What To Do When You’re Totally Over Wedding Planning 

As an East London wedding planner, I know from personal experience how easy it is to let your self-care and motivation slip away during this hectic time. Still, it’s an essential component to prevent stressful planning and everything spiralling out of control.

How Do I Stop Being Overwhelmed With My Wedding Planning?

If your wedding planning to-do list takes up all of your time, you do not know what to do next, or the well-intentioned “how’s the wedding planning going” remarks make you want to shut down and hide, I recommend you hit the pause button now! 

Please grab a cup of coffee, your favourite biscuits, curl up on the sofa, and delve into my five sanity-saving tips to help you get your wedding planning back on track. I’ll be sharing invaluable solutions to make your wedding planning process enjoyable. Follow my wedding planning advice, and you’ll be counting down the days until your “I do’s” feeling confident and stress-free in no time.

1. Tackle Each Wedding Planning Task In Order Of Importance To You

Suppose you’re looking for ways to get excited about planning your wedding planning again. First things first! Before tackling your wedding task list, you must first rediscover your wedding purpose and prioritise. This process will involve you and your better half uncovering why you decided to have a wedding in the first place. I recommend you decide on no more than three priorities for your big day and make a pact not to stress over anything that falls outside of those priorities. 

I always encourage my brides and grooms-to-be to focus on just one task at a time; this prevents information overload and limits confusion caused by all the different options, which often leads to you second-guessing yourself. Trust me; you’ve got this! 

If you’d like a helping hand, then a wedding planning session with Mollineau Weddings & Events can assist you. I’m always available to reassure you about where to start, apportioning your budget or talk through anything else causing you to worry. Simply arrange a complimentary consultation here.

2. Set Realistic Deadlines For Completion & Celebrate Your Wins

At Mollineau Weddings & Events, we’re known to have planned weddings in 8 weeks; however, it is very rare. For instance, there’s a high possibility that You will not plan your wedding in a week. So take your time. You don’t want to set yourself up for failure by procrastinating. 

If you want to get excited about planning your wedding planning again. I suggest you create a basic timeline centred around your availability. Include all of your tasks which should be actioned by priority. When you accomplish a task, give yourself a special treat to stay motivated. Perhaps a favourite chocolate bar, a picnic in the park or a trip to your favourite restaurant. The choice is yours.

If you do not have time to action, all tasks within your timeline and wedding planning has ground to a halt. You may benefit from delegating a few errands to a professional wedding planner. Consider making contact sooner rather than later.

3. Go Off The Grid 

It’s important to sign off from wedding planning when you want or need to. I recommend you set up a dedicated email for wedding planning purposes and communication. That way if it all feels that the planning is getting too much, you can switch on your out-of-office reply and go off the grid for a week or two without running the risk of missing important communication from your pre-wedding planning lives.

I know it sounds extreme. But not looking at your social media accounts, wedding emails, or colossal binder filled with the paperwork you’ve collected over the years will do you some good!

Use the downtime as a necessary period to enjoy some non-wedding fun with your friends, self-care, or do whatever else you’d like to do to relax.

If my clients don’t feel motivated to attend a low key outing, I send them a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates. Gently encouraging them to take at least one night off and agree not to talk about wedding planning. It’s an excellent opportunity to reconnect and remember what it was like before wedding planning took over your lives.

If you’ve already tried some relaxing activities and still found yourself fixating on the latest wedding hurdle. You might want to take an entirely different approach by releasing some endorphins! Get your adrenaline pumping by going for a swim, boxercise, or some extreme sport may help get rid of your frustration.

4. Outsource Some Of Your Responsibilities

If you find going off the grid, relaxation or releasing endorphins doesn’t help; it’s time to outsource! 

Wedding planning burnout is common and usually means that you are not delegating enough. Please chat with your better half, establish what is taking too much of your time, and entrust it to a professional. For example, is your household chores or walking the dog are taking up too much of your time? If yes, hiring a temporary cleaner or subscribing to a dog walking service could be the silver bullet to reclaiming your time. If all fails, it’s time to arrange a consultation with a wedding planner.

5. Get Support Managing Your Anxiety 

The best way to handle the mentally trying aspects of your wedding planning journey is to take measured steps to prepare yourself and address any concerns you foresee as early as possible.

Weddings are emotional, high-stress situations. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by societal pressure, family expectations, not to mention the hefty price tag! 

