Goodness, where to begin, there are a few… Waking up on our wedding day was so surreal. I couldn’t believe the day was finally here and I was getting to marry the love of my life. The 2 of us wrote our vowels to each other to read privately the morning of the wedding. Jeff’s note to me was so incredibly heartfelt. The whole time I was reading it I could hear his voice in my head and it made me smile from ear to ear. I couldn’t help but tear up while reading it, was such a special and exciting moment.
The moment I cherish the most is standing at the end of the altar, holding hands and exchanging vows to each other, powerful emotions attached to professing our love to one another. It was just so beautiful! And to have our family and friends witness this made it even more special.
Walking into the reception with my husband for the first time was a feeling I will never forget, we were both completely blown away! It was a very emotional moment for me, that I’m glad I got to share with him. Seeing all our hard work, planning, ideas come to life was just mind-blowing!
One of my favourite moments was during the reception, just looking around and thinking that all these people are here because they love and support us, and just feeling really lucky that everything came together and everyone was here celebrating with us! It was a very happy day.
As cliche as it sounds, I can honestly say it was literally the BEST day of my life...
Yes, we went on an amazing honeymoon!
Because we had guests coming from overseas we didn't want to just rush off, we took a few days and spent time with them all, showing them around Cape Town doing fun things like the Franschhoek Wine Tram. So we left on Christmas morning for a months holiday to Thailand and Singapore. It was INCREDIBLE, so relaxing and we made the most amazing memories together that I will cherish forever.
We got married in Church at the Immaculate Conception - Parow Catholic Church.
Our reception was held at Eureka Estate in Durbanville. We didn't want our guests travelling far, as we had quite a few guests coming from all over the globe, so we kept it local and close to home so that everyone could Uber home, not have to spend a fortune on accommodation and we didn't have to worry about drinking and driving.
Also, Eureka was just the perfect fit for us. The moment we went to view it, we knew it was the one, definitely one of our best decisions.
Skin: I didn't actually do anything different to my skin, fortunately, I don't have problematic skin so I just stuck to my usual routine.
Health & fitness: I followed my own programme of eating healthy with my husband and went to a fitness club in the area 3x a week. It was great fun, worth it and we are still continuing with it.
Vibrant, warm-hearted, different, festive and Spanish is the look we were going for. My husband is Spanish/Portuguese, so I really wanted to bring in his culture without making it seem kitsch. I think we pulled it off beautifully, it represented us as a couple perfectly.
Our floral arrangements included raw vegetables, beautiful flowers and lush greenery. Our florist Pippa from Wildeflower seriously nailed it! She listened to my requests, got my vision, understood the look and feel I was going for and blew our minds on the day! She provided us with the florals, and some of the decors on the tables as well.
The furniture on the balcony was brought in by Scape Events, and the inside furniture we selected a few couches that our venue had on display that would've gone nicely with the rest of the decor and theme.
The lighting above the tables was done by Baie Goeters.
The Groom: We got all of his attire from Carducci and wedding shoes from Aldo (the shoes were quite the talking point on the day, and he pulled the look off so well) He looked very smart and handsome...
The Groomsmen: The dress code was Formal, so to make sure the groomsman were in order for the day we hired Slim Fit Black Suits from Eurosuit for them. They wore their own shoes and belts, and we provided the bow ties and shirts. The bow ties were from David Jones and the shirts were from Edgars. Needless to say, they looked very smart!
I wanted my bridesmaids to feel really comfortable, so I decided to go with a flowy dress that would at the same time compliment their figures beautifully. I had seen some styles on Pinterest that I quite liked, so I showed our dress designer (a lady that usually does the dresses in our family) and she got it spot on!
There wasn't a specific colour scheme that we had throughout everything, it was all different colours but I quite liked the gold/champagne look that I thought would go wonderfully with the pops of gold we had in the venue. It worked out really well, they looked amazing and loved their dresses.
The AMAZING Hugo... Hugo Coelho Fotografia
Choosing Hugo as our photographer was probably the best decision we made! He came all the way from Lisbon, Portugal. He was down in Cape Town in March which worked out perfectly so he shot our engagement shoot. He is such a lovely guy, down to earth, super chilled, and just has the most amazing eye for photography. We LOVE our pictures and go through them almost every day.
He has just been listed in the top 25 of BodaF Europe Convention for the New Talent 2019 award.
I never had a wedding planner, I did most of all the planning along with our venue coordinator Mieke from Eureka Estate. She was absolutely amazing, listened to what I wanted, got my vision and we managed to pull together an amazing wedding that went off without a hitch!
We went in a Pontiac Silver Streak 1948 - a classic car. Luckily for us, it was actually our DJ's so it worked out really nicely and we were able to drive in style, loved the car!
Food: The food was done by the venue, Mieke who was also the coordinator is also the chef. Her, her mother and their team produced some seriously delicious food! We got such lovely feedback from our guests. Our request was to have a Spanish inspired/influenced menu which came through in the starter and dessert. A real Family Feast.
Cake Service Provider: Lia Rothman Cakes
The brief: We chose a metallic 3 layered cake which half of it was in gold leaf to paint a unique and dramatic effect. The 3 layers were a mix of Vanilla Bean Salted Caramel, Red Velvet and Carrot cake (my husband's fav) topped off with florals from our florist.
Paulina from Design by Paulina was my stationary guru :) She just got it from the very start, it was the most simple, stress-free process for me and I was very happy with every item she designed. She also dealt with the printing for me.
We didn't have any invites printed, we went completely digital with a company called Shift Events who designed the wedding website that worked out so well for us! It showcased all our engagement shoot pictures, it was the go-to platform for any information needed about our wedding day and was the best decision to reach our overseas guests. Digital is the way to go!
The reception for us was honestly incredible, it felt like we were in another world. For the canapes, the entertainment was Acoustic Element, who are just seriously talented! We requested that they play quite a bit of Spanish music to fit the theme of the day and the feedback we got from our guests about them was just wonderful, was a great decision to have them.
Our DJ was Dino Silva, he's played at quite a few of our family functions so it was a no brainer to have him DJ and he was just on top form! We danced the night away until the early hours of the morning.
No, we didn't have dancing lessons, I didn't want to put extra stress on us and wasn't sure how it would be with my dress and its long train. So we just rocked it in our own way!
