Sunshine after the rain: The wedding of Gary and Holly Silk

The wedding of Gary and Holly Silk at St Cross Church, Winchester followed by reception at Lainston House Hotel, Winchester, Hampshire

Photography: Cooper Photography

Our wedding day was so amazing. After hurricane weather for the past week we woke up to beautiful sunshine. Everything and everyone looked amazing, and it really lived up to expectations.

The highlights for us included our amazing band who did a fantastic live version of our first song and had the dance floor packed all night. The speeches were also brilliant. Having a private room to sign the register in at the church was also lovely as we were joined by our parents, bridesmaids and ushers for a really special moment to celebrate. We had a fotopod at the reception, which was great fun. The pictures were so much fun to see the next day and show the informal side of the day.

Having been very controlling in the lead up, I felt all the planning was worth while as I could really relax knowing everything would fall exactly into place. I loved seeing all our guests enjoy the little surprises we had put into the day. Gary was very nervous about the speech but did an amazing job. His biggest tip would be prepare and rehearse your speech, and it turned out brilliantly!

Make sure you spend the time planning everything carefully so that you can really enjoy the day without having to think about anything. We also had a great photographer that took us away three different times during the day for ten minutes each time to get photos, which meant we had lots of different photos of the two of us, but never felt we were away from the action for too long.

THE DETAILS

Photography: Cooper Photography, Chandlers Ford, near Southampton, 02380 254498, cooper-photography.co.uk

Venue: Lainston House Hotel, Winchester, 01962 776 088, lainstonhouse.co.uk

Dress: ‘Hepburn’ by Suzanne Neville, Carina Baverstock Couture, Bradford on Avon, 01225 866610, carinabcouture.com

Groom: Moss Bros, moss.co.uk

Stationery: With Love Wedding Stationery, withloveweddinginvitations.co.uk

Catering: Lainston House Hotel, 01962 776 088, lainstonhouse.co.uk

Cake: Lindsey Wallace Cakes, lindsey.r.wallace@googlemail.com

Flowers: Exclusively Weddings, Totton, Southampton, 02380 869 974, exclusivelyweddings.co.uk

Transport: Country Style Wedding Cars Ltd, Midhurst, 0845 527458, countrystylecars.co.uk

Entertainment: ‘Life and Soul Music, 07785 546666, lifeandsoulmusic.co.uk; fotopod.co.uk

To see more of Gary and Holly’s wedidng pictures see our online gallery or the 2013 issue of Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire BRIDE