Katie and Lewis married on the 8 ^th August 2014 choosing to hold their day at Quex Park, with the most beautiful outdoor ceremony. I love how the whole family came together to help create the perfect day for this lovely couple.

There were so many delicious pastel florals, from the bouquets to the flowers on the tables they looked so very pretty.

Katie was positively glowing in her tulle Lusan Mandongus gown, while Lewis went for a traditional suit which looked handsome.

Thanks so much to the fabulous Rebecca Douglas for sharing her photographs with us.

THE PROPOSAL | Lewis planned a trip to London under the pretence that he wanted to use his new camera and take some city shots. He said that he would organise everything and that whilst we were there that we would go to the top of the Shard to take some pictures of the view. We had a lovely day touring London before visiting the Shard itself. We stopped for coffee in a café next to the Shard but Lewis didn't seem himself and hardly touched his coffee. (I guess I know why now!)

We had to go through the security at the entrance to the Shard and whereas I passed straight through, Lewis held back a bit. He has since told me that he had put the ring box in his pocket whilst on the café loo and was then asked to empty his pockets in order to go through the metal detectors. Without me seeing, he had to do a swift pocket to bag ring manoeuvre! After a little look around at the sights from the top of the building I was standing looking out of one of the windows when a ring box appeared around my shoulder. Lots of people noticed what was happening. I think I phoned my mum before even actually giving Lewis a proper YES!

THE VISION | I have known for a long time how I wanted my day to look and luckily, Lewis had the same ideas as me. We both wanted a relaxed country garden feel but with all of the traditional elements that make weddings special. We wanted a mixed colour palette of summery pastel colours and details that reflected us as a couple.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | On the day we came back from London I bought wedding magazines and opened a pintrest account! I wrote down all of our ideas in a little book and started to pull out ideas from the magazines. After booking our venue, the first thing we sorted was our car hire. We both love VW campers and were really excited to find VW Brides online. Their cream coloured camper was perfect and we booked them straight away.

The whole process of planning took over a year, we were still making decisions and alterations right up until the week of the wedding. I found that I had so many ideas that it was almost too difficult to settle on them. If I didn't have Lewis to organise my thoughts I think I could have got very carried away!

THE VENUE | We hired the beautiful Quex Park in Birchington. It is only 5 minutes from where we live and was accessible for all of our friends and family. We visited the house and gardens and fell in love with their outside space for getting married. We booked an outdoor ceremony in their new gazebo and planned to have our photos in the walled garden and greenhouses.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I got my Lusan Mandongus gown from Teokath in Canterbury. My shoes were Rainbow Club and they were called Nigella and my hair slide was from Debenhams. I was incredibly lucky to have been given a Tiffany pearl necklace from my parents and a Tiffany pearl bracelet from Lewis to wear on the day.

FINDING THE DRESS | I visited two shops in Canterbury and tried a variety of dresses on in each. I found two that I liked, one in each shop. I decided to spend a little more time looking through the rails in Teokath and I finally found Deandra. The moment I put the dress on I fell in love with it. It fitted my theme perfectly and added a whimsical quality to the look that I was going for. The details on the dress were so beautiful and I lived the layers of lace and net. Every time I looked at the dress I noticed something new.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Lewis and his groomsmen wore slate grey tail coats and cream waistcoats. The groom, bestman and two little pageboys, Samuel and Morgan had dusky pink ties and the groomsmen has sage green ties.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Music was a big part of the day for us and we wanted to be a little different in our choices. Lewis suggested an excellent acoustic guitar player for playing during the drinks reception. A local lad, Jack Bowden agreed to play for us and what a great decision that was. His live music set the tone beautifully and all of our guests loved listening to him. We also wanted to have specific songs played during our service and these were not traditional choices in any way.

We had heard Christina Perri's 1000 years just after we got engaged and it was perfect. We decided that it had to be my aisle music. We then made a CD with our favourite tracks for the signing of the register, these included Jason Mraz, George Ezra, Jack Johnson, Ben Howard, Newton Faulkner and Jamie Cullum. We then finished the service by walking back down the aisle together to Hey Ho by the Lumineers.

