Jump for joy, it's time for me to share Matt and Nicki's wedding held on the 19 ^th July 2015. Yippee.

Matt and Nicki chose the Tythe Barn at Priston Mill to host their beautiful summer nuptials and it was just perfect from start to finish.

They opted for a pretty pastel feel, with divine fresh blooms, a hand made butter cream cake (which incidentally sounded scrumptious) and DIY stamped stationery. In fact much of their day was hand crafted, which added to the loveliness all round.

Nicki's dress 'Hidaya' by Cymbeline was just exquisite and teamed with flowers in her hair she looked simply stunning. Space hoppers and live music ensured the guests were suitably entertained and added fun factor.

Love in Focus Photography, many thanks for sharing your fresh and happy imagery today.

THE PROPOSAL | Matt proposed while on a family holiday in Lanzarote. We went for a drive one day to the north of the island, up to a village called Orzola. On the way, Matt knew about some secluded beaches just off the main road, so he suggested we take a walk down to find them. I don't know whether it was excitement or sheer fear, but literally as soon as we got to the sand he dropped down on one knee and waved the ring box at me. In his enthusiasm he actually ripped the box apart! I was in shock and had to ask if he was joking a fair few times before I actually answered him, but having already put the ring on!

THE VISION | We wanted a fun, relaxed day for everyone to enjoy. We didn't want anything stuffy or too formal. To have good food, good music and lots of laughs was our aim for the day.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We were quite lucky as everything pretty much went according to plan in the run up to the wedding. We gave ourselves 18 months to save for our day and to organise everything, so we had plenty of time. Once we had decided numbers for our guest list, we picked our venue, and then everything fell into place quite easily.

BUDGET | £15k (ish!)

THE VENUE | We both agreed that we didn't want a church wedding as neither of us are religious. We also crossed hotels and manor houses off the list, so that significantly narrowed down the search for us. I fell in love with Tythe Barn at Priston Mill the second I saw it. With its wooden beams, lounge areas, lawns and stunning views, it had everything we wanted.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was 'Hidaya' by French designer Cymbeline, bought in The Mews at Clifton.

My veil was a chapel length single tier tulle veil by 'The Couture Veil Company'. I got this from 'To Have and to Hire' an awesome little company based in Cardiff that hires out designer dresses and accessories.

My shoes were 'Lulu' by Rachel Simpson in peach, and I wore a tiny wristwatch as my 'something old' that was my Nana's.

FINDING THE DRESS | I thought my search for a dress would be really quick and straight forward. I knew I wanted something quite simple, possibly floaty, and in lace. I ended up visiting quite a few bridal shops and being rather underwhelmed. I was surprised at how stiff and uncomfortable some of the dresses actually were, I wanted a dress that would still be comfy after a few glasses of bubbly and a meal! Then I went to The Mews in Clifton. Their shop was full of beautiful lace numbers, and I think I breathed an actual sigh of relief once I was there!

GROOM'S ATTIRE | It took a long time for Matt to decide what kind of suit he wanted, he changed his mind a few times between tops and tails or a 3 piece suit. In the end, he decided on a blue 3 piece suit from Next, for him and his Groomsmen. His white shirt was from Marks and Spencer and shoes were Ted Baker. Matt and his Groomsmen wore lemon ties we bought online, to fit the colour scheme. We also got adorable lemon bow ties for Matt's nephew and my Godson - they looked so cute in them!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | I walked down the aisle with my dad to Canon in D by Pachelbel, played on guitar by Per-Olov Kindgren. During the signing of the register, Matt's two ushers played acoustic versions of 'Everlong' by Foo Fighters and 'Heartbeats' by The Knife. We left the ceremony with 'Sweet Disposition' by The Temper Trap playing.

We had 2 readings during the ceremony. One by Matt's sister, 'Love is a Temporary Madness' an excerpt from Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I liked this reading because it's not sickly or soppy like a lot of the others, it's real and honest. The second reading was read by my 8 year old godson and brought a laugh to the ceremony, he read 'A Word to Husbands' by Ogden Nash.

During the drinks reception we had Santana and Gypsy Kings playing in the background. Matt's stepdad also did a set for us on his accordion!

Having a live band was very important to us, rather than a DJ. We found Penfold through the website Function Central. It was a bit of risk choosing them as we'd not actually heard them play live until the day, but the band were very professional and sounded great on the night, we were very happy with our choice and would definitely recommend them.

