Sam and I are from different cultures (I'm Afrikaans and he is English), so it was incredibly important to us to have as traditional as possible wedding for both of our families. We chose the beautiful Delsma Farm in Riebeek-Kasteel and had our ceremony in the 153 year old NG Church Riebeek-Kasteel. To ensure that everyone joined in the festive wedding spirit, we decided to create a wedding weekend with loved ones braaiing together the night before, all staying at the farm, exploring the town of Riebeek-Kasteel and surrounds on the Saturday and then joining for a post-wedding breakfast the Sunday. A very special moment in the wedding was when we walked out of the church as Mr and Mrs Rolland through our family and friends who had shaped our lives. What made our day extra special was that we spent many hours with family and friends making every piece of decor ourselves, deciding on colours, patterns and many Pinterest visits. Seeing all that we have done come together was exceptional. But the most memorable moment for Sam and I, which seems pale in significance to the others, was just before we walked into our reception venue. There we were, standing alone eating snacks that were saved for us by the caterers, the sun had just gone down with this orange glow in the air. And there it was, just us, and we were about to come into music and applause from our loved ones, yet we were standing together and taking in the beauty of the day. It was a truly special moment that we will forever treausure.
We decided to explore our own country instead of an international trip. Sam had never been to the Eastern Cape and I had never been to the Drakensberg, thus it made sense to form our own scenic roadtrip from Riebeek-Kasteel back to Pretoria and be tourists in our own country.
We left Riebeek-Kasteel and stayed overnight at Montagu, exploring this beautiful town and its history after which we made our way to port-country Calitzdorp and staying in the Queen of Calitzdorp - a mere stone's throw away from Boplaas. From there we travelled to Grahamstown with a detour through Port Elizabeth and stayed in this exceptionally beautiful renovated 1800's horse paddocks. The big trek through the Transkei then followed where we finished at the stunning Umngazi River Bungalows and Resort in Port St Johns for three nights. After being pampered, eating too much and being able to take in the beauty of the Wild Coast we moved onto the Drakensberg. The Drakensberg Sun provided us with two days of activities such as hiking, swimming and horseback riding all with the beautiful mountains as a backdrop. After travelling 4 462kms in total in just over a week we were glad to be off the road but what we experienced in our own country still leaves us in awe.
My dress was designed and made by Kraaines in Mossel Bay. I had seen my dream dress probably a year before we even got engaged but what was created in the end surpassed my greatest expectations. My pre-requisites for the dress was that I had to be able to comfortably move in it, it had to have a stunning breathtaking back and, being a totally hopeless romantic, it had to have a long train (similar to my mom's wedding dress) and a long veil. What made the dress very special was the small details I added: the buttons of my mom's wedding dress was on my dress, I had added blue ribbon at the inside of my dress which came from my best friend's wedding bouquet which I had caught just before we got engaged and each piece of lace was handsewn onto my dress. I decided to keep my jewellery simple with diamond earrings and my grandmother's bracelet. I wanted my hair to be up to show off my back, my make-up had to accentuate my eyes and my shoes (which were boldly coloured in the colours of the wedding) had to be rather special.
We had our ceremony in the NG Church Riebeek-Kasteel and our reception was at Delsma Farm in Riebeek-Kasteel. Almost all our guests were able to stay on the farm in lovely accommodation. The venue allowed us to have a big braai on the evening (they did the catering for us) and we had a keg of locally brewed Flagship Lager beer for our guests sponsored by Sam's dad and brother. The pool on the farm was much used as the weekend averaged about 37 degrees Celsius (unheard of for end-April).!We ended off the weekend with a breakfast on the Sunday morning before everyone went their separate ways.
Delsma farm is ideal for small to medium conferences and teambuilding activities. The Function and Conference Centre is able to seat 220 guests. It also has a meeting room for ...
Sam is a runner, so I decided to also take up running (mainly as I was tired of sitting hours waiting for him to finish a race, and also because the spirit of running is so exceptional). This helped a lot with weight loss and was a great stress reliever! I only had about two facials leading up to the wedding, had put colour in my hair and cut it approximately 4 weeks before the wedding and went for a mani and pedi just before the wedding.
As Delsma is a working farm (all the sheep had little lambs the Thursday before the wedding) we wanted to stay with the rustic and vintage theme. We opted to make all our decor ourselves, designing our own invitations and programmes etc. The most important part for us was the cocktail hour (ironic since we weren't there). We wanted our guests to be entertained while we take our photos and wanted to create a market vibe outside on the rolling lawns. We made meters of bunting, had tables with umbrellas, lawn games for entertainment and our guests were surprised and entertained by a local Marimba Band (AmaWolsely) who is a charity band and something close to our hearts.
The idea for the venue was that it should be romantic when guests walk in with plenty of candles, fairylights and beige bunting which we made ourselves. The colours of the wedding were navy, dirty pink, beige and rosegold. Each placemat had a poem or lyrics of a song that meant a lot to us (in Afrikaans or English) and each table had a postcard as tablename of some memory we have shared...thus creating a "trip down memory lane" when we walk to our bridal table.
