Good afternoon dear readers – have you had a moment yet to enjoy our utterly lovely real wedding feature of today? I feel proud this afternoon to be supporting an individual who has been a loyal support of and contributor to Love My Dress for several years now. She is ‘think-outside-the-box’ wedding-planner Michelle Kelly, the creative behind Pocketful of Dreams, and founder of new venture Fearless Authentic.
Michelle has created Fearless Authentic to help creative couples like you to ‘plan your wedding like a pro’. In her flagship 8-week online course Wedplanology, she will guide you every step of the way to create your own wow-factor, personalised & oh-so authentic wedding day. Michelle will be sharing all her insider secrets and actionable steps that will save you time, money and sanity, leaving you free to focus on the good stuff. Helping you unleash your vision and bring it all together beautifully, without drama or stress.
The Wedplanology course is the first of its kind in the UK and will be available in January 2017; offering the support of a well-respected wedding planner, her network of industry insiders and a community of like-minded brides as you create the wedding of your dreams.
From unearthing your big vision, to designing a day that flows with ease, to putting the plans in place for an awesome celebration (plus all the many steps in between) Wedplanology gives you all the tools and resources you need to plan your fearlessly authentic wedding.
Michelle says: “Most couples start out on this wedding planning journey feeling really excited at the prospect of throwing the most amazing party of their lives. They have an epic vision and big dreams about what it will be like and it feels exciting and exhilarating to step into this wonderful world of weddings where everything is fun, creative and colourful.”“But then reality bites, and they find themselves lost in a sea of ideas that they’ve no idea how to implement. Everyone around them suddenly has an opinion on what they SHOULD be doing, and let’s not get started on those family politics that crop up out of nowhere.”
“I hear the same challenges over and over, either couples don’t know where to start so they keep putting off making any firm plans, they don’t know what they should be doing and when, or they have loads of ideas but struggle to pull them together and fear it’s going to look like Pinterest ‘threw up over their wedding’. On top of this they are already working crazy hours and trying to fit in all those family, friend and work commitments, whilst also trying to have a life. They often end up feeling demotivated or completely overwhelmed by everything there is to do.”
“I totally get it, there is so much pressure nowadays on getting it right, striving for perfection, the constant comparison to what others are doing, the fear of making a bad decision and the huge responsibility that comes with spending such a large sum of money on just one day!”
Before you start googling ways to elope, Michelle is firm in her view that it really doesn’t have to be like this.
“I don’t believe you should be struggling through and it’s okay to not have all the answers. Planning a large-scale event with multiple supply teams is a huge undertaking – people have made their entire careers out of it and trained for the many nuances and complexities that this involves (me included). Add on the emotional layer of embarking upon this major life-changing milestone as well and it’s easy to see why it can start to feel quite overwhelming.”
“I’ve definitely seen and heard it all and I know how lucky my couples feel to have the support of a straight – talking wedding planner helping them navigate through it all. Most of all I love seeing the transformations they have after working with me. All of the brides (and grooms) I work with reach their wedding day feeling zen and blissed out, they have fully embraced and enjoyed the process and they feel 100% confident in their plans.”
“It’s both thrilling and empowering to know that I can offer my clients this level of support, but for so long now I have wanted to find a way for more couples to have this kind of experience. Not everyone has thousands to spend on a wedding planner, and it’s usually those who are planning with tighter budget restrictions that need the support the most, so they can learn the creative ways that will allow their budget to stretch.”
“I’ve always wanted want to help more brides-to-be get past their stumbling blocks and resistance, so they can breeze through their wedding planning, embracing this pivotal life-stage and having a lot of fun along the way.”
“My support is not just practical but emotional as well – I’m a huge advocate for self-care and know that managing your own wellbeing so you thrive throughout this journey is a crucial part of the planning process.”
“In the course I’ve candidly and honestly shared my own experiences and challenges with managing time and prioritising the demands of my business and personal life – just this year in fact I have managed 10 huge projects for my clients resulting in incredible feedback and them feeling fully supported, whilst also developing and launching this new course and managing a growing team. From the outside looking in you would have no idea that at the start of the year I was suddenly made homeless due to flooding and had to find a new home and, (as I work from home) a new workspace literally overnight.”
“I quickly found the perfect space, snapped it up the second I found it, managed a move, bought all new furniture and decorated the space to my taste all within two weeks, just so I could get back to work and maintain continuity of service to my clients. The only way I was able to do this was to apply my project management know-how, remain calm and see the positives in the situation. And trust me there were lots of positives, even in what was quite a devastating situation. It’s all about how you look at it that matters and nurturing a positive mindset is key to that – this is foundational to what I share and teach in Wedplanology”.
Wedplanology – What‘s it all about?
In this special live, 8-week online course, Michelle brings together all of her expertise and insight to help YOU create the wedding you truly desire.
Her goal is to support you in making those all-important decisions, help you turbo-charge your planning and kick overwhelm to the kerb. By the end of the 8-weeks you will have your wedding plan mapped out and your key components implemented and locked down.
You’ll have said so-long to stress and will be armed with all the tools you need in case the unexpected does crop up. And you will feel confident and at ease about what you need to do.
Most importantly you’ll have a blueprint for planning your own personal day, one that is thoughtfully designed, effortlessly flows and is uniquely relevant to you as a couple. Creating a meaningful and memorable fearlessly authentic wedding that could only belong to the two of you.
Available to buy from January 2017, Wedplanology includes:
- Weekly group teaching / Q&A calls with support from Michelle for your most burning questions
- 8 weekly modules with workbooks, worksheets, training videos and done-for-you templates all housed in a premium and private personal membership site so you can access what you need, when you need it
- Access to a private Facebook group – a supportive community of like-minded brides-to-be on the same journey as you, with personal support from Michelle and her team in the group
- Michelle’s in depth secret formula planning timeline so you know exactly what needs doing and when
- A master planning checklist so you can stay on track
- Done-for-you scripts to enquire with and brief your suppliers
- Michelle’s expert guide to undertaking supplier quote comparison checks
- Fool-proof, on-the-day timelines
- A ‘no-bull’ wedding budget guide so you know what things really cost
- A super effective budget spreadsheet to estimate and track spend
- An easy-peasy table planning system
- …..with even more to be announced soon.
For now though, Michelle is kindly sharing an amazing resource with the readers of Love My Dress, her secret timeline toolkit. This is her ultimate guide to managing the wedding planning process with ease and confidence and is the exact process she follows with her planning clients. Whether your planning timeline is 3 months, 6 months or 12+ months it doesn’t matter, the process can be applied to your own personal situation – and it works! Grab your copy here.
To keep up to date with all the news from Fearless Authentic, including details of the upcoming launch of Wedplanology take a look at their lovely new website and stay in touch with Michelle and her team on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
Love Annabel x
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
