A poem about the bride and groom from their MC, on their wedding day (written in Afrikaans).
Ek staar deur die venster
en kyk hoe verlep die doudruppels in die winter-weer oggend-son.
In die wasem teen die ruit
skets my hart 'n prentjie - 'n prentjie van hom...
Jy's die blou van die vlamme wat so dans in my oë.
Jy's die lyne van gister-verlange nostalgies bewoë.
Weergalm in my ore, die klank van jou stem
verewig bedek dit die stilte wat my drome wou tem.
Ek glimlag 'n oomblik - aanhoudend oor nou
Ek glimlag 'n oomblik - aanhoudend dink ek net aan my en jou.
Ek word wakker - did skemer
in die duister soek-soek ek na haar
Ek hoor die yswind ontsluimer
verbrand die vog uit my oë wat die verte instar
Jy's die helder wat wegkruip in die skadu's onder my kuif.
Jy vergiftig my wete met jou teen my lyf.
Geëts in my hande lê die voue van jou hart
verewig borduur in my trots en my smart.
Ek glimlag 'n oomblik - aanhoudend oor nou
Ek glimlag 'n oomblik - aanhoudend beloof ek my aan jou.
- C. Wilken 08.07.2017 -
It was a warm summer evening in 2013 on the second night of "JOOL" in Potchefstroom, the city of both me and my husband's alma mater - North-West University Potch Campus. That Friday night, both of us went to the "JOOL - grounds" with our own group of friends. Very unexpectedly we ran into each other on the "JOOL - grounds", not thinking much of it at the time, but after only one or two Heuwels Fantasties songs, we felt a connection like never before. This was our second year at University and we have already met during winter the previous year, but the connection we felt that night, never occurred to us before (at least not admittedly).
Soon after that "first" night, I took him on a family vacation to Jeffreys Bay, only as a friend, even though I was the only one who used that word to describe us (as my parents, sister and grandfather knew there was already a cup of love brewing) but came back after almost two weeks with the love of my life (a description much more similar to that of the rest of the family's)! In two weeks we became a two-year couple, sitting on the couch at night with the ocean as our background music, talking about him, me, us, everyting. Fourteen days was all it took to know each other inside and out, and we loved every drop of information! Love, a true-, real-, deep-, authentic-, different kind of love was absolutely inevitable!
As he is a TERRIBLE liar (thankfully) and can't hide anything from me without giving it away with his handsome face, I unknowingly booked a table for my own proposal.
Very early in our relationship we started thinking about our future together, getting engaged, married and the whole happily ever after dream, so I always knew it was going to happen, I just never knew when. So when he started asking questions like "would you like to have both our parents present at the engagement?" and "would you prefer to do something romantic or fun?", I predicted an engagement soon, which threw him off the planning wagon because he didn't want me to suspect anything. The questions from his side stopped, I got accepted for my Honours degree, he got accepted for his Masters degree, the thought of an engagement slipped my mind, and I booked a table at Rock Cod Restaurant to celebrate our accomplishments for 2015 with both of our loving, supportive families.
So when he got up after his and my father had already giving us the congratulations speech, and everyone was already taking pictures, I didn't think anything strange of it, until I realized his thanking of our parents and congratulations speech was only the intro to the most amazing moment of my life. Yes I booked the table, yes I was under dressed, hair messy, no make up... But never in my wildest dreams did I expect him to be holding my beautiful ring (upside down), asking me to be his wife, on that night.
It was perfect! The most celebrated evening of our lives!
There's a few sayings used when people describe the bad times they encounter in life... "It's always darkest before the dawn", "You need rain to see a rainbow"... This was the best description of what we felt while counting down the days until our most perfect day. Our dawn, our rainbow, our wedding day only came after a preface of darkness and rain.
Sounds a little bit morbid I must admit, but that seems to be the correct feeling to feel when you loose a very close family friend a 6 weeks before your wedding as well your grandfather 2 weeks before your wedding. And this was just the cherry on a cake of catastrophes... So the first memorable moment was definitely the actual day of our wedding... The day when the darkness fades and the rain stops (even though it actually rained on the morning of the wedding, during winter, in Gauteng - GOOD LUCK), making us see the most beautiful rainbow from dawn that day, like it never even was dark before.
