There were way too many amazing moments to pick just one, the entire day was flawless and I would do it 100 times over, however the times that stood out the most for me was the reveal of my dress to my dad and to my godfather, seeing my husband for the first time when walking down the aisle, seeing our breathtaking venue set up for the first time and our first dance.
Yes, we went on honeymoon to Mauritus and then went to Portugal and we were given a trip to Madeira as a wedding gift. We also chose to have layovers in Amsterdam and Paris on our way to and from Portugal.
I have always wanted a ballgown dress for my wedding. My wedding dress was from the amazing De La Vida Bridal Couture in Fourways and was the third dress which I tried on. I absolutely loved it but decided to keep my options open and try on other dresses and I soon realized that I was comparing every single dress thereafter to that one.... that is when I realized that my dress was "THE ONE". My makeup was done by Face It make-up and beauty studio and was exactly what I wanted for my wedding day, I wanted to still look like myself but didn't necessarily want a no make-up make-up look. My hair was done by Deidre Harmse and worked perfectly with my dress as I still wanted the detail on my dress to be visible. My shoes are from Bride&Co in Rivonia. My earrings and necklace are from Lovisa and my bracelet was my "something borrowed" from my sister. My engagement and wedding rings are from the talented Manser Jewellery and West Rand Diamond Cutting.
We had the ceremony at our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Liefde and Vrede and the cancapes and reception were held at the Wanderers Country Club in Illovo. Our family and some of our guests stayed at the Protea Hotel by Marriott Johannesburg Wanderers.
I signed up for the MoniqueFit challenge in order to ensure that I was fit and toned for my wedding day. I also did numerous TanCan sessions aswell as facials and peels at Face it Make-up and beauty studio to ensure my skin looked flawless for the day.
Our decor, flowers, furniture, dance floor, stage and lighting were all organised by our amazing wedding stylists at Calypso Creative Agency. It was exactly what we wanted Simple, Elegant and Beautiful. We were blown away when viewing our venue for the first time and we couldn't have pictured it to look any better. Our centerpieces consisted of lots of roses, orchids, candles and mirrors.
The groom wore a three piece navy blue and black bespoke suit by Fazar Couture. I gave him a watch as a gift with our monogram and wedding date engraved on the back. The groomsmen work navy blue two piece suits and rose gold/pink ties from the Oriental Plaza. They wore socks with Groomsmen written on them. They were gifted watches from my husband with their names and our wedding date on it.
My bridesmaids wore Rose Gold sequin dresses from YDE. They each got their own shoes as I wanted them to be comfortable throughout the day and night.
We got married at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church. Given that we both come from Portuguese families it was important for us to incorporate Portuguese and Portuguese traditions in our special day. We therefore decided that our Ceremony would be conducted in both Portuguese and English, with Father Jean marrying us in English and Father Jorge doing the homily in Portuguese.
We had the most amazing photographers and videographers. Chillipix captured every single part of our special day. We are still trying to make our way through all of our photographs. It is impossible to choose a few for our album and to frame as we love every single photograph taken. Chillipix also captured our engagement shoot and we absolutely recommend them to everyone.
We had Tanya, Paula and Rea an amazing team from Calypso Creative Agency coordinate our special day. They coordinated everything from the hair to the decor, to the music, to the favours, to my husband's suit. They were involved in every single part of our wedding day and it was absolutely flawless thanks to them.
We chose to have BMW's for the bridal party and I was surprised on the day with a convertible Mercedes from funky rides which transported me to the church and my husband and I to the Wanderers for the reception.
The food was delicious and was prepared by Pedro and his team from SilvaSale . Our cake was another one of the Cake Genies amazing creations.
Our stationery (the invites, menus, church programmes and favour thank you notes) was designed by Calypso Creative Agency who also designed a monogram and theme for us. This theme and monogram was used throughout our wedding and on every single piece of stationery.
Our reception was more than we could have expected. We had a live singer - the talented Roberto Adao- performing during canapes and to open the dance floor. We then had Roberto Goncalves from BlueMoon Productions djing the night away. Roberto Goncalves also arranged our lighting for us together with Calypso Creative Agency. Our first dance was to Perfect by Ed Sheeran performed live by Roberto Adao and was rewritten to incorporate a Portuguese version. We took dance lessons with the talented Jade Rahme Tannous for our first dance. Our guests danced the night away to music by our awesome DJ.
