Photography courtesy of LeighPics

How did you two meet?  We met when I moved from Hertfordshire to go to University in Epsom, he lived locally and I never ended up going back home!

How long have you been together?  6 years

Who proposed to who?  Marcus proposed to me!

How did he propose?  He proposed whilst we were away for the weekend in Amsterdam.  He quite casually asked me if we should buy a ring whilst we were out there, and then we spent the whole of the next day picking the perfect ring!

What made you choose your venue & the date?  We both knew we wanted an outdoor wedding and both liked the idea of a barn, so when we looked at Lillibrooke Manor we just knew it was the one!  We liked the idea of September as it would still be warm, but not too hot!  The exact date was picked due to the venue’s availability.

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

How did you choose your dress?  I originally wanted something very understated, so tried on a few, then I went to a proper bridal shop with my mum and just fell in love with ‘THE’ dress.

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

 Where did the inspiration for your colour scheme come from? I’ve always loved the colour purple (even my engagement ring is an amethyst) so it was a no-brainer really!

How many Bridesmaids did you have and how did you choose?  I had 2 adult bridesmaid, my best friend and my brother’s girlfriend and then one little bridesmaid, our niece.

Who was the Best Man?  Best man was Markus’ brother Aleksis – who flew over from Australia for the wedding.

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

How were you feeling the week before your big day...  I was fairly organized, there was a small amount of rushing around a couple of days before the wedding, but that was just getting everything together to drive it down to the venue.

How did you spend the night before the wedding?  My closest family and I were staying at a hotel just down the road from the venue, so we had an afternoon in the pool and sauna and then all met up for a nice dinner together.

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

What did you have for breakfast on the morning of the wedding?  A huge fry-up!!!

Who were you with?  My mum and my adult bridesmaids.

How were you feeling in the build up to the ceremony?  I was actually very calm, I remember my mum asking me, how comes you’re as cool as a cucumber?  I didn’t have a straight answer but I did feel pretty relaxed!

As you stepped out of the car and got ready to walk down the aisle what do you remember thinking?  Wow – I can’t believe this is really happening.

What music did you walk down to?  Colbie Collat - Bubbly.

How were you both feeling during the ceremony?  Markus was quite nervous, the kiss at the end lasted quite a while, as he wouldn’t let me go!

How did you decorate the venue?  What flowers did you choose?  We had a natural/wood/vintage theme, with wooden hearts and bunting hung up around the venue.  The table centres were two pieces of wood with a lantern on top.  I didn’t actually have real flowers (apart from a few vases in the ceremony room)  My bouquet was actually made from wooden tulips that we brought in Amsterdam.

Did you have favours?  What was the inspiration behind them?  We had little jars of sweets, it’s an idea that I saw a while ago and just thought it was really sweet.

 Tell us about the speeches!  They were amazing, I lost my dad a few years ago so Markus (Groom) Aleksis (Best Man) and Liam my brother did a speech. Markus was quite nervous, so it was kept short and sweet and Aleksis’s was very funny.  My brother not only read his own speech but he also read the speech that my dad had written before his passed away.  Which was absolutely beautiful and I was so lucky to have had such a special memory left to me.

What kind of cake did you choose?  We couldn’t decide on cakes so we decided to ask all of our day guests to bring along a cake.  We ended up with a beautiful spread of cakes, from carrot cake to chocolate cake and cupcakes to fruit cakes.  It was very popular and I think our guests liked the fact they were asked to be a part of the wedding in a slightly unusual way!

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

What a lovely idea!  Where did the inspiration behind this come from?  When I was googling wedding cake ideas I came across an image of a school fete with all the different cakes and I just thought – what a great idea to ask our guests to bring along a cake!

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

What did you choose as your first dance?  We had Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles, Markus picked the song, he loved the words and that it wasn’t your typical first dance song.

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

How did you party the night away?  We danced and danced, then we all headed back to the hotel for a little night cap!

Where did you go on Honeymoon?  We stayed for two nights in Brighton the two days following the wedding, but our actual honeymoon will be in December when we head to Sydney for Christmas and New Year and then onto Thailand for a week – we can’t wait!

What is your best memory of the day?  I really can’t pick one, the whole day was just amazing! There were a couple of times when we just stepped back to take in everything that was happening, that was really special as we could just see how much of an amazing time everyone was having.

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

What is one piece of advice that you would give to a future Bride to Be?  Be organized and keep calm, we had so many comments about how relaxed the wedding felt, no one was stressing about anything, just having a really good time.  If something goes wrong on the day, you are probably the only person that will know that it went wrong, so just let it go!  I didn’t feel stressed at any point and I really felt that helped make the day so special.

Photography courtesy of LeighPics

Thank you Carly and Marcus for sharing your special day with us.  We wish you many happy years together. xx

Credit:  Wedding photography LeighPics