Well hello lovely people, Becky here! It's been a while hasn't it? But I'm back and I'm back with an insanely gorgeous wedding for you. I'm good to you like that. This one has to be our little secret... You cannot tell our Charlotte, she will be sick with jealousy because Charlotte and Grant got married in the Dordogne (only our Charlotte's favourite place in the whole world) at Chateau Cazenac and it was divine. It lasted a week (there was canoeing and all sorts), all the guests pitched in to help and Charlotte is something of a dream. And the colour pop flowers?! Don't even get me started. Please read Charlotte's account of the day and the planning especially if you are having a destination wedding, she has some great advice for you. Oh, also, there are sparklers. Well, it is bonfire night.

Charlotte The Bride: For my dress I wanted something simple, but elegant with a vintage influence that suited the simple surroundings of the chateau (and to match the 1930s style of my engagement ring). As soon as I saw Belle & Bunty 's collection, I fell in love with their style and loved the fact it was all handmade in London. I focused my search for bridesmaid dresses on looking for light pink to match the colour theme, I also wanted something floaty and romantic at a good price (under £100) and managed to find these dresses on ASOS. The jackets are from H&M. (I am selling both the jackets and dresses if any readers are interested). In terms of flowers we had wild flowers for tables, wedding arch and side of aisles and beautiful light greens and pinks for the bouquets and bridal crown.

I love navy and light blue with cream - it always looks really crisp and summery without being too formal. We found the suits at Reiss and the shoes were from Office. I always wanted something rustic in a venue; not too fancy and it would need to accommodate our friends (the wedding party) and both families on site. The view was also really important to us too.

Colour Schemes And Getting Organised

Our colour scheme was made up of pinks and light greens, I scoured Pinterest and RMW to pull together my big idea. It needed to be romantic and rustic to fit with the surroundings and lighting was a key part of this (I pulled together a PowerPoint to ensure all my ideas and instructions were captured). We brought almost everything with us bar a few things that Abigail (the "stylist") brought with her - the fancy dress box, picture frames, wine barrels and the clocks. Unfortunately, the reality is that if you want the nice little touches you need to be prepared to bring it all yourself. We even lugged the C and G over which had initially come from the States.

The Food

One of the main motivations for having the wedding in France was the food, so we wanted to keep the menus as authentic as possible. We had canapés, champagne and lemonade on the lawn after the ceremony (overlooking the view) and for the main wedding meals we had the following:

Starters:
Boards of meats to include Bayonne ham, salami, rosette, chorizo etc. Jars of foie gras with pots of onion confit along with pots of duck rillets, Dishes of olives and pickles and bread baskets with lovely bread from le coux.

Mains:
Hog Roast
Green beans and mange tout with hazelnuts and orange , potato salad with lemon and mustard , oriental rice salad, Roasted red peppers with tomatoes, basil and feta cheese , fresh green salad with rocket and French dressing.

Dessert:
A selection of 13 local gateaux and tarts (very cost effective and the guests love them!)

Snap Happy

We were clear on the style of photography we wanted; journalistic with a vintage finish - over exposed. Wookie's style totally ticked the box. Importantly for us they made the effort to travel up from Brighton to meet us. We liked Amy straight away, she very professional but also very personable. She understood what we wanted immediately

I would also always recommend having UK photographer if great quality, styled photos are important to you. Based on my experience the extra costs to bring a UK photographer is totally worth it