WWW readers Gillian and Craig had three years to plan their wedding and thought about every last detail. Their venue; Kirknewton Stables gave them the flexibility to chose every element themselves. They had a focus on fun and DIY'd much of their day.

With hessian, brown paper and doilies the stables looked so very pretty. There were pretty natural blooms, bridesmaids looking elegant in blush dresses and 'bootyshaking' in the evening.

Gillian looked beautiful in a lace Fara Sposa dress with her hair in side swept waves, while Craig donned a traditional kilt. You guys are going to love their day, start to finish.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Karolina Kotkiewicz for sharing her photographs today.

The Proposal... a surprise drive along the Amalfi Coast road in Italy, in our cute wheels for the week, wee Luigi the Fiat 500 . Stopped off at a view point looking down on the beautiful Positano, the sun came out from behind the clouds and craig popped the question. I can still remember the first person we told.... Karen, a complete random stranger - she was the first person we saw - she took our photo and chatted to us for a long time - it was a lovely moment and I was so close to invitiing her to the wedding as I was super excited. We played the song 'Buona Sera' by Louis Prima at the end of the wedding - it made us smile as it always reminds us of the day we got engaged. It's such a happy song.
The Vision for the Day... Fun, relaxed, non traditional, vintage, handmade, natural, personal, warm, friendly, inclusive and did I mention FUN!! I always get very nervous at really formal events so I wanted to try and remove as much formality as possible (obviously not the legal bit lol ;-) I wanted the day to represent us as a couple. Craig lost his Mum when he was 18 and it was really important to me that she was represented in some way on the day. We always feel she is watching over us so I decided to use Angel wings as part of our stationery (a stamp with gold metallic ink on brown paper so it was subtle), we lit a candle for her as part of the ceremony, we made angel wing earrings as favours for the women and got seeded paper cut into the cancer awareness ribbon and asked folk to plant the paper in memory of the angels watchinig over us. It was lovely because it was remembering without being a memorial. I'm really happy with that.
The Planning Process... 3 years from engagement to wedding day meant that I had a lot of time to research. Having so much time can be a good and a bad thing, too much time means it takes over your life and you can go a bit crazy looking at the universe of wedding ideas out there, but on the whole I'm glad i had that time. It meant on the day there wasn't anything that I hadn't spent time thinking through. All the ideas I had gathered over the years - all just came together really well on the day. My main resource was the tinternet - wedding blogs - including this one. I just kept on saving pictures I liked and eventually I started to see a pattern emerge and a theme running through. Ebay, Etsy, DIY wedding blogs where my friends for 3 years. I didn't really buy magazines because it was expensive and they don't really cater for lower budget and DIY weddings.
Budget... £10k. We were restricted by budget as we were also fully renovating a house we'd bought. (hence the reason why I use the word 'I' a lot. Craig was up to his eyes in plastering and plumbing and laying floors etc!! He helped me as much as he could but to quote him 'what the hell do I know about flowers and colours and all that!'. He was involved in the big decisions but left the finer details to me. The budget also meant being more imaginative with everything and getting creative which I love.

The Venue... Kirknewton Stables. (converted stable block in garden setting). I had originally ruled the venue out funnily enough as I thought it was going to be outwith our budget. And also I wasn't confident I could cope with the all the organising that would be involved (you basically hire the venue and the rest is up to you). However after exhausting all other possibilities (our other option was a restaurant in town, which was lovely, but it didn't excite me at all). We went to take a look at the stables for a nosey and I absolutely fell in love with it. It was everything I could have asked for and more and really suited the relaxed vibe I was lookinig for. Craig could tell i had fallen in love with it and bless him he said we will do whatever it takes to make this work. We rejigged a few things and recalculated and works out with a few tweaks we could do it. The beauty about hiring a venue rather than a set package is that you can control the budget and not be ruled by hotel or catering prices. We found an amazing caterer who was down to earth, warm, friendly, flexible and basically awesome. We had a hog roast which went down a treat - the roast was the star event in itself and caused some hilarious moments. We were able to order our own wine from majestic wines and we didn't get charged corkage from the caterer because we used screw tops (it was nice wine - honestly!!). Our caterer did the bar for us and charged £2.50 for all drinks which kept the cost down for our guests. People still talk about it now on how that made their day. Weddings are expensive for guests so this helped them out. We could also decorate how we wished which was flexible. All in all we had the freedom to create.

