Lotte and Stijn are a couple who, born and bred in the Netherlands, decided to tie the knot in one of the most beautiful venues there is. Elopement, to them, was just too romantic to resist - throw in some South African wildlife, and you can't go wrong.

We just couldn't resist a Q&A with one of the very few brides who get to say they celebrated their special day at this amazing venue!

Coming from the Netherlands, what made you want to have a safari style wedding?

As I lost my heart to the African bush 15 years ago, and my husband 5 years ago, it was very clear to us that we wanted to have a bush wedding. Personally, I never felt the urge to get married at all, but to be able to have a very small ceremony with just the 2 of us in the middle of the African bush made me change my mind.

Why did you choose Mhondoro Safari Lodge & Villa?

We chose Mhondoro because I had happy clients who stayed there before and when I discussed our wishes and ideas over Skype with Ronel, I had the feeling that this was the best option for us.

Ronel immediately understood that we wanted to have a rustic bush wedding without fancy stuff but with very good food, safaris and African Vonkelwyn. She also introduced me to the photographer Lotty with whom I clicked immediately. Lotty became such a good friend and she will even be joining me on a press trip to Tswalu in May for my company, Safari Design.

What was it like working with the staff at Mhondoro?

I miss the staff at Mhondoro every day. The people working at Mhondoro are all so friendly, relaxed and we just had a lot of fun with them all. It felt as if they became family and we didn’t want to leave after we were there for 5 nights. They made the most beautiful wedding cake I have ever seen and again, rustic, exactly how we like it. It was stunning and we loved the fact the we could share the cake with the other guests in the lodge. As a surprise, Ronel arranged a small choir at the location where we had the ceremony and we LOVED that so much. It was a very special day for us in the middle of Welgevonden!

What was the most memorable part of your wedding day at Mhondoro?

For both of us that was the moment we went out on a short game drive after the ceremony and we were joking about wanting to see some rhinos as we love rhinos and support a lot of projects to help save them. Lotty kept telling Fritz (who was driving) to please find some rhinos, but we never expected to really see them - after 5 minutes these 2 huge grey backs showed from the bushes and we came across two beautiful rhinos.

Thanks to Fritz and Lotty, we got some time with the rhinos on the ground (in my wedding dress) and just before we wanted to return to Mhondoro we heard the roaring of a lion (my favourite sound in the world) so that brought happy tears to my eyes – again.

We'd like to send a special thanks to Lotty H Photography and Safari Designs for the incredible photographs!