Alex had been planning to propose for weeks. We had planned a weekend away to Swanage to celebrate our fifth anniversary and on the way we stopped at Lullworth Cove; the weather was beautiful and we walked to the top of the cliff where Alex got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, it was lovely as it was just us two and we had to rest of the weekend to celebrate.

We started planning the day after we got engaged. We looked online at a selection of venues and narrowed it down to three to have a look at. I had always wanted to get married in the new forest, and Careys Manor Hotel and SenSpa in Brockenhurst was the last venue we viewed and we both knew instantly that we wanted to get married there and booked it straight away.

I went dress shopping with my Mum and my two bridesmaids, I wasn’t really sure what style dress would suit me best so I went in with a completely open mind. Everyone always told me that I would end up choosing something completely different to what I expected and I didn’t want to end up disappointed.

I had booked in to two different dress shops that I liked the look of, the first shop I went to visit was Anya Bridal Couture in Droxford, and the whole experience was magical, it was exactly what I expected and so much more. It was here that I found my perfect wedding gown – Beatrice from the Sofia Bianca collection – It was stunning. It’s a Bardot style and it was blush under ivory with lots of lace detail; I knew instantly it was the dress I wanted to wear on my wedding day, and the veil I tried on with it matched perfectly. I had some lovely accessories – matching earrings, necklace and bracelet which paired perfectly to my engagement ring and wedding ring.

My shoes were plain peep toe ivory shoes, I wanted plain shoes as my dress had so much detail around the bottom and I didn’t want it to be too much.

The best planning advice I can give would be to enjoy every minute – I loved the build up! Make sure you have a good wedding planning book as this was my whole life throughout the panning process. We set a budget and ensured we stuck to it and the book was a really good way to visually see what we were spending without it getting out of hand.

Photographer credit: Hannah Lucy Photography