The number 9 is Bride Clare's lucky number and it just so happens when trying on dresses, 'the one' happened to be the ninth one she tried on. Clearly meant to be!!

It's an absolutely gorgeous dress too, all elegant lace and frothy tulle, combined with a stunning mermaid tail. The team at Always & Forever Bridal got it spot on. Clare looks beautiful!

You'll be swooning over the decor too - I love ribbons and this gorgeous pastel affair has them by the bucket load. Draped over the front of the top table, on the chair-backs and decorating the most incredible looking dessert table, they really make a statement. This lovely ones, is what we call pastel wedding perfection.

The Dress

Clare The Bride: I wanted a figure hugging dress with a mermaid tail but was very specific about the material; I wanted a mix of lace and tulle. The lace in the dress I eventually chose ran down from the bodice blending into the tulle, it stood out from anything I had seen previously because of this particular detail.

The Accessories

The veil set the dress off, I wanted a dramatic entrance and the cathedral length veil made this very possible, the iridescent crystals flickered through the material and gave it that wow factor and it looked beautiful in the sunshine we were fortunate to have had on the day.

The tiara was a gift from my auntie Rosie who had it specially made. My earrings were 1940's vintage. We were in the middle of buying our wedding rings from the same dealer who had previously helped Jaymie design my engagement ring, when these dangly diamonds caught my eye. I knew instantly they'd have been worth a bomb and when I sneakily caught sight of the price tag, they definitely were! I tried them on just for a laugh really but when we ended up ordering our rings that same day, amazingly Michelle agreed that I could borrow them for our special day, I was a little worried at first, what if one fell off?! But no, I promised to take good care of them and I did - they were simply stunning.

The Groomsmen

Groomsmen wore slim fit French Navy Morning Suits with Ivory waistcoats, each wearing a different pastel shade cravat, to match the bridesmaids. Cufflinks were pastel coloured Hugo Boss and they wore black Hudson dollar patent shoes - all hired from Hugh Harris Formal wear.

The Venue

Hunton Park was the first venue we went to have a look at, and the last. There were so many things that we loved about Hunton Park, it ticked all our boxes but it was the gardens that stood out for us, as the doors opened from the marque it reminded me of Narnia, in that it was never ending, literally so much beauty, it was a dream wedding venue in my eyes, and we wanted quite a plain canvass to work on for our marquee.

The Decor

I love all light and sweet candy flossy colours and I just couldn't decide on one so I thought, let's have them all. I wanted a pastel haven with each bridesmaid wearing one of our key colours. I had all these visions of pastel ribbons and where possible, I wanted to do something that little bit different from anything I had seen before. We had The Dream Wedding Company who helped us along the way with most of our decision making.

It was great to be able to discuss our vision with Bronwyn & Nicki and then for them as the experts to add to that vision, from a professional perspective. We consciously chose to have our guests name cards hanging their chairs rather than placed on the table as you would expect.

We chose a birdcage table plan with pastel coloured ribbons, we wanted to have a reference to birds somewhere as I have a bit of a thing for birds and our daughter is called Ava - (meaning Avery)

The Details

Favours were vintage jam jars filled with a mix of vintage sweets. To get the exact look I had to source the jars separately (a little trial and error went on with getting correct size) sourcing pastel coloured covers with white lace to complement our theme was a big job too but we got there in the end and then we sourced the labels separately, each with the slogan 'love is sweet'. Purchasing the sweets was the easiest part!

I also made a flip flop basket for dancing feet and a toiletry basket for the ladies room - received great compliments on both. I made my confetti cone basket, which I was up making the day before the wedding using paper doilies and a stapler! Also the order of service was customised with a mix of pastel coloured ribbon, I had help with this from my mum and two aunts Rosie and Helen.

The Flowers

I had hand tied flower bouquet - pastel coloured and seasonal with hydrangeas, roses and spray roses. The Bridesmaids had mixed pastel coloured bouquets each with a different pastel coloured ribbon to match their dresses.

The Wedding Party

Our five bridesmaids each wore a Kelsey rose one shoulder Grecian dress with crystal brooch and satin belt, each in a different pastel shade; we had Topaz (light blue), Lavender, Dreamsicle (light pink), Sea Mist and Buttercup. Each wore matching diamante bracelets from Jon Richard at Debenhams.

The flower girls Tamara, Ellie and Ava each wore Gilly Gray dresses, I wanted them to have the exact material as my own dress so I searched for some time before finding the perfect dresses, they were ivory with a lace bodice and tulle skirt. The dresses were made to measure and did experience a few hiccups along the way getting the accurate measurements but the final result was well worth the wait - they looked like little fairies in them.

The two older girls wore Monsoon ivory lace shoes with a mini heel - so beautiful with matching baskets. Ava, the smallest of the three wore ballet pumps with a satin ribbon that tied around the ankle; I searched endlessly for the perfect shoe for her and eventually found a lady in America who made them especially.

All three girls wore pastel coloured floral head crown hand made by Karin from Rouge Pony at Etsy.

Finnley our nephew and pageboy wore the exact same suit as the Groomsmen with matching shoes and his cravat matched the Groom.

The Ceremony

A traditional Roman Catholic Church Ceremony - we hired Niche London - a string quartet who played throughout the church ceremony and also at the reception drinks on the lawn at Hunton Park - they were superb and a big talking point.

The nerves got the better of me during the nuptials when I said my own name incorrectly calling myself Bernadette, which is in fact my middle name, we couldn't stop laughing and that exact moment was captured by Fiona, our photographer.

The Entertainment

We decided to book a photo booth for a bit of fun in the evening for our guests and it also doubled up as a guest book as Pxlpod printed duplicate photographs of all photos taken and added them to an album for us, guests were able to leave messages next to their pics - was great fun looking through it the next day.

We booked The Best Singing Waiters at the very start of our wedding planning, I had seen their page on Facebook and had a little nose, I wasn't too convinced at first as thought they may have been a bit too cheesy and a big risk, but on reflection they were worth every penny and the best booking we made for the day! They surprised our guests in the middle of the wedding breakfast, it was at the time of day when the energy levels had dropped, everyone had had a few drinks by this time and were steadily filling their bellies and then out of nowhere these two singing waiters broke out in song and made a massive impact on the entire day, the atmosphere went through the roof, within minutes everyone were on their feet dancing and singing along and our guests are literally still talking about them - bravo!

The Food

We decided on a desert table with our wedding cake taking centre stage surrounded by pastel coloured macaroon, cupcakes and bride and groom cake pops. The table itself was dressed with a pastel coloured ribbon skirt which was identical to the head table one, both hand made by the DWC. The wedding cake itself was a white squared four tier with a lace effect - lace being a reoccurring threme. To finish it off, Amanda our cake maker, added some pastel roses at the top and bottom, it was quite simple but very classy and the cake pops were a bit of fun and went down incredibly well with our guests.

The Photographer

We looked for some time for our photographer, it was such an important aspect of our day, as these were going to be the images that would re tell the story of our day again and again. We also consciously chose not to have a videographer so it made it even more of an important aspect. We wanted a photographer who captured the moment as opposed to creating it, and that's why we only have a limited amount of formal photographs. We wanted moments that we wouldn't have otherwise have noticed to be captured, for example the reactions of our family/friends to the speeches, the true emotions of the day, that were just so real and to capture the ambiance of the day all in one little collection.

When we found Fiona Kelly we knew she was the one, she also had the same surname as my future husband...I thought a definite sign!