Wedding at Huntsham Court, Devon

Jade and Luke first met at a party in Melbourne while they were both living in Australia. After being together for three years, and relocating to Totnes, the couple were on a weekend away when New Zealand-born Luke arranged to visit a church his grandad had been to in the 1960s. “When we went inside, there were candles and roses everywhere, and a sign at the end of the aisle with the words ‘Will you marry me?’,” says Jade, whose sister was hiding in the pews, filming the whole romantic proposal.

Huntsham Court proved to be their perfect venue with the plentiful accommodation meaning their entire wedding party of more than 90 guests could stay on-site for the three-day affair. “With half of our wedding guests coming from overseas, we wanted to spend as much time as we could with everyone," says Jade

“The only downside to having everyone staying, was that we had a magician, dinner and drinks the evening before, and it was so fun that I was very hungover on my wedding day!” she laughs.

Opting for a very classic colour scheme of white and green, and “flowers anywhere you could put flowers!”, the couple’s autumnal wedding date was chosen in the hope it would be a gloomy day. "We used a lot of candlelight and wanted a dark and stormy vibe to complement the stunning interiors of the manor house,” says Jade. “We ended up with the best of both worlds; a dark and atmospheric day, but with a sunny blip in the middle, which coincided with drinks, canapés and photos!”

The day started with bagpipe players waking everyone up for breakfast – a surprise that went down well with most guests! The ceremony opened with the couple’s young son acting as ring-bearer and Luke’s brother singing Jade down the aisle to Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez. “It was perfect, and very special for Luke as he hadn’t seen his brother in five years, so it started off a lot of crying,” says Jade. “It was a very teary wedding!”

The newlyweds and their guests enjoyed al fresco canapés and drinks accompanied by live jazz band, Juniper Jazz, before moving inside for their wedding breakfast.

After a feast of spiced avocado and crab, fillet of beef and a trio of desserts, the speeches brought more laughter and tears. “I think the speeches were my favourite part. They were wonderful and I was surprised at how personal they were,” says Jade, looking back. “There were lots of tears!”

The evening started with a champagne tower before the first dance to Tennessee Whiskey… “and from then on it erupted!” laughs Jade. “Everyone partied quite hard, it went from zero to a hundred pretty quickly. My husband managed to break his rib having an impromptu ju jitsu match with his brother and the night didn’t end until 6am for some guests, including Luke!”

Looking back, it’s with the happiest of memories of the “best day of my life”. “I wish we could do it all over again on repeat,” says Jade, who has some advice for making the most of your big day. “Get married earlier. The day goes by so quickly; if I could do it again, I’d get married at 11am!”