Hello stylish brides,

I desparately need your help. I'm an American living in London (for several years now) and I'm marrying an Englishman. I have pretty much decided to have the wedding here in England, but the problem is where.

Here is where your advice will be invaluable. I need the advice of brides with style and elegance and clearly this is where you all lurk.

There are loads of gorgeous castles and manor houses to hire out for the day in England, but it's so.. how do I explain this.. I feel like we would be playing “lord” and “lady” for the day, in someone else's home, paying huge amounts of money for grandure when it's all for show..it belongs to another family. Plus I can't help but notice that it seems to be something that “chavs” do.. not sure if that translates at all? So this genre of location is not an option.

It's traditional here for the bride to hold the wedding in her home town, which can be one of the many gorgeous little villages sprinkled throughout England. It's perfect because it's homey, it's classic, it can be very stylish if you do it right, and it's not showy.. it's REAL. But as I do not come from here, I don't have a home town. I suppose I could adopt-a-village.. but which one??

So if there are any stylish brides out there who could suggest places in England they know of which you think I should check out, I would be eternally grateful.

If all else fails, I've considered having it on Martha's Vineyard or the like..then the Brits don't have to fly too far for the wedding? Trouble is fiance hates the idea of not having it here in England.

Please help.

Julia