After that, everything was perfectly memorable any way. Giving my mom the same gift she gave her mom on her wedding day, holding my father's hand outside the chapel, wiping a tear off his cheak, my fathers saying "Bye Miss Wilken" for the last time, the crying fest he and his BFF (my groom) had in front of the altar, the moment my 16 month old godson ran to me, shouting my nickname, to bring us the rings, my groom putting my ring on wrong way around (flashback from our engagement), the amazingly fitting sermon about coffee, our dominee planned for me and my groom, my father greeting me as "Mrs Labuschagne" for the first time after the ceremony, the gluwein and cheese, the intimate photo session, the special gift from MC (a poem he wrote for us, with 7 sachets of salt - relating to an old proverb, a similar gift the MC's father gave my parents on their wedding day when he was their MC), our very special wedding favors (a Change Our World For Good A.R.K. or Act of Random Kindness - a charity box to "pay it forward", a gift we wanted to bring the same blessings we received on our journey, to someone we might not reach ourselves) and our dancefloor opening dance / father-daughter dance! Oh that dance! Combining me and my groom's favorite songs, me and my dad's favorite songs, throw in a little bit of a dance battle, a lot of laughs, a few boo-boos and a lift in the end - PERFECTION!
Those sayings were so true... Without darkness you will never see the stars, and boy did we see stars that day!!!
The first night of our honeymoon was actually our wedding night. We were last to leave at our wedding, at around 02:30, after taking a celfie (couple-selfie) in our empty reception hall as the last two standing (one tick off our wedding bucket list). We then went to our honeymoon suite at Silver Star Casino Hotel which felt like a little holiday on it's own.
The next morning we left for the airport, quite exhausted, extremely excited to go to our heart's-place, Cape Town, or as we like to call it, the land of milk, honey and wine! We both love winter, rain and wine - so it didn't make sense to us to run away from the perfect season to sunnier pastures - when we have our "happy place" right here in our beautiful country. As we both decided on this perfect honeymoon destination, I knew Cape Town was my next stop, but where to then, I had no clue.
My handsome husband did some very meticulous planning, even writing a letter to his new wife for each day of our eight day honeymoon, stating why he loves me, what type of husband he wishes to be for me and what we are doing on that specific day. I received my first letter just as we landed in a very rainy Cape, swirling me right up to cloud 9 where I stayed for the duration of our trip.
We went to Camps Bay for the first three days, doing some wine tasting, splurging on the best dining experiences getting pampered and massaged and a sunset cruise. Next up, two days in Hermanus for some more wine tasting, shark cage diving, whale watching (another tick off the bucket list - incredible) and more amazing food, ending our trip in the beautiful Franschhoek where we dressed up French style for the Bastille festival, more wine pairings and amazing restaurants. Both of us have been to the Cape a few times, but never have we experiences the Cape as beautiful, as romantic, as special, tasty, as fun, as incredible as it was during those eight days. We went there loving each other and we came back loving more of each other (a few kilograms more to be exact).
On the last day, when we flew home with the snow on the mountains beneath us, we decided that anniversary one will be "Honeymoon trip 2.0", same places, same program, as this really was the best week of our lives.
I wanted to look like ME on my wedding day - what would the use be if my soon to be husband didn't recognize me in front of the altar? So I opted for:
- romantic, curly hair, similar to my natural curls (which he loves), done by Maddy from Hair Inc. Krugersdorp;
- red lips to make my blue eyes pop (my go-to choice for the lips) and natural make-up done to perfection by the stunning Corné from Beautiful Change;
- a sexy, yet elegant Enzoani wedding dress with a touch of fantasy from Whimsical Bridal...
I felt like a princess in my own little fairytale, no wonder my colleagues referred to my wedding as "Snow Whitish".
In 2005, a new bridal collection emerged and quickly rose to compete with top brands by merging traditional and modern European styles into exquisitely hand crafted gowns.
