Welcome to another wonderful week and today we are starting with Elizabeth and Ben's rustic wedding in the French Countryside captured by FWS Vendor Susie Lawrence Photography.

Elizabeth and Ben wanted a totally chilled, relaxed and rustic wedding in the French countryside and that's exactly what they achieved at their beautiful venue Logis Du Paradis near Cognac. This is how Elizabeth describes how it all came together...

Bride Elizabeth: " We really wanted a relaxed, informal and sunny wedding. After going to around 20 weddings in the last couple of years, we had seen lots of different styles and decided very quickly on our vision of a rustic, relaxed wedding in France. France has a very special place in our hearts and on a practical level gave us a far better chance of good weather and is not too difficult for guests to travel to.

We trawled the internet for suitable venues and quickly found lots of fabulous, grand chateus but had to take a step back and remind ourselves of our more relaxed, rustic vision. We stumbled upon Logis Du Paradis and knew straight away that it was the front runner. We visited in the Autumn and it surpassed all of our expectations. The accommodation was so spacious and tastefully decorated and the owner, Sally Brimblecombe, is the most fantastic host. The venue offered us the space for our 100+ guests as well as providing ideal self-catering and B&B accommodation with a pool to make our wedding into the holiday we wanted. Sally, Edgar, Lucy and the team really put a lot of effort and personal touch into our day and we could not have asked for more from them. As part of our extended celebrations, they helped us arrange a meal at the local restaurant (Aux Delices du Terroir) for around 50 people. Our hosts Damien, Didier and Monique did a wonderful job. Didier also made our trio of piece montee for the wedding day. So delicious! Sally at Logis Du Paradis helped us to organise our caterers and when we visited Le Doci, we absolutely loved their food. We wanted a relaxed buffet of locally sourced food. We completely let go and trusted them to choose and cook fabulous French cuisine. The food was a surprise for us too on the wedding day and they didn't disappoint! They also came back the next day and we had a BBQ and games for all of our guests who all returned for some recovery after the celebrations! We looked at lots of photographers and we were really lucky to find Susie, whose work we loved. We wanted beautiful, natural images and were delighted with the outcome. We also have a really special video from Matthias Guerin to add to the memories. I wanted a dress without lots of structure (for the much anticipated sunny French weather!) and loved the delicate lace, low back and long train on my Ellis Bridals dress. The wonderful Carey Hawkins did my make-up and hair. She was such a calm, professional presence on the day and she created exactly the look I wanted. She also did fantastic make-up on the bridesmaids who wore Eliza & Ethan multi-way dresses. Ben had my engagement ring designed with the help of Beards Jewellers so they were a natural choice to have them design my wedding band to match. Ben's wedding ring belonged to my Dad's Bonne Papa which was very special and had his Bonne Maman and Bonne Papa's names and wedding date inscribed on the inside. Rustic wedding in the French Countryside Snapshot

Looking back, we took on a lot of wedding DIY! We designed and made all of our stationary, signage, table plan, favours and table settings. Making 100+ of everything on the table settings took quite some time but my bridesmaids worked tirelessly to help us achieve the look we wanted. It came together beautifully and was well worth the effort. We also created a website to give guests the information they needed."

Wedding Vendors

Photographer: Susie Lawrence Photography | Venue: Logis du Paradis | Catering (wedding day): local restaurant Le Doci Piece Montee & pre-wedding meal: local restaurant Aux Delices Du Terroir | Dress: Ellis Bridals from Wedding days of Cheltenham | Shoes: Rachel Simpson | Headpiece and earrings: Jules Bridal Jewellery | Bridesmaids: Eliza & Ethan | Flower girl dress: Monsoon | Groom's suit: Hugo Boss at S elfridges | Groomsmen's bow ties & braces: Melody of Cuteness | Band - Chaffeur Blues | Videographer - Matthias Guerin | Cheese "cake" - The Cheese Shed | | Bride's rings - Beards Jewellers | Make up & Hair - Carey Hawkins