It always amazes me when couples plan their wedding from overseas, as it's no mean feat. Just as Laura and Joe did who live in Australia and decided to tie the knot on the 23 ^rd July 2015 at The Old Hall in Cambridgeshire. They had help from Laura's Mum and Dad with the planning and some very organised spreadsheets (PS scroll to the footer of WWW on your desktop and you can download the free planning tools available yay).

With a vision of old meets new they crafted a day filled with hessian, lace and personalised details. Not to mention some brilliant cat inspired stationery. It really was very lovely indeed. I especially adore those fluffy fresh bouquets and the mix and match wedding party attire. They looked like a very stylish bunch.

Talking of outfits, Laura wore a beautiful lace and tulle gown with sparkly veil while Joe went for a navy suit and burgundy tie. Sublime.

Milkbottle Photography, many thanks for sharing your stunning imagery today.

THE PROPOSAL | Joe booked a surprise trip for us both to Melbourne, Australia in May 2013! I had no idea we were heading off on a romantic getaway until 3 days before the flight.

Joe booked a 5 star hotel in the centre of Melbourne, it was beautiful - I had never stayed in such an amazing place, or slept in a bed so big and so comfy! After a few days of exploring the city, Joe told me I had to be up, dressed and ready to go by 9am the following morning, and said "no peeking in the fridge". What a strange request!

The next morning Joe had a backpack stuffed full, and off we headed into Melbourne. We stopped at a hire car place and I was told to wait and not to be nosey. Out he drove in a hire car.... I hopped in totally confused of where we were going! 2 hours later we were in a beautiful place called Lorne just off the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. The scenery was breath taking, coastal views with no-one around. I called my friends back in Perth and all I could hear was shreaking down the phone with "ahhhh he's going to propose". Joe got mad! "turn that phone off or I'm going to throw it out the window". Joe put a blind fold on me and told me not to take it off until he said. The car stopped, and Joe led me down what felt like a thousand steps. It was so quiet, all I could hear was rustling of trees and water. He took the blindfold off and we had climbed all the way down to Erskine Falls, it felt like we were in the jungle, a beautiful romantic tranquil spot with an amazing waterfall - breathtaking! We walked along all the big stones , and there Joe got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. All I said was "oh my god" over and over again, "Errr... are you going to say yes, or just oh my god?" of course I did say yes, I was the happiest girl alive and felt as if I was on cloud 9!

Joe had designed my ring himself, beautiful diamonds with an aquamarine stone, very antique looking - just my style. What a perfect day the 30 ^th May 2013 was, one I will never forget. Joe unpacked his backpack, and inside was a champagne picnic - that's why he didn't want me to look in the fridge. We sat in what felt like the rainforest for a couple of hours, and ate every snack imaginable. What a romantic my husband to be is!

THE VISION | We both have a love for "old mixed with new", especially antique items with character, we also love lace, hessian, and neutral tones - so we based our wedding theme and colour on the basics - things we love!

Joe didn't want a girly theme, and neither did I, we wanted a classic theme. We didn't want the colour scheme to be too bland tho, so we added little pops of orange, green and dark brown in the way of paper pom-poms which really lifted all the neutral browns and creams.

We are both huge animal lovers, we have 3 cats of our own at home and knew we needed to incorporate a cat theme somewhere! We based our table plan around breeds of cats, and each guest had their name and a specific cat printed on card, that hung on pegs with our names and dates on.

We wanted our wedding to be really personalised, so we had things made with our names on - mainly from suppliers on etsy. Bunting for the cake, cards for people to fill out, advice coasters and it's the little bits and pieces that made our day unique!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | As we both live and work in Australia, most of the planning process was done by my (Laura's) Mum and Dad, Sue and Steve. Mum and Dad did such an amazing job, they found our venue (after looking around at least 5!) and as soon as Joe and I saw their photos of The Old Hall in Ely - we knew it was the one.

Being really organised is the key - and we were so organised during the planning process, we had a huge excel spreadsheet with notes, and we were able to tick things off as they were done! We made a list of the big items to organise first, and once those were done we could then get down to the little details such as place settings, table decorations etc.

THE VENUE | The Old Hall, Ely. We decided on The Old Hall Ely, as it is a privately owned country manor house, in a beautiful countryside setting overlooking three lakes and Ely Cathedral. It has the most amazing charm and character, and is huge! The Old Hall Ely was the perfect venue for our day, with the pergola outside to get married under, beautiful terrace area and stunning marquee - not to mention the secret dance floor. We loved every minute spent at our venue, and the bridal suite bathroom was as big as our first apartment! The old halls attention to detail is second to none, and it really made a huge impression on us and all our guests. Alex the wedding planner, and daughter of the owner was exceptional, a wonderful person who was so easy going and kept everything running like clockwork. A must see wedding venue for every bride and groom - we loved it.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Aubrey Rose Bridal - Perth, Western Australia. Accessories - pearls from my bridesmaid Rachael. Rachael gave me a pearl bracelet, necklace and earrings when I was a bridesmaid at her wedding. I wanted to wear pearls as they are an absolute classic and so beautiful, plus wearing something from someone so close to me meant more than just buying accessories from a shop! My shoes were a pair of vintage inspired T-Bar peep toes, from Georgie's Bridal Shop in Perth.

