Liz and Chris Harris married on a September day, on Liz’s beautiful family farm in rural Herefordshire. They had a stunning tipi set up looking over Herefordshire hills, and all the guests were surprised during the drinks reception as they were joined by alpacas, who, says photographer Lucy G, "were super cute, but a little stubborn when we took them on a little walk, I think they had been looking forward to the canapés."

Where did you meet?

We met skiing in Bulgaria 10 years ago through a mutual friend.

The proposal? Where? How?

Chris actually proposed on my family farm in the field next to where we had our wedding reception. He put on a treasure hunt which ended in a proposal in the horse shelter!

How did you go about planning your wedding?

We both absolutely loved wedding planning, were very organized and had hundreds of ideas! I think that’s the attitude you need to have if you are doing a “DIY” wedding – as it really is a lot of work! We knew we wanted the reception to be on my family farm and we wanted to incorporate many aspects of the farm into our day such as into the stationary and using lots of farm props! Our essential items were having Pieminister as our caterers (after many years enjoying their food at Glastonbury festival), having our reception in giant tipi tents and alpacas! Everything else built up around these vendors. We also involved many family and friends in helping us make things and prepare for the wedding for the whole year, including Chris’s dad making damson gin from damsons grown on the farm, Chris’s mum and godmother making miles of bunting and my dad making a cake stand out of an old tree from the orchard. Our very talented designer friend Carly also offered to do our stationery – which was absolutely beautiful and captured so many details of the farm. For the entertainment we booked The Fat Cats – an outstanding band, great guys, they kept the tipi rocking all night – would highly recommend!

How did you pick the venue?

The only place we ever considered for our ceremony was the village church. This is the heart of the village community and holds many memories for me and my family. It was so nice attending church in the run up to the wedding and getting to know many members of the congregation. The reception at the farm was then only a short walk down the lane.

Who made the cake?

We got Colin and Connie the Caterpillar wedding cakes from Marks and Spencer. Desserts were from Kimmy Loves Cake in Bewdley.

What did you splash out on? And was there anything you’d have loved to have but managed to resist?

The biggest expense was the tipi hire from Event in a Tent, which was well worth it as they created such a stunning centre piece for the reception and were so fun and spacious inside. We also set up a glamping village for all our guests, complete with bell tents, showers, toilets, lighting etc - which also took a significant chunk of the budget. There is nothing that we really wanted that we did not end up having. Saying that, I would have loved an ice cream van – but I don’t know where it would have fitted into the day!

What was the most memorable part of your day?

I don’t think that I could name one part of the day which was my favourite. It was just amazing seeing all your friends and family in one place and also seeing the wedding unfold after all the months of planning and seeing everyone else enjoying what we had put together. It was great seeing how excited people were about our alpacas, as we had tried to keep them secret!

Tell us about the outfits

My dress was by Rembo Styling – I literally loved all their dresses – and it was hard to choose, but in the end I chose “wild wonder” as I loved the warm colour and all the little details. I really wanted myself and my bridesmaids to wear flower crowns, as this really added to the country/festival wedding vibe – Issy & Bella did such an amazing job. My something borrowed was a gold bracelet from my mum. Chris had his blue suit tailor-made on Saville Row, at least he can wear it again!

I bought the bridesmaids' dresses online from a cheap and cheerful Chinese website! They were all different styles and shades of dusty blue.

Any advice for future couples' wedding planning?

If you have loads of ideas, start early! Make sure you involve family and friends. Don’t worry about tiny details on the day – your vendors will know what they are doing – and you won’t actually care. Decide early on what things are the most important to you, and build everything else around this.

Did you go on a honeymoon? If so, where did you go?

We went on a honeymoon six months after the wedding. We spent three weeks travelling around Chile and Easter Island – a real adventure!

Your suppliers, anyone you would like to big up and recommend?

The Fat Cats – an outstanding band, great guys, they kept the tipi rocking all night – would highly recommend. (entertainment-nation.co.uk)

Desserts – Kimmy loves Cake (kimmylovescake.co.uk)

Alpacas – Simply Alpaca (simplyalpaca.co.uk)