Sophia and Nick did things in their own way. Their wedding was held on the 2nd May 2015 beside the sea at Lusty Glaze in Cornwall. They chose to leave out many of the traditional elements of a wedding and focused on creating a big party. They envisioned a relaxed BBQ complete with beach games and dancing. So much fun.

I just love that Nick went dress shopping with Sophia and she looked so beautiful in her lace dress teamed with Gypsophila in her hair, while Nick donned a brown wool suit. There were simple touches, stunning blooms and flower girls in sea green frocks. Perfect.

Huge thanks to Keith Riley and Abi Neda Riley for sharing their incredible imagery with us today.

THE PROPOSAL | I arranged a weekend away in the Scottish Highlands, in one of our favourite hotels by Loch Awe. When we arrived they told us our room wasn't ready and to have a coffee while we waited. Little did I know that this was not true and the manager was quickly heading down to the shoreline. Nick and I went for a walk along the loch and found a bottle washed up on the beach containing a message - it read 'will you finally marry me' (we've been together 12 years) and I still didn't quite work it all out until I saw Nick in front of me with the ring.

THE VISION | We basically wanted a big party with all our favourite people. We chose the venue pretty much immediately which set the tone for the day - a relaxed BBQ followed by beach games and lots of dancing!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We moved to France three months before the wedding, and before that had lived in Scotland, so all of the planning was done on weekend visits to Cornwall and over email - it was almost exactly one year from proposal to wedding. We were extremely lucky and to be honest had very little stress. I think having the whole thing in one venue made it easier for us, and neither of us were bothered about traditional details that can be time-consuming, for example we didn't have a seating plan, order of service or any favours and our invitations were postcards. We had help from our family and friends getting the final bits and bobs together and every supplier we worked with was fantastic.

THE VENUE | The hotel where Nick proposed was also a wedding venue so they had some bridal magazines lying around- I picked up a couple and jokingly flicked through them- an advert for Lusty Glaze caught my eye and from that moment I pretty much had my heart set on it. We looked at a couple of other venues but it was exactly what we wanted - directly on the beach, licensed for the ceremony, and it was all very informal. Claire totally guided us through the process and the team was fantastic on the day.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | The dress is from Jasmine Bridal Collection (F161052) and we were able to order it to fit my height as the one I tried on at first was about a foot too long. The bridal shop I bought it from is now closed. I bought some earrings at Accessorize at the airport on the way to the wedding, and I wore some strappy gold heels from Dune, although I was barefoot for a lot of the day. I had some Gypsophila in my hair too.

FINDING THE DRESS | The one thing I didn't want was a train for a beach wedding, and lo and behold I ended up with a train. I tried on a lot of different dresses and initially was looking for something a little less 'bridal' but slowly changed my mind. What sold it for me was the beautiful lace work and the subtle creamy gold colour underneath. Again we weren't very traditional and Nick came with me to choose it.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Nick wore a grey-brown three piece wool suit with a Cornish tartan tie. I think the tie was eventually decided on literally the day before the wedding!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Our friend Matt Brealey played an acoustic version of "Is this Love" by Bob Marley as I walked down the aisle. We had one reading during the ceremony which was based on Carl Sagan's "Cosmos", and beautifully read by Nick's sister Abby. Another friend Jamie Cox played the guitar for our exit. Nick put together an incredible play list for the afternoon, and we were lucky enough to get an amazing band from Glasgow, "Mickey 9s", who we are huge fans of, to play in the evening. I think we danced the majority of the night.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My three younger sisters (12, 10 & 9) were my bridesmaids and they wore pale bluey-green party dresses from Monsoon and muted gold sandals from M&S. Our 2yr old niece was a flower girl but slept through the ceremony! She wore a gold tulle dress and white sandals. I didn't want them in anything restrictive or uncomfortable so they could run around and play and enjoy being on the beach.

THE FLOWERS | Loulabel Floral Design came up with a gorgeous bouquet - I was so, so happy with the flowers! I had given Lou an idea of what I liked and she translated it perfectly with beautiful leaves, freesias, thistles, gypsophila & rosemary - it smelled amazing! The bridesmaids all had a gypsophila posy, and the buttonholes were thistles, gyp & rosemary. We also hired the medicine bottles for the tables from Lou.

THE CAKE | We weren't really sure what to do about a cake because neither of us are that interested in them! We decided to go with a Cornish Cream Tea tower. It was supposed to be for dessert but some of the guests were tucking in straight after the ceremony, and I don't blame them because they were delicious! Nick's mum did an incredible job making 150 scones from scratch as well as home-made strawberry and champagne jam. Everybody was raving about them.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | After choosing the venue we looked through some images of weddings held there, and the ones that were catching our eye always seemed to be Keith & Neda's. I checked out their websites and felt confident they would be able to document the day and do the venue justice. The photos we received from them were way beyond our expectations, and really captured the fun atmosphere, as well as some lovely romantic ones of the two of us. It's wonderful to be able to look through them and relive the day - the photos are real snapshots of what happened and evoke exactly how we felt in those moments.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We brought some beach games for the afternoon and had sack races and rounders which was brilliant fun. The venue is already very pretty - all white and blue and the ceiling is covered in fairy lights. The marquee is totally transparent so you have the beautiful cove and sea as your backdrop - you really don't need much more than that!

We added some bunting, and some photos of us over the years, plus candles and old-fashioned medicine bottles filled with pretty stems on the benches, and that was it. There was a slight green, white and gold theme with the flowers and the bridesmaids, but we didn't try too hard to make everything match.

THE HONEYMOON | After the wedding we spent four days in the Sierra Nevada in Spain - walking in the mountains, eating great food and drinking lots of wine. We hope to go on a honeymoon to Madagascar in 2016 and incorporate some conservation work there.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Nick: We had the idea to have 'open-mic' speeches, so after the father of the bride's, the bride's and my speech we opened it up to anyone who wanted to say anything. This could have failed miserably but actually we had lots of people up telling stories which meant everyone was involved in our celebration.

Sophia: When I look back the main thing I remember is how much everyone was smiling and laughing the whole day.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Nick: We were given a piece of advice that served us well - don't compromise on your venue or photographer, you can make savings if you need to on everything else.

Sophia: In the last few weeks I started to panic that we should be doing more or buying more - I wasn't quite sure what, but I felt like weddings are supposed to be stressful and intense. Claire at Lusty Glaze told me 'As long as you both show up and the registrar is here, there's not much more you need'. She was right!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Lusty Glaze

Dress | Jasmine Bridal

Photographers | Keith Riley & Abi Neda Riley

Flowers | Loulabel Floral Design

Hair & Make up | Elements

Wow wee. Such a happy and meaningful celebration.

Many thanks to Sophia and Nick for sharing their special nuptials with us here at WWW xo Lou