Getting ready before the ceremony started. it was such a relaxing day and my bridesmaids just made me feel so relaxed. We made flower crowns and bouquets, listened to music, drank champagne and ate yummy snacks. It was so special to have all my besties with me and I could not wait to marry Andre.
The Israeli dancing. Wow did everyone have an absolute blast during this part of the wedding. Most of our friends had never been to a Jewish wedding before but were absolutely amazed at what you got up to during the Israeli dancing. It was so much fun. It really does get festive.
The speeches. Our speeches were amazing and super funny. All were so very different, each one describing different phases in our lives being it varsity, school, how we met etc.
The party after dinner was served. We danced all night. It was so much fun. Only went to bed at 3:30am.
Yes we did go on honeymoon. We went to Bali for ten nights. This was a complete surprise to me. I received a letter from my husband on our wedding day detailing where we were going on our honeymoon. He had been saying we were going to go somewhere in South Africa so I didn't suspect a thing.
I don't ever wear long dresses so I decided for my wedding day that this will not be the day I started. With the help of my amazing wedding dress designer, Jacelyn from White Lilly Bridal, we came up with this amazing design. This was a short dress with amazing lace detail on it and 3D flowers with a detachable soft tulle skirt. I knew I was going to be dancing all night so the detachable skirt was perfect! I felt like a princess but at the same time could dance all night long.
My make up was very natural and done beautifully by Leoume Vos. She came with her assistant Michelle and the both of them did my hair. I had no hair spray or any sort of spray in my hair, I wanted it completely natural. I don't wear much makeup in my normal day life so again I wasnt going to start now for my wedding.
I wore an amazing head piece made by Lorean Jewellery. It was made from silver and had dainty little flowers and leaves around it.
My shoes were very retro, bought from Superbalist. High mesh peep toe boots. I loved them.
My husband bought me silver stud flower earrings with a lilac stone in the middle. My colour scheme was silver and lilac so it fit the theme perfectly and was very simple and dainty.
We got married in a little town called Stanford in the Western Cape. There are a lot of wedding venues in this beautiful area and we chose the venue called White Water Farm. It catered for everything that we wanted in a venue and the scenery surrounding the farm was absolutely amazing.
The venue that we chose was about 10 minutes away from the town so most of our guests stayed in the town or surrounding areas. The venue could accommodate about 25 people so our bridal party stayed with us on the venue and then we chose some close friends to stay as well. There was a stunning honeymoon suite that my maid of honour and I stayed in the night before the wedding and my husband and I slept in that room the night of the wedding.
The accommodation at white water farm was so amazing. It was definitely 5 star and decorated perfectly.
Decor was very simple. I was going for a rustic elegant theme with lilac flowers and some greenery. We got a PVC marquee which was so beautiful. I had soft white material draped on the roof of the tent with some greenery and fairy lights. 4everyevent, who are based on Elgin, did all the decor for us. They were extremely accommodating and really made the decor so special. I am a very detailed person so they really were great in keeping up with everything I wanted.
My mother in law took the time and effort to make 200 hearts on a stick and spray paint them in white, silver and lilac. These were used for the ceremony to be the outline for the isle.
I decided that I wanted to have a memory corner. Andre and I had been dating for nine and a half years before we got married. I gathered up photos for each year that we were dating and gave it to our decor lady. She laid out all the photos for each year on different stands. It was just a special touch to the wedding to celebrate the years we had been dating and all the friends we made along the way.
The groomsmen live all over the world so the easiest thing was for us to get everyones size and buy the pants for them so they all looked the same. We managed to get some of the groomsmen to try on the pants we bought to see if it fit but some we just hoped for the best. In the end everyone had their correct size which I was very thankful for. As the theme was lilac and silver, I decided to buy them grey pants, a cute lilac bow tie and some lilac and black socks. I bought the pants from Topshop as they sold different length pants. This was a lifesaver since some of the guys were very tall.
Andre wore an amazing charcoal colour suit from TM Lewin and a handkerchief in his suit jacket which matched the colour of the bow ties that the groomsmen wore. He didn't wear a tie or bow tie which was perfect for him and his look. We got brown shoes from Aldo for him. His suit and shoes he still wears to this day so it was a great buy.
My bridesmaids were also situated around the world so I decided to give them a colour (light silver) and some guidelines for their dress and trusted them to go buy their own dress. This worked out perfectly, it gave them the opportunity to buy exactly what they wanted within their own budget. I was a bit worried that each one would buy a different colour silver and that it would not match when standing together but that was not the case. Everyone communicated with each other, sent pictures to our whatsapp group of what they found and bought so it landed up that all the silvers matched perfectly. My guidelines were that I wanted them all to have short dresses and for there to be no or minimal amount of lace on the dress. Other than that, they could get what they wanted. I am not going to lie, this was one of the most stressful things about the wedding as for some reason, all the silver dresses we found were either sold out or didnt have any sizes left so it was very difficult to find nice light silver dresses but it all worked out in the end.
We used a lady by the name of Tzili who does non-denominational weddings. I wanted the wedding to incorporate as many Jewish traditions as possible and she made that happen. She made the ceremony super special and was very entertaining for our guests. We didn't want anything too formal and she made the ceremony so heartwarming and memorable, it was fantastic.
Wow I could have not been happier about the photographer that we chose for our wedding. Her name is Juliette Bisset and we have known her since we started dating. She made us feel so comfortable and took such beautiful photos that captured every moment perfectly. She was honestly the best and I highly recommend to her anyone who is getting married. The photos I have uploaded are proof of her amazing gift.
We decided to save some money and not get a planner for the day. We were lucky enough that the two owners of the venue were more than happy to get involved on the day and make sure that everything went to plan. I really didnt notice if anything went wrong, they did an amazing job and I am so grateful we had them.
We told our guests that they could carpool to the wedding venue and that we would organise a combi to take everyone home and then help in the morning to get everyone back to their cars. The accommodation is all so close to each other in Stanford that it was very easy for our guests to organise. We made a whatsapp group with all our guests so that they could all be in contact with each other. Everyone ensured that they all had lifts and it worked out great.
The wedding venue provided the catering. Their food is absolutely delicious. We decided not to have a proper wedding cake as we heard it goes to waste so I decided to get a big pavlova made for our main table and smaller ones made for every other table. Our pavlova was decorated beautifully and tasted delicious. The wedding venue made these pavlovas for us and to make it a bit more special and in line with the colour scheme I asked them to make the cream lilac. It was great.
A place in Cape Town called Seven Swans did my stationery. They were brilliant and did exactly what I wanted. it was nice because I am not that creative so they helped with the design and ensured it fit perfectly with the colour scheme.
Wow did we have a jol! Partied till 3:30am. We got one of our friends who is a DJ to do our wedding. His name is Michael Dickinson from dynamicsound. He was absolutely brilliant. He plays the saxophone to some songs and it really is a hit. It gets everyone going and livens up the party (not that we needed that, our whole wedding party was pretty much only friends so it really was so so so much fun).
We took dance lesson for our first dance at Dancemore Dance Studios. They were really brilliant and choreographed a dance that did not make us feel uncomfortable our out of our element. It was perfect. Our first dance song was "You and Me" by Lifehouse.
