Where and how does a bride even begin to describe the most beautiful day of her life that she has been dreaming of forever?
Wow, when a bride wakes up to a day which looks like it is going to be just another ordinary overcast day with a slight drizzle, just to realize that she woke up to the biggest day of her life..then the butterflies begin to go crazy, but crazy in a good way... I have waited for this moment for 30 years! And how blessed am I, not only do I get to marry my prince in shining armor, I also have a glimpse of good luck! The old folk believed that rain on your wedding day predicts a long and happy marriage with loads of good luck!
And in the blink of an eye, God blesses us with the most beautiful sun which rises over the top of the Magalies mountains! A shining sun in the heavens above, shining in all its glory!
Our day was the most picture perfect day! A fairy tale to be true...
Our day started off with a delicious and wholesome breakfast. It was me, my mom, my mother-in-law, 4 bridesmaids and 2 flower girls...we had interesting girly conversations, many laughs and tears of joy! A prettier picture you couldn't capture on any camera! My morning before the wedding was amazing!
To top of the perfect morning, my brother from Cape Town came to my wedding without me knowing and he surprised me whilst I was busy getting ready! The tears couldn't stop flowing the moment that I saw him... It was one of the most special things that anyone has ever done for me! I will forever be thankful for that moment!
After we had done our hair, make-up and got dressed...we popped a lovely bottle of sparkly and celebrated my last few moments of being a Miss... These moments will forever be engraved in my heart!
The makeup artist, photographer, videographer and wedding coordinator made our day special, made all of us feel very comfortable and ensured that the day went by as smoothly as possible!
My husband and his groomsmen looked their absolute handsome best! My husband wore a black suit and the groomsmen wore waistcoats with a light pink tie!
Seeing my father for the first time as a bride, was a very special moment! I was wearing my dream dress and the expression on his face was priceless! I knew at that very moment that I made him a proud dad! The photographer captured this moment perfectly!
As soon as the church bells rang, I knew it was time for me to walk down the isle and for my father to give me away to my new husband, my best friend! The butterflies went crazy! This was a very emotional moment for met, from today on forward I get to spend the rest of my life with my person!
From thereon the fairy tale started! Our wedding day was absolutely amazing! Each moment exceeded our expectations! it surely was the best day of our lives!
We spent an amazing week in beautiful Cape Town for our honeymoon. We enjoyed our stay at the Oceansnest Guest House in Bloubergstrand. Cape Town is one of our favourite destinations and it was extra special as we also got engaged in Cape Town in December 2016.
I wanted a very elegant and soft look! I am a firm believer of "less is more"!
The Boys Couture, Arno & Niko, designed my perfect wedding dress from 2 pictures which I had combined! I wanted an A-line dress with lace and an open back with crystal buttons to be the focus point of the dress! My dress was magnificent and so comfortable! I felt like a princess...
I had an up-do with my hair as I had a picture from many years ago which I fell in love with!
I wore a pair of teardrop diamond earrings for a soft touch on my facial features and to compliment my whole look.
I bought my garter at a wedding show - also plain made of only lace and a small ribbon!
I ended off the look with a pair of rose gold Shani shoes from Imaani! These shoes was an excellent choice as they were very elegant, not to high and very comfortable!
Our BIG day was celebrated at Green Leaves Venue & Country Lodge. Some of our guests stayed over at the venue as the venue caters for guests sleeping over on the venue, they have about 40 rooms in which they can accommodate guests. Our other guests made use of the venues around Green Leaves which included Leopard Lodge, Pecan Manor, Magalies Park, Die Ou Pastorie, Falcon View, Kosmos Manor, Winchado & Vulture Creek. It was an absolutely perfect setting for our perfect day.
