This afternoon we are going all city chic.

Heather and Ian married on the 25th May 2014, holding their whole day at various Liverpool venues. They even had a bus tour and home made picnic in between their ceremony and reception which sounded brilliant.

Heather was a super elegant bride in her lace Justin Alexander dress, Rachel Simpson shoes and vintage veil. Ian looked very dapper with a Calvin Klein suit and tan shoes while the bridesmaids wore Ted Baker.

They DIY'd much of their décor, from the pretty paper goods to the centrepieces. Oh so lovely.

Thanks goes to Amy Faith Photography for providing the wonderful images.

THE PROPOSAL | Heather arrived home very late following a hiking expedition in Yorkshire... covered in mud! When she walked in the door, there were candles everywhere, Ian was in a suit and hundreds of cards, letters and photos covered the walls from the years of our relationship. Following an emotional yes, Heather made an epic 7 minute change into a dress to make the booking at our favourite restaurant. On the way home, Heather talked about how she couldn't wait to tell her family, but that it seemed weird to do it on the phone. Little did she know that they were all at our house, waiting for us, sat in the dark, ready for a fab surprise engagement party! A brilliant night.

THE VISION | A celebration of the beautiful city of Liverpool, a city which we have called home for the last 5 years, with really personal touches. Lots of DIY, including the 'Save the Date', 'Invite' and 'Thank you' cards, as well as menus and order of service. Ian even made a picnic for the guests the day before, which involved a military operation with lots of help from friends! We also wanted to be able to include our friends and our family equally in the day, hence all starting at the ceremony together - friends then hopped on the bus for a home-made picnic, whereas family all headed down to a restaurant on overlooking the Liverpool skyline for canapés and drinks. The two converged as the family saw our bus pulling up below them, following the tour of the city, where friends proceeded to lay out picnic blankets and munch away on Ian's handmade goodies and mini bottles of champagne, whilst family looked on and cheered us from the balcony. Later, friends and family once again came together at the ceremony.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | A relatively short engagement (we were engaged on 28 ^th September 2013). The venues were really important to us, so this was the first thing we sorted and we worked from there. I dreamt of being married at the Concert Room in St George's hall, and despite there already being a wedding on that day, we managed to squeeze ours in too at midday. This meant some creative planning, as we didn't want to be at the reception venue too early. It was then that we had the idea of the bus tour of Liverpool with the home-made picnic. It was then onto the reception, a beautiful venue, looking onto the Liver buildings. With this structure of the day in place, we then were able to fill in the gaps with all the little details that were important to us.

BUDGET | £10,000, which was tight considering we had 120 guests for the entire day, but we just about managed it! We always wanted to pay for the wedding ourselves and so we're very proud to say that we did this.

THE VENUE | The Concert Room, St George's hall (ceremony), Matou, Pier Head (family- canapes), RM buses (friends- picnic), Ohmeohmy, The Strand (reception), Hotel Indigo (hotel for accommodation).

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Justin Alexander dress, Rachel Simpson, Mimosa shoes, Vintage lace veil, Vintage headpiece and earrings, Bracelet from family.

FINDING THE DRESS | I was very clear about what I wanted for a wedding dress - I knew that I wanted something form fitting with a high neck and as much as people tried to encourage me otherwise, I knew that this was a style that suits me in day-to-day life and therefore was what I would feel comfortable in on the day. After days of looking with my bridesmaids and my mum, I found my dress in a shop just around the corner from my house! It was so handy for fittings, especially as I had a few alterations.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Ian's suit was Calvin Klein, which he wore with a waistcoat, skinny tie and brown shoes. We chose his outfit together and I loved being part of it.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We had two readings, from Ian's godmother, who has played a big part in his life and my brother and his girlfriend. The readings were 'Apache Wedding Blessing' and an adaptation of John Cooper Clarke's poem, 'I Wanna Be Yours'. A string quartet played in the ceremony and a brilliant band, The Alley Cats, played at the reception.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I found it really hard to choose bridesmaids, as I would have loved to have 7 or 8 of my best girlfriends to be a part of it, however we had always planned to keep the wedding very simple and in my head, I had planned to have no bridesmaids at all! In the end, I asked my two oldest friends, who are like sisters to me, as I knew that they would be no-nonsense, no fuss and would always be honest with me. The girls looked absolutely gorgeous in Ted Baker dresses, which were the same, but they wore totally differently. We then had an extended bridal party, where lots of our other close friends and family helped out... the day would not have happened without them!

THE FLOWERS | The flowers in the bouquets were cream roses, peonies, mint, rosemary and gypsophila. At the ceremony, we had cream hydrangeas and at the reception, bunches of gypsophila and bunches of hydrangeas. We wanted to keep the flowers simple and by doing lots of the sourcing and vessels ourselves, we only spent around £300 on the flowers for the whole day, which really helped is out. Jenny at Fantasy weddings was fantastic, as was Charlotte at Verity and Thyme.

THE CAKE | We had two cakes from The Cheese shed and Laura's Little Bakery.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Our photographer was Amy Faith. We were looking for someone who would be document the day in a way that was stylish yet relaxed. She produced some amazing images, which really captured the spirit and atmosphere of the day, without feeling as though there was any intrusion to the enjoyment for us and all of our guests. In the meetings leading up to the wedding, it was clear that she understood our vision for the day and how much we just wanted our guests to feel relaxed and enjoy the moment, rather than feel posed. She was a pleasure to have at the wedding and felt like a friend and a guest, as well as a photographer.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We had a pale mint colour as our theme, alongside a pretty, vintage element to the day. We made a lot of the items ourselves - all of the stationery, place cards, centrepieces etc. We also branded the day with our Heather and Ian stamp, which was such a bargain for the amount we used it! Another great detail was having a polaroid camera, which we used with the guest book, to take some more fun, relaxed photos. However there were some parts where we used local suppliers - such as Charlotte at Verity and Thyme who made our fantastic table plan.

THE HONEYMOON | We went to Morocco for 4 days, which was fantastic. Such a gorgeous, colourful, exciting and romantic country. We are also hoping the next two years will be a very extended honeymoon, as we are moving to Singapore on Sunday!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | The whole city was cornered off due to a Rock and Roll marathon and half marathon. Guests were delayed, the picnics nearly didn't arrive and the bus had to take a new route... but, despite our fears, the day still ran really smoothly and actually meant that the city was much quieter than usual.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Plan, plan, plan but then on the day make sure that you don't have anything to worry about. Everything should be delegated out so that you can just watch the day unfold before you.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Ceremony Venue | St George's Hall

Venue | Matou

Reception Venue | OH ME OH MY

Dress Shop | The Bridal Path

Cheese Cake | The Cheese Shed

Cake | Laura's Little Bakery

Bus | RM Buses

Flowers | Verity and Thyme

Photography | Amy Faith Photography

Flowers | Fantasy Florists

How amazing. I so love the cake and those blooms!

Thanks so so much to Heather and Ian for sharing their wedding story with us here at WWW XOXO Lou