Good morning lovelies. I hope you had a wonderful weekend, let's get the week off to a bang with this gorgeous celebration shall we?

WWW readers Dave and Anna's Autumnal wedding is a feast for the eyes. All cosy character filled with rich tones and mismatched décor. Lovely.

They chose to hold their day at Butley Priory in Suffolk, which really set the tone and gave them the option to spend 2 nights in the venue. I love the idea of the bell tent as a children's den and the gorgeous seasonal blooms arranged and organised by Anna's mum.

Anna wore a beautiful lace gown called Bronwyn by Maggie Sottero while Dave went for a blue suit with knitted tie and check shirt. So much style.

Thanks so much to Olliver Photography for sharing these wonderful photographs today.

THE PROPOSAL | In September of 2012 we went on holiday to Italy, working our way down from Venice to Tuscany. Mid-way through the trip we were staying at Castello Vicchiomaggio near Greve in Chianti. It was a fantastic stay in this castle/working vineyard and on our last day staying there Dave packed a picnic and we found a quiet spot in the middle of the vines. He proposed to me there with a diamond ring that belongs to my Grandmother (she got it when she was 21!) He knew I was too much of a control freak to not get to pick my own ring so he had arranged to get this ring in secret to propose with before taking me to Florence the next day to pick my ring from one of the many jewellers on the Ponte Vecchio (the bridge famous in Florence, specialising in jewellery). All in all, it couldn't have been more perfect!

THE VISION | We really wanted an intimate venue with exclusivity being the most important thing for us and somewhere with lots of character. We were both set on a vintage countryside feel and were both very keen to keep the day relaxed and keep the numbers small with just close very family and friends for the ceremony. We didn't have a specific colour scheme and wanted to be able to mix and match within a fairly loose vintagey theme. We did have some colours come through in the ties and flowers (red wine/burgundy colouring) but not too matchy! We started collecting lovely bottles and jars early on to form a major part of the table centrepieces that would hold flowers in a laid back style.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We didn't want to wait years from engagement to marriage so once we'd set a date had only 10 months to plan the day. We were fairly organised and made lists of the most critical things to achieve and by when and stuck to it closely enough to not go too crazy! For us, once we'd chosen the venue - everything seemed to fall into place and decisions seemed quite easy. We also had the support of Amy who was the wedding planner at our venue. Amy had all of the local contacts and lots of advice which proved invaluable.

BUDGET | We originally toyed with the idea of getting married somewhere in Europe thinking we could work to a smaller budget, but after some initial investigation we felt there wasn't enough of a price difference between getting married abroad with close friends and family plus party when we returned vs. a ceremony and wedding reception at one place in the UK so therefore quite quickly ruled this idea out and started researching venues. At the beginning, we gave ourselves a budget which in hindsight was far too low. I think our wedding day eventually came to around £13,000 but was perfect!!

THE VENUE | We spent huge amounts of time scouring the internet for perfect venues and eventually narrowed it down to 3 that we decided to visit. This was because we knew the more venues we saw, the more difficult the final decision would be. Butley Priory, Nr Woodbridge in Suffolk was the second venue we visited and we fell in love with it, we arrived for our appointment and were taken through to the drawing room where the fire was on and a pot of tea was waiting for us. We had pretty much made our minds up already! The venue had all of the character we wanted (and more) plus a fantastic history, accommodation and total privacy. The area was lovely, and familiar to me as my family used to spend time on holiday in this area so was particularly close to my heart. Amy, the venue's planner talked us through the set up for weddings, gave us some local supplier details, info on nominated catering companies and showed us around the venue and the bedrooms available for up to 16 people on the night of the wedding. We loved the venue so much that we pencilled in a date before leaving with a promise to confirm within the next few days. We booked later the next day for the 5 ^th October with the exclusive use of the venue from the day before (so we had time to set up, plus 2 nights stay at the priory). In the lead up to our wedding Amy worked with us to source the wine we wanted on the table as we were keen to have a good Chianti Classico (as that's what we'd been drinking when Dave proposed)!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Dress: Maggie Sottero - Bronwyn (Ivory over Light Gold). Shoes: Vivienne Westwood Melissa Lady Dragon Bow Shoes. Earrings: Etsy.