So if after all the advice I’ve given you still feel worried about the whole experience. Or your excitement about getting married has plummeted to the point of no return – don’t stress. 

The good news is that with some advanced planning and some help from a professional therapist, there are so many ways to make your wedding planning journey a little more manageable. Just drop me a line if you’d like a recommendation from the UK. I know an excellent therapist who’d love to help. 

How To Get Excited About Planning Your Wedding Again

And that’s a wrap guys! In summary, my 5 tops tips on how to get excited planning your wedding again.

1. Tackle one thing at a time during your planning and be methodical
2. Celebrate your wins! Have regular rest bite and keep your relationship a top priority. 
3. Create a joint wedding email account, so it’s separate from personal stuff, don’t forget to separate your social media accounts or switch off notifications. 
4. Outsource to a professional.
5. It’s ok not to be ok! A therapist can help if you need advice on managing your worries.

Drop me a line if you’ve found my advice helpful. 

You May Also Find The Following Blogs Helpful

• 5 Ways To Find The Perfect Wedding Venue In London & Surrounding Areas – Complimentary Download
• A Wedding Coordinator, Do You Really Need One ? This Will Help You Decide
• 8 Guilt Free Wedding Guest List Tips You Can’t Afford To Miss

Hang Out With Us On These Social Media Sites

• Connect with Marsha Mollineau-Griffiths on LinkedIn
• Follow Mollineau weddings and Events company page on LinkedIn
• Take a sneak peak behind the scenes via our Instagram page

Written By Marsha Mollineau-Griffiths | Award-Winning East London Wedding Planner

The post How To Get Excited About Planning Your Wedding Again – East London Wedding Planner appeared first on Mollineau Weddings & Events.

Planning and coordinating events has enabled me to develop a simple, fool-proof wedding planning process for my team, clients, and wedding planning partners to follow, making our collaboration stress-free and seamless.

Phase 1: Planning With A London Wedding Planner

The first phase of wedding planning is just that: planning. As a London wedding planner I will first establish an appropriate budget for a wedding in London and surrounding areas.

It’s no secret that everyone wants their wedding day to create everlasting memories for all the right reasons. In reality, often that can mean that weddings are costly affairs. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have the wedding you’ve always dreamt of within budget. All you need to do is apportion your wedding expenditure well and decide how to pay for your big day! Alternatively, book a planning session with an East London wedding planner: Me, Marsha from Mollineau Weddings & Events, and I’ll break down your wedding budget for you.

As a professional East London wedding planner with a strong background in finance; I inform my clients of the many ways they can finance a wedding in the UK. Whether they decide to dip into a tidy sum, they have set aside, use contributions from loved ones, a loan or a credit card which offers an additional blanket of protection. I encourage my modern couples to fix their wedding budget very early on.  

During this wedding planning phase, I break down their wedding budget and apportion their fixed costs. Early on, providing a wedding budget breakdown enables me to pair my modern couples with the best London wedding suppliers in my portfolio in line with their wedding budget needs. This is why it’s vital to have a clear plan on how much your wedding might cost and how you will pay for it, as it will be the primary driver for all other decisions.

Phase 2: Wedding Design Made Easy

It’s pretty standard for your wedding vision to be a little all over the place at this stage. A wedding inspiration board is one of the best ways to gather your thoughts and create a clear game plan. Suppose you have a Pinterest wedding board and have been pinning to it since college – great. If you’re comfortable handing it over to me, I’ll break your Pins down into subsections. This will help all your wedding professionals, aka your wedding day dream team, bring your vision to life. 

If you’re struggling with wedding planning inspiration, my wedding planning sessions for Brides-to-be are a great way to ignite an imaginative spark or two.

Whether you’re a DIY couple or working with a professional London wedding planner, it’s important to have visuals of what you like, from fonts to fabric swatches. Once I have all of your ideas, your vision board will act as a road map, and all the decisions you have to make going forward really fall into place – easy peasy lemon squeezy! 

By the end of this wedding design phase, we would understand and feel what you want for your wedding day. I would have created a digital wedding look-book. Our look-books will act as a reference point for your wedding planning journey. It will list all of the details.

As your London wedding planner, I’ll be working with many different wedding pros on your behalf. For example florists and caterers. And I’ll frequently be asked for examples of what you like. Therefore the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” rings true when trying to explain your clients take on ballroom glam. 

Phase 3: Wedding Coordination With A London Wedding Planner

The wedding coordination phase is where you see your ideas come to fruition. I’ll introduce you to the perfect partners from our established network of award-winning suppliers and the fun continues.