Our flowers were simple - eucalyptus, purple and white lisianthus and gip. My mom and future sister-in-law did the table flowers, whilst Vindec Floral Design and Wedding Co-ordination did our bridal table flowers, bouquets and boutennoires. Christoff and Stefni were exceptional and helped so much on the day. My bouquet, as well as the bridesmaids', were wrapped with lace from my grandmother, as well as many other decor elements.
My dad mostly helped with the construction of all the signs, the practical side of building all that I wanted and my mom, dad and brother spent their December holidays helping me build and paint signs and lawn games etc. What was also special was that my mom created our stunning three tiered cake with homemade nougat, nut brittle and chocolates.
What was most important for me was to have a personal touch and that the wedding should resemble us, that we were able to bring in elements with memories and sentiment and that guests should feel at ease and relax and have a good time.
Sam and his groomsmen had their suits made by a tailor called Frank in the Pretoria CBD - Pretoria's best kept secret according to my husband. Sam had built up quite a good relationship with Frank and trusted him to make all five suits for him (especially as all the groomsmen were based worldwide - Switzerland, Cape Town, Johannesburg) with merely the measurements of each. We were so impressed by Frank and his excellent craftmanship, that we have used him again since!
The men wore French Navy suits (fabric from Oriental plaza)with crisp white shirts, brown shoes and dark navy ties with a slight pattern (Stuttafords)and patterned blue socks (Tred + Miller). Each guy had a tag inside their jackets which said, for example "Made for Sam" and different coloured silk knots (a gift to the groomsmen from Sam)
I wanted my bridesmaids to wear a simple, vintage style dress (short) which they can always wear again afterwards. I found a lady in Strand who made the dresses for me, which ensured that all the girls had custom fitted dresses.
As the dresses were very simple and had beautiful backs, the girls wore pink mother of pearl coloured earrings and golden bracelets which I found on Superbalist.
They could wear whatever shoes they wanted, as long as it had heels and was beige. And the best part is that they were able to comfortably dance and move in the dresses, and have used them since!
We also had four flower girls (two older to carry the confetti and two younger ones who walked into the church with blue balloons). They looked super cute in dresses which my mother-in-law made for them. Our two ring bearers wore white shirts, beige shorts and striped navy and white bow ties and suspenders. Adorable!
We were married by Ds Gawie van Broekhuizen. He lead an exceptionally special service as this was also his last wedding ever and did the same scripture reading as what he and his wife had on their wedding day. We sang the two songs which was sung on my parent's wedding day and a friend of mine sang The Lord's Prayer to us after we got married (something which my aunt did for my parents on their wedding day). The ceremony were filled with sentiment and love and was even done in two languages!
We were so blessed to have LILAC Photography at our wedding. Lize is a wonder woman (she was 36.5 weeks pregnant WITH TWINS on our wedding - Sam and Ella were born three days after our wedding) and with Leo by her side, they managed to capture every moment we could ask for and more. They were the best people to have at our wedding, made us feel at ease and we could just trust them.
We also had 25 Weddings as our videographers and these guys were amazing. They knew what they were doing and captured everything. Our wedding video is only 6 minutes long but has me in tears every time!
I am a rather big fan of planning and a very organised person, so I planned it all myself. It helped that Sam and I knew what we wanted and we had a very supportive family base to bounce our ideas off.
My bridesmaid's dad offered their Mercedes C-class and he even dressed up like a chaffeur to drive us around. My friend also had custom made number plates designed for us that was a surprise afterwards. My brother drove to the venue with me which was rather special.
Delsma Farm did all our catering. They really surprised us and our guests still cannot stop talking about our food! Sam and Elizna decided on the menu and what they delivered was just exceptional. We also decided to have local wine so we served Riebeek Cellars wines at the wedding.
My mom made my wedding cake for me. It had three tiers - chocolate at the bottom, then carrot cake and topped with fruit cake (which has been saved for the first baby's Christening). The cake had to look rustic and vintage so my mom added homemade chocolates, nut brittle and nougat and we cut it with my grandmother's knife.
Sam designed all our stationery - save the dates, invitations, placemats, programmes, menus and all our printed signs. We wanted to be traditional so had our invitations printed, sealed with a wax seal with an R for our surname and hand delivered each invitation.
Sam is a really good dancer and we realised two days before the wedding that we should probably practice a little bit by ourselves. We walked into the reception hall on "Sy klink soos lente" by Bouwer Bosch and opened the dancefloor on "Just haven't met you yet" by Michael Buble. After our first dance we had a big family dance on Brother Louis (a song I learned to dance with when I was little) and our DJ was called Our DJ. These guys were amazing, incredibly professional and we were allowed to choose all our own songs. It was important for us that the DJ had to read the crowd and they certainly dis. Highly recommended!
Our guests were entertained during the cocktail hour by a local Marimba Band (the AmaWolselys) who is a charity band but with kids with so much skill. Our guests loved them!
Delsma farm is ideal for small to medium conferences and teambuilding activities. The Function and Conference Centre is able to seat 220 guests. It also has a meeting room for ...
