I love the Spring, as do today's couple who had a bright and beautiful Spring wedding day.

Emma and Sam married on Saturday 12 ^th April 2014 at the Dairy Barns, Norfolk. They went bold with their colour scheme, opting for vibrant blues and yellows. There were gorgeous Spring florals, fun balloons and a scrumptious afternoon tea.

Emma looked divine in her swishy dress and birdcage veil, while her maids looked super pretty in blue.

Thanks goes to Fuller Photography for sharing these lovely images today.

THE PROPOSAL | Sam and I have been to the Lake District on a few occasions over the past few years as we really enjoy the dramatic scenery and the many walks on offer. We had planned to go back to the Lake District in Easter 2013 and it was a long drive due to lots of Easter traffic being on the roads. When we arrived Sam was very keen to have a walk into town straight away; he insisted on taking his rucksack with him which I found strange but didn't tip me off to anything suspicious.

Sam walked me down to the Lake and we sat on a bench looking out onto Derwentwater. He then pulled out a ring box and asked me to marry him..... and in his rucksack was a bottle of champagne! Of course, I said YES!

THE VISION | We always wanted our day to be relaxed, informal and fun - tails and top hats were out and a beautiful Norfolk barn venue was in! We got married in April and wanted blue and yellow colours to fit in with the Spring season. As we both like to travel we decided we would use this idea as a theme for the day.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We got engaged over Easter 2013 and as we wanted a spring wedding, we had pretty much one year to plan the day. Sam took advantage of the need to plan and made a Wedding Excel sheet on which everything was mapped out. It may sound geeky (and I certainly told him so), but it was a really good way of organising the day. We managed to book the 'big' things like venue, band, and photographer relatively quickly and after that all the little details fell in place as time passed.

THE VENUE | Dairy Barns, Hickling, Norfolk. This pretty Norfolk barn is primarily run as a Bed and Breakfast but the small team there (expertly marshalled by owner Hannah) set aside a few weekends a year for weddings. We visited 2 other venues before finding 'Dairy Barns', which is only 15 minutes down the road from our house. As soon as we arrived we fell in love with it and we both agreed it was the right place to spend our day; very informal, chilled and friendly.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress came from 'Camilla Brides' in Norwich, they came highly recommended from a few of my friends who had recently got married. The small team of ladies there were really friendly and welcoming, and they helped me through the nightmare that can be dress buying. They also make the dresses in their shop and it is clear from the thank-you letters and photos plastered on the shop walls that they love their jobs.

After trying on various styles I chose a silk chiffon dress, with a halter neck embellishment. I didn't want anything 'over the top' and always wanted something a little different but with a vintage feel. The dress I found was perfect.

As we were getting married in a barn I didn't want a traditional veil but really liked the idea of a birdcage veil. I also wanted to wear my Gran's necklace but due to the style of my dress this sadly didn't go. Fortunately a jeweller's in Norwich (Dipples) were able to turn the necklace into a pretty bracelet and I was able to wear it on the day!

I have always had a thing for big earrings and Sam bought me some glitzy sparkling earrings for Christmas. He got them from the website 'Not On The High Street'.

As for shoes, I was lucky enough to stumble across some in a local shop; reduced from £80 - £20... bargain!

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Sam tried a few well-known hiring companies but eventually found a brilliant local firm in Norwich called 'JOHN FIELD FORMAL HIRE'. They were very helpful and provided that extra personal touch. We hired simple grey suits, ivory waistcoats and 'electric blue' ties for the groom party. My husband-to-be wore a yellow tie to stand out a bit from the others. Sam finished off the look by buying the best-man, the dads, and the ushers individual, personal cufflinks. These ranged from 'Lotus' and 'Xbox Halo' logo's to Sam's own Star Wars 'Boba Fett' option.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We didn't want a big ceremony so only had two readings; Sam's mum read 'What is Love?' by Walter Rinder and then one of my bridesmaid's read a slightly edited version of a silly, cute poem by A.A Milne called 'Us Two'.

