I was invited to a braai, and was a bit hesitant to go alone, but something told me to go, that I must be there that night, so I listened to my gut feeling and went. There I met couple, Andries and Michelle who are friends of Stephen (my husband), and Michelle and I started talking, and I said to her : " decent guys are so hard to find these days" and then said that she knows a nice guy", Michelle asked if she could give my phone number to a friend of hers that works with her. I said "yes", because I figured I have nothing to lose and I like to meet new people, and I too wanted to have someone to love.
And so she gave my number to Stephen and I received a text message the next evening while i was in church, from this awesome guy, I replied the next day and we started talking, and went on a date 4 days later. We had just fit together so well!
Our personalities complemented each other very well! I am very glad I went to that braai and that I gave my number to Michelle to give to Stephen, otherwise I would never have met the LOVE OF MY LIFE...
We were officially dating for 6 months. On our 6 month anniversary he surprised me with a bouquet of plastic red roses (because they last forever) at my work. I was totally surprised, he said:" Im taking you out for lunch" and i accepted, i looked forward to spending time with him. Then as we started to drive, he pulled over just outside my work premises and said that something is wrong with the back wheel. He then got out to have a look and said "come and look there is something wrong here".
I then got out the car and go to see what was going on... l looked at the tyre and saw nothing wrong there.
When I turned around to face Stephen he was on one knee. He had a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring in his hand asked me :"Will you marry me?" I was so shocked my first reaction was: " are you serious?!" He replied yes he was, and then i said :"YES THE ANSWER WILL ALWAYS BE YES!!" I gave him a hug and he put the ring on my finger and we kissed!
For me it was when i looked at him while i was walking down the isle towards him, the moment he turned and looked at me. I only focused on him, and he looked so handsome!
And when we washed each others feet at the end of the ceremony, that was a special moment.
And of course while we opened the dance floor with our dance, it was like it was just the 2 of us there alone, it was so special.
We traveled to a few places over 10 days , we went to Mbombela (Nelspruit) in the bush veld where we enjoyed lovely sunsets and went to see the Sudwala Caves. We went to have a look at God's Window. We traveled to Sabie and went Zip lining through the trees and that was awesome to be so high up in the trees with a great view. We are quite adventure seekers. We then went to Kaapschehoop, which is a small town just outside Nelspruit, on top of a beautiful mountain. That is the only place in South Africa where you will find wild horses roaming free. We enjoyed walking in the forests there and we spotted a few troops of them, they were indeed majestic.
Then we traveled to Dullstroom. What a beautiful place, where we stayed in a beautiful forest lodge, enjoying the fire in our fire place in our cozy cabin, and walks in the forest, and chocolate and coffee tasting in the town.
My look was classical and modern. I had a dress custom made for me. I found a design on the internet, then i went to the shop and hand picked my dress material .
I planned every detail, from design of the dress to the vail, and the tipe of Lace material and Satin for my dress, even the corset i wore under my dress i had it made by a dress maker specially for me. Everything was Custom made.
I had a A line dress with a sweet heart satin neckline combined with a deep V neckline made of Lace that went over the satin it was scollop shape, with 3/4 lace sleeves.
The Lace has beautiful beading and embellishment on it with fine detail. I had a long big cathedral vail that was longer than my dress. which had scolops on the side with laces flowers and beading.
My shoes were golden Lace pumps, my hair was done up with a braid and curls and i had a beautiful hair clip and small flower clips in my hair.
My earrings were a gift from my mother in law, they fitted well with my dress. My makeup was not too dark as i wanted to look soft and beautiful.
We got married at Valverde Eco Hotel in Lanseria area close to Hartbeespoortdam.
Some of our guests stayed at the hotel.
Valverde is a unique Country venue in the Muldersdrift area. Valverde has two wedding venues, function facilities, conference facilities and accommodation.
I was treated to a leisure day at the spa at the Magalies Mountain Lodge in Hartbeespoortdam the day before the wedding with my bridesmaids . I enjoyed nice massages and a wonderful breakfast and lunch.. It was so relaxing!
Decor theme was wood and beautiful colors of dark navy blue and and dark cerise pink and white.
We both like wood so it was a bit rustic, he likes navy and so do I. Fairy lights and candles set a nice ambiance.
Lots of white and pink lilly's and white and dark pink rorses with wood chips and wood slices on the tables.
The groom was wearing a Navy colored suit with a light blue button shirt and cerise pink tie, and blue petty coat and the grooms man was wearing a white button shirt with navy coloured petty coat and navy pants with a cerise pink tie.
Most was hired by Euro suit Brooklyn Pretoria.
I saw a design on the internet for the brides maids, long flowing chiffon dresses, but i had them custom made for them each in a different design i hand picked the design and fabric for the dresses. They had long navy dresses with no sleeves and a ceresie pink ribbon around the waist hanging down the side sweet heart necklines with an A line.
We had chocolate brownies made , my own recipe, and a love blackforest cake for the wedding by a friend that works with my husband. Brownies is different from the usual wedding cupcake, it seemed fitting as we both love brownies and blackforest cake and we wanted it to be different than other people's weddings.
Food was made by the venue. it was lovely. snacks and plated starters, and main course buffet, and buffet dessert as well.
We had a DJ he was recommended by the venue, we were very satisfied and happy with his service, as he also helped the master of ceremonies with the planning and setting up of the program and all the music. He was awesome!
Valverde is a unique Country venue in the Muldersdrift area. Valverde has two wedding venues, function facilities, conference facilities and accommodation.
