JK and I met through a mutual friend. For him, the attraction was instant, to the point of him passing a comment to our mutual friend saying, “That is the type of woman I want to marry.” Needless to say, it took three months of chatting, convincing, persuading, and flirting, before I agreed to go on a date with him. At that point in time, we were living in separate cities. I visited him and our friends over New Years 2013, and he stole my heart. Three months later I had resigned and was planning my move up to Joburg. Four years later, almost on the anniversary of our first encounter, I married my best friend.
Having approached the whole wedding procedure from a very practical standpoint as we paid for everything ourselves, initially there was no grand gesture of a surprise proposal. Budget issues were coming up, and I had to choose a different ring to what I had my heart set on. About a month before the wedding, we found a ring. It needed to be resized. Whilst I was teaching one Saturday, JK said he went to see if the ring was ready. He said it wasn't. The next day, he was adamant we had to take our four furbabies to their favourite place - Emmarentia Dam. We load the "kids" in the car and off we go. He seemed in higher spirits than usual, so I knew something was up.
We got to Emmarentia, and as usual, our furbabies were having a blast. Nova, our weimeraner X labrador, was enjoying a swim. I sat down on one of the benches so our one very short-legged daschund could catch her breath. I heard JK call Nova to him a little distance behind me, then heard him say "Go show mom what you got!" Without hesitation, Nova came straight to me, with a big smile on his face, tail wagging 100kms per hour, and lifted his head proudly to show off a ribbon that had been tied around his neck, ring attached. JK came and knelt down in front of me, removed the ribbon with the ring on it as all the dogs rallied around us, and he asked me to marry him.
Of course I said yes!
So many beautiful memories. The vows are a definite standout for us as a couple. Our officiant was sneaky in getting us to write a few short sentences about each other, and changed those words into our vows without us knowing!
We are delaying our honeymoon due to work demands and all that. The plan is to go in December. The location is a surprise for me.
My dress was a classic, elegant, custom design gown by Niko Arnold of The Boys Couture. Imported lace, matte bridal satin and more buttons than you can count all the way down to the bottom of the train. Hair was loosely pinned up with a pearl and crystal hair vine. Shoes were comfortable Zellies from their Vintage collection (my feet were very grateful I was kind to them!)
Waterfall Cove was our stunning venue. Many guests stayed the night at the venue itself.
Unfortunately I did not have the greatest amount of time to attend to myself. However, Brilliant White home teeth whitening kit became my best friend for two weeks leading up to the big day- so easy to use. Affordable. Convenient. Everyone noticed the difference in my smile.
All decor was included in our venue hire. Bev and the Waterfall Cove team have storerooms full of fabrics and overlays of all colours imaginable, as well as shelves of decor- vases, candelabras, crystals, pearls, mirrors.... you name it! We were involved in the design of our wedding from start to finish, resulting in a simple, elegant look with candelabras topped with giant red rose pomanders done by Anro Flower Farm.
The groom bought his suit from Woolworths. It was just the look he was going for. We hired the groomsmen suits. Accessories were purchased at Woolworths too.
We had an excellent consultation from Gelique. I wanted them to have infinity dresses that they could style whichever way they could choose. I particularly loved the softness the tulle overlay added to the dress. We opted for tea-length. Their shoes were from Olga Bolga’s collection, as Zellies were slightly out of their price range. Also, Olga Bolga offered different colours.
Allison Pope was our officiant. Her and her husband Rev. Nick Prinsloo from Your Wedding Ceremony met with us and helped us create the best memories!
No photo booth was used. Ulandi Sanders was our photographer. We chose her specifically since she does night photography. She was absolutely phenomenal!
Friends of ours have their own wedding videography company called Twenty-Twent Films. They captured snippets of the day as a gift.
My husband and I are super excited to see the results when they come out!
I did not hire a planner. I am a particularly hands-on kind of gal, and planning events and special occasions is something I enjoy. Bev at Waterfall Cove was also very helpful in giving advice, as well as the rest of my service providers. They’re in the industry and know all the ins and outs. Most of them are more than willing to offer nuggets of advice and recommendations, above and beyond what we hired them to do.
The food was prepared by Waterfall Cove. It was superb!
We cut costs on her wedding cake, as we felt it would be a waste to spend thousands of rands in something that not everyone would eat. We opted to have a friend bake a small top tier for us, and ordered mini donuts from a local bakery, which we piled up on the cake stand and sprinkled with glitter. Waste not, want not!
Elaine from I-do Creative Concepts did a fantastic job in the design, look and feel of our invitations. Acute attention to detail and creativity blew us away. The invites were stunning!
As a cost cutting measure, I designed the menu, seating chart and table numbers and we printed them out at home on matching stationery.
As a dance teacher, it’s kinda tricky when your partner has two left feet! No lessons were taken. We felt we would rather go with a relaxed, natural feel, than have a tightly choreographed first dance.
We had a live band - Havana Gas. Doug and Storme are seasoned musos who brought such a great vibe. They actually started playing our song as we were announced into the reception hall, so we had our first dance as we walked across the dance floor, had everyone join in, then went to be seated. Dance floor was open from the start of the reception and everyone danced for hours! They brought all the sound and lighting with them. I honestly could not have asked for a better service provider. They were superb!
At Gelique we believe that your bridesmaids should look stunning and feel gorgeous on your big day!
“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to ...
