A fabulous intimate wedding celebration at Poseidon Guest House
Our love story began 4 years ago when Andreas walked into my office (he happened to be on campus and was visiting his sister who was studying at FEDISA Fashion School at the time).
Andreas - being someone who always enters competitions, phoned me up one day while I was at work to tell me – in much detail - that we had won a competition with Pick N Pay which was for a romantic sidecar trip around the Cape Peninsula. Knowing that he entered competitions regularly, I didn’t think anything of it. Meanwhile, he had organised the entire trip with the sidecar company where there would be various stops along the way complete with little boxes containing hidden clues in them. When we finally got to the final stop by one of the Chapmans Peak look-out points, he got down on one knee and before I knew it, our family (who had all been waiting there and hiding out of sight) came out to celebrate and pop some bubbly.
We began reading online articles, such as those featured on SA Weddings which really helped guide us once we realised how daunting planning a wedding could be. Our Big Fat Greek Wedding was due to take place on the 24th of October 2020 but due to Covid-19, we had to move it to 2021. Rather than waking up on our intended wedding day and feeling blue about it not happening, we decided to make the most of the day by doing our civil wedding with the immediate family.
Our inspiration for the intimate wedding came from the venue itself. Poseidon House in Hout Bay was perfect in every way for us to have our civil wedding and to be able to eat, drink, do some Greek dancing and be merry.
The most memorable part of our special day was when we exchanged vows outside on the lawn at Poseidon House overlooking the spectacular view of the Hout Bay Harbour. The sun came out from behind the clouds just as we kissed – it was a picture perfect moment! We also loved how Rufus, the resident dog at Poseidon House joined in on all the photos.
We decided to stay true to our original theme which was clean and elegant, complete with Pennygum greenery and some rose gold accents. The rose gold colour inspiration came from the engagement ring Andreas specially had made as rose gold is Marinella's favourite colour.
As this intimate gathering was intended just for us to sign our civil wedding papers ahead of our church wedding to follow in 2021, I wanted this dress to have a different look and feel to what the church dress would be. My friend and colleague at FEDISA Lucia Uhlikova, who is the head of the clothing technology department at our institution, made my gorgeous dress from scratch, complete with boning and intricately placed lace moulding tailored exactly to my body.
We chose Pennygum as a subtle accent to the already exquisite decor at the venue. Marinella's friend and former owner at Bouwer Flowers, Shari Akal put together the greenery together with the help of Danie and Janni at Poseidon House who went the extra mile by providing the gazebo and it's décor outside where vows were exchanged.
We decided to bring along some personal items which we had been collecting ever since our engagement and added them to the decor for the day. We also made up the candle base decorations with the remaining greenery. It was incredible to be given complete creative freedom to dress up the Guest House as we wanted.
We did not have an opening dance but we did bring out some of the best nostalgic tracks - some good old classics as a precursor to the Greek music which followed shortly after we exchanged vows and signed the papers.
When we woke up on the morning of our civil wedding, it was cloudy and began to drizzle. With no sun in sight, we drove to our venue and had made peace with the fact that it wasn't going to be a very sunny or even warm day. As we arrived, there was a beautiful warmness to the air and the clouds began to part just in time for us all to see the incredible view of the venue.
Keep it simple and remember that it's your wedding - so it really is up to the both of you how you want to do it. There really are no rules.
Not yet, we are saving our honeymoon for after our big wedding in 2021 and hope to go to Zanzibar if travel allows for it
If you like your champagne with a little Rock&Roll, Poseidon can help you celebrate your special day.
Micke specialises in high-end, creative and documentary-style wedding photography that captures you in your most comfortable and natural state.
