How do I stop wedding planning from taking over my life?

Short answer

Set firm boundaries around planning time and stick to them. Choose two or three evenings a week for wedding tasks, and keep the rest of your week for normal life, work and rest.

Wedding planning grows to fill whatever time you give it, so give it less. Decide in advance which evenings and weekend slots are for wedding work, and treat the rest as off limits. Put your planning sessions in the calendar like any other appointment, and when the time ends, stop. Close the tabs, put the notebook away, and do something unrelated.

It also helps to limit how often you check emails or supplier messages. Once a day is plenty. Turn off notifications for wedding accounts so the planning does not follow you around. Keep one notebook or one document for all wedding ideas, so you are not carrying it in your head. If a thought arrives outside planning time, write it down and let it go until the next session.

Remember that a wedding is one day, and your relationship and wellbeing matter more. If you find yourself skipping meals, losing sleep or dropping hobbies, that is a sign your boundaries need to be stricter. You can also ask your partner to help you hold the line. Agree together what "not planning" looks like, and remind each other kindly when one of you drifts back to spreadsheets.