This wedding day is totally magical. Why? Because Anika and Chris made their wedding so unique and personal. From the hand written ceremony in the woods conducted by a friend, to the culmination of all their loved ones and their own DIY touches.

They chose to marry on the 13th June 2015, hiring a beautiful holiday home in the Cotswolds which they made their own. Anika picked and arranged the blooms, sewed 100 meters of bunting and even made the red velvet wedding cake.

Anika wanted to wear a dress that reflected her personality and donned a gorgeous blue polka dot frock while Chris went for a wool suit, waistcoat and floral tie to complete the look. So very gorgeous.

Thanks to Thomas Thomas Photography for sharing these enchanting images today.

THE PROPOSAL | January 2014

THE VISION | We wanted to have a very intimate wedding, with just our closest family and a few close friends attending. We both instantly knew that we wanted to get married outside, ideally in a woodland setting, even though the British weather made this idea a little bit more unpredictable. It was always meant to be like a fun family BBQ, with delicious comfort food, fun and games and a lot of laughter.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | The most important part of our vision was the location, as we wanted somewhere all of us could stay together in a nice big house with beautiful outside space, so that was the thing we focused on first. We also knew that we wanted to be completely in control ourselves, so we planned everything around our woodland family garden party theme. We had a lot of help from our friends and family throughout the planning process.

THE VENUE | It was actually a holiday home in the beautiful Cotswolds, which was made up of two converted barns with beautiful gardens and a remote little island that looked like a tiny forest. The owners thankfully agreed to us using it as a "wedding venue".

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was made to measure from an online atelier specialising in 1950s dresses. My dotty shoes were from Irregular Choice.

FINDING THE DRESS | I always knew that I didn't want to be the traditional bride and that I wanted a dress that reflected who I was in normal life as well. It took me a few months to find the atelier and there I saw the perfect dress that I felt ticked all the boxes.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Chris' attire was from John Lewis and Ben Sherman. For his tie we bought a few different fabrics and once we found the perfect one I sewed it for him myself.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Our ceremony was incredibly personal as we wrote everything ourselves. One of Chris' oldest friends conducted the ceremony and his mum recited a beautiful reading. We walked in to the ceremony to "All I want is You" by Barry Louis Polisar and made our own playlist for the rest of the day.

THE FLOWERS | My bouquet and all the flowers from the wedding came from Chris's parent's garden. As they live only a few miles away from the venue, we went over the day before the wedding and I picked all the flowers I wanted. The morning of the wedding I assembled my bouquet and a friend filled lots of small vases with flowers, thyme and pine cones to add to the general woodland theme.

THE CAKE | I baked our wedding cake, a red velvet cake, the day before the wedding. On the day I added some mini bunting that I had sewn and two little bunny figurines, one with a bow tie and one with a head bow made out of the same fabric as the one I had used for Chris' tie. On the wedding day my niece and nephew helped me pick some wild flowers to further decorate the cake with.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We were so very lucky to have found our fantastic photographer Ben Thomas, who really is absolutely amazing in so many ways. He arrived in the morning and was literally everywhere all day until the sun went down. When he sent us the finished pictures, we could not believe how amazingly he captured the day, all the little details we cared so much about and the enjoyment in peoples' faces. His documentary style photography and use of focus, capturing little moments in time, was exactly what we wanted and we can't recommend him enough!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | The décor and details were very important to us and we did all the decoration ourselves, together with the help of our amazing friends and family.

We both love bunting so I spent three months sewing over 100 m worth of bunting. As we wanted a woodland theme to our decoration, Chris chopped up wood which we used to write food items and name tags on and his dad kindly built a wooden arch which we got married in front of.

We didn't want typical elegant flowers such as roses, but wanted a wild flower feel to them, so Chris' mum provided all the flowers from her garden and his family also built several outside games for us to play in the afternoon.

As we are both big foodies we've spent months perfecting the food menu for the day, cooking and baking mostly everything ourselves the day before the wedding. We had some external help on the day with plating up and manning the evening BBQ though.

Our friends scrubbed walls, hung up decorations, drew beautiful pictures on walls, helped cooking and kept us sane the days leading up to the wedding. It was a real team effort and it would not have been as amazing without everyone's input and support.

THE HONEYMOON | We went to Italy for our honeymoon.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | The whole day was absolutely magical, but the actual ceremony and saying our vows to each other was the true highlight. Another unforgettable moment was when two of our closest friends gave the most heartfelt speeches in the evening. It was absolutely beautiful.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | It is your day so make sure everything is exactly the way you want it to be and let other people help you archive your vision.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Ben Thomas

BBQ | Man and Kitchen Helper: Paul from Cotswolds Caterers

How wonderful.

Anika and Chris, thank you for sharing your very special celebration with us here today xo Lou