FINDING THE DRESS | I walked into Aubrey Rose Bridal in Perth, and instantly felt at ease. Karen and her daughters Rachel and Beth made me feel so welcome, and they really listened to what I imagined wearing. I tried on a few dresses, but decided to go with a beautiful classic lace beaded corset with a full tulle skirt. The lace up back was one of my favourites, and meant it could be pulled in tight to make my waist look small - winner!

My veil was a very light weight long tulle on a simple hair comb, Karen ordered some extra lace when my dress was being made, and attached this to the top of the comb to give it a little sparkle! As soon as I tried on "the dress" I knew, I felt it was just right, Aubrey Rose was the only wedding dress shop I went into!

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Navy Blue Suit and white shirt: Jack London. Tie, Tie clip and Pocket Square : Tie Bar USA. Shoes : Jeff Banks, London. Funky Socks : Happy Socks.

Joe decided to go with a navy/blue theme for the boys, but as half his groomsmen were across the other side of the world, it was impossible for everyone to get matching suits! Joe purchased all matching black ties, white pocket squares with black edging, and tie clips for the groomsmen, and a burgundy tie and checked pocket square for himself. The non matching suits of the groomsmen and the non matching dresses of the bridesmaids worked really well. Joe and I aren't really into "matching" anyway, so this style worked well for us!

THE READINGS & MUSIC | Joe and I spent hours choosing our music! We knew we wanted 3 main songs for our ceremony. One to walk down the aisle to, one to sign our wedding certificate, and one to walk back up the aisle as Mr & Mrs (which was a much more punchy song!)

Dustin Tebbutt - The Breach

Lets Go - Secret Nation

Electric Guest - This Head I hold

Our aisle walking song is so beautiful, and really created the mood we wanted.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Lucie Basinger, Rachael Scott, Jackie Robb, Claire Bourne - My 3 best friends and my wonderful sister J and not to forget my stunning little flower girl Skye Jones.

Lucie, Jackie and Rachael flew all the way over from Australia to be my bridesmaids, and my sister came over from Germany too! I am so lucky to have such amazing friends and such a wonderful sister. Love you girls.

I really wanted the girls to be comfortable, so I let them choose their own dresses and asked if they could be in a neutral tone! They all picked dresses in the perfect colour scheme and they all worked so well together, love the mix match!

THE FLOWERS | Nicola at Mooi Flowers created a gorgeous mix of flowers for our day. My bridal bouquet and the bridesmaid bouquets were natural poseys in neutral colours with a little mustard yellow. Consisting of peonies, succulents, hydrangea, eucalyptus with green berries, ornithagalum, scabosia, billy button, and vintage spray roses - wrapped in hessian, lace and twine pinned with pearls.

My little flower girl Skye had her own basket of petals that she scattered down the aisle. The groom button hole was an open stem one, with a vintage rose, spray rose buds and foliage. We also had small jam jars wrapped in hessian and lace filled with loose flowers and tied on long silver hooks which were placed either side down the aisle.

We also had 2 stacks of 3 wooden crates either side of the pagoda, with flowers overflowing. On our vintage book stack in the middle of each table, we had a small collection of flowers placed on top.

THE CAKE | Marks and Spencer. We didn't want to spend a ridiculous amount on a cake, and the prices we got back from suppliers were too high for our liking!

Mum and Dad were our taste testers (much to their enjoyment!) and we decided to do the decorations ourselves.

I ordered a plain 3 tiered cake from M&S (fruit, sponge and chocolate), bought personalised bunting with "Mr & Mrs Nash" on from Etsy, as well as making the hessian and lace bands myself, and then just used pearl pins to pins the bands onto the cake.

I ordered some extra flowers from Nicola (Mooi Flowers) to go on top and around the cake and voila!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Milk Bottle Photography - Ben & Tim. Joe and I spent a great deal of time researching photographers. As soon as we found Milk Bottle Photography, we knew we had to have them photograph our day! Their style was exactly what we were after, a storytelling approach that captured the day perfectly. Ben and Tim are super easy going and great fun to get along with!

We loved their sense of humour and competitiveness of getting just the right shot, as well as us complimenting Tim's attire which Ben was quick to notice - we did compliment him too tho! They work so well as a team, put so much effort into getting the right people in the right place for the shots we wanted, and the rest of the day you hardy even noticed they were there. Our wedding photos are exactly what we had in mind and we really will treasure them forever.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Go with your gut feeling - don't let other people sway your decision, if you like it go for it, if you're not sure - leave it and keep looking.

Personalise your wedding, add bits and pieces with your names on and really think of all the little details, do some research to make your day pop!

Take in every moment, the day will fly by.

There is always one that will make a fuss for not receiving an invite, but you invite who you want, it's your day!

There are so many photographers out there, but it's important to choose a photographer for their style - you will know when you found the right one, we did!

Spend lots of time with your bridesmaids in the morning (one of the best parts!) once the wedding is in full swing you may not spend as much time with them throughout the day as you go around and say hello to everyone.

Stick to your groom - greet people together, this day is about you the two of you!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Milkbottle Photography

Venue | The Old Hall Ely

Dress | Bridal By Aubrey Rose

Jewellery | Freshwater pearls from my bridesmaid Rachael Scott. She purchased them from Etsy.

Hair | Belle Hair by Stepanie Gunn [email protected]

Make-Up | Elly Jayne Moyser

Decorations | Joanne - Belle Journee, Wedding and events Hire

Utterly gorgeous.

Thanks so much to Laura and Joe for sharing their pretty nuptials with us xo Lou