A day to remember

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Annette and Neil planned a celebration full of food, wine and friends.

Annette Hockey and Neil Kerwin first met through mutual friends. “We instantly clicked and we've always made each other laugh,” says the bride. After being together for five years, Neil decided it was time to pop the question. “We went on a wonderful holiday to Chile and Easter Island,” says Annette. “When Neil got down on one knee in front of the Moai Statues – it was a complete surprise.” To celebrate, they went for an impromptu swim in the Pacific. “I was worried that I'd lose the ring after he'd managed to hide it from me on our travels,” laughs the newlywed. Upon returning home, the couple set the date for the 21st October, 2017 and decided to create a relaxed and informal wedding that truly reflected them as a couple. Here, the bride tells us more about their big day…

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We chose to say our vows at St George's Hall. Although it's a huge and impressive building we had a lovely, intimate ceremony – it was the highlight of our day.

Anna at Mi Vida arranged the most stunning bouquets and buttonholes for us – they were exactly what I wanted. I cried when I saw them on the morning of the big day.

We kept the décor at the restaurant very simple. We had a black-and-white table plan in wooden frames, which I've now reused for wedding photos at home.

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For our reception, we simply wanted to eat delicious food and drink good wine with our close family and friends. The Art School restaurant was ideal for us, a beautiful building with great service. Afterwards, we all travelled to Malmaison to continue celebrations. They were super flexible and it was a great fit for what we wanted

The day star ted with a last-minute panic as the wedding car broke down on the way to collect me. Luckily, my friend's husband saved the day and drove us to the ceremony in my bridesmaid's car.

We had a yummy naked cake with four tiers of different flavours from The Liverpool Cake Company. We froze the leftovers and it still tastes great.

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Choosing my bridesmaid Vicki's gown was an easy job to tick off the list. I just wanted her to feel comfor table in what she was wearing – I had no preference on style. It arrived just two days before the wedding!

I chose the classic Millie by Alan Hannah. It wasn't at all what I originally envisaged, but it made me feel amazing and elegant.

A special thanks has to go to The Art School. Our wedding breakfast tasting menu was perfect and every single one of our guests was made to feel so special.

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We le ft the restaurant at 6.30pm after a brilliant meal and headed to the hotel for our reception. Our DJ played all of our favourite songs to get ev er yone dancing all night.

Neil looked dashing in a blue Hugo Boss suit. His best man wore his own suit as we didn't want everything to be coordinated.

To carry on the theme of incredible food, we opted for a week in Florence for our honeymoon. We had a week of eating and drinking in a fabulous boutique hotel.

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Something we learned is that your loved ones are just excited to see you get married. They don't care about the favours or colour scheme. Do those things if you want them – but do it for you, not because people expect it.