Stress-Free Weddings Start Here

17 July 2026

Why Your Wedding Day Doesn’t Need to Feel Like a Hostage Situation

Annette Williams Silverbrook Hypnotherapy MIX56 — Annette Williams from Silverbrook Hypnotherapy joins Phil in the Morning on MIX56

Phil

PHIL ROBERTS
PHIL IN THE MORNING

It’s officially wedding season, which means somewhere in Cheshire right now, someone is having a full-blown meltdown over a seating plan.

I know this because I had our resident hypnotherapist Annette from Silverbrook Hypnotherapy in Lymm on the show this week, and she basically confirmed that all of us — every single one of us — turn into slightly unhinged versions of ourselves the second a wedding invite goes out with our name on it.

Annette’s the perfect person to talk about this. Before hypnotherapy, she spent years working in kids’ TV (yes, she was there for the full Kylie and Jason era, and yes, the recent Kylie documentary lives up to the hype). She’s since written a book called Step Into Your Spotlight, all about staying confident when all eyes are on you — which, as it turns out, is basically the entire premise of a wedding day.

We’re all amateurs at this

Here’s the thing that stuck with me most: weddings are stressful partly because we’re rubbish at them. Not through any fault of our own — it’s just that most of us only get married once, if at all, so there’s no dress rehearsal, no muscle memory, nothing to fall back on from “last time.”

You’re thrown into the biggest day of your life with zero practice, a huge bill, and suddenly you’re the centre of attention — which, let’s be honest, plenty of people actively hate.

It's never really about the happy couple, is it? It's about Aunt Marion, who fell out with the family a decade ago and somehow still needs a seat. Every wedding has an Aunt Marion.

Annette Williams

I mentioned a wedding I went to where the bride’s brother stood up and read out a deeply emotional letter, supposedly from her late father — only to admit at the end he’d made the whole thing up.

Even Annette, who’s heard a lot of stories, said that one was a first. But her point was a good one: when someone important is missing from a big day like that, the the emotion in the room gets heightened for everyone, and that’s not a bad thing.

Nobody remembers if the father of the bride welled up during his speech. They remember how the room felt.

Focus on what you can control

Annette’s advice for anyone spiralling boils down to this: focus on what you can actually control — the guest list, the venue, the budget — and let go of the rest. And try to zoom out.

A wedding is one day. You’re building a whole life together after it. She also had zero time for the Instagram-perfect wedding trap, pointing out that half those “picture perfect” posts are couples who barely enjoyed their own day because they were too busy staging the photos.

The Coldplay story I had to drag out of her

Obviously I couldn’t let her go without dragging the Coldplay story out of her — the one where she gave Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law her best Paddington hard stare at the Albert Hall before realising who they were. Genuinely one of my favourite guest stories in ages.

The takeaway

If you’re getting married this summer and currently lying awake at 3am about napkin colours, take it from Annette: everyone in that room is rooting for you. They chose to be there. Now go easy on yourself — and maybe steer clear of Band of Gold at the disco!

Nobody’s ever quite sure why that one’s such a wedding favourite.

You can find Annette on Instagram at @silverbrook_hypnotherapy.