The Dress + Accessories... Fara Sposa from Reeta Fashions in Glasgow.

Finding the Dress... I originally started looking on Ebay and second hand dress websites. A second hand dress led me to Reetas in Glasgow - with the intention of trying it on there and then buying it second hand. However the assistant also picked some other dresses for me to try on and as soon as I tried on the Fara Sposa I just felt it was everything I was looking for. I didn't want a dress that was straight across at the neckline for some reason (this really restricts the options). This dress had the lace, the softness I was looking for. However in hindsight I was slightly blinded by how I felt in it. When i got home I was a bit miserable because I'd had this amazing feeling in the dress but it was outwith my budget. Once again hubby to be came to the rescue. He received some unexpected extra funds from a rebate and said just go for it - if you love it. So, in the excitement of the increased budget, and with the feeling of 'this dress is the one' fresh in my mind I just went for it. If I was giving any bride to be advice it would be - don't rush it. Don't rush the dress buying. Think Kirsty and Phil 'Location, Location, Location'. They always take people house hunting and let folk initially rule with their heart and then go back for a second viewing and rule with your head. If I was doing it again that's what I'd do. I was just so desperate to find a dress that I didn't take my time over it. On the day I felt fantastic but if I was doing it again I wouldn't rush the looking for a dress bit. If I was doing it again I'd probably choose something different.

Groom's Attire... Kilt (Ancient Somerville Tartan). We were close to getting no kilt for Craig as it takes a long time to order and make one and we didn't really plan for that!

I was so happy with our readings - really represented us:

Light hearted poem by Bee Rawlinson:

Love me when I'm old and shocking

Peel off my elastic stockings

Swing me from the chandeliers

Let's be randy bad old dears.

Push around my chromed Bath Chair

Let me tease your white chest hair

Scaring children, swapping dentures

Let us have some great adventures

Take me to the Dogs and Bingo

Teach me how to speak the lingo

Bone my eels and bring me tea

Show me how it's meant to be

Take me to your special places

Watching all the puzzled faces

You in shorts and socks and sandals

Me with warts and huge love-handles

As the need for love enthralls

Wrestle with my damp proof smalls

Make me laugh without constraint

Buy me chocolate body paint

Hold me safe throughout the night

When my hair has turned to white

Believe me when I say it's true

I've waited all my life for you

The second reading:

Craig and Gill, as you say I DO

And promise to love your whole life through

Remember that today is just a start,

Just a beginning, a pledge from the heart.

A marriage isn't dresses or aisles or rings,

Or wedding cakes and invites and all those things.

It's taking and giving in equal share,

It's promising that you will always be there.

When things depress you and get you down,

When you're feeling sad and he's acting the clown.

Remember this day, and why you chose to be here,

Then Thank the world for each other, year after year.

I spent so much time thinking of the music and was really happy with the 'walking down the aisle' song. Hilariously Craig and half the congregation couldn't hear it on the day because we had a wee technical problem (the speakers at the front weren't working). So Craig got a bit of a fright when he saw me coming down the aisle as he wasn't expecting me. However that was the only thing to go wrong on the day and I can live with that - the rest was fantastic. We had an amazing dj and we were allowed to just send him a list of songs we wanted played and he just brought it all together. The dancefloor was never empty. We had Take That 'rule the world' as our first dance and 'buona sera' and 'loch lomond to end the night. We couldn't stop dancing.

Beautiful Bridesmaids... My Bridesmaids - My Sister Lisa, 3 friends Pauline, Gillian and Louise. They were all so supportive and worked tirelessly to help me. They did a lot of running about put it that way! They also helped decorate the venue make favours and bring everything together - feed me and keep me sane lol!! If I had one regret it is that because I'm a chronic worrier - I always felt bad asking for help. When they would be there for me in a flash and were there for me - I wish I had relaxed a bit more about asking for help. They want to help so let them! That's one bit of advice I'd give. Also I kinda rushed getting dress for them aswell. A pattern emerging there (I'm famous for not liking shopping!!)