FINDING THE DRESS | I knew I wanted something with lace in a style that would cover my shoulders but tried to keep an open mind as so many people had said to me "you'll probably choose something you never imagined - try on everything"... I did this but really knew the style I wanted and fell in love with my dress at the first dress shop! I was at Pure Bridal in Norwich with my Mum and had my heart set on the Maggie Sottero - Bronwyn (Ivory over Light Gold). I made a note of it but didn't commit at this stage - I had 2 more appointments, one later that day and another the following weekend with my best friends (minus one who couldn't come as she went into labour that day with twins)!! The other appointments went well but I didn't feel as good as I had done in "my dress"! I went up to visit Mum as soon as I could so that I could go back and see the dress again (this time with my friend Emma for a second opinion) and when I did I was 100% sure it was what I wanted so we ordered it that day. By this point, had already bought my bright green Vivienne Westwood Melissa Lady Dragon Bow Shoes to add a bit of hidden crazy to the outfit!

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Dave decided he wanted a less formal looking suit (definitely no tails) and was set on blue. After online searches and visiting numerous fashion and suit shops for ideas we purchased Dave and my Dad's suits from TM Lewin. The suits were unfinished in length so weren't just off the shelf, meaning they fit perfectly on the day. Shirts and knitted ties were also from TM Lewin. Their shoes were tan brogue style Barker shoes bought in John Lewis which still get frequent use over a year on so were well worth the money. Dave's cufflinks were by 'Ellie Ellie' and were old sixpences dated 1947, the year of his Dad's birth who passed away early on in our relationship.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We hired Nick Raison, a local pianist who plays music from the Ragtime era which suited our look and feel of the venue on the day very well. He played me in to a more modern tune: Christina Perri - A Thousand Years.

We had two readings during the ceremony, one conducted by Dave's 11 year old son, Nathan, called A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton... it was moving and so well practised, we were all blown away. The second reading was read by my Sister, Emily, and was an extract from Captain Corelli's Mandolin called Love is a Temporary Madness, she did a wonderful job and the emotion of the words really came through.

During the signing of the register Nick played Elton John - Your Song and then played us all out to Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World. He continued to play through the early afternoon until we sat down to eat, when we moved to a Spotify Playlist we had made full of our favourite songs from many different genres.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I decided against having bridesmaids for several reasons; I couldn't pick between my 3 best friends and my sister and felt that the venue was too small to have all 4, plus, both Dave and I agreed we wanted a fairly relaxed, informal day rather than too much stiff traditional stuff! My sister was effectively my maid of honour (although never officially given the title)!

THE FLOWERS | My Mum was our florist for the day and really made our country wild-flower theme perfect. The flowers looked so amazing on the day; they were one of my most favourite bits! Mum and I had researched flower names and whether they would be available in October and been to florists to practise in the months leading up to the wedding. After her careful planning and maths based on stems per bottle, jar or vase - on the Friday morning she went to go and select the flowers from the man on Norwich flower market that she'd discussed the wedding with on several occasions.

Although not booking with a florist sounds risky, the result was so amazing for much less money than a florist would have charged for the flowers. We had berries, Dahlias, thistles, eucalyptus, scabious, astrantia and more. My bouquet was loose and relaxed - I didn't want a stiff bouquet as I didn't feel it would suit the theme. Mum also made Sam, Dave's 'Best Woman' a bouquet plus Dad, Nathan and Dave's button holes.

