Wedding planning can be a little overwhelming as there are lots of elements to cover, for Sarah Jane and Luke it was a breeze with the talented friends and family they had to on hand to help. From graphic designers, stylists and bakers worthy of The Great British Bake Off, they had a whole crew of creatives ready to lend a hand to make their wedding truly uniquely beautiful and personal. The belle of the ball was of course bride Sarah Jane, who like her circle of family and friends has quite a bit of creative talent herself, which she wove into her wedding dress. Sarah Jane and Luke's wedding at Huntsham Court is the epitome of the English Summer Country Celebration, inspiring and unique we're delighted Nova Wedding Photography shared these beautiful images with us and we can tell this story...

Like many of us (admit it) Sarah Jane and Luke met in one of their local London pubs on a rather drunken Friday night, love struck and the rest, as they say, was history...

For the proposal, Luke surprised Sarah Jane on their way to Sunday lunch one weekend by getting down on one knee in a cobbled street in Rye in East Sussex. Not what she was expecting but a very, very happy surprise indeed.

Have you ever seen a more idyllic setting? It's straight out of Four Weddings and a Funeral - down a country lane, a perfect English church with lots of glamorous guests waiting with baited breath...

It's always handy having a talented family member or friend when it comes to some design elements for your wedding day, and boy did Sarah Jane and Luke luck out with Sarah Jane's graphic designer brother! He created a stationery suite based on a cartoon he had drawn of the happy couple. And it was replicated on everything from invites, bunting stickers , the stickers for the jars of chilli jam wedding favours to the bags of sweets left in our guests rooms.

The couple wanted to make a real party out of the wedding, bringing everyone together not just for the day, but an extended break away to enjoy the location and for both groups of family and friends to really get to know each other as Sarah Jane explained "We hired Huntsham Court for the whole weekend, which meant we could invite everyone over for icebreaking drinks on the Friday night and have a wedding debrief and bbq the next day to hear everyone’s stories from the night before. We were one of the first couples to book a wedding with the new owners who had refurbished the place from top to bottom by the time the day came around, it was amazing." It does look utterly stunning, what a lucky find.

Such a glamorous crew! But then with a bride like this, it's no surprise her pals are stylish too...

How amazing is Sarah Jane's wedding dress? You'll never guess it was a bargain sale purchase from Monsoon! Clever bride Sarah Jane added the detailing on the shoulders and lace trim and it is absolutely stunning. top it off, Sarah Jane and her bridesmaids did their own makeup! Her bestie who is a makeup artist couldn't make it on the day, but she planned ahead and designed a whole new look and taught Sarah Jane and one of the bridesmaids how to recreate it! 

When it came to the look and feel of the day, the idea wasn't rigid, but more a reflection of personal tastes that come together naturally... "We didn’t want the wedding to have too strict a theme, or be stuck too rigidly to any particular colours, but I do love vintage stuff, be it clothes, jewellery or interiors, so it was inevitable that was going to seep over into the big day. Gold and green are my favourite colours so I had them in mind too, as well as brightly coloured florals. We planned pretty much all the wedding ourselves as we wanted it to be as personal as possible."

Along with Sarah Jane's talented brother, her sister just happens to run a craft business! How handy is that? The sisters teamed up to do the styling and were able to source and make lots of bits themselves. "I actually loved everything decor wise on the day, but the stand out favourites had to be the' Love' sign that was printed on music sheets which we laid out on the piano, and the SJ and Luke bunting that went on the fireplace in the Great Hall."

"We begged and borrowed from friends’ fancy dress boxes, I collected photo frames and sprayed them gold for the table names, we made chilli jam for the favours and me, my mum and sister decorated all of the jam jars we’d collected for the flowers." The girls arranged the table flowers themselves the night before from a brilliant selection the florist had supplied for them, how gorgeous are those colour combinations?!

And then there were the sweet treats, another family contribution from Sarah Jane's side..." My mum and brother took charge of the cake table (with donations from Luke’s mum and nan) and had a production line going for the two days before the wedding! They made enough cakes for three weddings!"

So having created such a beautiful day, and what looks like it was one heck of a party, what advice would you give to brides and grooms planning their day? "Ask someone to video the speeches and shop around. We saved money on everything we could from the venue to the flowers. If you can string it out for a whole weekend, then do!"

A huge congratulations to the lovely Sarah Jane and Luke on their wedding day!

A big Thank You goes to Nova Wedding Photography for sharing their work with us at One Fab Day. To see more of their work pop over to www.novaweddingphotography.co.uk.

The Wedding Details

• Venue: Huntsham Court
• Photography: Nova Wedding Photography
• Wedding Dress: Monsoon 
• Bridesmaids dresses: Next online
• Bride's Shoes: Rachel Simpson
• Flowers: Earth Gallery
• Groom: Reiss suit with Oliver Sweeney shoes & a Peckham Rye pocket square
• Styling / décor:  Bets and Bobs