The most memorable moments of our wedding start long before the wedding. Our amazing support system that helped us create the wedding of our dreams. Our wedding was planned and executed entirely by us and our loved ones. From my sister and mom in law making my bridesmaids dresses and adding beautiful lace detail to my wedding dress; to my mom, mom in law, ouma, bridesmaids and I making over two hundred origami paper birds with love quotes on them and individually hanging them from the chapel roof as well as all the other little decor items such as mushrooms and name place holders; to my dad making wooden decorations such as heartshaped potplant holders and cutting little hearts into wooden logs; to my husband and his groomsmen hanging up dreamcatcher tablenumbers with fishingwire that didn't want to stay hung; to all the ladies making flower bouquets and arrangements; to my cousin's husband going to buy pants when we discovered the flower girl dresses were seethrough; to my best friend making our wedding cake; to my cousin keeping me sane when she herself no longer was!
A lot of love went into our wedding.
In the actual day memorable moments include ridiculous amounts of nerves, a hilarious pastor, The Hunger Games where my husband and I made people play games to win their spot in the food queue, awkward and funny dances, beautiful emotional speeches, great food, the 10 minute break my husband and I snuck away for just to have a moment to ourselves to revel, photographers who went the extra mile running around us with sparklers and helping get zips closed, and a surprise from my parents in the honeymoon suite where they had filled it with baloons and photos of us over the years, to us as a married couple passing out moments after climbing into bed.
We had a simple, sweet honeymoon. A couple of days in Cape Town and a couple of days in Franschoek. My ever grumpy husband managed to be bright and cheery the whole trip even though we had to do a lot of walking!
My hair was nothing over the top, my wonderful hairdresser coloured my hair the most gorgeous shade of red, and made loose curls braided into a waterfall braid (which she spent ages practicing). We added baby's breath at the back.
My make up and that of my wedding party was done by my cousin who started her own make up business. I also had false eyelashes put on which really made the world of difference.
My wedding dress was a long, slightly poofy strapless sweetheart neckline from Bride and Co, with a beautiful lace detail added to the bottom by my mom in law. My birdcage veil was made by my mom.
My shoes, white kitten heels by Pierre Cardin.
My jewellery a teardropped shaped necklace with teardropped earrings, my something borrowed from my sister in law. I also wore a something old and blue around my ankle which was a bracelet that my husband had made for me when I was in grade 10 and he first asked me to be his girlfriend.
We got married at a beautiful venue called Grace Falls. It has a river, a forest, an outdoor chapel inside the forest with heart shaped chair backs, a cable car and great food. The owner could use a PA, but otherwise everything was great!
Some of our guests stayed the night at the venue as it has 6 x 2 single bed rooms.
I am a very plain person, so I didn't really have a major regime. I went to colour my hair several times leading up to the wedding so that we could get the shade of red just right. In the week of the wedding, I shaped and tinted my unruly eyebrows and had false lashes put on at Placecol.
Majority of our decor was done by us.
All wooden elements were created by my dad at Woodguy, including my gorgeous guest book table.
Origami birds, paper straws with cute wording, name places, little mushrooms for the centerpieces, flower confetti in paper packets, programmes, we all did ourselves with help from friends and family.
Table name dream catchers and Flowers were done by my bridesmaids and my husband's cousin Marlise who has a nack for floral arrangements.
Furniture etc was part of the package at the venue.
The only rented elements were table runners and some serviettes from Ice Events
Regardt was looking handsome in a blue suit with brown shoes, he found his suit at the Oriental Plaza in Joburg, they have hundreds of stores where you can find suits. The groomsmen all wore chinos and shirts bought at Exact and Markham.
Regardt's ring should be noted, it has tiny watch gears in it and was made by Titanium Studio
My bridesmaids dresses were made to my request by Lia's Designs. (I am lucky my sister in law studied fashion design).
Their hair and makeup were also done by my hairdresser and make up artist.
George Van der Riet was captivating, hilarious and spoke only of romance and love. He was the perfect choice for a wedding officiant!
