Did you ever see happier newly-weds? No I thought not ;-)

Richard and Michelle tied the knot on the 24th May 2014, holding their reception in the most beautiful barn. They hoped to achieve an English country rustic wedding which they certainly did.

They decorated the barn oh so wonderfully, with some fab DIY touches. I just love all of the crates, flowers and fairy lights. The bride and groom looked utterly sophisticated, with Michelle in lace and Richard in blue.

Thanks so very much to the fabulous Sophie Duckworth for sharing her photographs today.

THE PROPOSAL | Richard proposed on Christmas day 2012 at Michelle's Dads house. Michelle thought she had received the new sofa she had been after for a while but Richard surprised her with another present (the real present). Richard had carefully put together a handmade picture book of their lives, from their first picture together to a picture of him getting her Dads permission. With the last picture Richard asked Michelle to marry him with her family with her.

THE VISION | We wanted an English county wedding that fit with the amazing barn we were using. We wanted it to be country, rustic but with some of our character incorporated.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We started planning on Boxing Day after the proposal! We knew the theme we wanted but had to find a venue to match. We had already discussed wanting a church wedding and wanted to use the church where Michelle's parents were married. After choosing the venue and church we then looked for a photographer and videographer. We knew we wanted the barn and outside to be full of decorations that were personal to use so we started buying the little bits and pieces.

BUDGET | We gave ourselves a budget of 15k.

THE VENUE | The venue was on a friends Uncles farm and we fell in love with it as soon as we saw it. It was a blank canvas and allowed us the room to be creative and add our personal touches which other venues would not.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | The dress was purchased from Proposals in Crawley.

FINDING THE DRESS| Michelle visited a few wedding dress shops before falling for her chosen dress, though she did have a few tears when placing the deposit (no more wedding dress shopping!)

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Our theme was always going to include a royal blue suit, many hire places did not have this colour so we purchased the suit from Next, which ended up being so perfect we brought them all for the groom party as well!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS |The bridesmaids were Maria (chief bridesmaid and sister to Michelle), Samantha (Richard sister) Tammy (childhood friend) Rachel (school friend).

THE FLOWERS | The beautiful flowers supplied by Willows in Reigate, Surrey.

THE CAKE | The amazing cake was made by a friend.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Sophie Duckworth photography. I loved how relaxed Sophie was and how she didn't push and prod us into poses. Richard and I were so happy she didn't make us stand around for ages like some photographers, it was just so relaxed, letting us enjoy the whole day as well as getting great photos. The photos are just amazing and we love 'em!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR |We used a company to dress the chairs and cover the carpet on the main stage. The main décor and details were added by us.

We collected Jams jars, circled with lace and string to put the flowers in on the tables, we arranged the flowers ourselves.

Richard built lots wooden crates to stamp our initials and date on, they were used to plant flowers inside and out which we arranged and planted ourselves. These were used at the church and for our centre pieces.

The lighting was mainly added by battery powered fairy lights, we strung several across the length of the barn to add a starry canopy, and fairy lights were used so not to take the natural look away from the barn.

The back drop at the head table was made from ribbon tied to a piece of sting suspended at head level. The colours transcended from dark yellow to pale yellow.

We used made our own bars outside buy purchasing barrels and sourcing some plain wood from local suppliers. We added hessian to the bars to hide the pumps and give it a more country feel.

The marquee and gazebo used were our own, and added outside to allow more space in the barn itself. The gazebo was used for welcome drinks and the marquee was used as the bar (and shelter for when it rained!)

The wood on the tables once again was sourced from local suppliers where Richard had to climb a mountain of wood to find suitable planks! Then cut into size!

We made our own bar sign by buying some MDF cutting the letters out and drilling holes for the fairy lights to fit.

The small bits and pieces such as candles, lanterns, bottles etc were purchased slowly over the planning period.

THE HONEYMOON | Mexico! We stayed at the Secrets Maroma Beach Resort, beautiful and relaxing!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | After the church we decided to have some alone time and headed home for a picture in the garden and with the cats!

When we arrived at the venue the rain was pouring down, all of our guests were huddled under the marquee, but all we heard was laughter, after getting a loud cheer we joined them! Half an hour later the sun came out and everyone ran outside! The sun then decided to stay and was beautiful!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Work with the venue you have, high light the features of the venue, we wanted an English country wedding but this would not have worked as well at a hotel venue.

Try and do the decorations yourself if you have the time, it feels more personal and you will get more of your character coming through.

Spread the costs by buying things weekly.

The more organised and planned you are the less last minute things you will have to buy or do heading towards the day! You want to remember and enjoy the day so the less stress the better!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Videographer | Gorgeous Film

Photographer | Sophie Duckworth

Caterers | The Plough Leigh

Flowers | Willows in Reigate, Surrey

Wow that barn looked amazing and that cake!

Thanks so so much to Richard and Michelle for sharing their beautiful wedding with us here at WWW XOXO Lou