The wedding of my dreams

Like most little girls, I dreamed of my perfect wedding day as I was growing up. I flitted between ideas of castles, stately homes, summer and winter weddings, big cinderella dresses and sleek gowns. I always knew that I wanted my wedding to be a grand affair, requiring meticulous planning with no stone left unturned. Luckily, I am a very organised person, so planning my dream day came easy to me, and I enjoyed many happy hours planning the tiny details that would make my wedding stand out!

Firstly, fashion and beauty. I have always had a very clear picture in my head of my dream wedding gown: strapless, covered in crystals and sparkle, with a massive full cinderella style skirt. When it came to it, I ended up preferring slightly less dramatic skirts - in terms of fullness that is. I must have tried on a good 30 gowns, however, like the old saying goes, when its the one you just know! My chosen gown was the 'Rowena' by the award winning designer Maggie Sottero. It was indeed strapless, covered in crystals with pleating and a caught up skirt that artfully draped and swished - it really was my perfect princess dress, and fit my venue perfectly. I wanted my shoes to be equally as dramatic and princess-like, and went for the super-sparkly 'Spyra' sandal from Moda in Pelle.

Like with my dress, I had a very fixed idea about my makeup. I love makeup and creating new looks but I also wanted the luxury and stress free option of a make up artist on my wedding day. I was very lucky as I found a fantastic make up artist called Emily Rose who understood my vision perfectly. I don't really do the 'natural' look even on a day to day basis, so I definitely did not want to go down this road on the biggest day of my life! I wanted flawless skin, defined cheekbones, dramatic smoky eyes, big eyelashes and glossy lips! In terms of hair, again, I have always had a very fixed idea about how I wanted to look - none of this soft curls and waves, I wanted a proper bridal up-do, high up on the head and dramatic! I have always been told I have good cheek bones and can carry off this look so I felt quite confident about picking this style. To get the dramatic style I craved, my hair stylist used some hair extensions which I loved. Finally, I completed my look with a dramatic cathedral length tiara and beautiful sparkly tiara.

This shot shows off a bit of my make up and hairstyle. My veil is still on but I removed the tiara after the pictures were taken. How cute is our magician?? (A pupil from my school and very talented : )

Lastly, our wedding venue, style and a confession. I bought EVERY single wedding magazine on the market during our one year engagement. I dread to think how much I spent on magazines alone (The majority retail at £4.99 or thereabouts). I just loved looking at all the different decorations, themes, styling ideas and DIY ideas. I was determined to emulate the beautiful weddings I saw in these magazines, and to make every little detail count (I even wanted bride and groom loo roll but hubby said no!)

Boys Hall, our beautiful wedding venue

We chose the beautiful 17th century stately home Boys Hall as our venue: the most expensive place we looked at but one we simply fell in love with. Both of us adore antiques and historic houses, and we really wanted a building that had original details and a story to tell. Our venue was everything we had ever dreamed of: breath taking, luxurious and original. We were very lucky to have a gorgeous sunny day, so our guests were able to enjoy drinks and canapes on the lawn, and mingle outside in the sunshine. In keeping with this look, I styled the venue in a shabby chic style, spending hours designing table plans, purchasing bunting, antique jars for our candy bar, bird cages for the centrepieces, antique tea cups, saucers and cake plates... so much fun! I loved the overall look and would not change one single thing!

My wedding day really was the best day of my life and made all the hard work and expense worth it! Hope you enjoy the pics and thank you for all your lovely comments, I really love reading them xoxo