My highlights include:
1. Walking down the aisle with my daddy - whom I love and cherish. He truly is a blessing and did everything he could to make sure I had the best wedding day and that everything went according to plan.
2. See the greatest smile on Jean Engelbrecht's (the groom) face when he saw me for the first time approaching him down the aisle. [He was meant to walk slowly, but somehow picked up speed and ended up running to meet me halfway down the aisle haha].
3. Having our Pastor; Doctor Neville McDonald, bless our union and share this spectacular day with us. He is like family to us and has been extremely supportive and loving leading up to and after our special day.
4. Being able to share the day with my wonderful parents and older brother, who helped with every single detail of the day. Also, being able to share our special day with a large sum of our friends, family and church congregation.
We had an awesome two-night stay at the NH Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West.
I wore a pure white wedding dress. My wedding dress shell was purchased and then customised with a diamanté belt and a few extra diamanté patterns and beading. My make-up was done by an old school friend, who has started her own make-up company; MUC (Make-up Cartel) in Cape Town. She used Smashbox products, which I purchased prior to the wedding as a make-up wedding gift to myself. My shoes were diamanté/strauss daffodil pumps. I had an orchid bouquet, with a few roses. I wore a diamond choker with diamond and pearl drop earrings.
I had a dress designed for the reception, which was created by Rheta Carelse, my favourite seamstress in Cape Town (if I may say so).
Our wedding ceremony took place at our church; Good Hope Christian Centre, Ottery. Our reception took place at the NH Lord Charles Hotel Grand Ballroom, Somerset West. Our guests were given the option to stay the night at the hotel at a discounted price, however not all of them decided to take it.
The theme was enchanted forest. We used greenery such as ivy, creepers, branches, orchid garlands and rose garlands. My favourite flower is the beautiful and majestic orchid, so we used orchids everywhere. The stage had a 4m tall arch that was decorated with greenery and an assortment of flowers. The lighting was a mixture of fairy lights, candelabras, and dimmed down lighting to give that romantic effect in the church auditorium.
The groom wore a light navy blue suit from Fabiani. The groomsmen wore a dark navy blue suit that they either hired from Mr Suit Hire or purchased from Markhams.
The bridesmaids, junior bridesmaid and flower girl, wore mint green long length dresses. The flower girl had a few finishing touches that allowed her to sparkle and look like a fairytale princess. Hence, she had a white tulle detachable skirt over her mint dress which had diamanté and crystals as finishing. She also had a diamanté belt to complete the look. Their dresses were started by a local up-and-coming young designer in Cape Town; Aidan J and finished by a really good friend of mine who is an amazing seamstress named Rheta Carelse.
Our marriage officer was our senior Pastor; Doctor Neville McDonald.
Our ceremony and reception photography was captured by Mark Engelbrecht. He is a photography veteran, if I may say so. He is such a pleasant person to work with and made the photography and capturing thereof go smoothly. He took his time, proved that he is excellent at his job and also managed his time and our time perfectly for the day.
The ceremony videography was captured by our church's videographers.
The reception videography was captured by Shaun Daniels. Mark Engelbrecht and Shaun Daniels worked together before and knew who the other one thinks. Shaun managed to capture every moment of our day. He is an excellent videographer who is awesome and pleasant to work with.
We decided that a Photo Booth can be time consuming and sometimes impossible to make sure all of the guests have made use of it. We therefore decided to have a corner with a flower wall from Grand Style Hiring with white couches from Mac Style Hire, in order to take pictures with a large group of guests at a time.
Yes, we used Ashley Newman. He is excellent and really hard-working. He is able to understand his clients and know exactly what they want, from the moment they walk through his door. He is extremely dedicated.
My favourite car is a Range Rover, so we decided to use a black Land Rover limousine. It is a 10-seater, but can fit up to 12 people.
The wedding cakes were made by Ashley Newman; our wedding co-ordinator. The food at our reception was catered by the NH Lord Charles Hotel.
I love designing and creative arts, so I decided that I would do my own stationery. The groom, my maid of honour, and older cousin helped me put everything together.
We had our first dance choreographed by Jared Pinto; a local dance teacher and studio co-ordinator. Our reception sound and music was provided by Nite Life Productions, and our DJ was Mark Thornton-Smith. He is awesome and such a passionate person, he really made the night spectacular and memorable. He provided us with all the accessories we needed and more. We had a string trio for our ceremony; the Hungarian Trio. They are amazing and really talented, their music really set the atmosphere and tone for an amazing day.
