into your pocket if needs be. Once the elegant part of the day is done with and you want to hit the dancefloor with your best moves, swap out of your heels or Oxfords and unfurl the perfect footwear to party the night away!

4. Prep for Disaster!

This is especially important if you’re part of the bridal party. Accidents happen, so you’ll want to be prepared. A dress might rip, the bride might have a panic attack, drunken uncle Tony might spill wine on the tux. There’ll be precious few options to deal with issues that happen to the bride and groom, so you’ll want to have a few things handy to help out. For those wedding day jitters – get some rescue remedy or some valerian root based medicine, like Kalms. It’ll relax them and ease the tension. If that doesn’t work, honestly, bring a hipflask of the good stuff and an example spreadsheet about the cost of a divorce.

But such extremes aside, if something happens to the dress, you should have the following two items to hand: a sewing kit and stain remover. If you don’t have your own, then one of your relatives is bound to have an empty box of Viennese cookies that are filled with random buttons and free hotel sewing kits, so raid it for what you need – just be strategic. Get the threads that match the colours of the wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen suits. As far as stain remover goes, no need to pack a giant bottle of Vanish or anything, there are lots of options for small, travel-sized stain removers that you can easily pop in your bag. 

Et voila! You will be the wedding guest or bridesmaid extraordinaire – ready for any eventuality and if none of them happen, you’ll at least be ready for the next wedding or fancy occasion.