He never enters competitions and he had told me he won a competition for a picnic at Spier, as he entered it for Valentine’s day ☺
We went off to Spier, Stellenbosch winelands on the 6th of February 2016 where we were welcomed and given an amazing picnic basket and they led us to a beautifully intimate picnic, Hay stacks and the most amazing lake view. I thought this was such a treat as I was surprised at the attention to detail considering that it was a competition. We had some lovely wine and snacks and then He got on one knee and proposed ☺ we cried, we laughed. It was perfect. Little did I know he had lots more planned? I couldn’t wait to get home to share the news with my family not knowing that he had planned a surprise engagement party at my house – the family had kept me in the dark for a few weeks – best kept secret ever! But that wasn’t all, the next day he planned a surprise engagement party with our friends ☺ it was PERFECT! A weekend full of surprises

I decided to change my entrance song two days before and Michael had no idea. I found the most perfect song which said everything I wanted to say so he only heard it for the first time, as I was walking through the forest toward him. He never turned to see me walking so he had time to take in the moment which was very emotional it was just magical and we were both so overwhelmed by the moment. I think the guests were too! The weather was perfect however the fact that we were able to share all the beautiful sites at the venue like a story in time was amazing. Our ceremony was in the forest clearing, followed by a cheese and wine at the dam with the best views. We had our guests move to the courtyard whilst we were taking our photos. The courtyard had something whimsical about it. All the flowers were in bloom which was pure beauty set against the rustic courtyard as a backdrop. From the courtyard you could see the tall trees framing the entire setting. We opted for a plated dinner in the barn with the most elegant decor. We insisted on no table cloths, it brought the barn to life. We danced under fairy lights and stars in the courtyard after dinner and had the best send off with our guests lining the courtyard with sparklers. We do need to mention our best man was the star of the evening – he was meant to do a toast however we had to wait for the champagne to be served so he took it in his stride and ended up delivering the most heartwarming yet funniest speech ever. We intentionally chose a small guest list as we wanted to be able to live in the moment with each and every one present and not get caught up in the number game. It had to be intimate like having good friends and family over to dinner party at home.