Happy Friday my lovelies! After a pretty full week on the blog we have one of those wonderfully relaxed, countryside tipi weddings to share with you today. Beautiful bride and gorgeous groom Lucy and Ian, along with their guests, simply walked from their ceremony to the reception in the charming village of Singleton, in the Lavant valley near Chichester. Their five month old daughter Maisie is the star of the show – how adorable is this tiny human?!

A lovely marquee wedding in a Sussex village captured by Martin Beddall Photography (34)

A guest article by Emily Black Photography

Engagement shoots are not only a great chance to get to know your wedding photographer and how they work, they also really help couples feel at ease in front of the camera. Most of my couples really don’t like the thought of having their photo taken and feel a bit uneasy about the prospect of couple shots during their wedding.

How was your weekend? Ours has been lovely with a day’s tidying up (doesn’t it feel amazing when a forgotten corner of your house gets all neat and shiny?!!) and a day of tootling about in the Lake District. So I’m feeling refreshed and excited for the week ahead, and all the more so because we have some fabulous weddings to share with you from around the UK. We’ll start in Staffordshire with Lucy and Tom’s brilliant wedding story, which I love to bits!

A blissfully happy wedding full of moments and stories at Alrewas Hayes with York Place Studios (16)

A rather fabulous guest article by Amanda Karen Photography

Hello – I’m so happy to be with you today! Thank you, Claire for inviting me along to talk about a really important element of wedding planning – choosing suppliers. However, what follows probably isn’t what you might expect. This isn’t going to be a checklist full of reminders to ask for references and to check social media feeds. Oh no, I’m about to explain why choosing suppliers is really a whole lot more personal than that.

Today’s wedding is blissfully beautiful, classic in style and with a sophisticated wintry look. The styling is elegant and light, using silver and grey – the bridesmaids’ dark dresses are fabulous. And I’ve totally fallen for Izzy and Tom – they look so wonderfully happy together, not to mention absolutely gorgeous! Izzy’s dress is a showstopper: her smile is infectious. You’ll love these two! The stunning venue is De Vere Tortworth Court, which is captured so beautifully in Goucestershire wedding photographer Martin Dabek‘s inimitable signature style.

A magical winter wedding at Tortworth Court, images by Martin Dabek Photography (19)