Our first dance was 'You and Me' by The Wannadies. I was actually dreading this because ever since the first time we danced to this song, (on our first holiday together) Matt has taken great pleasure in throwing me around the dance floor, and this was no exception - but I managed to not get floored so it was a success!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | At first I wanted the bridesmaids to pick their own dresses, because they're all so different and have their own style. The only things I asked were that they be lemon in colour and a floaty chiffon type fabric. In the end that didn't happen, but while looking I found the peach Lori Lee Maxi dress from Coast, and my mind was made up. Luckily the girls all agreed and loved the dress as much as I did. They all wore their own nude heels and small stud earrings to keep everything simple.

THE FLOWERS | I knew Emma was right for us as soon as we met her. She understood exactly what we wanted, even from my very vague, unhelpful brief of 'big fluffy flowers'! The bouquets were absolutely beautiful and I almost had a little cry when I saw them. She used different types of roses, astilbe and eucalyptus in peaches, lemons, creams and baby pink. We had an assortment of jars on the registrar table instead of a big arrangement, then similar jars dotted all around the venue. We kept the arrangements simple on the tables during the wedding breakfast, with sweetie jar vases filled with the same flowers.

THE CAKE | My mum made our awesome cake. We agreed on a giant three tier cake with rustic butter icing. The top tier was a traditional fruit cake, the middle was lemon sponge with homemade lemon curd filling (made by my nana) and the bottom tier was walnut and carrot with cream cheese frosting. It was decorated with fresh flowers by our florist and two 'Mr & Mrs' lovebirds bought off Etsy.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | It took longer to find a photographer than it did any other supplier. We wanted to be sure we found the right person for us. We saw Sandy's work and got quite excited, his style of photographs were exactly what we were looking for and he understood that we wanted, more reportage style pictures with plenty of detail, rather than the set up posed photographs. We were also confident he would be able to shepherd our guests through the few formal shots we wanted. He was great on the day, he's such a cool guy, getting on with all the guests, didn't stop all day and our photos are amazing!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We wanted to keep the decorations to a minimum as we felt the barn was beautiful just as it was, and what we did use, we kept homemade and quite rustic. We kept the colour scheme simple with pastel shades of lemons, peaches, creams and pinks. Along with the jars of flowers dotted everywhere, we also put out jars of candles around too. These were decorated with twine and lace, and gave a lovely soft glow in the evening. During the ceremony we hung heart decorations along the aisle, which are normally hanging up in our hallway! We had a wish tree instead of a guest book, and we made a ribbon backdrop as a makeshift photo booth. We bought card props for guests to pose with, a Polaroid camera to take snaps with, and Matt made a display for them to be pegged onto using fairy lights. Matt also designed all of our stationery, we used stamps for the save the dates and RSVPs from The English Stamp Company, then he made all the invitations, table plan and menus to match. To go with the informal feel of the day, we wanted the food to come out on sharing platters, to go in the middle of the tables for guests to help themselves. It proved to be a bit of an ice breaker for guests not too familiar with each other, and was a hit. The favours were also one of Matt's home made creations. He spent the day before the wedding baking over 250 lemon and poppyseed shortbread biscuits, with the help of one of his best men, Ian, and his lovely wife, Laura. They tied them together with twine and attached mini luggage tags with guests names handwritten on them.

THE HONEYMOON | We went to Budapest the weekend after the wedding for a short 'minimoon'. We had tickets to the Grand Prix, as well as seeing most of the tourist attractions in the city. We plan on going to Italy for our honeymoon in September. A stay in a Tuscan villa, followed by a drive down the Amalfi coast and finishing with a few nights in Positano, that's the plan!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | The whole day went so fast and everything was almost a blur, but what I remember, crystal clear, is Matt's face, waiting for me at the end of the aisle, he looked so happy to see me and I couldn't wait to get up there with him.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Remember that it's your day. Loved ones will want to have their input in your day, which is lovely, but don't feel pressured into something just to please them. They love you and will respect your decisions. Also, everybody says it, but take some time out during the day with your other half. We never got a chance to and I wish we had, just a quiet 10 minutes somewhere to sit down, take it all in and appreciate everything and everyone around us.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Love in Focus

Flowers | Emma Norton Wedding Flowers

Wedding dress | The Mews Clifton

Venue | Priston Mill

Band | Function Central

Groom & best men suits | Next

Bridesmaid dresses | Coast

How very gorgeous.

Many thanks to Matt and Nicki for sharing all about their wedding with us here at WWW xo Lou