The Flowers... Pyrus, 2 amazing girls who have their own business, and grow their own flowers. Their style is just so unique and natural. They were so helpful and lovely. In the end I ran out of money so they did our bouqets and supplied the flowers for the day - we arranged them in glass cut vases I'd collected from charity shops through out the year.

The Cake... My friends Beth and Lynn made the cake - they were fantastic - I showed them an idea and they went out of their way to copy it exactly. They even contacted the council and forestry comission to track down a piece of tree log to use as a cake stand - now that is devotion for you!! Truly amazing friends.

Your Photographer... Karolina kotkiewicz. So so lucky to have found this amazing woman. She is just a joy to be around and so talented. She is so generous with her time and sets you at ease. She really got what I was looking for. Relaxed photos and the compilation she put together for us is a perfect representation of the day and tells the story step by step - moment by moment - that is a real skill and I will forever be grateful for that.

The Details + Decor... Our save the dates were cream balloon in brown paper envelopes with a label tied to it saying 'inflate me, burst me, save me' inside the balloon was a note saying 'may the fourth be with you and the venue details. - invitation to follow. We hand made the invitations and I used hessian and lace, brown paper and cream card for the wedding invitations and this continued through to the venue decor. Hessian table runners (large sheet of hessian cut up by my bridesmaids). Doilles collected from a market in spain by a friend of mine who has a house out there. White bunting hung from the wooden beams. Wooden white hearts. Luggage labels, jam jars with hessian and lace wrapped round them with candles in them. Typewriter font for stationery combined with a relaxed script font. The table names were all songs with words 'Together' in the title. The songs were played during the meal and we asked our guests to listen out for their table song. When they heard it they should look under their table. We'd hidden bags of fancy dress relating to their table song - this was really funny watching this unfold and seeing folk try stuff on. It also broke up the wait time - as it was a hog roast help yourself it kept folk entertained before their table was called. We had a dressing up corner and as a bit of a joke we had a diy photo booth/corner with a hans solo and princess leia cardboard cutouts with our faces stuck to them (may the fourth be with you) , we had a suitcase of fancy dress which we brought out for later in the evening. We had garden games aswell but the weather wasn't that great on the day so didn't get much action. However the golf was popular. We had jam jars on the table with sparklers in them with 'you light up my life' luggae label tied. We also had jam jars with giant wooden lolly pop sticks in them and pens. We asked folk to give us date ideas which we would use for the rest of our married life to keep us on our toes. We got loads so much that we have to get going in order to get through them while we are young.

The Honeymoon... Time of our lives and trip of our dreams. Kenya, Masai Mara, Safari, Governors Camp (where they film the big cat diaries). It was truly magical. Then on to Zanzibar in Tanzania for some relaxation. It was great to share such a trip together. Life changing trip in terms of gaining some well needed perspective on how lucky we are and how priveledged we are in this country.

Memorable Moments... The ceremony was the best part for me. (we had a humanist ceremony - with an amazing celebrant Duncan Robertson) It was so much fun, we laughed we cried, we involved everyone, we did a mexican hug during the ceremony (like a mexican wave but instead you hug). That really broke the ice and set the tone for the day. I'll always remember being so calm (not like me at all), and so looking forward to marrying my love. The conga and dancing was fantastic, Just the joy of the whole day and everyone having fun and laughing.

Advice for Other Couples... Do what makes you happy. Don't be confined by the restrictions of traditional wedding formats. Have fun and always remember what's important. Despite all the planning for the day - I never ever lost sight of why we were having this day - to declare to each other in front of our family and friends - that we love each other and wish to spend the rest of our lives together. Hold on to that and then everything else will fall into place. Nothing else matters and that is the purpose of the day - your family and friends are happy to see this and all the other stuff doesn't matter.

Venue | Kirknewton Estate

Caterer | Gary Moore Catering

Photography | Karolina Kotkiewicz

Florist | Pyrus Flowers

Dress | Reeta Fashions

What a fun celebration.

Thanks so very much to Gillian and Craig for sharing their gorgeous wedding day with us here at WWW XOXO Lou