Wow what a wedding.

Daniel and Stephanie married on the 31 ^st May 2014 at Coombe Abbey Hotel; where Daniel had popped the question and booked the venue before Stephanie knowing a year in advance. How romantic?

Daniel is a WW1 and WW2 historian and Stephanie has a love for Harry Potter and the classics, so of course their wedding day had to incorporate all of these elements. They had a real British feel, from Daniel's Union Jack bow tie to the ration books and telegram stationery.

Stephanie looked stunning in a tea length dress with lace sleeves and converse for the evening, while the bridesmaids wore floral frocks with white bouquets of Hydrangeas. Amazing.

Thanks so much to Samantha Jane Photography for sharing her wonderful photography with us today.

THE PROPOSAL | Dan proposed to me on our 7 year anniversary at Coombe Abbey. We went for dinner and we walked to the west terrace after dinner (to check for fireworks, Dan said!) He got down on one knee and quoted lines from my favourite novel to me (Jane Eyre) and asked me to be his wife. It turned out Dan had already booked the date for the wedding - the same day next year for our 8 year anniversary and also the appointment with Joanne the wedding planner the next day!

THE VISION | We wanted our wedding to be a bit different yet classic. We both have very different tastes and hobbies, therefore we needed to find a good balance between what both Dan and I liked. Dan is a WW1 & WW2 living historian and is a massive history fan. I love reading the classics and anything to do with Harry Potter! We agreed on a vintage 1940's theme with a classic edge, that way we both got what we wanted!

THE PLANNING | The planning process was a breeze as we knew exactly what we wanted - we are very decisive! We had massive help from friends, family and brilliant vendors so apart from the odd little blip (as all weddings do) it was simple to plan!

THE VENUE | Coombe Abbey Hotel - Binley in Coventry.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was 11317 by Ellis Bridal. It was an ivory lace tea dress with long sleeves. My shoes were from Next, they were ivory court shoes with a beaded applique on the back. I wore a personalised pair of Converse for the evening with 'Mrs Hayward' on the side - great for dancing in!

FINDING THE DRESS | One of my bridesmaids got married last year and she was bringing all sorts of wedding magazines for me to look at. I was looking through them myself; I liked a lot of the dresses however nothing really jumped out at me. I wanted something different and something to fit our theme. I saw a very small image at the bottom of one of the pages and knew instantly I wanted it. I e-mailed the designer and looked for a stockist near me that would supply the dress to. I tried it on and instantly fell in love with it. It's completely different to anything else I had seen and perfect for me!

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Dan wore a charcoal/silver 3 piece suit from Hugo Boss. He had a union jack bow tie with matching pocket square from Mrs Bow Tie and wore his pocket watch I bought him for our 5 year anniversary. He wore a white pair on Converse All Star Chuck Taylors for his wedding shoes.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | My sister Philippa did the first reading of a Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton and my friend Vicki read sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare.

The music we had was very specific to Dan and me. As the guests were entering the ceremony room we had the theme tune from Harry Potter and Jurassic Park as our classical pieces.

I walked down the aisle to Ho Hey by the Lumineers.

Songs signing the register were all Maroon 5 songs and back down the aisle to Pencil Full Of Lead by Paolo Nutini.

We entered the wedding breakfast to Back In Black by AC/DC.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I had 4 beautiful bridesmaids; my sister Philippa and 3 of my best friends: Debbie, Lorraine and Steph.

THE FLOWERS | I had all white flowers throughout the wedding. I had an all-white peony bouquet tied with lace. My bridesmaids has white hydrangea and white tulips and the groomsmen had white cabbage roses and gypsophilia for their button holes.

THE CAKE | The cake was amazing! Ben Fullard (Benthecakeman) is quite honestly a genius. We needed a cake to fit the theme of the wedding without it looking odd or out of place. We decided on a military trunk (complete with 1940's pin ups on the sides) topped with all my favourite novels and a WW1 British Cap - all made from cake. The details were all made from sugar including, the pocket watch, bow tie, invitation, cap badges, the lot.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Our photographer was Sam Pommells of Samantha Jane Photography. She is one of the loveliest people we have ever met and an extremely talented photographer. Many of the guests commented about how talented she is and the pictures do her justice. She made us feel so relaxed the entire day and she captured every detail. I would recommend her to anyone that will listen!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | We decided to add little extras to the wedding in order to make the theme more prominent. Our invites were vintage telegrams from Vintage Designs and we had ration books as our table menus which Dan's friend kindly made for us. Our table names were famous battles of the first and second world wars and our table plan we made ourselves out of an old map of Europe from WW2 and turned into a battle plan for each table. We had table confetti made out of my favourite novels, stacks of my favourite books and lace table cloths and pearls on the tables to carry on the classic vintage theme.

We also had an old military luggage trunk that belonged to Dan's uncle when he was in the TA. We filled the trunk will pictures of our family who couldn't be there so they were there in memory. We filled the trunk to look as though it was still in use, filled with rations, uniforms etc. We used this for guests to put cards in.

THE HONEYMOON | We went to Sugar Beach hotel in Mauritius for our honeymoon. We had asked for money for wedding presents which we used towards it. The holiday was amazing, something we will never forget.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | We will always remember the speeches from Dan and my Dad - full of jokes and embarrassing stories! The fireworks display made the evening from Johnathan's fireworks, it finished the evening perfectly and provided some amazing photographs.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Our advice to other couples would be when planning the wedding to just do everything as soon as you can. It is never too soon to book someone, have a trial, decide on something. The sooner you sort it the easier it is as time goes on. With regards to the day, try and try to take it all in. The day flies in an instant so if you can, we would advise to have some alone time together if you fit it in. Most of all enjoy it, the time and effort is worth it

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Coombe Abbey Hotel

Photographer | Samantha Jane Photography

Flowers | Passion For Flowers

Cake | Ben The Cake Man

Fireworks | Jonathan's Fireworks

Bridal dress shop | Cheshire Brides

Bridesmaid dresses | Dazarockz

Invitations | Vintage Designs

Oh so lovely.

Thanks so so much to Daniel and Stephanie for sharing their gorgeous wedding day with us XOXO Lou