This morning we're in Somerset for a rustic, yet elegant farm wedding. Rustic because of the glorious English countryside and outdoor ceremony on hay bales. Elegant because of the simple white decor and statement Oscar de la Renta gown.

Vicci and Jamie live in San Francisco and work for a top design agency, so they were always going to have a visually striking wedding. I love the red colour pop of the boys braces, the fun and completely personal stationery and the prettiness of the white lanterns hanging in the apple trees.

The lovely pair have a wonderful engagement story too, which I'll let Vicci tell you all about...

Vicci The Bride:During a visit to San Francisco that happened just after our engagement, my sister suggested we go dress shopping. This would be my only chance to have a family member or friend with me when I tried dresses on. We went to one dress shop, which dealt in second-hand dresses, and I tried the range of styles. We couldn't get an appointment at Marina Morrison on that day but went past the showroom and made one for a future date. While we were there I saw the most beautiful dress hanging in their lobby - when I asked and was told it was a De La Renta, I laughed! A few months later - after many failed dress expeditions on my own - I had an email from Marina Morrison about a trunk sale. I tried it on. Skyped my Mother. Cried. Bought it.

Intissar, Maribel and the seamstress, Lian, were wonderful - letting me Skype either my Mother or my Sister (or both!) in every session. In between they took on the roll of a mother/sister, giving me honest advice and guidance. They even managed to pack my dress into a teeny-tiny carry-on bag so I didn't have to pay horrific shipping fees to get my dress back to the UK for the wedding. I cannot thank or recommend them enough!

My veil was my something borrowed - from my Mother, she wore it at her wedding. Edged in vintage 1960's lace (apparently it cost a fortune back then - my Grandmother was appalled at the cost when buying it for my Mum!) I wore multi-colored Sri Lankan Sapphires that were inherited from my Grandmother - they were given as a gift to my Great Grandmother by my Great Grandfather (then Chairman of the South East Indian Railway) when they lived in India during the early 1900's. The girls were given some money to buy their own dresses - I wanted them to have something they would love and could wear again.

Jamie's an ex skateboarder and surfer - he was never going to wear shoes! He wore Vans - felt with black wing tips. Being a musician, when we moved to the US Jamie was immediately told about John Varvatos. A high-end menswear brand specifically for rock gods. The walls are plastered with black and white images of the greats and their ad campaigns include some of the biggest and best names in music. We walked in together to check-it out. We both loved the same suit as soon as we walked in. That was that.

I wanted to keep our decor simple, fresh and unfussy. We decided to stick with white only. The venue, Cowparsley, were incredible in that they offered the majority of the "props" we wanted - like the mis-matched pretty vintage cups and saucers that added a splash of color to the tables, the lighting and white bunting for the tent, vintage lace table cloths on the cake table, and they even sourced the haybales which served as pews in the blessing, and finally, a fortress built by my younger brother and cousins to entertain the kids.

Items such as the blackboards and slate name tags we bought on Etsy and Amazon while in the US and had them shipped to Jamie's mum in the UK, who diligently squirrelled away boxes for us in the spare room until we arrived the week before.

Our incredible friends and family all slaved along with us during the day before the wedding to pull everything together. Without them it would not have happened. Everyone was given a task or two, and by the end of a 12 hour day we all bundled into a local pub to celebrate together and meet the guests who weren't with us during the day.

The flowers were probably my favorite part of the entire process and the decorating on the day. Jan was wonderful. Having landed in the UK a few days earlier, still grappling with jetlag, we had a rushed day swinging by all our vendors. Jan was last on the list and I couldn't wait. All her flowers are grown in her fields - seasonal and all planted and picked by her. It was pouring with rain and we missed her country driveway a few times before we found the muddied road to her arrangement shed.

The rain was pounding on the tin roof - it sounded incredible - and the place was brimming with wild flowers, ribbons, jars of all shapes and sizes...We spent just over an hour with her describing what we liked, what we wanted. I had some flowers I wanted in my bouquet - one rose and one sweetpea for my Grandmothers, and one freesia for my Mum. She mocked-up the burlap and lace ties, we chose the pins we wanted her to use. On the day she came and set-up the tent and seeing the flowers in there made it all feel real. They were exquisite and exactly what I wanted.

The confetti was made of white, dried fynbos flowers - a plant native to South Africa (where I was born). My mother brought it over with her. It stuck like stardust in our hair all night.

We wanted guests and wedding party to be comfortable so everyone could focus on having a good time and not spend a fortune buying outfits they would never wear again. It was specified in the invite: "Gentlemen: A shirt would be nice, the rest is up to you! Ladies: No high heels, there's too much dancing to do...them's the rules."

We were officially married at the registry office in Somerset Town. We kept this limited to immediate family and wedding party - no rings were exchanged. The blessing, with all guests present, was the main event for us. Sarah Moffat worked at Turner Duckworth - the agency where Jamie and I met - and later moved to the San Francisco office. Jamie followed a few years later, which is how we ended up in SF. She is a good friend and mentor to Jamie. The first time he told me he loved me was during a phone call he made from her kitchen floor. She kindly conducted the ceremony at the Blessing we had at the venue.