The readings were read by one of my best friends Lucy and my brother in law Mark. Lucy read an extract from Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Mark read a passage called A Soul Mate that I found on the internet.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My bridesmaids were my big sister Lindsay and my two best friends Lucy and Amy. They wore dresses from Debenhams. My flower girls were my niece Lily and Lewis' niece Ellie-Mae.

THE FLOWERS | This was a really easy decision to make, Emma Campbell of Westgate was an obvious choice. We have known Emma for many years and she has provided flowers for many of our family events, including my sister's wedding.

The flowers were the one thing that I did not have complete control over. I took my cut out pictures and colour schemes to Emma and asked her to do something amazing with it all! I had no idea what my bouquet would look like ... I just knew I wanted peonies and astillbe!

I was overwhelmed with what she produced and she even tied my Great Nan's engagement ring into the centre of the bouquet.

She also dressed the gazebo with hydrangeas and brought along lots of extra plants to fill the venue.

THE CAKE | My granddad made the wedding cake. He has made all of our family wedding cakes, including his own! It was three tiers of royal icing covered fruit cake made to a very old recipe. He is a master cake maker and decorator and the icing detail included his signature piping detail on each tier. He dressed the cake with tiny pink roses and traditional silver slippers, one of which had been used on my mum and dad's wedding cake.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | The superb Rebecca Douglas. We actually picked our wedding date to ensure we had our amazing photographer. The venue we wanted had spaces on the Friday and Saturday but Rebecca was already booked for the Saturday! I have known Becky since we were at secondary school and I consider her to be one of my closest friends. To be able to entrust one of the biggest parts of your day to your best friends was a real pleasure and took a great deal of pressure off. On the day she was able to keep my calm and made the whole day very amusing and enjoyable. One of my best memories from the day was watching Becky wipe tears away from behind her camera during the ceremony.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We wanted our wedding to have a handmade feel to it. We started by making our own button holes out of paper flowers and wooden buttons in the centre. We added magnets so as not to ruin our guests clothes with pins.

One of my biggest concerns was having lots of flowers. I wanted them everywhere! Emma created stunning areas of flowers all over the place. Our centre pieces and favours were watering cans and buckets. This fitted our country garden style them perfectly. We filled the little cans with sherbet lemons and added different colour ribbons to each can.

We accessorised the tables with jam jars with hessian, lace and button details that we had made ourselves. We also strung pastel coloured bunting across the front of the buffet, top, cake and candy bar tables.

Lewis' dad made little wooden place card blocks and my dad engraved them with our names and the date of the wedding. We also made all of our napkin rings with matching ribbon and wooden buttons.

Lewis' dad had made a beautiful wishing well for Lewis' brother's wedding a few years earlier and he had it repainted for our wedding. Lewis' mum decorated it with flowers to match our colours and we handmade bunting to string around it.

We also made a Mr and Mrs sign for behind the top table.

THE HONEYMOON | Komandoo Isalnd Resort and Spa in the Maldives

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Oh so many!

My mum helping my to get dressed. My dad walking into the lounge and seeing me in my dress for the first time. Getting my heel stuck in the metal grate on the way into the venue.. it was well and truly stuck for a minute! Seeing the inside of the wedding breakfast room and noticing my granddad's cake. Hearing the music start and seeing the four little ones walking ever so slowly towards the gazebo. Seeing the beautiful flower arch with my husband to be waiting for me. Saying our vows. The speeches! So amazing to hear people saying such wonderful things about us. Pictures with Becky in the hottest greenhouse ever! Cutting the cake. Our first dance. Watching the fireworks (a gift form my parents) with all of our guests.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | If you want something and you can afford it, have it!

Surround yourself with vendors you get a good feeling from, they can make or break your day.

Get a fantastic photographer, Becky caught every moment from the beginning to the end, she saw things that we missed but can now look back on.

Make as much of it as you can yourself, you will be so proud afterwards

Prepare for how you feel once the wedding is over. I found this very difficult indeed.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Dress Shop | Teokath

Camper | VW Brides

Photography | Rebecca Douglas

Venue | Quex Park

Suit | Slaters

Chair Ties | Thanetian Wedding and Events

Flowers | Emma Campbell Florist

DJ | Simon Pridmore Floorfillerz

Ohh I love those smoky portraits and the fireworks looked amazing.

Katie and Lewis thank you both so much for sharing your story today XOXO Lou