WWW readers Sam and Dan married back in May 2013 and chose to have a Church ceremony followed by a reception at Thoresby Riding Hall, Nottinghamshire. It was important to them that they had great food and music. They had afternoon tea, a sweet buffet, fish and chip van and Indian buffet in the evening... yum!

Sam looked gorgeous in her opulent Mori Lee dress with her pretty hydrangea bouquet, while Dan opted for a blue suit with paisley tie.

Oh and there was a little bit of Alice in Wonderland in the fun décor :-)

Thanks so much to John Hope for sharing his wonderful images with us today.

Dan put together a spreadsheet which helped us keep track of what we were spending and what we had left in the budget. The first thing we did was book the venue, it took a while to find the right place. We wanted somewhere that would give us the freedom we needed to put our own stamp on the day and make it personal to us. We did go to a couple of wedding fairs but didn't really like the experience much and preferred to plan at our own pace. Together at home we came up with most of our ideas and contacted our suppliers online. Once we finalised the guest list I wanted to have a go at making the save the dates and so set about finding a template which I found on the wedding chicks website. I wasn't fussed about having all matching stationery and really enjoyed making them. Dan and I also ended up making all the invitations together as well. At times, after sitting for hours making metres of mini bunting, I think we wondered if we had gone mad. In the end when they were finished they looked great and I always think it's nice to receive something hand made.

We set my wonderful mum the task of searching for pretty vintage china for the tea party reception. She has a real eye for beautiful things and is the best bargain hunter I know! She managed to find 150 china trios, amazing vintage glassware, stunning tiered cake stands and other lovely vintage props. We bought masses of different gorgeous fabrics and Dan's family took on the task of creating over 100 metres of the prettiest bunting ever! Abigail my sister in law is real whizz with a sewing machine which was a god send. We'd go through phases of getting a lot organised and booked and then there would be a lull for while when we would give ourselves a wedding break. It can get a bit much and we were conscious that we didn't want the wedding to take over our lives. I think it helped that we had lots of friends planning their weddings at the same time so we could get away with talking about the wedding without sending everyone to sleep! Our wedding was one of six we attended this year!

The Venue... St John the Evangelist Church. We thought about having a civil ceremony for a short time but when it came to the crunch I realised that I wanted to marry Dan in a church. It was a funny really as I don't go to church regularly and I wouldn't say I'm particularly religious but it felt important to say our vows in a church. Dan agreed to this and I really appreciated that he understood that it was important to me. The church we married in was really lovely, surrounded by beautiful British countryside and situated in a tiny farming hamlet called Perlethorpe in Nottinghamshire . We chose this church as it was the nearest one to the Thoresby Estate which we booked for our reception. It meant that we could take a short walk from the church with our wedding guests through woodland and the stunning estate grounds to our reception, like in the good old days! The sun was shining too which helped.

Thoresby Riding Hall. I grew up in Retford which is not far from Thoresby and it was somewhere that came to mind as soon as we started looking for the venue. The riding hall itself is in a cobbled courtyard just next to the very striking Thoresby Hall which is grade I listed 19th-century country house. We loved the Victorian Riding Hall with its soaring arched ceiling and red brick walls. It was entirely ours to set up and decorate as we wished and it allowed us to use our imagination. We were able to bring in our own caterers, entertainment, furniture, and even supply our own alcohol to save our guests having to spend lots of money.

The accessories were quite traditional I guess, and classic. I wore a tiara type band with crystal and pearl flower detail. My veil was layered and mirrored the style of the dress. I bought two pairs of shoes, the first were gold sling-back heels with a slight platform from Dune and the second were vintage looking T bar shoes from Next in ivory satin. Comfort won on the day and I went for the Next ones as they had smaller heels. I toyed with the idea of splashing out and buying designer heels but decided I'd rather use the money on other more important parts of the day. I'm glad I did! I also bought converse pumps in white to wear in the evening so I could relax and have a dance. I wore mismatched jewellery, some pearl drop earrings and a sparkly bracelet Dan had bought for me whilst working away in Dubai. My Aunty lent me a pale blue and ivory garter she had worn on her wedding day so this was my something blue, borrowed and old! I love a bag and had to have one even on my wedding day. I bought a really pretty clutch bag from Accessorize which was covered in beads and had a deco feel.

I wasn't too particular about my hair. I wanted it to look feminine and not too coiffed so I went for a half beehive style. I didn't want a full up do as I rarely wear my hair up and I wanted to look like me on the day and not too 'done'. I applied my own make up, I love make up and know what suits me, and enjoy putting it on so it made sense to do it myself. I treated myself to a couple of makeovers at the Lancome and Chanel counter a few months before and bought some really lovely products. The assistant at Lancome helped me chose tones and shades which reflected some of the key colours in my bouquet. She helped me achieve the natural, subtle look I wanted but with a different colour palette to my usual look which made it feel bit more special.

Finding the Dress... It took a while to find the right dress. In my head I had pictured going for something vintage and lacy, 50's style and possibly tea length. In the end I went for a dress which couldn't have been more different! I visited lots of wedding dress shops in and around Nottingham and didn't really see anything that I really loved. I was losing hope of finding 'the one' when I popped into Wedding Wishes in Worksop on the off chance that they might have something I'd like. As soon as I started chatting to the staff they instantly put me at ease, they had a really down to earth, relaxing approach but clearly knew what they were talking about. As a curvy size 16 bride they chose dresses for me to try on which would flatter my figure and I fell in love with the final dress I tried on. My Mum bought my wedding dress for me which was such a lovely gesture and made wearing it even more meaningful.

