Alexandra and Paul married back in May of last year. They were studying medieval history and astronomy when they met, hence the fantastical vision.

There was a real ethereal feel to their day, with enchanting pretty florals, layers of delicate tulle and tea lights. I so love the earthy décor which included logs, moss and constellation cards.

Alexandra was super beautiful in BHLDN while groom Paul donned Ted Baker. And all planned in 4 months with a budget of £7000, amazing!

Thanks so very much to Samantha Ward Photography for sharing her lovely imagery with us.

THE PROPOSAL | There wasn't a proposal in the traditional sense; we just kind of agreed we wanted to get married. Paul was planning on asking properly, but because he wanted to make a custom ring, the whole process took much longer than he was anticipating. The stone he chose was a Benitoite, which is the state gemstone of California (where I'm from), because that is one of the few places where they are found. Now I can carry a little bit of California around with me all the time, which is really sweet.

THE VISION | Going into the planning process, I didn't really have a clear vision of what I wanted; it just kind of developed over time. At the start, all I knew was that I wanted it to be a fun, relaxed day that was reflective of both of our interests. The vision ended up being kind of modern take on a medieval wedding feast with some astronomical elements thrown in, since I was studying medieval history and he was studying astronomy when we met. I probably could have gone hog wild with that theme, but luckily I didn't have too much time to plan the wedding, so I didn't have a chance to go too far down the rabbit hole.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | I think we planned the whole thing in about 4 months. I tend to be a bit indecisive, so having so little time was probably a good thing since it didn't give me much time to dwell on anything to long. Early on in the process we flirted with the idea of having the wedding in California, Ireland (where Paul is from) or Scotland (where we met), but that was turning into such a headache that we quickly gave up on those ideas. We also weren't living near each other at the time, so that made everything a bit more difficult. For simplicity's sake, it ended up being easiest to have the wedding near where Paul was living at the time.

Due to the limited time and funds, we had to prioritise. Booking the venue, photographer, flowers, and the legal bits were the most important things to me, so those were the things we booked first and spent the most money on. After that, if we were able to get anything else that was just kind of icing on the cake. Luckily finding the venue wasn't too hard. The venue we chose was a local historic house that we had visited for fun a several months before with no intention of ever getting married there. When it came time to start planning, they had a few days still open, so we booked it and then the ball really started rolling from there.

BUDGET | We didn't have a precise budget in mind, but we wanted to keep costs low. It ended up costing under £7,000.

THE VENUE | Samlesbury Hall, just outside Preston, Lancashire.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Annabelle Dress from BHLDN. The belt was the Sparkled Skinny Sash also from BHLDN. My headpiece was the pearl head vine from AnnaMarguerite on Etsy. My necklace was one of my mom's necklaces and my shoes were Steve Madden's that I already had.

FINDING THE DRESS | My mom and my bridesmaids all live in the US, so I didn't get the chance to do the whole trying-on-dresses ritual. This is probably a bridal sacrilege, but I ordered my dress without trying it on and just had it altered. The dress was an excellent find though, so I'm really happy with my choice.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Suit by Ted Baker. Paul's tie was a harringbone Harris Tweed tie, and he got some awesomely nerdy Esc and Ctrl cufflinks from M&S.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | For the readings, we just chose two readings from the booklet they give you from the registrar's office, and we had one special one, which was a quote from Seneca.

The venue had a sound system, so we used our own iPods to DJ the entire day. It was great, because that meant we could listen to all of our favourite music.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had two bridesmaids, who were both friends of mine from my university days in California. They both wore the same light grey, strapless dress from David's Bridal.

THE FLOWERS | Flower Design was our florist, and they did an excellent job. I didn't have anything specific in mind other than wanting the flowers to look natural and relaxed, nothing too fussy. My only flower suggestion was to include thistles as a nod to Paul and I meeting in Scotland. To make it feel more like a medieval banquet, I also asked for some foliage with some Gypsophila to be hung in the chandelier in the Great Hall.

THE CAKE | I decided to make the cake myself. I love baking, but I'd never made a tiered cake before. It was a bit intimidating, but I'm always up for a challenge. I made a two tiered, spiced chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and raspberry filling. Knowing my own limitations, I also covered the outside in amaretto milk chocolate flutes and topped it with fresh berries and little white chocolate stars to cover any frosting or structural imperfections. We also had a second cake made by one of my wonderful colleagues, which was a traditional fruitcake.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Our photographer was Samantha Ward. She did a really great job! We didn't want too many posed photos, so we really liked her style of reportage photography. I wish we had done a practice shoot before the big day so we were more comfortable in front of the camera, but I think the pictures turned out well despite our awkwardness.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Luckily the venue was so beautiful it didn't requite much decoration and the florist did nearly everything else, since they provided their own vases, table runners, and tea light holders. One of the few things I added were constellation cards that I drew and placed them along the table and the favours/ name tags which I hand wrote in a medieval script. I also provided some empty glass milk bottles to use as mini vases and some awesome star shaped confetti for the dining table made out of old Harry Potter pages.

THE HONEYMOON | We had a kind of mini moon in France. First we went to Paris, because Paul had never been, and then we spent a few days touring around Normandy. One of the things we did in Normandy was spend a night on Mont St Michel, which was pretty awesome.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Hanging out and dancing until midnight with our closest friends.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Don't sweat the small stuff and don't worry about what other people think or what you think you ought to do. In the scrum of wedding planning it's too easy to lose sight of what's really important about the day. Just remember, it's your day as a couple, you should do what you want and you can do as much or as little as you want. There's no "right" way of doing things. Get creative and have fun! Also, you can have a great day even on a small budget.

Prioritisation is also really important and delegate as much as possible. It's not possible to do everything yourself.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Samlesbury Hall

Photographer | Samantha Ward Photography

Flowers | Flower Design

Seat Covers | Simple Bows and Chair Covers

Dress and belt | BHLDN

Hair vine | Etsy

Suit | Ted Baker

Tie | Harris Tweed and Knitwear

Bridesmaid dresses | David's Bridal

Wow.

Thanks so much to Alexandra and Paul for sharing their wedding story today XO Lou