Romantic Secret Garden Coral Wedding with a Pole Tent - Whimsical...

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I do love a bright colour scheme and today's wonderful affair is just full of vibrancy.

Nathan and Katie were married on Saturday 16 ^th August 2014 at Whatton House & Gardens in Leicestershire. They hoped to create a day with a secret garden feel and their save the date stationery really set the tone for their celebration.

I love the pink and coral hues which were used in the fresh flowers, fun pom poms and the pretty bridesmaid frocks. Katie wore Pippa by Sassi Holford teamed with Jimmy Choo heels while Nathan was suited and booted in Reiss. What a gorgeous pair.

Emma Cleveley Photography, thank you so much for sending over these lovely photographs.

THE PROPOSAL | We had been together for 8 years before he popped the question so every holiday or weekend away had proposal written all over it for our friends and family! The moment came during a short break to New York in December 2012. We couldn't wait to get out and about after checking in to our hotel so went straight for a walk down Fifth Avenue to see the Christmas lights which were magical. We then headed for the ice rink in Central Park. Before we got there Nath stopped overlooking the rink, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was such a shock, I really wasn't expecting it and I spent the rest of the evening walking around the city in a happy daze!

THE VISION | We were both on the same page when it came to what we wanted our wedding to be. We didn't want anything too formal and instead wanted a relaxed celebration full of fun. The vision was based around a Romantic Secret Garden theme with bright corals and pinks. I found a fantastic stationer at a wedding fair; Susie Said who really helped shape the overall theme and design from our initial Save the Dates.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | As an Event Manager I was confident in the planning however organising my own wedding was a different ball game! I had stacks of magazines donated to me by friends which I waded through to create 3 mood boards. In the end we managed to incorporate elements from all 3 into the wedding which was great and meant we had a bit of everything. I spent hours researching suppliers and ideas for each area of the wedding then whittled the list down to 3 or 4 to show Nath to make final decisions together.

THE VENUE | We had a traditional ceremony in the beautiful local church followed by a reception in a stunning estate in the same village.

We researched a lot of venues for our reception but on a wet and soggy visit to Whatton House and Gardens in May we fell in love and knew it was the venue for us. The Gardens where so stunning not even the torrential rain put us off! The property and grounds had the Secret Garden feel which was so important. We visited often before the wedding as we loved spending time there, exploring the grounds and getting carried away with our plans! We hired a pole tent from Bond Marquees which looked elegant in the gardens and meant we could have an indoor/outdoor feel to the day. I also loved the exclusivity of the venue and the fact that with only one wedding planned per weekend we had days before the wedding to dress the marquee how we wanted. This was important to me as we didn't want to be restricted by a venue but instead, wanted a venue which offered us flexibility to do pretty much anything we wanted!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Pippa by Sassi Holford accompanied by a chapel veil with Swarovski crystals and a gorgeous pair of heels from Jimmy Choo. I felt amazing in my dress which combined beaded lace with pleated tulle across the bodice gathered into a tulle tail at the back. The dress was handmade in England and was perfect in every way.

FINDING THE DRESS | I visited 3 bridal rooms and had the best time picking and trying on the dresses. I always had The White Room, Sheffield on my list as they stocked so many wonderful dresses and saved the best visit till last. Georgia helped me in selecting and trying the dresses. She knew exactly what would and wouldn't work for me which made the process so relaxing and enjoyable. I got down to 2 dresses, both of which I adored but I had to make a decision! Georgia knew exactly what to do! She asked me which out of the 2 dresses I would save in a fire! A dramatic thought I know but it worked!

My something new was my Alan Hannah Jewellery which was a gift from my parents and was a lovely compliment to my dress.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Nath wore a blue 3 piece tailored suit from Reiss with brown shoes from Kurt Geiger. The Dads, best men and ushers wore navy 3 piece suits. Coral ties and pocket squares gave a nice contrast to the blues and brought the theme together nicely.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | I walked down the aisle to Canon in D, Pachelbel. In the Church we had 2 readings by my brother and bridesmaid Helen. Helen read "The One" which we loved. We had a few songs played whilst we signed the registers; The Beatles - All you need is Love, The Pogues - Love you till the end and Ed Sheeren - Thinking Out Loud.

