We met through friends on the way to a university party. Bryn says he fell straight away, while Fin played hard to get for a while! We spent some quality time together bonding over our love of adventures, and officially began dating during a holiday in South Africa!
We went on a 9 month adventure trip through South and Central America, and stopped in South Africa on our way home. We went to Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch for a sunny picnic and Bryn took me to a little bridge over the lake and proposed!
To be honest I didn’t love the planning process! I found it a bit overwhelming at first but I made sure to lock in all the important things first – venue, priest and our photographer, Warren Williams Photography. Warren flew from Cape Town to Perth to shoot our wedding which was awesome. I must say, we relied on a lot of recommendations and help from friends to fill in everything else.
I spent a lot of time on Pinterest!
My favourite part of the day was the overwhelming sense of love and joy that filled the room at our reception. Everyone was so genuinely overjoyed to share in our special day, and it was so special to have everyone important in our lives in the same room.
#rustic (just joking!) – but really we just wanted a simple, romantic look to the wedding. Other than that we wanted a fun reception with a live band and not too many formalities.
For my wedding dress I wanted classic, simple lace but with a stunning low back – no bling and no puff!! I couldn’t find my perfect dress at any store so I had it made just for me by Brides by Design – who did an amazing job! I was actually lucky enough to win my bridesmaids dresses on a Twobirds Bridesmaids Instagram competition! I was able to choose the colour and I loved that the dresses were versatile so my bridemaids could choose whatever style they wanted.
I asked to be surprised by my flowers – I showed my florist a sample of my dress and my bridesmaids dresses and let her go wild. She did an amazing job!
We gave each of our guests a packet of homemade fudge (homemade by Bryn’s mum!), and our friend’s mum made our wedding cake.
Bryn chose our song - Van Morrison’s ‘Into the Mystic’ - because I am a huge Van fan and that song brings tears to my eyes every time!
My favourite memory was walking down the aisle, next to my dad, and looking ahead to Bryn (with a tear in his eyes!) and surrounded by all our friends and family. I thought I would be nervous but I was actually so calm! I will never forget how right it felt in that moment.
Do your own thing! It is your big day - don’t take on everyone else’s advice or do what you think you ‘should’ do. Don’t get too caught up in the planning and take time to step back and enjoy it all on the day.
We went to Koh Samui and Koh Tao in Thailand.
Fin and Bryn
Warren Williams is a wedding and portrait photographer whose background covers more than 15 years in advertising writing for, shooting and directing some of South Africa's best...
