Our wedding day was an absolute fairytale. Every detail was exactly what I had dreamed of since I met my husband 18 years ago. The 3 moments I will always remember is the moment I walked down the aisle and saw my husband waiting for me. It was the most nerve wrecking and also exciting moments! After our photoshoot, just before we joined our guests, my husband planned a moment for us to just be alone. So he packed a picnic basked with champagne and we just sat for about 10min, read our vows and took in the moment that we had been dreaming of for so long. That was my second highlight. The last highlight is our first dance. We picked a song that meant a lot to both of us and even though neither of us are the best dancers, the moment was magical. It was like no one else was in the room, all the nerves disappeared and it was just the two of us.
We flew to Fort Lauderdale, America, where we stayed for 2 nights to do some shopping. We then spent thanksgiving in Miami before leaving on an 11 night Caribbean Cruise. It was AMAZING!! He couldn’t have planned it any better.
Since we are both still very young, I wanted a young, modern yet romantic look. Since I have blonde hair and a fair skin, I decided on an off white/blush dress. It had the most beautiful lace, soft layers of white and blush tulle and a low back.
My hair and makeup also had to be very natural and give a glowing effect.
We got married at the beautiful Allesverloren Wine Farm. We wanted to get married outside and the forest was the perfect place for our ceremony. The reception venue is also right next to the ceremony which was very convenient for all our guests.
We wanted a venue that wasn’t too close to home as we wanted to encourage our guests to make a weekend getaway of the wedding. Most of our guests stayed in Riebeek Kasteel and the surrounding areas. They have plenty of really nice accommodations options.
I tried to stay active and eat healthily throughout the whole planning process. Luckily, I enjoy living a healthy lifestyle, but the stress of studying before our wedding definitely made the cravings worse! I focused on drinking loads of water, earing foods that were good for my body and skin and was very strict on my facial regime. I thoroughly cleansed twice a day, moisturized and also exfoliated once or twice a week. I would also recommend going for a deep cleanse facial once a month leading up to the wedding to prevent breakouts.
My amazing husband also surprised me with a head, back and shoulder massage 2 days before the wedding which did wonders! It helped me to relax, have some “me time” and got rid of all the tension in my back and shoulders.
We hired some raw wooden tables, ghost chairs and outdoor furniture from Goeters to bring in a modern touch.
Our flowers were done by a wonderful lady (Vanessa da Costa from Lady Vanolia). She was heaven sent and an absolute guardian angel throughout the whole planning process and on the day. Our centerpieces were mainly proteas and dessert roses.
Every guest also had their name laser cut in wood on their table which we used for place names.
It was our pastor we both had growing up.
Our photographer was Stephanie de Jager from Swift Photography. We won an engagement shoot with her and just clicked immediately! We felt so comfortable having her shoot our big day. And we loved her shooting style!
Our videographer was Desmond Denton from Imagenheart. It was such a pleasure working with him. Even though we never met personally, we had skype calls and everything was well arranged and professional. We can’t wait to see the video!
Instead of a photo booth, we had little disposable cameras on each table which the guests could use to capture some of the moments of the night. We will add these photos to our album.
I was definitely considering it, but we decided to rather use that money for some of the other things. And I wanted to be involved and organise everything. It was very rewarding when everything came together even better than I had imagined!
Bertus, the owner of Allesverloren, prepared all the food and our guests are still talking about it! Everything was very tasty, perfectly cooked and beautifully presented.
Our wedding cake was made by Cloé from Meraki Blush Bakery. We picked her because she is young and can come up with the most amazing creations! You just show her a picture and she makes it - she is very talented and the cake was DELICIOUS!!
Like I mentioned, we are not the best dancers, but managed to work out something that worked for our first dance. We didn’t want something that looked like a choreographed dance so we kept it simple and natural.
We had a small live band in the forest and a DJ in the venue.
We made use of Xplode Entertainment for our DJ and they did a brilliant job! They played all the right music on cue and also played a great variety of songs for all out guests to dance to.
Oak trees, vineyards, mountain views, excellent cuisine, award winning wines and a purpose built reception venue all add up to the perfect place to host your wedding reception.