As a London wedding planner, my role is to facilitate all the moving parts of your wedding day; coordination helps do just that! If you are a bride who has hired us for wedding day management only. This is where I’d jump on board. 

Phase 4: Execution 

Fast forward to the month of your wedding day. This is when all the magic happens. In the weeks leading up to your wedding day, I’m sending out final timelines and handling emails and logistics for you. 

Preferably I don’t want you touching your inbox; my goal as your London wedding planner is to ask you the least amount of questions and be the liaison between your wedding day dream team and your guests. I coordinate your rehearsals the night before your wedding, and my team provide unlimited hours of service to you as hosts on your wedding day.   

What’s Your Thoughts?

And that’s a wrap! A London wedding planner’s process for planning a wedding in London. Please feel free to share our post, moreover connect with me on LinkedIn if you’d like to stay in touch. Alternatively arrange a chat with me, I’d love to hear your plans.

You May Also Find The Following Blogs Helpful

• 10 Things To Do As Soon As You Are Engaged
• How To Announce Your Engagement In Style
• 6 Hidden Wedding Budget Costs Every Couple Should Consider
• How To Set Your Wedding Budget Successfully In 8 Simple Steps
• How To Get Excited About Planning Your Wedding Again
• Plan Your Wedding Like A Pro In 5 Easy Steps
• 8 Guilt Free Wedding Guest List Tips You Can’t Afford To Miss

Hang Out With Us On These Social Media Sites

• Connect with Marsha Mollineau-Griffiths on LinkedIn
• Follow Mollineau weddings and Events company page on LinkedIn
• Take a sneak peak behind the scenes via our Instagram page

Written By Marsha Mollineau-Griffiths | Award-Winning East London Wedding Planner

The post 4 Reasons You Need A London Wedding Planner – Professional Wedding Planner appeared first on Mollineau Weddings & Events.

1. Engagement Ring Care

Many of you were presented with a beautiful sparkly engagement ring. However, overtime you may find that your little beauty may loose a little bit of her shine. Don’t panic! This is entirely normal. The use of hand sanitiser, soaps, makeup & cosmetics, plus a little wear and tear, can cause your engagement ring to look a little dull. Which is why you should have your engagement ring professionally cleaned once in a while.

If you’re wondering how often you should have your engagement ring cleaned and the costs associated, look no further. Here, I outline a few hidden wedding costs of ensuring your engagement ring is in tip-top shape for all of your pre-wedding appearances. 

I personally allocated 10% of my engagement ring value for a professional clean. And I wasn’t disappointed at all! My family jeweller had my engagement ring looking it’s best in no time. Within 24 hours, me and my engagement ring were ready to strut our stuff – cue Beyoncé ‘single ladies’ (put a ring on it).

2. Jewellery Care Kit

My ring made a star appearance at our professional engagement shoot, our engagement party and last but not least our wedding day. This should be obvious, right? If I was given a £1, each time a bride forgot to include the cost of cleaning her engagement ring in her wedding budget – I’d be the richest wedding planner in London! 

Please don’t stress if you’re unable to get your engagement ring professionally cleaned. For instance, you could always ask your jeweller for advice. They’ll be best placed to recommend an at home cleaning kit, which usually costs between £25 – £50. Just make sure that all of your wedding jewellery is glistening in time for your big day. The last thing I want, is for you to look back at your wedding photos with any regret. 

3. The Hidden Costs Of A Wedding Website

Is a wedding website, one of your hidden wedding costs? I hope not. Opting for a personalised wedding website was one of the best decisions my husband and I made. We were lucky enough to get married in 2019. During this time there was a lot of uncertainty due to Brexit. We found our wedding website was the best platform to bring all of our 300 guests together in once place – virtually. Plus it served as an excellent reference point for us all – guests, bridal party and suppliers included. 

With virtual weddings becoming more popular these days, in addition to traditional wedding stationary, a wedding website is a fantastic way to set the tone for your big day and give your guests a glimpse of what to expect. Just think, your guests will be given an incredible opportunity to gain an insight into your relationship and get to know your bridal party at their own pace. You can even set-up alerts to notify your guests of any last minute changes. 

Depending on the functionality, aesthetic and length of time you’d like your wedding website ‘live’. You should allocate £100 – £250 for the design and hosting of your wedding website. £250 – £500 if planning your wedding during COVID-19. You may find my wedding planning power hours handy if you need help writing your content.

