One of the most memorable moments of our wedding day was after I had come down the Isle...
My mother walked me down the Isle and when se gave me over to Reinhardt he kissed me and immidiately after realized that he was not supposed to and did this little jiggle which had the entire church in stitches!
I will always remember that moment!
Planning our honeymoon was a lot of fun... we had a world of options and such an amazing variety of places to choose from.
In the end we decided to travel through South Africa and see as much of possible of our own country!
Our wedding was held outside Cradock and that was the departure point for our honeymoon. We did not book accommodation for the first evening as we knew that we would be quite tired after our wedding night. We ended up driving to Kimberly where we decided to overnight.
The next morning we set out to our first destination which was Sun City. We stayed at the Sun Cabanas which is a really stylish hotel with modern rooms and great facilities. The hotel is set on a lake and has the most amazing views. We wen't to the Casino on our first night where I got to know myself a little bit better... it seems that I may have a bit of a gambling problem... needless to say my new hubby did not take me gambling again the next evening :)
Our next destination was the Nungubane Game Lodge in the Waterberg. The Lodge is very small and exclusive accommodating a maximum of twelve guests at a time in six suites. The staff were really amazing and set-up romantic dinners for us on our private room deck each evening. We enjoyed two game drives a day and were able to see the big five during our stay. From our room we were able to view game all around.
After the Waterberg we set off to Clarens... the most beautiful little gem that I have ever seen! The town is really unique and has the most amazing character. We only spent one night there, but I would definitely return for another stay!
The following day we drove through the Drakensberg Reserve which is truly stunning with gorgous senery. We stopped regularly to take in our surroundings and just to appreciate the beauty of our own country!
We arrived at the Sun International Resort in the Drakensberg that afternoon. The hotel is set in the mountains at a lake, the restaurant overlooking all of this! We enjoyed some canooing during our stay here .My hubby even did some fly fishing off his canoe and was able to catch and release some bass (this made his trip by the way). I eventually managed to convince Reinhardt to join me for a couples massage. He wasn't keen before the massage and turns out he won't be joining me again :) More massages for me... yay
Our final part of the trip was down the Wild Coast. We went to Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall. Although the senery was spectacular, we found that this area was not exactly what we had in mind for our honeymoon and ended up spending the last four days of our honeymoon in Jeffreys Bay.
In Jeffrey's Bay we found an amazing apartment on the beach and ended up catching up on some well deserved rest! We did however decide to build a book rack in our lounge when we got home, so we purchased about 200 books based on size and colour... and guess what... our book rack is built and it looks really amazing!
All together we drove approximately 4000km, but it was an amazing trip and if we had to plan our honeymoon again... I wouln't change a thing!
Every little girl dreams about her wedding day, this was not the case with me...
I only knew three things...
1. I want a big dress (you can only do it once in your life... seize the moment)
2. My hair will be done loose
2. I want real paper confetti
So yes... I had a beautiful big white wedding dress and I loved it! My hair was curled and worn down and I had my paper confetti!
Happiest bride in the world!
We found the most beautiful wedding venue on a farm outside Cradock nesstled between the mountains. This has been their fourth year open!
Blomfontein Wedding Venue can accommodate up to 250 guests in the venue and can sleep approximately 140guests depending on how you utelize your bedrooms.
As we had a "destination" wedding most of our guests came from far. We had a braai with our guests on the Friday evening at the venue and all our guests were able to have brunch at the restaurant the following morning.
There is also a chapel at Blomfontein where we said our vows and joined our lives together forever!
My sister had me on the most amazing diet two weeks before the wedding which allowed me to loose the last 2kg that I needed to in order to fit into my gorgous dress! We had a whole excersize program worked out... however we were so busy in those last two weeks that we did not even look at the excersizes!
I also had my nails done by Leandri from "the pretty bride" in Cradock (she also did my hair)
Other than that I just moisturized, moisturized and moisturized some more as the Karoo is really hard on your skin.
Timeless...
The Groom was dressed in a black suite, white long sleeve shirt, black tie and long black pants with black shoes. (and looking really sharp :) ... Hes Finally Mine )
The groomsmen were dressed in black long pants with black shoes, white long sleeve shirts and black ties.
My brides maids where dressed in long navy blue flowy dresses which complimented them so well!
I let them decide which shoes they wanted to wear!
Those girls are the best people that I know!
Minister Corne Slabbert from Cradock Church
He was a really great minister and kept our ceremony short and powerful just like we wanted it!
Sphere Photographic took all our wedding photos!
They are truly amazing and go the extra mile for their clients!
Myself and my brides maids did all the wedding decor ourselfes. From the flowers on the table, the photo booth, bouquets... it was all us! Thinking back now I am really glad that I decided not to hire someone to do the flowers! I was able to take in every detail of my wedding! I think the day goes by so quickly that if you did not do it yourself you miss all the small things... but that's just my opinion!
I must also give credit where it is due... the owner of the venue (Renee) also added a lot of extra little special touches which I really appreciated!
As we stayed at the venue, got married at the venue and partied at the venue, we did not make a big fuss about the wedding car... I drove down in my parents bakkie :)
The food at the wedding was amazing and done by Celest Lombard from Little Fields.
We had roast lamb, chicken pie, sweet potato roll, spicy rice and Broccoli with cheese sauce!
Dessert was our wedding cake!
Our stunning wedding cake was baked by Anne-Marie Rapp from the local Deli in Cradock, D'licious... and yes the cake was delicious too!
All stationary was designed & printed by the bride... call me if you struggle with fonts...
So my new hubby is not a big dancer... but that was no problem! I chose a beautiful slow song "How long will I love you" by "Ellie Goulding" and we were able to sway our way through that first dance :)