We created a playlist for the reception and then had a live band; JC and the Two Steps from Liverpool who played 2 sets in the evening. We both love live music so it took us a long time to find the right band. We were so excited when we came across their website. They played a wide range of songs from across different styles and eras and added their own reggae/rock/funk style! They also did some awesome mash ups. Everyone commented on how brilliant they were. They were great fun, lovely lads and I would highly recommend them!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | We had three beautiful bridesmaids who wore full length coral dresses and 2 adorable flower girls who wore gorgeous pink dresses from Monsoon. My bridesmaids Helen and Sam were truly amazing, organised a fantastic hen party and made sure I was relaxed before the big day. My bridesmaid Helen lives in Canada so to make sure she didn't miss out on the planning we Skyped regularly including when we went wedding dress shopping!

THE FLOWERS | Flowers where an area I was just not confident on at all! We decided to book a meeting with Floral Deco who had lots of experience in weddings and events. Rebecca from Floral Deco was fantastic and somehow managed to take our clueless brief and deliver way beyond our expectations. We decided on long tables for the wedding breakfast and so had a mix of fuller displays in bevelled silver and glass hurricane vases and smaller displays in bobble vases. The vases where hired in along with a variety of pillar candles to give different height levels across the tables. Rebecca used a variety of stunning bright mixed florals in coral, lemon and pink.

THE CAKE | My Grandma has been making cakes for family occasions for many years so it was important to me that she helped with my cake. Because she would be travelling to the wedding we decided it would be too tricky for her to make the whole cake and transport it for 2 hours so I asked if she would make a floral display to sit on top of a 3 tier cake which was made by a friend.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We chose Emma Cleveley as our wedding photographer and were over the moon with our photos. We really liked Emma's soft and colourful style of photography which complemented the overall look we were going for. We got some great action shots with the bridesmaids, best men and ushers and had so much fun having all of the photos taken. We also had a video produced by JP Productions. James did a fantastic job capturing the day. We included a link to our video on the thank you cards so our guests could enjoy reliving the day.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We had a blank canvas with the pole tent so we had lots of thinking to do on how best to use the vast space. I wanted something different to bunting and so in the end we decided on pom poms! With help from my family and bridesmaid Sam we made over 200 pom poms which were strung together with wire ready to fluff out and hang in the tent. Making the pom poms was hard work but I wanted to make something for the wedding myself and the end result was a million times better than I'd ever expected. The colours looked fantastic especially with the flowers.

My mum started making confetti as soon as we were engaged. Petals from various flowers were tried and tested for "floatability"! The confetti was beautiful and we got some good confetti shots! My parents also made the signage and flower crates and Nath's mum made a basket full of beautiful cushions and blankets which were made good use of as the sun set!

THE HONEYMOON | We decided on a luxurious 10 night holiday in Thailand and Singapore. We stayed at 2 beautiful hotels in Koh Samui Thailand followed by a 2 night stay at the Marina Bay Sands Singapore.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | There are so many! I loved our short drive from the church to the reception venue in our wedding car (a Bentley S1) it was pure luxury! The speeches were definitely a highlight. There were lots of lovely and funny stories shared by all. Our first dance was to Ellie Goulding - How long will I love you, inspired by the film About Time. The wedding band played a version of the song which ended with a quote from the film "We're all travelling through time together, every day of our lives. All we can do is do our best to relish this remarkable ride". It was a nice moment we shared at the end of our dance. We could have danced all night to our amazing band but finished off the night with a mass sing along to Oasis - Wonderwall which was a great end to the day.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | If you want to incorporate an element of DIY to your wedding think about what you will enjoy doing yourself. I knew straight away I was staying clear of doing my own stationery... it was one of the best decisions we made to hire in the professionals in this area! Finally if planning gets too stressful, take a step back and remember why you are doing it in the first place.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Whatton House & Gardens

Catering | Maverick Outside Catering

Flowers | Floraldeco

Make Up | Bettie Lottie

Photography | Emma Cleveley Photography

Film | JP Productions

Band | JC and the Two Steps

Dress | The White Room

Tent | Bond Marquees

Decor Hire | Gemma Bond

Stationery | Susie Said