Planning a wedding is no easy task, with countless decisions to make, venues to visit, suppliers to meet and styles to choose from your endless to-do lists can quickly spiral out of control. So, how can you avoid planning pitfalls and mistakes whilst enjoying the journey to your big day?

Plan your wedding like a pro

To give you a real, honest account into planning we chat to The Wedding People Podcast hosts Rianna Elizabeth and Rebecca Brennan-Brown, two wedding and event planners based in London who openly discuss every element of wedding planning in their straight talking international podcast.

Both down to earth, genuine and funny, they give us a snapshot of their wisdom to help you through your planning journey.

Popular wedding planning pitfalls & mistakes

People pleasing – We often see couples falling into the trap of trying to please other people, a big no no in our books! Sometimes it can feel stressful, and that other peoples opinions are overwhelming, but most of the time it’s a miscommunication. If you want a bright pink dress and unicorns (something Ri considers daily), you do it.

Budget – A more practical wedding planning pitfall is trying to stretch budget to cover absolutely everything. Unless you’re the Queen, you probably have a budget to try and stick to, but Pinterest makes us fall into a trap of thinking everything needs to be perfect when in fact perfection doesn’t exist!

Have you experienced or witnessed any and how have you helped to rectify them?

All. The. Time. It’s so common.

It’s really hard to stand up to your family and friends sometimes if they have an opinion you don’t agree with. Whether that be wanting pink flowers instead of yellow, or feeling like you have to invite annoying Aunty Sue. Most of the time, people just want to feel heard, so a good line is: “Thanks for your thoughts, I really appreciate them. We’ll have a think!” It can go a long way to getting you what you actually want.

In terms of stretching budget, we always advise that you focus on certain areas, and work out what’s important to you. For example, if a wicked band is really important to you, maybe you spend a bit less on flowers. Decor is a key one too. Instead of trying to put something in every cm of your venue, make certain areas amazing. People will remember the amazing things way more than the petals in the bathroom.

Wedding planning advice

It can be super easy to get overwhelmed and lose the enjoyment of planning. It’s meant to be such a fun and exciting time, it can be easy to get caught up in all the detail and forget that this is meant to be an epic day that represents you both as a couple. Try and take your time, don’t rush and get a budget plan and schedule together to keep you on track, it really does help reduce stress with planning! Both of us are super motivated by fun, so you’ll hear us preaching this over and over again.

If it’s in your nature to be totally dis-organised, what steps can you take to keep your planning on track?

Usually one person will take that lead naturally as ‘organiser’, but it can be really hard if it doesn’t come naturally. We really do believe that getting your ‘Wedding Planning Tools’ together right from the start, will make the process so much easier. Spreadsheets, schedules and timelines are so widely available online and are designed to make your journey easier.

You can get some great downloadable templates on Etsy, wedding blogs, we even have our own available on our website. You don’t even have to worry about creating them yourself, take advantage of what is available and use it to help you stay on track. But if that sounds overwhelming, you can always get a planner to print. There are tones of different options available now to suit all budgets and weddings.

Can you still hire a wedding planner if you are in the midst of your plans and struggling or is it too late?

It is never too late to hire a planner, there are so many options available. You have full and partial planners, but you also have venue search, lead-up, on the day planning and even those that offer styling direction. There are even PA Planners, that work as and when you need them too. Honestly, there is someone out there for everyone, you just need to make sure that they fit your personality and you gel well together. That is the most important, no likey, no lighty.

Tell us about The Wedding People Podcast

Well, firstly we are obsessed with weddings, but we really wanted to create a platform for couples planning their own weddings, offering them the tools that we have learnt over the years ourselves. Since the launch of the podcast, we have built an amazing community worldwide of absolute babes and incredible couples! It also allows us to support the wedding industry and share suppliers we love and ways that can help in what can be a very overwhelming process. Wedding planning is supposed to be fun, so make sure you have tons of it.

Quick fire round, just for fun!

Let’s go!

  • Outdoor vs indoor wedding ceremony? I love an indoor wedding, inside an orangery or beaut barn with lots of light and candlelight! –Ri   Outdoors, always. Could you imagine getting married at The Grand Canyon or something like that?! I appreciate that’s a bit extreme… –Becks
  • Must have wedding flower? Peonies, they are just fluffy and beautiful -Ri   Icelandic poppies. They’re SO beaut and huge! –Becks
  • Type of wedding décor you must have? Good chairs and linen, it really changes an entire room. Also flowers, it gives life that you can’t get from anything else. Far too hard to pick one! –Ri   If I had to choose one I’d say good chairs. They instantly change everything. –Becks
  • The best wedding venue you’ve ever attended as a guest? My close friends DIY’d their entire wedding and it was just beaut! Every single detail totally showed them as a couple and it was so lovely to be part of that!-Ri   I half planned half attended a wedding in Costa Rica once, it was unreal. –Becks
  • Most extravagant thing you’ve been asked of as a wedding planner? I had a bride who changed her wedding dress six times, designers such as Elie Saab, Galia Lahav, Monique Lhuillier and and Marchesa! It was a full-on process and she looked bloomin fab! –Ri   I’ve always had quite reasonable couples! Bar the odd “can you change the rules so we can smoke in here” request, they’ve never been too bad! –Becks
  • Sum up your definition of ‘wedding’ in three words Love, future and adventure -Ri   Party, fun, partnership –Becks

For more straight talking wedding planning help you can listen to Rianna and Rebecca on The Wedding People Podcast which is available on Apple Podcast and Spotify. You’ll be giggling along and gaining much needed advice at the same time!

If you feel your wedding planning journey needs extra support, each individually plan weddings to help take away your stress. The Planning Suite by Rianna Elizabeth and Rebecca Brennan-Brown.