If you're a regular visitor to these pages of pretty then you probably will have noticed that we've been posting the brightest and most beautiful destination weddings in our Wednesday afternoon slot.

Michelle and Rob's laid-back yet luxurious big day is no exception - filled to the brim with bountiful floral accents, love and laughter. I particularly love the sartorial choices of both the bride and the groom in this 'I Do' - from Rob's spotty bow tie and blue suit to Michelle's couture lace frock.

Actually, I'm more than obsessed with Michelle's ensemble actually which she designed alongside bespoke bridal designer Lisa Redman after an afternoon with a pile of Vogue magazines. The lace! The back detailing! Oh the sleeves! Don't even get me started on the delicious antique veil...

And lastly I would very much like to see more wedding couples portraits on Moroccan rugs outside. They look flipping brilliant!

Michelle The Bride: For us Chateau Lagorce ticked all the boxes! Within seconds of visiting the venue, we both knew that it was the perfect place to host our wedding. On walking onto the top terrace I could image our guests sitting out in the evening sunshine, drinking wine, laughing and chatting. This became true on our actual wedding and is one of my favorite memories. The chateau had heaps of character, beautiful terraces and enough bedrooms with en-suites to accommodate our guests comfortably.

Being a designer, I guess you'd be surprised to hear that my dress was not the top of my priority list! Shoes...yes! I bought my wedding shoes before I had even thought of my dress! They were a limited edition pair by Brian Atwood and the reason why I loved them, was because they had more of a fashion edge, rather than your typical wedding shoes! (However this did not stop me buying 2 more pairs!)

So, the dress...at the start I found this to be quite an overwhelming experience, maybe it's because this is what I do for a living, so I felt that there was a certain expectation and the thought of going into a bridal shop literally freaked me out! I knew my only option was to design my own dress and get it made, basically because there are just no wedding dresses out there like my dress.

I took it back to what I know best and spent an afternoon flicking through Vogue magazines and started to pull together silhouettes and details that I liked. I wanted my dress to have a couture feel, with vintage detailing and that's what I worked towards. I then set about looking for a dress maker and found Lisa Redman. After 5 minutes in Lisa's company I had every faith that she would be able to deliver the dress of my dreams. I worked very closely with Lisa and her team, picking the lace, the beading, finalising the silhouette, the fabrics, the corset detailing and so on for the next six months.

My veil was a vintage 1920's cathedral veil that I bought on Ebay which I paired with a headdress made from a necklace that belonged to my great grandmother.

Rob's suit was bespoke Richard James of Savile Row and his shoes were by Mr Hare which he accessorised with a bow tie and pocket square both from Drakes of London.

Working in the fashion industry, I have a lot of wonderfully creative friends. Manicured and perfectly arranged flowers was not the look that we were going for, so I asked our wedding planner to source a flower wholesaler in France. Ordering the flowers this way not only saved hugely on our budget, but also allowed us to get all of our friends to get involved, and the end result was beyond stunning! It was kind of like their gift to us.

One of the best parts of the wedding for me was watching all my friends set up an assembly line, preparing the buttons holes for all the male guests! One person clipping, another arranging, another wrapping the twine! The sun was shining and the wine was flowing. That was EXACTLY what I had imagined our wedding to be like. It was just wonderful!

I made my bouquet and two bridesmaids' posies myself. My bouquet was made of Roses, Ranunculus, Lily of the Valley, and Sweet Peas. I also used many other flowers for the bridesmaids in pastel colours including Hydrangeas, Sweet peas, Lisianthus, Peonies, Roses, Lily of the Valley, Lavender, Ranunculus, Stocks and Gypsophila.

Again being gifted with such wonderfully creative friends, our two friends Michelle & Paul, who are in a band called MEISHA, offered to play our aisle music. We didn't want anything traditional, so I walked down the aisle to Michelle's acoustic version of 'Use Somebody' By Kings of Leon; at the end of the ceremony we walked up the aisle to a beautiful acoustic remix of 'Somewhere over the rainbow' and 'Louis Armstrong's 'Wonderful World'.

We hired an amazing band called ' Agence Mess ' for the rest of the day. They sang two live sets of songs from the 'Buena Vista Social Club' whilst we had champagne & canapés. They also played live music after the meal and a DJ set after our first dance.

Dasha Caffrey was our photographer! This little lady is so amazingly and naturally talented at what she does and she just keeps getting better! Rob and I love her work and each time we look at our wedding photos it is like we have stepped back into our wedding. It takes someone really talented to be able to create work like she does. We are blessed to have found her.

Claude from Traiteur Le Plaisir Du Gout produced our beyond divine wedding feast. Rob and I spent ages on our menu having decided that we didn't want fancy French food; we wanted rustic, wholesome, locally sourced, seasonal French food and that is exactly what we got! We had a charcuterie board to start, which contained Claude's own handmade sausages, meat from local farms and a goats cheese (a specialty of the area).
The main meal was confit of duck and for desert we had home made tart-tartin with homemade vanilla ice-cream. My mouth still waters when I think of that desert! Claude also cooked a hog roast the next day for our after-party.

Our wonderful friend and guest Sue Noseworthy made our beautiful cake and hand carried it over to France. The cake was a mixture of milk and white chocolate tiffin.

Without our wedding planner, things would have been a lot tougher to organise. Anna (Anna Holmes - whose husband's family own the Chateau) was the eyes, ears and translator for our wedding. It meant that we could concentrate on things our end or in our country and Anna took care of the French side of things. This freed us up to enjoy the lead up to our wedding. For me the most memorable part of the day was seeing all of our wonderful family and friends happy! EVERYONE had the biggest smile on their faces! It was beautiful!

Photography by Dasha Caffrey
Venue Chateau Lagorce | Dress Lisa Redman & Michelle | Shoes Brian Atwood | Groom's outfit Richard James of Savile Row | Band Agence Mess | Catering Traiteur Le Plaisir Du Gout | Ceremony Music | Meisha.