I met my other half Jack when I was 20 and he was 17, Jack had just passed his driving test and picked his friend up from a party that I was also at. After a few months of dates out and movie nights with Pizza, Jack asked me to be his girlfriend and nearly 10 years later I am now his wife.

In 2017 we went on a 2 week holiday to California. After visiting Yosemite with all the amazing scenery, Napa Valley walking through the beautiful Vineyards and cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge. Our next stop was Monterey which was the chilled beach part of the trip. Jack had suggested that one evening we go to a town called Carmel because it is known for having such an amazing sunset, so we took our bottle of wine we brought in Napa Valley and sat on a little bench watching this spectacular sunset. When this holiday couldn’t have got much better Jack got down on one knee and made all my dreams come true.

From being a bridesmaid 6 times, I had a pretty good idea what I wanted for our big day. We decided to have a November wedding so had just over a year to plan the big day. We both love autumn/winter colours and summer is already such a busy time for us, we wanted to separate our wedding from it. Being in November, we knew there would be a chance of rain and boy did it, but it didn’t dampen our day one bit.

We got married at St Stephen’s church in Baughurst, it is such a beautiful church and my grandparents had also got married there, so it held a very special place in my heart. It was a perfect size for the amount of guests and we even managed to fit a whole brass band in who played all the music for the ceremony.

When choosing a reception venue we didn’t have lots of viewings because we both had already discussed one venue we really liked which was Pitt Hall Barn in Ramsdal, and after one meeting, it was booked! The venue and staff couldn’t have been more perfect for what we wanted. The barn was pretty enough to not need anything doing to it but also gave you the opportunity to make it your own.

After feeling very disheartened from the two bridal shops I had already been to, because I didn’t find my dream dress, I emailed Emma at Boo - and even before I met her I could tell she was more warming than the other places I had been to. On my first visit I explained to Emma what I had in mind and what I liked and disliked about the dresses as I tried them on, when we got to the last dress Emma said to me “I have a dress coming in next week and I think you should come back to try it on”. Mum and I went back a week later and that’s when I met Millie. Wow what a dress! It was everything I wanted and more, I finally got that moment when I walked out of the dressing room and my mum gave me “that look”. This was going to be my wedding dress. I can’t thank Emma enough for knowing what I wanted and how comfortable she made me feel. On my second visit I took in my mums veil which I really wanted to wear, my parents have been married 41 years and it felt nice to wear something my mum had on their wedding day. Emma happily looked after it and revamped it for me and it went perfectly with my dress. I honestly had such a great experience from start to finish at Boo Bridal and would recommend to anyone so they can have the same experience I did.

Finding other suppliers went surprisingly quite smoothly for us. The fabulous catering company already worked alongside Pitt Hall barn but also do work outside too, their food is incredible! All of our guests commented on how amazing it all tasted and they were so accommodating.

I had seen some photos of a friend’s wedding on Facebook and loved what the photographer Chris Kemp had done, I contacted him straight away and asked if he likes doing winter weddings which he replied, he gets some of the best photos in the rain. Chris mixed in with the guests and made everyone feel comfortable in front of the camera, we didn’t want lots of staged pictures and just for him to capture the day as it went which he did perfectly.

We decided we wanted a live band for the evening entertainment so after weeks of watching online videos of bands we finally came across City sounds from Entertainment Nation. They happily learnt our first dance and sent us their set list which they were happy to make other suggestions if there was a song we weren’t keen on. The dancefloor was never empty from the minute they started playing. The band fitted in like part of the wedding and everyone had such a great time.

My flowers were done by precious thymes in Baughurst. The florist was amazing and really knew her stuff! I knew I wanted big and lots of them but the florist did the rest, she got me ideas of flowers for that time of year and what would look great with what. My bouquet was incredible! I decided to make our centrepieces myself which took months of prototypes but for the day our florist ordered in all the flowers and the day before our amazing family and friends helped us to set up the venue.

We had a friend who Jack worked with make our wedding cake which tasted great and there was none left over so it obviously went down well.

Another friend who is starting up her own business (Twaddle & Fodd) did some calligraphy on chalk boards and created an amazing pallet with our order of the day on it, she is very talented!

My best friend and maid of honour didn’t just help with the whole planning process and be there whenever I needed her, she is also a hair stylist and the only person who has done my hair since we were 18. She knew exactly what would suit me and look great with my dress.

My makeup was done by a college friend that I got back in contact with as I had seen the lovely work she had done on her social media page.

Our colour theme was burgundy, navy and gold so I spent a lot of summer days out in the garden spray painting anything I thought would look great to set the scene in the barn. Baskets, photo frames, glass charm place names, you name it! My dad also found us an old whiskey barrel which he made into our post box. We had Jacks dad cutting us logs all different sizes to use as decorations around the barn, mums were on collection duty of bits like blankets, umbrellas, toiletry box etc, friends searching for certain chocolates when they were on offer. Everyone played their part and spreadsheets really helped us keep on track. We were so lucky to have family and friends who were keen to help through the planning and setting up the day before.

Having a big wedding with all the trimmings doesn’t come cheap but you can definitely cut the cost by doing some bits yourself.

I loved planning our wedding, sure there were times when it doesn’t all go smoothly but I wouldn’t say at any point It was stressful. For someone who suffers with anxiety and is a slight control freak, I was the coolest cucumber on the morning of the wedding, to the point where when mum chipped her nail varnish 20 minutes before going out the door, I’m stood there in my wedding dress touching them up.

What did I have to worry about? I knew I was finally going to be marrying the man I had loved for 9 years and will continue to love more each day, that’s all that mattered to me. All this planning and making sure every centrepiece was perfect - but when I woke up on the day of our wedding, all I wanted was to marry Jack and finally be his wife. I have so many amazing memories from the day but two that stick out to me are my dad giving that look before walking me down the aisle and me just saying “lets do this” and Jack turning around to see me for the first time.

As a bride and groom you don’t get much time alone on your wedding day, in the evening we went outside with an umbrella because the rain still hadn’t stopped and we just stood there chatting and had a moment to ourselves. Everyone says this is an important bit of advice and I’m glad we took it, we also had our favourite photo taken at that point. Another piece of advice I could give to a bride to be would be take a second to look around the room, take in everyone else enjoying themselves. I took those few seconds to just watched our guests having fun, it meant so much to us to have all our loved ones in one place and that is a picture that will stick with me for a lifetime. My final bit of advice for a bride to be is enjoy every minute and don’t let the nerves or tears get the better of you, when you say “I DO” say it loud enough for everyone to hear.

My wedding was the most amazing day of my life, a day I will remember forever.