This afternoon is all about chic sophistication.

WWW readers John and Monika's wedding had oodles of style and and simplicity. With their venue a priority they chose Hampton Court House, Surrey, with it's proximity to London and bags of character.

Monika had two wedding dresses, one embellished and detailed, the other sleek and elegant. She also had the most effortlessly lovely hair do and perfect eye liner flick to finish off her look. The boys went for traditional tails which suited the day down to the ground. Wow.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Clair Estelle for sharing her photographs with us today.

I accessorised the dress with a long veil. My dress had a lot of lace and crystal appliqués, so it did not need a lot of jewellery. I wore small drop pear shaped silver and zirconium earrings which I bought on Amazon and a wide vintage diamanté bracelet from Accessorize.

Beautiful Bridesmaids... My bridesmaids wore pleated pink and navy lace dresses from ASOS.

The Flowers... My flowers were done by Mica Cope, a very talented florist, who happens to be my colleague's wife. She created most beautiful bouquets with pink and white peonies and cream and peachy roses. Buttonholes were made of cream roses with some tiny pine cones in reference to my maiden name which in English means "pine cone":) Table centers were made of bunches of gypsophila in long lily vases.

Cake was made by Charlene at Char's Cakery in Morden. For our wedding cake we chose a very summery and light naked 3-tier victoria sponge with fresh cream and strawberry jam filling decorated with pink roses and fresh berries. It was served with fresh whipped cream and summer berries and it was simply delicious. There were a lot of referrals on the day:)

The Details + Decor... We did not stick to one colour theme throughout but somehow everything fit well together. Our wedding venue was so special it did not need any additional decorations. It had so much character being an 18th century Georgian mansion overlooking Bushy Park and including a small lake and a shell grotto in its grounds. The dining room featured a high glass ceiling, red walls and chequer black and white floors. Dance floor was in the light conservatory while the main hall where the reception took place featured the most beautiful ceiling. As we were very lucky with the weather we spent most of the day outside wondering in the grounds.

Advice for Other Couples... Our wedding day was truly special and we enjoyed it so much we both wish we could do it all over again. We had about a year to plan it and we did not find it too stressful as we split the list of things into chunks and ticked them off at different stages. This meant we could do it in a comfortable pace and there was never a mad rush, but at the same time, there were long periods when there was nothing to do apart from waiting, which in hindsight we probably regretted a little bit. If we could do it again, we would probably allow up to 8 months for planning. As most of us have limited budget prioritise the things you care most about - is it the venue/location or the dress or the quality of food and wine or perhaps the wedding rings. We were limited with location, as we had guests coming from abroad, so needed to be quite close to London. We had seen a few different venues which would have been more friendly on the budget but they just did not feel right, so when we have seen HCH we knew it was the right venue for us. This meant we had to be clever with budgeting for other elements. We chose to save money on stationery by sending electronic save the date cards, downloading a free invite template and having them printed ourselves, making our own table plan, place cards and table names. We have also saved on having a naked cake instead of a traditional wedding cake with icing. Our wedding rings were custom made to our design from palladium instead of pricey platinum which looks the same and is as hard wearing. Other things we managed to save on were favours (or lack of them), flowers - simple table centres and no other flower decorations for church or venue, bridesmaids dresses and alcohol and drinks without corkage fee.

One piece of advice would be to book your hair and make up with the same person/company. My original hair stylist had to cancel last minute so I had to find someone to do my hair only, as my make up artist was already booked and I was very happy with the trial. This meant that hair and make up worked out a lot more expensive than I would have wished for. We have spent most of our budget on the venue hire and catering but they were definitely worth it. Our guests still comment on how amazing our wedding was! Finally, your photographer is one of the most important elements of the day. After all the planning and expenditure, the day itself flies by, and photographs are the only thing you are left with so it is very important they are of great quality as great photos will evoke all the happy memories for many years to come!

Cake | Chars Cakery

Photography | Clair Estelle

Evening Venue | Hampton Court House

Dress 1 Shop |Celebrity Bridal Shop

Dress 2 | John Lewis

Bridesmaids | ASOS

Accessories | Accessorize

Accessories | Amazon

Utterly gorgeous.

Thanks so much to John and Monika for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou