THE WEDDING. From the set up the day before to the wedding day it was magical. Everyone was just so happy and chilled which made me feel so content knowing that I could just sit back get dolled up and walk down the aisle to the man of my dreams. The highlights well it was every second. (Our wedding day was the best day of our lives and I am so grateful that it was everything and more that we could of ever hoped for). Saying I do is a moment however that really just blanks out everyone around you and its just you and your soon to be husband, holding hands, looking into each others eyes and being able to say those words to each other that will forever bind you as one. Its pretty awesome. The FOOD, speeches and dancing the night away well that was our wedding day and it was all amazing.
We were luckily enough to get to go on honeymoon as a gift from Marks mom and step father, the day after our wedding. We traveled to Mauritius where we stayed at the most magical place called Radisson Blu Poste
Lafayette Resort & Spa for 3 nights and the remainder of the week at Radisson Blu Azuri. If any couple is looking to feel the 5 star treatment with the beach at your doorstep these two resorts stole our breathes away and will forever have a special place in our hearts. We were so grateful to of met such incredible people on our honeymoon and the staff were sensational.
My whole life I always wanted the white wedding. Having my parents as an inspiration of what love is and what marriage really means, I was excited to the idea of finding love and getting married. When the day arrived I wanted to feel like a fairy. Blissful, airy, sexy and honestly happy. My dress was an inspirational piece which was given to me as a gift, and then I created the rest with the designer of the dress to make it come to life. My hair was simple and curly just the way I like it. My make up was sexy and earthy that goes with my soul. My earings and jewellery pieces were a mixture of rose gold, crystals and moonstones. The shoes and by shoes I mean two (as I have an obsession) were a gold peeptoe from call it spring and for the party a strappy pair of nude forever new shoes. My look was perfect to me and made me feel like I was unstoppable and powerful, a woman in white with the most colour soul.
My team of experts were:
Wedding dress- Julia Ferrandi
MUA: Steph Ive and Spiced Durban (Anke Malan)
Honestly the best I've ever worked with through many weddings of being a bridesmaid, and I'm just so grateful they were available, they made everyone feel extraordinary.
Our wedding was held at the magical Orchards wedding venue in the Midlands. Perfection personified is this venue. Rolling green grass to the river that wraps around the venue, plum orchards leading to the garden wedding site, a chapel and of course a gorgeous venue which seats up to 200 guests. We had 155 guests with a huge dance floor as having a party is very important ;)
The venue slept my parents and 3/4 of my bridal party which was 12 people, then the rest of our bridal party and overseas guests stayed at the owners of the wedding venues other bnb 2kms from the venue called Gowen Valley bnb which sleeps 29. This is where Mark and his groomsmen stayed the night before the wedding and got ready the day of the wedding. The owners Deanne and her husband were amazing. The rest of our guests were at a range of bnbs, guest houses and hotels in the Midlands area. (There is a huge array to choose from)
Orchards is an elegant and romantic wedding venue situated in the rolling hills of the Caversham Valley in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Regime not so much, but staying fit and healthy is always a thing for me. I love to train and worked my ass off at MOVEMENT X in Umhlanga, and well food and drinks stayed the same. I love food and GNT's so it all came down to moderation from there. Skin care is lucky one for me as my sister is a Homeopath and owns her own skin care range called NAKED SKINCARE So I used the face wash and day cream to make sure I was bright eyed and bush tailed as they say with skin that glowed.
Everything about the wedding was husky grays, golds and greens. I wanted to use the natural bush and candles everywhere to create a romantic feel. I purchased a lot of the candles and gold triangle candle stick holders from MR PRICE HOME, as well as sea blue and white and gold stained votive's. The rest of the decor and flowers was done by the incredible Lee Murch. She was amazing. I told her the idea I was going for and she came in set up and turned the venue into our tropical fairyland. She did the hanging greenery the tables and the alter.
Darryl Monks our dear friend and wedding coordinator came in and lent us the lanterns and more candles and made sure everything was sorted on the day of the wedding. His company is called HIRE STANDARDS.
Then lets talk about my bouquet... it was everything and more. The talented Angie Leaker (aka my sister Mother in Law) flew 2 days before the wedding and make all my bridesmaids bouquets, mine and all the boutonnieres for the grooms and mothers of the bride and groom. SHE IS INSANELY TALENTED. WOW is all I can say and THANK YOU.
The handsome groom aka Mark wore a Navy tailored suit from ZARA, brown shoes from Aldo, belt and tie from River Island, shirt from Country Road and socks from Toe Porn.
The groomsmen were more smart casual in chino pants from ZARA, white Country Road Shirts, belts and ties from River Island, socks from Toe Porn and their own brown shoes.
The handsome groom aka Mark wore a Navy tailored suit from ZARA, brown shoes from Aldo, belt and tie from River Island, shirt from Country Road and socks from Toe Porn.
The groomsmen were more smart casual in chino pants from ZARA, white Country Road Shirts, belts and ties from River Island, socks from Toe Porn and their own brown shoes.
The bridesmaids all wore their own tan/nude high shoes, jewellery which was a rose gold choker, earrings and rose gold half bracelets from Lovisa. The dresser were designer made from the all talented Nadia Habig, owner of Meekloh. We sat down spoke about colours and styles and before I knew it she had created the most sexy charcoal grey tulip dresses each personalised to my bridesmaids. THEY WERE SO SEXY I LOVED THEM. I loved them so much she continuously makes me the most awesome clothes to ease my shopping addiction haha.
We got married before our big day at court and then my brother in law officiated our big day which was extremely special for us. We are so grateful for Andrew Leaker.
Where to begin with these two gentlemen. If you wanted to see what true art is, do yourself a favour and go look through Dean Maber (photography) and Dane Forman's (videography) work https://vimeo.com/261459030. It is effortless beauty and that all Mark and I wanted. I the lover of pictures and Mark not so much in front of the camera wanted it to be the most relaxed easy task. They both went out of the park with their work for our special day. You can be the judge by looking through the pictures and watching a wedding highlights. WE would do it all over again just to have these two incredible dudes capture emotions so effortlessly, seriously a must have.
Dad to Jonah and husband to talented Samantha Maber. I love documenting weddings and been shooting them for a few years now.
We didn't use a wedding planner for the wedding pre planning
We didn't use any service but used our friends awesome cars to get us down❤️
FOOD is a big one for Mark and I so getting the right menu was important. After school I got into the catering business to make extra money, being a waitress or host and different events. I worked for the ultimate chef Andrew Draper who's food you can't help fall in love with. I swore then that if I ever got married I would ask him to cater our wedding, and well we were luckily enough to do just that. When I took Mark to meet Andrew and the awesome Monique (Andrews right hand lady) for our tasting he could understand why I was hell bent of having him create our menu. He is undoubtedly the most talented chef out there and all rounder magical human. He designed our entire menu and cake and well, not a crumb was left behind. YUM
I printed and designed our wedding stationary, it was a great save for our wedding and I absolutely loved it.
Our DJ was the all talented Neil Ferreira from Mobile party unit. He read the entire night on our guests and worked the songs perfectly. Mark and I wanted a party and Neil made that happen. We hired a huge #JAM sign for outside and a photobooth for inside through Aisle hire it. It was such a joll having our guests get a personalised photo strip every time they went to take pics as our wedding favour to them to say thank you for sharing our wedding with us and witnessing the start to the rest of our magical marriage.
Orchards is an elegant and romantic wedding venue situated in the rolling hills of the Caversham Valley in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Dad to Jonah and husband to talented Samantha Maber. I love documenting weddings and been shooting them for a few years now.