We decided to hire a string quartet and asked them to play for parts of the ceremony and for drinks and canapés afterwards. I walked in to 'One Day Like This' by Elbow and we both walked out hand-in hand to Louis Armstrong 'What a Wonderful World'. They were perfect.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | We had three bridesmaids; two were my very dear friends and the other Sam's very lovely sister. We chose royal blue dresses for them to wear and completed their look with yellow 'peep' shoes. The shoes looked great but they weren't worn for long due to the big heel on them. Good job I provided them with flip-flops too! I also bought them some simple necklaces and earrings.

My bridesmaids were really supportive throughout the whole process and we stayed together the night before the wedding; two of them were already married and were able to give some good advice!

THE FLOWERS | We didn't have to search far for flowers as Hannah (from Dairy Barns) is a very talented florist. I love spring flowers as they are such bright, beautiful colours and we wanted to use these as much as we could. We had tulips, irises, yellow roses and grape hyacinths in the bouquet, and they were such amazing colours. As Sam's grandparents are celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary this year we decided to give my bouquet to his Grandma, instead of the traditional throwing of the bouquet.

We decorated the tables with little narcusis, keeping it simple. We were able to plant the bulbs in our garden after the wedding so will be reminded of our day when they grow again next year!

THE CAKE | Cake featured heavily in our wedding. We had an amazing cream tea provided by Dairy Barns which included Victoria sponge, lots of miniature patisseries, and some very tasty scones. In-keeping with our travel theme, a friend of my mum's made us a brilliant 'suitcase cake' complete with a miniature Sam and Emma sitting on top. If you look closely you can see that my suitcase was the bigger of the two.... not dissimilar to how it is in real life ;). Finally, we decided to order a macaroon tower as well. This was made by 'Macaroons and More' in Norwich and of course we chose lemon yellow macarons to fit the colour theme!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We found Karen Fuller (of Fuller Photography) online and couldn't be happier with our choice - she was great! We were dubious about our engagement shoot but she really put us at ease and it served as a great way for us to get to know each other and to work out what we liked and disliked. She was fun, friendly and down to earth and took some brilliant photos!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We tried to do as much as we could ourselves and also tried to get family member s involved too. I made the bunting to decorate the barn, Sam's Mum made the paper Pom-Pom's and organised a 'Sam and Emma quiz', my Mum made some pretty jar tealight holders, and my Dad sourced and painted a wooden pallet which outlined the schedule of the day.

E-bay also became a good friend of mine. I found many pieces on here including a globe which we used as a guestbook, a vintage suitcase which was used for the wedding cards, and a world map which was turned into our table plan. We tried to keep it very light-hearted and fun, so instead of names on the table plan we came up with a clue for each guest and they had to work out where they were sitting from the clue. We also invited each table to write a limerick about us, some were ruder than others!

THE HONEYMOON | On the Monday after the wedding we went back to where Sam and I got engaged and spent a few days in the Lake District, relaxing, eating and walking on what we are calling our 'mini-moon'.

We are currently saving the pennies to do a road-trip through the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Spring 2015; neither of us are big beach fans and we fancied something a little different. It should be a bit of an adventure!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Opening Sam's card before the wedding.

Accidentally bursting the balloons on our way to the beach due to the blustery winds.

Seeing each other for the first time on the day and during the ceremony saying our vows to each other, it was moving to see the look on his face.

Being presented with a piece of graphic art depicting the two of us - made by Sam's very talented brother in law.

Our first dance, as it was the first time we got to spend some time together by ourselves due to the fact that we had been so busy talking to the other guests.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Enjoy the planning process. Try and do as much as you can yourselves; it saves costs and also makes it very personal. We also used the planning period as a way to develop new skills, I learnt to sew and we both took some dance lessons. The dancing was also a really nice way to spend time together in the lead up to the wedding and you can carry on with it after the big day too!

The day is over so quickly, you blink and you miss it. So try to take a step back and look at what you have both achieved together. Finally, remember it's your day so ENJOY IT!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photographer | Fuller Photography

Dress | White Rose From Camilla Brides

Shoes | Benjamin Adams

Hair and Makeup | Amanda Steed

Venue | Dairy Barns

Bridesmaids | Debenhams

Grooms Attire | John Field Formal Hire

Flowers | Hannah Deane at Dairy Barns

Cake | Macaroons and More

Wedding Music | Blythe String Quartet

How pretty! Love those seaside portraits too.

Thanks so so much to Emma and Sam for sharing their wedding with us here at WWW XOXO Lou