During the vintage tea party we listened to jazz, swing and tea dance music. After the speeches and before the DJ arrived we had Kelly's Heroes play for a couple of hours. They are a great Celtic folk band and they really got everyone in the mood to party, especially my little flower girls who danced their little socks off... We couldn't decide on one song for the first dance we wanted three, greedy I know! We kicked off with 'Can't help falling in love' by Elvis Presley and then got everyone to join us on the dance floor for ' You're my best friend' by Queen and 'Higher and Higher' by Jackie Wilson which is such an uplifting song and is Dan's favourite. We cried throughout our first dance, we were both very emotional on the day, a right pair of softies....

My two beautiful nieces were my flower girls. It took me a long time to find their dresses. I wanted them to look angelic in layers of ivory tulle. After months of searching I came across Gilly Gray Bridal. Gilly and her daughter are London based designers who work using unbleached cotton and raw silks and their dresses are simply gorgeous. The girls wore the Sorrell dress which was an ivory silk bodice and 6 layer tulle lined skirt with a lace flower belt. The dresses are made to order so they fitted perfectly. They also wore lovely little feather shrugs from Monsoon. We teamed them with little white converse pumps which were customised with ribbons and crystals. I wanted them to be comfortable as it's a long day for little ones.

The Flowers... We debated for a long time whether or not we should do our own flowers at the wedding. We live really close to Nottingham's flower market and wholesalers and I worked in a florists for a while when I was younger. I decided right at the last minute to book a florist as it felt too much to take on. I had a consultation with Julie from The Flower Boutique and she quickly understood the look I was going for. I wanted a soft pretty spring palette of pinks, blues and mauves . I knew I had to have hydrangeas as they always look so beautiful. I wanted flowers that looked as though they had just been picked from a country cottage garden, quite rustic and not too symmetrical. I was pleased with the result. The Hydrangeas were a really strong blue which worked well and broke up the sugary pastel tones. Julie used the same types of flowers to fill jugs on the tables which sat on stacked vintage books, they looked amazing with the bunting and the paper lanterns. I also love the smell of hyacinths so Julie filled little glass jars I had collected and decorated with pink and blue hyacinths to put the church window sills. The flower girls had little baskets of flower petals that they sprinkled as they walked down the aisle in church.

The Cake... My wonderful Sister Christy made the wedding cake. She is a trained Patissier and makes the most delicious cakes! Her business is called The Swoon Bakery and she specialises in wedding cakes and artisan baking. The cake was different flavoured sponge tiers in the lilac, white and pink. We wanted quite a simple design and we were really chuffed with the result. The top tier had a mini bunting polka dot topper which looked really cute! My sister also made French macarons and yummy lemon and chocolate cupcakes with various toppers including pansies and little flags which were 'Alice in Wonderland' themed. Christy also created the most amazing sweetie table, it looked fab and everyone loved it. I still can't believe everything got eaten! Our guests devoured the lot. We are so lucky to have such a talented baker in the family and it made it more personal having Christy make our wedding cake.

The Details + Decor... We brought everything together with an Alice in Wonderland theme, it was fitting with the tea party reception and gave us the opportunity to use our imaginations and bring in a bit of fun and creativity. Dan Ross from Individual Design made a bespoke table plan with characters from the book for table names. Dan also supplied all the furniture, lighting, carpet runner, vintage post box for cards, swags and fairy lights. He did a great job and even made bespoke Mad Hatter lamps for the evening. I collected lots of Alice in Wonderland themed stuff to dot around and labels for bottle and cake stands. We had a table of vintage framed wedding photographs of some of our families weddings that have happened over the years going back to the 1920's. This also meant that loved ones that are no longer with us had a place at the wedding, especially my dear Nan who I would have so loved to have been there..

My Grandad and I travelled to the church in a 1950's citroen avant, cool car! The bridemaid's arrived in vintage Jag. We had a Pimms reception in the courtyard in the sunshine, the kids had pink lemonade with candy striped blue and pink paper straws. The tea party caterer Paula Creative Flavours was amazing and everyone enjoyed dainty sandwiches, little pastries and yummy cakes as well as scones with fresh cream and strawbs (we had a lot of cake at our wedding!) Dan's parents gave us around 30 bottles of champagne from their stash that they had collected over the years for toast which was very generous.

In the evening we had a fish and chip van in the courtyard and an indian buffet in the riding hall. Initially we wanted all the evening food to be from food vans but we couldn't find one that served indian food. Everyone loves either fish and chips or curry and they went down a storm. My mum collected amazing vintage props for the photobooth and I ordered some Alice themed stuff from America. Everyone got involved with the photobooth, it was brilliant fun.

The Honeymoon... We stayed in the Sherwood Hideaway lodges for a couple of nights after the wedding to recuperate, we were so shattered after such a busy weekend. We went to Cuba for two weeks in June for our honeymoon. We had 4 days in Havana and 10 days in Varadero. Cuba is such an amazing place. We loved it, well worth a visit, with its great people, vintage cars, stunning beaches, the best live music and amazing cocktails. The perfect honeymoon!

Credit Where Credit is Due...

Cake | The Swoon Bakery: Retford, Notts.

Venue | Thoresby Riding Hall

Photography | John Hope Photography

Table plan, Furniture, Lighting, Carpet Runner, Post box, Swags and Fairy Lights |Dan Ross: I ndivdual by Design

Tea Party Catering | Paula at Creative Flavours, Nottingham

Dress | Wedding Wishes, Worksop

Flowergirls | Gilly Gray Bridal

Catering | Indian Nights

Fish and Chip Van | Nippie Chippie

Honeymoon | The Sherwood Hideaway

Flowers | Julie- Retford Flower Boutique

Just brilliant.

Thanks so very much to Sam and Dan for sharing their fabulous wedding with us today XOXO Lou