While the main purpose of a wedding website is to assist ‘all’ in the lead up to your wedding day. For me, it served as a beautiful memento. A beautiful keepsakes for me and my family to reflect on many years after my wedding day.

4. The Costs Associated With Storing Your Wedding Dress

Whether you’re considering an elopement or need to store your wedding dress before or after your wedding day. I’d highly recommend you purchase a luxury wedding dress storage box with acid free tissue paper. This will protect your dress from any damage. I remember having to purchase several boxes: 1 for my wedding dress, 1 for my veil and a few for my flower girls and bridesmaids. Depending on the size of your dress, layers and veil length, a good quality dress storage box can cost anywhere between £75 – £200.

5. Wedding Dress Alterations

When searching for my own wedding dress, I quickly learnt that wedding dresses are not made to measure! Most brides will need some kind of alteration to ensure their dress fits them perfectly. Whether that’s adding 25 bustles as I did or raising the hem, each alteration will soon add-up. So I’d recommend you set aside 15% – 20% of your entire wedding dress budget for alterations. 

6. The Hidden Wedding Costs For COVID-19 Safety Measures

As if planning a wedding budget isn’t tough enough, you now have to factor in a global pandemic! During COVID-19, all couples should include a wedding budget line for COVID-19 safety measures. For instance, to keep your guests safe, its likely you’ll need to foot the bill for hand sanitiser, face coverings and possibly testing.

If you’re struggling to put together a wedding budget, or need help with anything else don’t be afraid to ask. For instance, you may want to consider my wedding planning services. Alternatively my wedding planning power hours have been very popular during the pandemic.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Marsha Mollineau-Griffiths, Laid-back Luxury Wedding Planner

The post Planning Your Wedding Budget – 6 Hidden Wedding Costs Every Couple Should Consider appeared first on Mollineau Weddings & Events.

How Early Is Too Early To Plan A Wedding In London?

Whatever your circumstances may be… consider this blog your personal guide to deciding how early you want to start planning your wedding in London. First things first, it’s all about finding the right balance. For example, you don’t want to wait too long to plan your wedding and risk losing momentum. Equally you want to give yourselves enough time to revel in your engagement; therefore I’d recommend waiting between four to eight weeks (no more than 12) before jumping into planning a wedding. Once you’re ready to start planning, take it step by step. Remember small steps make giant leaps. It’s not a good idea to try to plan your entire wedding all at once.  

How Quickly Can You Plan A Wedding In London?

Timing is everything! And when you think about the amount of hours that it takes to plan a wedding, this statement certainly couldn’t be more-true for an independent busy bride.  

Whilst we professional wedding planners in London can plan a wedding in almost no time at all. The whole process generally takes a year to two. Don’t fret, a two-year-long engagement may sound like forever, but planning a wedding is a tall task for the modern independent bride. I understand that you maybe: at the peak of your career, have a large family with lots of opinions floating around, run your own business, have gruelling family schedules, or in some cases all four. I understand your pain. Managing your diary is no simple task. So allow yourself anywhere between three months to three years to plan your wedding and you’ll be bang-on the money.  

Planning A Wedding Over Two Years: Top Tips

Decide what your initial wedding outlay is going to be, define your purpose and express an interest with the wedding suppliers you feel may be critical in realising your vision. Many in-demand wedding suppliers and venues are booked a year or more in advance; so getting your ‘dream team’ together on your desired date may present a few challenges. Nothing you can’t handle, just approach this task with an open mind and a degree of flexibility. You’ve got this girl!  

What Are The Benefits Of A Long Engagement?

Deciding to have a long engagement can be a luxury for you. Just think, a longer engagement will allow you to block-out sufficient time from your gruelling schedule so that you can unwind and get on with your wedding planning and diligently select your wedding day dream team.

Planning your own wedding is a project that will demand 100% of your time, so it’s really important to allocate the appropriate level of resource to ensure a return on your investment. If you don’t have the time, simply outsource your wedding planning to a professional wedding planner or purchase consultancy hours. Simple.

Need Recommendations?

I’d be happy to discuss your project with you in more detail, perhaps you’d like me to assist you in compiling your ultimate wedding planning timeline? Book your complimentary consultation today . Alternatively send me a direct message via instagram.

The post Expert Wedding Planning Tips – How Long Does It Take To Plan A Wedding? appeared first on Mollineau Weddings & Events.