Walking down the dusty pathway, surrounded by trees with Mary Lamberts' "Love is Love" playing was one of the highlights of our wedding day. I felt completely at peace, walking with my dad next to me towards the one whom my soul loves.My 78 year old grandfather sang "Our Father" as a prayer and I had to fight back the tears.
A 120 guests arrived on the 7th of October 2017 to celebrate our love and the road we walked to self love, acceptance and bliss. What an amazing gift?!
We decided to have a honeymoon in 2018: first of all financially this made more sense, but it is also special to look forward to the chance of taking time off and reflecting on our special day and the time that passed so quickly.
I am the only child, growing up my friend (whom is more like an older sister) practically lived by us. One of my fondest memories are where we tried making dresses over holiday; I would lie on top of the material; while she would cut out the soon to be dress!
Over the years Caro Niemand turned into a lot more than a aspired dress maker and could thus not think pf anyone more perfect than my sister and the designer and maker of C Couture to make my wedding dress. It was a modern silhouette but with a vintage lace finish. I am not very fond of formal wear, but I must admit- I felt gorgeous in this creation!
My shoes were nude sandals from Call it Spring and my hair and make up was done by the ever so talented Salome Zietsman, the owner of the Brush Salon. Salome just understood what I wanted from day one: natural, romantic, vintage and COMFORTABLE!
The only jewelry I wore was the pear of earrings my mother wore on her wedding day; this too was very special to me.
I dreamt about getting married on my parents' farm in the Klein Karoo, but logistically this would not have been possible. As we drove through the gates of the beautiful Winery Road Forest; the aloes, magnificent forest and barn stole my heart. We had a 120 guests.
We based our color scheme on the ambiance of the venue itself as well as on the various shades of desert roses. It was earthy yet romantic with greys, tints of rose gold and soft pinks and purples. The service was held in the forest with the well known wooden door, white benches and lavender as confetti. On the door we had a heart, made by my father, with desert roses in.
The pre-drinks was on the lawn. We had a rustic palate bar (made by my father and fiance), a live band, barrels as cocktail tables and signs designed by Anna Nonsens were standing through out the forest on easels with our favourite quotes. The idea was to create a market feel for the pre-drinks: live band, lawn games, Stellenbrau beer on tab, a photo booth and skinny fries and skewers as snacks.
Our talented friend (Origami Designs) created a logo for our wedding day (our two dogs were part of the design) which we had printed as a sign for the bar, on our beer cups and on stickers that we applied to the cones in which the fries were served.
The courtyard had a white and black checkered floor and a 3/4 tent. The barn with the white exposed trussers, chandeliers and amazing flower arrangements done by Lennel Le Roux from LILI created the perfect balance between rustic and elegance.
Each guest received a CD with our favorite songs, my mother sketched an image of the forest with the wooden door and this became the design for the cd covers.
Our breath-taking forest offers various options for a customised wedding ceremony under a natural pine canopy
Our friend's mother made all the dresses for the bridesmaids. I bought a dress at Forever New's factory shop shich served as inspiration. I wanted dresses that will suit all: from the most athletic to the pregnant bridesmaid :) They all looked gorgeous and felt comfortable.
I loved the fact that they spontaneously decided to throw in a denim jacket for the cold and at the end this worked beautifully with the mocha/champagne color of their dresses.
We got married in Home Affairs on the Thursday before our wedding, but a dear friend who is busy with his PHD in theology, lead the ceremony.
We literally had the best team to capture our special day!
The photographers were Lilac Photography and the videographers were imagenheart.
We planned our wedding, but Mornet from Winery Road Forest was appointed the planner for the day and this made a huge difference!
We didn't have a wedding cake, but OH MY did we have food! The incredibly talented Marilou Marais from Avec Mari Catering cooked up a storm.
Marilou and her team came to cook all three courses in the comfort of our home to taste before hand- it was amazing!
All our stationary was designed and printed by Origami Designs.
During the pre-drinks the Nick Marucchi band played and our DJ was from Your DJ.
We practiced in our living room :)
Our breath-taking forest offers various options for a customised wedding ceremony under a natural pine canopy