Dave Curry, my Brother-In-Law (Father to the flowergirls) did a long and immaculate reading of "I Like You" an excerpt from the book by Sandol Stoddard. When I first read the poem I knew it suited us to a T and I heard his voice reading it. Simon Edwards, one of the groomsmen, read the lyrics to the song "Three Questions" by Bonni Prince Billy. Sarah ended the blessing on an Apache Blessing, which friend's of ours had used at their wedding. All the readings held sentiments that were intrinsic to our relationship and everyone read them exquisitely.

My cousin Nicola, chief groomswoman, watched over as a ribbon was threaded through the crowd while the blessing took place. Along this our wedding rings were shuffled from the back to the front allowing everyone a chance to make a wish on our rings for us. My oldest friend did this at her wedding and it meant so much to me to be able to plant a hope for her/ them on their rings, so I got the idea from her.

We had the first few minutes of Roger Miller's "Whistle Stop" (better known as the Rooster song from Disney's Robin Hood...Jamie's favourite Disney movie) playing on loop while people arrived and took their seats. At least 15 minutes of the whistling repeating itself. It drove everyone crazy! During the ceremony there were a few minutes of pause while we waited for the rings to pass through the last of the guests and my Aunt, Pauline, shouted out "why don't you play that darn song again!" - everyone burst out laughing and then, sure enough, a lone whistle started in the crowd, which then grew to most of the guests whistling the tune until the rings reached the front!

We are blessed to have extraordinarily talented friends. Jamie is a musician and was in a couple of bands while we were in London. The music started with Jamie playing with some old Rowse band members and our best friends, and his uncle - the man who bought Jamie his first guitar - singing rock 'n roll covers and general crowd pleasers (during this set my Father stumbled on the stage and stole a mic to sing along to jail-house rock - I jumped up to join him!). Following this photographer, Andy, was added to the mix for a few more tunes, and then the full Rowse line-up played some of their blue grass inspired rock tracks... Finally we ended on Gurt - a heavy sludge metal band! They only did a couple of tracks and blew everyone's minds! It was hilarious. After all this we had my best friend Matt DJ - playing all our favorite songs and most notably Toto's "Africa" which got everyone to the dance floor - especially the South African contingent who screamed the words until they were blue n the face.

The venue built a bonfire, which was lit along with hundreds of sparklers later in the evening. The matches for the sparklers were given to each guest in Jamie's bespoke-designed matchboxes. We are real foodies and big fans of River Cottage - this along with rave reviews made us choose Gideon to do our catering. The food was delicious!

Jamie created wine labels for the on-table bottles. These doubled as table numbers - we had random figures all relating to key dates/numbers in our relationship, for instance: "3. Vicci and Jamie first met when Jamie opened the door to Vicci on her first job interview at Turner Duckworth. Vicci saw him through the window in the door and knew he was trouble. They worked together for 3 years"

We met Andy Gaines through our good friend Simon Edwards (also a Groomsman). He took the photographs for Simon's wedding, which we absolutely loved. We knew we had to have him! We reached out to him asap and our date was the only date he had free in a 3 month period...! We scored!

The images and moments Andy captured are sensational. They blew us away. Our families were in tears when first seeing the photographs. He is beyond talented, wonderful to have around and completely unobtrusive on the day. He was patient, kind and kept everyone's spirit's up throughout.

My gorgeous and talented cousins, Angus and Patrick Baigrie coordinated the filming and recording of the blessing and the evening that followed. Angus edited the hours of footage and created an exceptional documentary of the key pieces of the day - he is currently studying Film, and no doubt the film will be worth a lot one day when he is a famous Director!

Jamie is Design Director for Turner Duckworth, a branding and graphic design agency based in London and San Francisco - so we were lucky that he could create awesome invites, menus and even branded wine bottle labels for the tables and matches for lighting the sparklers. We went for the motif of a Monkey (he is known to friends as "Monkey Boy") and a Fox (I am known to some as "Vixen"). He asked the exceptionally talented artist, John Geary, illustrate the animals for us. We are suckers for beautiful printing and had the invites letterpress printed at an awesome little spot in San Francisco's China Town. They did an immaculate job.

Jamie and I moved to San Francisco in February/March 2012. I had to do a lot of back-and-forth while sorting out my visa. On one of my return journeys I was held by customs and grilled before being allowed to reenter. Jamie was supposed to be at work, I was unwashed and rattled after my flight and brush with customs. I was 3 hours late coming through the gate. As I looked up I saw Jamie standing there looking worse for wear than even me! He was as pale as a ghost. I rushed him out of the airport confused as to why he was there. He got down on his knees at the SFO Taxi rank and asked me to marry him.

He had been stood at the gate solidly for 3 hours not knowing what had happened to me. He thought I may have decided not to come back, or had been sent home! He had to describe me to a woman at one point so he could go to the bathroom and not miss me coming through.

Organising a wedding from the other side of the world, without friends and family around you for support is tough to say the least. We are just so grateful for all the calls, Skype dates and emails everyone took part in. Our support network was intrinsic in the day and giving long-distance love while planning. I honestly do not know how these things were planned before the internet!!

Organising a wedding is tough. It puts a relationship through its paces. Keep your chin-up, your eye on the day and your heart with your partner. Make it what you want it to be. Make sure it will be a day where you will feel relaxed and comfortable. You and the people around you having fun is the most important thing!

Photography by Andy Gaines
Bride Oscar de la Renta | Boutique Marina Morrison | Shoes Vera Wang | Florist JW Blooms | Venue Cowparsley Weddings | Caterer Gideon Hitchin | Groom John Varvatos | Videographer Angus Baigrie