I married the man of my dreams on Saturday 19 August 2017. My husband is my best friend. He accepts me for who I am and loves me unconditionally. I am honoured to be his wife.
One of the answers he's given me, when I've asked him why he loves me, is that he loves my smile. Does he realise that it is him who makes me smile? He makes my heart smile.
* Waking up on my wedding day in my bed at my parents’ house.
* A note from my hubby to be, telling me that he was excited to marry me and that he would be waiting at the altar for me.
* My photographer saying that she had never seen a bride eat so much on her wedding day, while I was eating another strip of bacon... mmm.
* My dad's reaction when he saw me.
* Driving to the church with Greek music playing in my uncle’s car.
* Seeing all our friends and family smiling at me, as I walked towards the man of my dreams.
* Telling the priest that the wine tasted nice.
* How George nudged me when we were surprised to see an unexpected person at our wedding.
* My brother's huge smile when I looked to my right and the fact that he was standing up front with us.
* Holding George's hand.
*Finding how much confetti that was hiding in my dress.
* Twirling in my dress.
* Our first dance(s) and how we didn’t care about being perfect. We stopped half way in our second dance and called people to join us.
* All the dancing.
* All our family and friends.
* Celebrating until 2am.
My look was simple, elegant and fun. My hair was both classic and playful which was styled by Chantelle Landman. She also did my makeup, giving me the natural look that I asked for.
My dress was designed and made by John Hockey. It was the most perfect creation that I could ever have asked for. It was elegant with a lace bodice, rounded neckline and low back. The straps were perfect for me not to worry about my dress during the dancing and the skirt flowed magically on the dance floor. I danced and twirled the night away.
We got married in the Greek Orthodox Church in Pretoria and then drove to Tsogo Sun’s Monte Casino for the reception. Most of our guests stayed the night at the Sun Square Monte Casino as we simply needed to walk across the piazza to our accommodation. It was very special to see some of our guests at breakfast the next morning.
Mmmm… I just followed my usual “regime”. I continued with my pilates classes, went to my cousin’s beauty salon for my usual treatments and did no teeth whitening or spray tan. There are so many things that one can get caught up in when preparing for the big day. I’m lucky that my hubby helped me keep my feet on the ground and he reminded me that it’s not necessary to do anything extra.
The week before the wedding I took my bridesmaids to Nail & Beauty Lab in Blu Bird Shopping Centre. My cousin’s team made us feel very special as they did our manis and pedis.
My aim with the décor was that it needed to be pretty and practical. We didn’t have any bits and pieces that were unnecessary. The tables, cutlery and crockery were all included in our venue hire. We hired white tiffany chairs and teal napkins from Cosmo Décor and Events. CS Events did the beautiful draping and fairy lights on the ceiling and a waterfall of fairy lights behind the main table.
Sam from Bliss Floral made the most amazing flower arrangements, in vases and containers that I provided. I absolutely loved my bouquet which she created and wrapped in lace. I remember thinking “look at all the flowers, it all look so pretty” when I walked into the ballroom.
Our amazing photographers are Tarryn and Troy from African Bear Photography. They are situated in the Midlands which worked out perfectly, as they managed to capture our Engagement in Uvongo, where George proposed. They then travelled to Gauteng for our wedding day. They were incredible and we were comfortable around them from day one. All of the pictures in the gallery are thanks to their talent and unique photographic style.
Duck Soup Productions captured our day on video. Most people opt out of getting a videographer, but I’m so glad we didn’t. I am able to revisit my wedding day as often as I want to by watching the 8 minute story video that they created. We also have the full ceremony and speeches on DVD.
Snappa Media was a hit on the night with their photobooth. Our guests left a copy of their photo-strip in our guest book, with a note to us.
I did most of the planning by myself, with the help of my mom and my mother in law. I knew I needed a coordinator on the day and was blessed to work with Yvette from Beatrix Events. On the day that I thought I would be handing over all the organisation, she made me aware of many details that I had overlooked. She guided me through the final phases of planning and ensured that everything came together without any problems. There was not a single issue on the day, it was absolutely perfect!
We saved money on wedding transport as we had to travel from Pretoria to Johannesburg for our reception. It is very expense to organise car hire for that distance so we decided to take up and offer to be driven by my uncle in his beautiful Mercedes.
The chefs at Tsogo Sun Monte Casino prepared our food. They were amazing in assisting us with a customised menu, for our Greek wedding.
Natalie from Gingerbread bakery made our wedding cake. It was a cookies and cream sponge cake with Nutella frosting. We also had the option of carrot cake with vanilla frosting for our guests.
Bianca and her talented team at Pistachio Designs created our unique stationery. Our theme was aviation and cherry blossoms, which they captured perfectly. They created our save the date, the invitations, order of ceremony, an “arrivals” seating plan and table numbers in the shape of an aeroplane – using the phonetic alphabet as the table name. Their creativity assisted me in creating a unique wedding theme.
George and I have been attending dancing lessons for two years at Dancemore Studios. We had private lessons before the wedding with Heidi. She taught us the Veinesse Waltz and Jive. We didn’t have a set routine. George picked the steps on the night and I followed his lead. It was magical.
We were lucky to have Paul from Cream Cheese DJ for his last gig. He was incredible in the way that he kept the dance floor full the entire night.
