(photograph taken by Belinda McCarthy- www. belindamccarthy.co.uk who took all the amazing photographs marked with a dot.  All others are in house.) — (photograph taken by Belinda McCarthy- www. ***belindamccarthy****.co.uk* who took all the amazing photographs marked with a dot. All others are in house.)

A huge marquee - www.dpmarquees.co.uk - went up in front of the house, covering most of the lawn. DP did an amazing job and Ollie and his team were there from 8am to 9.30pm. A white carpet gave a real feeling of spaciousness and the sofas, lighting etc .gave it a real "wow" factor!

Friday saw the decorations arrive. First 10 trees for the marquee! Hired from Castle Gardens in Sherborne - http://www.thegardeneronline.co.uk - and later festooned with little white lights, they were a wonderful touch.

Car-loads of beautiful things arrived from Linen and Lace. Again Sam and Sarah were there until late on Friday evening making sure the effect was perfect. They provided everything from the candlesticks and decorations on the tables to the post-box in the entry hall and spent hours tying drapes on the chairs. http://www.linenandlacehire.co.uk

The Florist, Katy and her team from Rustic Rose, in Sturminster Newton - www.rusticrose.co.uk - first added the most amazing flowers to the candlesticks on each table and to the small tea glasses and vases (provided by Linen and Lace) dotted round the tent.

The bride and groom added their own touches with round each glass with their guests' names engraved on them, plus mini Yankee "Wedding Candles" for the ladies and personalised playing cards for the men. The children all had individual bags of goodies. The bride had also thought of every comfort for the ladies with shawls to keep them warm and flip-flops for sore feet!

The finished effect when all was in place was stunning!

The bride was determined they were going to get married in the gazebo despite the threatened storms so, tent finished, Katy moved with her flowers to the lower lawn. First a huge heart made of eucalyptus was safely pinned in position, then she laid a rope of eucalyptus down each side of the "aisle", finally covering the front of the gazebo with the most amazing arrangement - so large that the registrar can be seen peaking out underneath during the ceremony!

Saturday dawned and a final decision to go ahead with an outside ceremony was made about ten minutes before the bride arrived when the groom and guests moved out the benches from their storage place in the gazebo. The Bride and Groom met with the Registrars in the dining room of the house. The bride arrived in a vintage car that once belonged to her late father.

The bride, who looked terrified, was given away by her mother, but as soon as she joined the groom at the gazebo a huge smile came over her face! A beautiful ceremony followed with Dan Baker providing the accompanying music - http://www.danbakermusic.co.uk- As they finished the signing of the register, the heavens opened and everyone had to dash for the marquee.

Dan Baker continued to play as the guests drank Pimms or cocktails served by Dorset Fine Dining (see details further on) and despite the rain guests drifted out to the photo booth on the drive - in this case a mini vintage caravan manned by Hello Sweet Pea - The photograph below is from a previous wedding here when it was dry enough to drive onto the lawn - info@hellosweetpea.co.uk

The wedding breakfast was served at 4.00. This was a fantastic two course meal cooked by Nick and his team from Dorset Fine Dining. Sharing pies were followed by meringue roulade to die for! We joined the party for the breakfast so I can verify this - chocolate and berries one end and lemon curd the other - http://www.dorsetfinedining.co.uk - They also provided the food later in the evening - fish finger sandwiches, pulled pork rolls, a falafel bar and chocolate roll for pudding! Quote from the bride " I can't recommend Nick highly enough! He really was amazing!"

The wine and prosecco were from Yeovil Majestic who, the bride said, were very helpful and knowledgeable and gave them a free tasting and free delivery. The champagne for the toast was from Langham Wine Estate, near Dorchester, (www.langhamwine.co.uk).

During the breakfast, David Willmott - http://www.davidwillmott.com - came round each table with magic tricks - so close but still impossible to see how he managed to take us in. Music continued throughout the meal with Johnny Stephens (Rat Pack and Swing) - email - johnny_holmes_uk@yahoo.co.uk - serenading us with a great selection of old favourites chosen by the bridal couple

Innervision a live 5 piece band from Salisbury - http://www.innervisioninfo.co.uk -and a disco by Andy Martin from Alive Network (0845-094-3815) played alternately until the witching hour of midnight. Both band and disco will cater for any genre of music and they certainly hit the right sound that night as the dance floor filled with guests of all ages. The disco lights gave the tent a magical look from outside.

The cake was cut for the evening meal - a wonderful towering creation made by the bride's twin sister.

Every effort had been made to keep guests amused with a casino - Viva Las Vegas - http://www.vivalasvegasuk.com - set up at one end of the marquee where black jack and roulette were available. Proper chips could be exchanged for tokens given out to each guest to the "value" of £50. I lost mine very quickly but not without some spectacular wins and much enjoyment. I wish I could show you some of the pictures of the guests as they lost or won - some wonderful action photographs were taken by Belinda.

At midnight the bride and groom departed for Plumber Manor - the bridegroom was not keen to spend the night under canvas! Some guests, however, were braver and repaired to their tents in the grounds - some to their own and some to bell tents put up by Honeybells - www.honeybells.co.uk

The party did not finish there, with guests returning the following day for a barbeque cooked, once again, by Dorset Fine Dining. The rain had stopped and guests could explore the gardens. Pinstripe Volcano had been engaged to play during lunch but sadly this turned out to be a rock band and wonderful as their sound was we had to cut their time short - too loud to ask the village to listen over Sunday lunch - https://www.facebook.com/pinstripevolcano

The bride had said that she wanted her wedding to be a wonderful party and without doubt it was that and more!

Shillingstone House