We had our wedding at my family farm in Nottingham Road. It was so special to get married at home and we had the most amazing weather (and sunset) from start to finish! After having about 200ml of rain the month before and 20ml on the Thursday before, we were so lucky! My uncle was bucketing the water out of puddles around the chapel (tractor shed) the day before!! My best thing was that we used the TLB front bucket for drinks, so we filled it with ice and drinks and everyone got drinks out of the bucket during canapes!
Highlights of the day were being able to have so many international guests share our day with us, England, Scotland, USA, Australia! After getting all the family photos done, we had such a great time doing the photo shoot, drinking champagne and wandering around our farm! The speeches were also so amazing, so much laughter was had by every one!
We had bagpipes to walk down the aisle to, which was also super special! My first dance with my dad to Brown Eyed Girl was also so special, we had a proper sokkie dance and actually tore my dress!!!
We did!! As far as I was concerned we were going to Clarens for the week! While opening all of our presents on the Sunday, my new husband had left some 'cards' in his suit jacket, I went to fetch them and he had put a flight center booklet in with all out tickets and itinerary to go to MAURITIUS! So we left early on the Monday morning for a week in Mauritius! After a week and an accumulative 10 kg weight gain we returned home!
I went for a classic elegant look. My hair was done by our local hairdresser in Notties, Sarah. In a low bun. Make up was done by Nixon Makeup (Unbelievably good!) Very natural look. I got my dress made by Bespoke By Maryke, she is based in Hilton, where I work, so fittings were a breeze! So talented and lovely! A full Chantilly lace dress with a low back and long sleeves.
My shoes are a long story!! My husband has a Scottish ancestry (Stewart!!), he also played rugby over in Scotland in 2010 and 2015, so I decided to source some Royal Stewart tartan to cover my shoes in!(couldnt get it anywhere in SA and got some from the UK!) I ended up getting shoes made in Durban with the Scottish tartan! It had nothing to do with my colour scheme, but the novelty and sentimental factor made it completely worth it! (he did shed a tear when he saw them!) My very clever sister also made little bow ties for the page boys out of the left over fabric and our Scottish friend bought over alice bands for the flower girls!
I got my garter from Scotland when I went to visit Grant, he proposed in Scotland and then we saw this awesome Stewarts Tartan garter! Had to have it!
I didn't wear any jewellery other than earrings that my mom bought me as a gift, pearls. I also pinned a special pin that our Scottish friends gave me as a gift, with all the something old, borrowed and blue on the pin!
We got married on my family farm in the Midlands, Nottingham Road, Kildare Farm. The tractor shed was the chapel and then a marque on the tennis court for the reception! My dad built bathrooms when my first sister was married(there are 4 of us!) next to the tennis court, so we were sorted!
We have a lot of self catering cottages on the farm, Kildare Cottages, so all of our bridal party (there were a lot of them!) and overseas/people traveling from far stayed in this accommodation! Because the area is so popular, most of the guests stayed over locally!
I didn't change too much leading up to the wedding! I did gym and train a lot, run on the farm with my dogs, but nothing too excessive!
I went for a few facials leading up to the wedding. Pedicure at Beauty Institure by the awesome T! Lastly I had a manicure at Fordoun.
Decor I wanted to keep very neutral, so I had white only as flowers with greenery. My pride and joy were the origami cranes I folded to hang down the aisle. There were about 400 of them and the effort was so worth it!
We rented raw wood chairs from Exclusive hire Durban and all the other rented elements came from KZN weddings and Fucntions Pinetown and Midlands Style and Events! Ester from Midlands Style and Events organised all the bouquets and buttonholes as well as sourced all our flowers! We went and raided a local place for penny gum and all our friends who helped with the flower arranging brought greenery from their gardens!
Table settings were very plain and simple, greenery runners with white roses and other white flowers in them, white table clothes and wooden chairs! As favours I had little wooden Africa key rings made with our names and wedding date engraved on them!
My dad made all of the copper candle sticks, they were so awesome and a labour of love!
The groom wore a navy blue suit with navy tie and white shirt, brown shoes and belt! The suit was bought and tailored by Ghela in PMB. The groomsmen wore chino longs, also tailored and bought from Ghela, white collared shirts and navy ties, with brown belts and shoes as well. They also all wore Stewarts tartan socks!!
I gave the groom a gift of wooden cuff links on the day! My aunt from Australia bought them over, as I battled to source any in SA.
I wanted to keep the look as time less as possible. I got 3 different shades of a neutral brown/beige colour tulle and a lady, Jane, made the skirts for the girls, they were so beautifully made and very flattering. I just bought their white tops from Edgars, Country Road, they all looked so awesome! Shoes were from Pick 'n Pay!
Our marriage officer was Beulah Haasbroek. She did exactly what we wanted, it was short, fun and lighthearted! We had so many compliments on our ceremony, which was something I loved as they are often quite long and boring for the guests!! We have so many lovely laughing photos from the ceremony!
Dean Demos was our photographer. He was just amazing. From start to finish. His professionalism was incredible. I did not notice him once during our ceremony and reception which I think is so important! His photography is exquisite, I love every single photo he took!
Our friend who has his own photo booth company set up a photo booth, but it isn't the traditional photo booth, it is called Selfie Mirror SA and basically everything is electronic and gets uploaded rather than printed! It took up minimal space and you could move it where ever you pleased.
My mom was my planner!! She was excellent and so organised. Together we did everything ourselves.
We didn't need too much transport as the wedding was at home! But a friend gave us his 1940's Chevie truck as a wedding present, to use for the day and my dad drove me down the drive way to the tractor shed in this!!
For photos we took my parents prado-for the bride;) and a Land Crusier bakkie, pilled everyone on the back! It made for some very cool impromptu photos!
Our catering was done by Margie from Fat Aubergine in PMB. I just love Margie, she did all my sisters weddings and is just brilliant!
We had canapés handed around straight after the ceremony. Bread, cheese and olives on the table for starters. Beef fillet with potato bake and veggies for mains. Pudding I kept quite low key! My mom made a whole lot of homemade ice cream and Margie made a chocolate sauce. We also used our wedding cake as pudding and had cake pops make too!
The wedding cake was made by a girl in PMB, Lauren Lee. We kept it simple with a small one tier mud chocolate cake, with a nutella cream!! It was iced with white icing! The cake pops were also made by her with the same filling! Delicious!
We didn't have any stationary printed etc. My mom wrote the place names and table setting out, all in calligraphy. My sister put together our table setting display which was put onto a piece of corrugated iron with chicken wire!
Our invites were printed by Arrow Print PMB, but designed primarily by my sister who has her own business.
We had such a good party! Sean Swaneson from Sound Mechanics was our DJ (also did all my sisters weddings) He is brilliant! Most of the night was old school music, maybe 2 songs post 2000 were played! Dance floor was packed the whole night, I didn't leave!! The party went on till about 4am! The Bride and Groom left at about 2am!
We went for one dance lesson! It was very entertaining, but in the end completely scrapped it and just went with who we are and winged it! We danced our first song to All Shook Up by Elvis, which really set the tone! Brown eyed girl was the second song which I danced with my dad, this was very special!
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