THE CAKE | We decided against a traditional layered wedding cake and opted for DIY cakes - my Mum and Grandma made a selection of cakes that we had on a table in the evening for people to help themselves to. We wanted informal and the thought of cutting the cake is a bit silly to me so we left this tradition out!! We had a lovely Coffee & Walnut, a Victoria Sponge and a Lemon cake and all went down very well.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Olliver Photography - Annie & Christian Olliver, based in London. As soon as we met Annie we were decided. We had met a few other photographers who were great but didn't see our day in the same way but she just got our vision immediately and knew that they were the photographers for us to portray our day perfectly, and they really did. We had an engagement shoot around Shoreditch / Brick Lane area which was a really great way of getting used to the embarrassment of a camera in your face and people (the general public) looking at you!! We discussed the timing of the day with them and the kind of photos we love, along with our request to have a kind of photo booth area set up in the corner of the drawing room for guests to pose with props and stick their polaroids in the guest book. We got the photos back when we returned from our honeymoon and were desperate to re-live the day all over again - they captured the most fantastic memories.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We collected up lots of bits and pieces for the décor in the run up to the big day, from jars (favourites were the Ball mason jars we bought from Vintage Grace in St.Ives, Cambs) and bottles for flowers to the countless number of old keys we bought to attach to each of the wooden heart name tags painted black that we made as favours for our guests. We also had old cameras and a suitcase to add a bit of theatre to one of the tables near the venue entrance. On this table we had a little framed photograph with Dave and his brother Paul as children with their Dad, Mick so that in a way he could be a part of our day. The things we didn't have, we hired from Rustique Chic. For the evening we set up a sweet table with big ornate glass apothecary style jars with little striped sweetie bags and scoops. For the centrepieces for the tables, we bought reams of hessian to make a circle for the centre of each white table cloth to tie in a bit of rustic charm which was used as the base for our bottles and jars full of flowers, instead of confetti for the table, we found heart shaped silver birch tree shavings which were different and very natural. The table plan was presented on an easel and was made from pages of an old copy of Alice in Wonderland (specifically pages from the Mad Hatters Tea Party)! We then put each table's plan into an ornate photo frame and hung onto the backdrop. We also hired a bell tent which was put up on the morning of the wedding by the company (Magical Camping) and was used as an extra area filled with games for the kids to play in if the weather turned bad, it looked pretty cute but we were actually lucky enough to not need the warmth or shelter from it so it wasn't used much but looked lovely nonetheless.

THE HONEYMOON | The honeymoon was incredible. We both wanted something unusual, not your average destination and decided upon Belize in Central America. It was a perfect 3 week honeymoon. We started with 6 nights in Miami (staying in the Anglers Boutique Hotel on Washington Avenue, South Beach), followed by a week in fairly remote, jungle locations (Chan Chich followed by Chaa Creek) - both amazing for relaxing and activities. We went horse riding through dense forest in search of jaguars (which unfortunately we didn't see) caving, visited the Mayan ruins of Tikal (in Guatemala) and guided nature walks. The final week was spent on the Island of Ambergris Caye at the Matachica hotel; the island is in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Belize and was heaven! The resort was very small and intimate (not a great big concrete hotel where you are just a room number to the staff), the décor was amazing, our room was an individual reef view suite with thatched roof and hammock on the veranda and the food was to die for. We went on a catamaran tour where we went out to the reef and snorkelled amongst nurse sharks, rays and a sea turtle not to mention hundreds of brightly coloured marine fish... what a trip!! Worth every penny.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Seeing the room all finished on the Friday night and feeling a huge sense of achievement that all of the details we'd planned in isolation looked so great altogether.

That sickeningly exciting moment for both of us as we made eye contact for the first time on our wedding day as my Dad walked me up the aisle.

The food!! Both the wedding breakfast and the evening buffet were done by Events Couture who did a fantastic job. We had trialled the menu we worked with them on but hearing how much others enjoyed it too was really great to hear.

The emotion we were overcome with the following day as our best friends and family left Butley Priory and we realised our day was over. Walking around the now empty rooms talking about how much we'd loved our wedding day more than we had imagined and wanting to do it all again.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Spend the money on the things that matter most to you - for me, a lover of photography, the wedding photographer was the most important decision and worth spending the money on. Everyone has a different 'priority' for the big day so just make sure it's what you want... don't let other people's opinions sway your decisions.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Prop hire, styling, planning | Rustique Chic

Catering | Events Couture

Dress | Pure Bridal, Norfolk

Pianist | Nick Raison

Photography | Olliver Photography

Bell Tent Hire | Magical Camping

Ball Mason Jars | Vintage Grace

Stunning.

Thanks so much to Dave and Anna for sharing their joyful wedding celebration xo Lou