How We Planned a Wedding in Just 9 days

It may sound like the title of an early 2000s rom-com, but planning a wedding in just 9 days on the weekend before Christmas was certainly a career highlight for us. When I got the email on December 8th asking whether it was possible to plan the wedding for the 19th, I was immediately excited at the prospect.

After a little rejig of some Christmas festivities I jumped at the challenge. Whilst this may be some wedding planners’ worst nightmare, I actually quite enjoy working under pressure so knew we could pull it off.

Step inside this wonderful whirlwind with me, as we relive the wild ride of planning a wedding in London in just 9 days. If you’ve ever wondered whether your timeline is too short, the answer is ‘probably not!’ and I’m waiting with open arms for the next short, sweet and absolutely sensational wedding planning journey to begin.

The challenges of planning a wedding in 9 days:

Besides the obvious, planning this wedding on such a short timeframe had a few extra challenges thrown in:

• It was the weekend before Christmas in London. Most suppliers were getting ready to close for the holidays, were working with limited staff, or were already booked for other weddings & Christmas events, and others simply couldn’t or didn’t want to commit to such a big job at the last minute. You’ll see later what an incredible team we brought together, and how grateful I am for them joining me on this adventure.

• We weren’t playing small! Planning a last minute wedding can feel very achievable if you want to keep things simple, but for this couple we were going big, beautiful and considered, with the usual attention to detail Ella Hartig couples have come to expect.

• Language barriers. My very lovely couple were based in Turkey with limited spoken English, which meant all the planning whent through a colleague of theirs based in the UK. We’ll call him B. I honestly think I shared more WhatsApp chats with B during that week in December than I did with my best friend throughout the whole of 2025!

• On-the-hoof planning. Whilst I normally love a carefully constructed email chain, with short notice weddings you just have to move fast – so almost all the communications took place within WhatsApp groups, often late at night! There were countless variations of the groups with different combinations of suppliers in, trying to keep things as efficient as possible and avoid overwhelm.

All in all, it was an absolute joy to work with this couple and plan this wedding in 9 days – they were exactly the right sort of people, decisive, strong in their vision, and willing to do what it took to make things happen.

A short notice wedding planning timeline: from enquiry to wedding in 12 days

Day -1: December 8th

We had our initial enquiry call, and they told me they were considering getting married at the Mandarin Oriental in London (a venue we’ve worked at previously and loved). They hadn’t yet booked it, but they had December 19th in mind – was I available and willing? As you know, I said a resounding yes.

Day 0: December 9th

My couple confirmed, I drew up their contract and paperwork, and the snowball begun to roll.

Day 1: December 10th

Everything was confirmed, and we started designing and planning this extra special wedding. We spent long, lengthy days and nights making decisions about florals, tableware, stationery, menu options, with all of the aforementioned WhatsApp groups going wild and me working overtime to ensure every t was crossed, every i dotted, and nothing missed.

Day 2: December 11th

I presented initial options for suppliers to my couple, and they reviewed and made quick decisions. One of the most important things about planning a wedding in 9 days (or any timeframe shorter than a few months) is being decisive, understanding that your options are your options and saying ‘yes’ without delay.

Day 3: December 12th

Before Friday was over we had confirmed the venue, menu, a dance tutor, cake artist and hair and makeup – quite a feat! But there was to be no weekend off, as we still had plenty of work to do. 

Hall of Cakes were practically a living fondant production line at this point, working round the clock to create a mountain of sugar flowers!

Day 4&5: December 13th & 14th

Our big job for over the weekend was to go back and forth about florals and production, which were key in bringing this wedding into full colour. I believe these elements really make such a difference in any ballroom wedding, and we would never have achieved the utterly enchanting vibe without this.

During Saturday and Sunday we confirmed both, and planned to all meet on-site on Monday to walk the space with the couple (who had flown in from Turkey) and align all the details.

Day 6: 15th December

I honestly wish we could have had a TV crew to follow us around on Monday, as it was an absolute masterclass in teamwork and having all hands on deck. It was such a productive day, meeting with my couple and viewing the ballroom, which led to them wanting to add lots more elements.

The scope and scale of the wedding doubled on Monday, so much so that we had to add on another day to the ballroom hire just to accommodate sufficient set up time for the larger build. I remember so clearly our florist telling us: “I have to leave now to get all the extra flowers ordered in time!”.

Blooming Haus get a truly special mention for finding over 12,000 absolutely stunning roses at that time of year on such a short turnaround – I’ll forever be impressed and endlessly grateful!

Day 7: 16th December

Tuesday was for approving and actioning amended designs, dealing with guest management, allocating bedrooms and taking dance lessons, plus the small matter of sourcing all the entertainment. We booked not one but three incredible acts to perform at different points of the wedding, with one even being flown in from Turkey. There was lots of liaising on timelines with photography and videography, and we ordered furniture.

When I said we were not playing small, I really meant it!

Day 8: 17th December

The incredible Louisa, our hair and makeup artist, sprung into action and went from 0 to 100 to get to us with two hours’ notice on Wednesday, to do our bride’s hair and make up trial. In the middle of it all she helped translate conversations between the bride and I about table design – an absolute superhero all round.

This was a big day for the table design, and we had lots of chats about how everything would look. Ella Hartig weddings are known for beautiful, statement tables with considered, layered place settings and ‘wow factor’, and this one was to be no different. Duchess and Butler deserve another special mention for their hard work mocking up so many different options for us at the last minute, and we confirmed the design at 3pm on this day.

There was also the small matter of me finalising all bookings for my wedding day assistance team – Wednesday was a very big day!

Day 9: 18th December

Thursday, the day before the wedding, was the first ‘build’ day and it was so exciting starting to see everything coming together. As the rigging in the ballroom for the floral ceiling installation went up, the bespoke ceremony draping got installed, and the custom bar was build right in front of our eyes by a carpenter, it all started to feel like it was really, truly happening! 

We confirmed the final music act less than 24 hours before ‘showtime’, added some further sound tech from production (Shout out to Luminaire for their flexibility on this and for joining us on this wild ride!), made a couple of final guest amendments, and I added one more planning team member, and just like that…it was time.

Day 10: 19th December – Wedding Day

The Wedding didn’t start until late afternoon so we had another full morning of build and sound checks and the odd curveball request to accommodate here & there (I was certainly glad I added on that extra team member last minute as it was go go go all day!). 

Once the linens were down, steamed and tableware set it all really started to come together. I’ll never forget the moment the lighting was finally dimmed, candles on, and I got to step back (for a very short second) to take it all in and marvel at the magic we’d all created. Then it was off to collect the bride and time for the couple to enjoy it all…

When I think back everything came together so stunningly, and it was a gorgeous celebration for the most wonderful couple. We created an absolutely enchanting floral wonderland together, and it honestly felt nothing short of magical.

I hope that looking at these images conveys just a little of how extremely special the planning experience and wedding day were, and what an incredible team effort this was to pull off something so wonderful for our couple.

So many people said I was mad for taking this on, and there were so many questions about how on earth we were going to make it happen. With the right team of suppliers I knew it was possible, and it absolutely was – and just look at the result!

Whether you’re just the right amount of eccentric to plan a wedding in 9 days or you have a little more wiggle room in your calendar, you can count on me to go on this crazy, wonderful ride with you and create the wedding of your wildest dreams.

Get in touch if you have big dreams and short timelines – I’m ready when you are, and with last minute weddings there really is no time like the present.

Images by Ayse Kaya & David Christopher

At the Mandarin Oriental, London