Wow where does one start to describe the highlights when the whole day is one big highlight.
Getting in the dress, it all starts to become real, its your princess moment and your prince is waiting for you.
Walking up the path to our forest wedding, catching glimpses of our friends through the trees in the dappled light.
walking down the aisle seeing everyone close to you waiting to see this moment. watching your soon to be husbands face.
Listening to all the speeches and feeling the love in the room.
And then the first dance, it was so much fun and nerve racking all at the same time.
We went on honeymoon to Italy and Croatia, it was amazing.
We started in Venice, exploring the hidden gems of the city. No cheesy gondola rides, just wine at our favourite wine bar off the beaten track. We then moved on to Trieste, we didn't know what to expect but were very pleasantly surprised.
We then took a ferry to Croatia, starting out on the small island of Vis. which turned out to be our favourtie, we hired bikes and cycled around, exploring beaches and the town. the highlight was a day sailing around the island and a nights stay on a private yacht bobbing in the bay. It was then on to Hvar, we stayed on the quieter side of the island and enjoyed the scenery. Last stop was Dubrovnik, it was beautiful and picturesque but hot as hell.
It was so fun just to explore new places not knowing what we would find.
I'm not too sure what i would call my wedding look, i wanted to look elegant, radiant and natural.
Camilla from The Durban Makeup artist did an amazing job with our hair and makeup, not too dramatic but not too plain, just right ;) And i went for soft curls with my hair.
The wedding dress i bought from Sposabella, i wanted something fitted with clean lines, no poof or ball gown shapes. But i really wanted a lot of lace. i had a veil made by Brit & Bride, i loved the tradition of wearing one.
My earrings i bought from Lapis Lazuli, a local jewelry designer. Which brought in a touch of grey, which was one of my wedding colours.
Sposabella's private and beautiful showroom is located in Morningside, Durban. We believe every bride should look and feel gorgeous on their wedding day and we've sourced weddi...
We got married in the KZN midlands at Haycroft farm. It is a beautiful venue, with everything you need.
The ceremony was in their pine forest which was magical, to walk down the aisle created by these super tall trees. its quite calming and surreal all at the same time.
We then moved to the lawn and deck over looking a dam for canapes, just a beautiful setting. We got guests to partake in a fishing and golf competition.
Haycroft have a lot of on site accommodation for guests which is a real win knowing they don't have to travel far. They are also very accommodating with a great braai area, so that you can extend the festivities with a braai with everyone the night before and make a full weekend of it.
I Didn't go too crazy, we just started exercising more from a couple months before the wedding, going for gym sessions twice a week. Other than that i didn't do anything extra special, i still wanted to look like me. And frankly, didn't have the time or budget.
Being an an Interior Designer and loving making things, i decided to do all the decor and flowers myself. While looking for ideas for decor, my fiance asked if we could have an African themed wedding. Being a wedding and joining two people together, i decided to join our two looks together. Which led to a contemporary industrial with a touch of South African styled wedding.
The wedding venue supplied the tables, runners and chairs, which were set up in a banquet style.
I decided that if i was going to do my own flowers it needed to be simple, so instead i opted for mostly plants, 2017 pantone colour of the year was greenery after all. i had industrial steel re-bar and oak planter boxes made for all the philodendrons. There was a lot of planting going on the month before the wedding! There where also single white tulips scattered around the tables and white proteas on the main table. We even made our own bouquets.
I had candles sticks made out of off cuts of solid oak and copper plumbing caps. The place settings were cork place mats, woven grass ones for the main table, custom serviettes that my mom made out of a local designers fabric with a geometric pattern. Instead of old fashioned tie backs for the chairs, i strung wooden beads onto twine and tied them round the chairs. I also had geometric metal shapes made up which were hung from the rafters, by some very devoted friends on rickety scaffolding, but thankfully no injuries! Just my vision of my wedding come true!
The guys hired navy suits, which i was told i wasn't allowed to see if he wasn't allowed to see the dress. But he made a good choice! To add a South African element and to support local, they wore ties from Holmes Bros. A local Durban company. These had a South African inspired pattern to add a bit of fun to the look.
My bridesmaids were dressed in an ombre of grey from dark to light. I copied the idea from my mom's bridesmaids, she did the same thing 30 something years ago in greens. See mom i do use some of your ideas ;)
I ordered the dresses from Gelique so that i could get the same style of dress in different shades. And my lovely ladies looked beautiful xx
At Gelique we believe that your bridesmaids should look stunning and feel gorgeous on your big day!
Hilton Greig married us from Kloof Harvest Church.
We used Vanilla Photography, Bron was amazing. Her style is exactly what we wanted, nothing too posed just in the moment, capturing the joy and magic of the day. And the sunset just gave us the most fairy-tale lighting one could ask for. Its so hard to choose our favourite photos, there are just so many.
Wavecrest pictures was our videographer, an extra offering Vanilla has added to their packages, a last minute addition, but wow thank you Bron and Hylton for the opportunity. It is the perfect montage of all the highlights and emotions felt on the day. it has also become my niece and nephews favourite video to watch and they request to see it daily.
We didn't use a wedding planner, we coordinated all the services as this was all mostly down by ourselves. with a team of friends and family we set up all the decor and flowers the day before, a big thank you to everyone that helped! And the wedding venue has a coordinator to make sure everything runs smoothly on the day.
Our caterers were Hamblins Catering. We went with simple and fun, burgers with extra toppings on the tables to customise your own.
Our amazing wedding cake was by Smiths Bake Shop, a 3 tier creation of copper and concrete...not a single piece was left
DIY bride again, i designed and made all my own stationery. I printed all my stationery, and cut it all the good old fashioned way with a steel ruler and craft knife. I added in some extra detail with hand stamping a custom gold monogram onto the invites and all the guests initials onto their place settings.
The party was so much fun! No dance lessons here, Lee and I love to dance together at weddings so this was our moment just to have fun and do our own thing in the moment.
We decided to have a band instead of a DJ and they rocked it, Angus were amazing. All the guests loved it, live music really does create an awesome atmosphere. I don't think the dance floor was ever empty.
Sposabella's private and beautiful showroom is located in Morningside, Durban. We believe every bride should look and feel gorgeous on their wedding day and we've sourced weddi...
At Gelique we believe that your bridesmaids should look stunning and feel gorgeous on your big day!
