Richard and Holli's Wedding in Wetherby, West Yorkshire

What sort of style did you envision for your wedding day? We didn’t want to make it too formal. We wanted everyone to feel as relaxed as possible so kept things quite simple but with a touch of elegance. I didn’t want it to become to country themed with it being in a barn so made sure the flowers and the decoration didn’t fall into that and brought out a little bit of glamour!

How did you come to choose the location and venue? It was the first and only venue we looked at. I loved that we could all stay at the venue and has access to the whole site for 2 days and the amazing courtyard! This made the wedding as all our friends and family could enjoy the run-up and be together to celebrate with us for as long as possible! The day ended up been really warm so our singer and string quartet ended up been outside in the courtyard and it was amazing. We are both very laid back so as soon as we went to look we knew it was the one so went for it!

Can you describe what type of ceremony you had and how you were able to personalise it?

Any readings? Yes, we had both our sisters do a reading each.

Vows – did you write your own vows, if so, would you be willing to share them in the feature. If you didn’t write your own vows, can you share what you said or were asked by your officiant? We didn’t write our own we stuck to the standard ceremony

Were any of your guests involved in the ceremony in any way? No, but my flower girl (my niece) decided halfway through that she wanted to come up and hold my hand so we had a little guest stand with us for a part, which was very cute!

How did you enter your wedding ceremony? (Accompanied? Together? Solo?) I walked down the aisle with my dad

What made you choose the type of ceremony that you had? We wanted it to be simple and short. It’s a lot of pressure to stand in front of everyone saying your vows, so we wanted to make sure we both felt as relaxed as possible, but not putting too much pressure on ourselves

Do please share any other thoughts or feelings that you have about your ceremony, which might help inspire others. We had an amazing string quartet who were playing at the ceremony.

Describe the cake (including the flavours) and cake topper: We had cupcakes and then just a small cake at the top! The small cake was made by Rich's mum. They love fruit cake and this was a really nice touch for her to be involved with the making of the cake! The cupcakes were made by a family friend. I didn’t want a huge cake that no one would eat, so went for cupcakes and I didn’t even manage to get one as they all got eaten that quick! We had white chocolate and lemon flavour with a few different icing designs, it was really effective and looked amazing!

What flowers did you use in the bouquet and at the venue? We opted for an all-white colour theme with touches of blush and ivory for contrast and to tie in with my dress and the bridesmaids. My bouquet was white roses, peonies and blush coloured stocks with some tiny eucalyptus, we had two amazing floral columns at the ceremony made from white lisianthus, big white roses, white peonies, green bell and white hydrangea.

How did you choose your table décor? We decide to go for half the tables decorated with an arrangement of candles which we did ourselves and the other half with big floral center pieces that where high and had floating candles to tie in with the other tables.

What was the menu for the reception? We had an informal BBQ type menu. We didn’t have starters and we increased the number of canapés. For main we had the taste surf & turf grand skewer which included, smoked rib-eye steak, Giant Szechuan king prawns and Butter grilled chicken with Chunky hand-cut chips, Classic Caesar salad and garlic and tomato herb bread. For dessert, we had sticky toffee pudding and a cheeseboard. What were your favourite moments of the day? The speeches. They were all amazing and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room!

Name your wedding soundtrack (aisle entrance & exit, reception entry, first dance songs):

Aisle Entrance: Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis Presley (played on the string quartet)

Exit: Think I Want To Marry You – Bruno Mars (played on the string quartet)

First dance: Tenerife Sea – Ed Sheeran

Any DIY décor elements? We decorated part of the ceremony room ourselves. There was a large opening which we wanted to fill so thought what’s better than flowers. My mum loves flowers so we ordered from a wholesaler and got some vases and it looked amazing! We also did half the table decorations ourselves which were simple but effective

Any sentimental personal touches? My bridesmaids were my cousins who are my best friends. We have grown up together so for their gift we got them a picture of when we were younger and framed into a lovely frame with a nice message at the bottom.

How did you save on costs? By doing some of the decoration ourselves. I have a very creative family which helps but were able to make it look like it was done by a professional by just keeping it simple and setting it all up at home until it looked perfect!

In hindsight, anything you would have done differently? Absolutely nothing Where did you go on a honeymoon? Mexico – we spend the first week on our own and then family and friends came to join us for the second week to extend the celebrations!

Any tips that you can give to future brides? Don’t overthink it! The little things that you stress about are not worth the stress! It was all work out perfectly

If you could sum up your wedding in one sentence, how would you describe it? Best day of our lives!