THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | The dress was called "Bronwyn" by Maggie Sottero, it was a snip at just £840 and was the first one I wanted to try on. Teamed with a plain corded edge double veil. I also chose a feather bolero from BIBA to cover my shoulders when it was colder in the day; being April we didn't realise we would be so lucky with the weather on the day and I didn't want to take any risks!

FINDING THE DRESS | The dress was the first one I wanted to try on; although I never actually got to see it in the colour I ordered until mine had arrived. The sample dresses had all been pale gold with ivory lace, and I knew I wanted mine in all ivory. I didn't like the ivory waist ribbon, so opted to customise it with my own soft blush ribbon which my mum hand finished for me so it was perfect. I got the dress from a shop in Wimbledon who had a huge selection but I only ever tried on this one! I had tried on about 8 altogether (including this one) on a previous shopping trip with my mum in Bournemouth.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Classic tails in navy from Buckleigh of London, in Chelsea. Nico had all of the boys wear black shoes and teamed his suit with some brown brogue style Russell & Bromley shoes to make his outfit a little different.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We had the Salieri String Quartet play in the church; they played before the brides arrival and the "Love Theme" from love actually for the brides entrance. The readings were Corinthians read by Elle's brother, James, and an extract from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre which was read by Nico's cousin, Ella.

We walked out of the church to "Hey Soul Sister" by train.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My three beautiful bridesmaids looked stunning in their vintage green dresses; these were from a shop in Westbourne in Bournemouth from a range called Jasmine. I wanted them to look elegant and still be comfortable. They were teamed with peep toe nude shoes with a big vintage brooch on them, and we customised the dressed with another brooch on the back.

THE FLOWERS | My flowers I loved SO much. The wonderful Jodie at Boutique Blooms listened to all of my ramblings and created something more fabulous than I could have imagined! The vintage jugs and the jars across the top able just make the tables look simply stunning. All of the girls flowers had the stems wrapped in vintage lace trim, and mine was finished with my late grandma's vintage pearl hat-pin so that she could be close to me on the day too.

THE CAKE | To have the head pastry chef from one of London's top restaurants as a best friend is blessing to say the very least! My lovely friend Jamie planned my cake with us, it was more than we could of hoped for. The "Naked" cake look was a little less traditional, but we loved it and we knew that Jamie's cakes were so good that they didn't need to be covered in icing! It was five tiers, that consisted of from large to small) - classic Victoria sponge with vanilla butter cream and strawberry jam, chocolate and cherry cake with chocolate ganache and cherry butter cream, lemon cake with raspberry jam and lemon butter cream, chocolate cake with more chocolate crème, and then carrot cake.....which we kept for the following day (Easter Sunday) with our families.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Our photographs were better than anything we could have hoped for. Kelly knew we didn't want anything too constructed or contrived and we were very much more into the natural shots that could be captured on the day. I still look through the photos and cannot believe how many details she captured of the day. I didn't even know she was there, she was so unobtrusive and SO efficient! I feel so lucky to have found someone so fantastically talented to have captured our wedding day.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Where do I start?! The lanterns and many of the details were hired from "The Surrey Wedding company" this included free standing lanterns, tea light holders and lanterns on shepherds crooks for the entrance. My mum made bunting, burlap table runners and helped with all of the favours. We made our own sloe gin for the boys and had English honey for the girls. I collected jars and glad bottles for months for the top table, and my brother sanded all of the wooden table centres. We hung about 100 lanterns from the ceiling of the marquee, many of them lit and all at different heights and sizes; these were all from "The Hanging Lantern Company" who were SO helpful in making our vision come toe reality. There were lots more details in the church; beautiful pew ends and a flower arch created by Jodie, pillar candles wrapped in burlap and lace. For me the stationery; both before and on the day was one of my favourite things. Lisa at Paperknots created the most beautiful maps as part of our invitations; she then went on to design stunning Order of Service, Table plan, Table names and menus. We had so many comments on how beautiful the stationery was, I kept so many bits as keepsakes as I couldn't part with it.

THE HONEYMOON | We decided that sitting on a beach for two weeks wasn't really our thing; we can do that any time! So we opted to fly to San Francisco, then hired a convertible Mustang to drive down the West Coast of America on Route 1, stopping in Carmel, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and LA. It was the trip of a lifetime, so much to see and do. Although we flew on Easter Monday, two days after the BIG day and on my birthday, and we were completely shattered for the first two days of the honeymoon it was definitely the right trip for us.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Walking into the marquee. We walked in to the raucous applause and cheers from around 130 family and friends with "Pompeii" by Bastille playing; it was the most amazing reception from our guests I could have imagined.

Before the wedding ceremony I (Elle) had about 10 minutes before the car arrived to pick my dad and I up; so we went down to the bar together (both ready to go!) and took the bar staff by surprise as we took a seat at the bar and ordered two G&T's, it was a fabulous last "single" moment to have with my dad and a memory I will treasure forever.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Do what you can yourselves; even with a big budget it makes the wedding feel more personal. We loved all the home made touches and so did our guests. Call in favours and get help from friends for the set up. We were lucky to have lots of friends and family with great skills and trades, but even people who are just happy to help where they can will be a godsend when you are busy trying to get things done!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Lola Rose Photography

Flowers | Boutique Blooms

Stationery | Paperknots