I followed a semi-strict beauty regime. I went to the gym 3 times a week prior to the wedding, I followed a healthy eating plan and I drank 2-3 liters of water everyday, keeping in mind I do not drink coffee or tea. I followed my usual facial washing regime as this as worked for me over many years and I am blessed with a skin that doesn't give too many problems. I bought the awesome Brilliant White Advanced Teeth Whitening system and followed the procedure strictly for 7 days prior to the wedding. I will advise every future bride to keep with the recipe that works for you - THAT worked for me!
We did not have a definite theme for the wedding, except for light pink & grey & ribbons & roses! We wanted an elegant, soft and minimalistic wedding! We wanted to incorporate the light pink & light grey colours in a soft and elegant manner! Again, less is more! I am not a big flower girl... We therefore decided to lay the tables with grey table clothes! To decorate the tables with crystal candelabras incorporating roses in different shades of pink and lots of candles to create a very romantic atmosphere! For the serviette "rings", we used a long piece of pink ribbon. This was created and achieved by the vision of our decor company and decor assistant Sam from NDM Weddings & Events - they are the in-house decor specialists at Green Leaves! Sam was helpful and gave the best advise when it came to the look that we wanted to achieve! Our reception hall exceeded our expectations and looked like a fairytale when we walked into the Stables Hall!
The groom wore a black suit with a black tie, a white shirt and black shoes! I must say, he looked fabuloulsy handsome on his wedding day...
The groomsmen were suited in black pants, black waistcoats, white shirts, pink ties and black shoes! They looked fantastic and due to the fact that they looked different from the groom, made the groom stand out!
The whole picture that the groom wanted came together on the day of the wedding!
My bridesmaids and flower girls wore light pink dresses which we bought from Peaches & Spice in Pretoria! I wanted all of the girls to look the same as I wanted a perfect picture. Each bridesmaids wore their own pair of silver shoes as I am well aware of the fact that everyone does not find the same pair of shoes as comfortable. I got the idea of the look on the internet as I searched for "soft pink dress ideas". They looked gorgeous in the light pink dresses with a soft touch of lace and ribbon belts for their middles with soft curls in their hair to compliment and complete the look!
Our marriage officer was parson Leon Sinclair from our "home" church, Sunward Park Gemeenskapskerk! He delivered the most meaningful & beautiful wedding ceremony! He spoke to us personally and gave so much meaning to the word "marriage & wedding". Parson Leon reminded us to love each other unconditionally each and every day for the rest of our lives...
The special moments of our day were captured by VanBower L'atelier, Luke & Valicia. They are an awesome team of photographers and their service was excellent, from the first meeting, to the engagement shoot right through to the wedding day. We were comfortable in their presence and they captured each special moment perfectly.
The entire day was captured on video by our videographer First Kiss, Gerhard. We both cried our eyes out with the 3 minute preview and cannot wait for the entire day!
We hired a photo booth to entertain our guests while we went to take our photos and after the formalities were done, with an awesome team The Magic Photobooth. It was one of the best decisions we made instead of giving wedding gifts...our guests had loads of fun! We also had a guestbook and requested the guests to take a photo at the photo booth, stick it in the guest book and write a note/letter for us... This is truly a memorable remembrance from our special day!
Having firm roots in the photography industry, we understand the Number One rule for weddings: You Only Get One Chance!
I am quite the control freak, so I arranged and planned most of the day by myself with the help of my husband, mother, mother-in-law and bridesmaids. I did however have a wedding coordinator on the day of the wedding which is included in the venue hire. This helped so much as Sune was absolutely hands-on with her service and she ensured that our day went as smooth as can be and in accordance with our time frames as per our wedding plan!
WOW!!! I was SPOILED to the max by my brother. He works at BMW Zambesi Auto and one of his clients was so generous by borrowing his brand new M3 BMW to us for our wedding transport! What made this experience so special is that there are only 2 of these specific models in the whole of South Africa and therefore our wedding photos with the car is definitely 1 in a million...
The wedding food was an absolute perfect palate experience! The food was prepared by Green Leaves and consisted of a plated starter of a pancake filled with ham, cheese & mushroom served with a cheese sauce, buffet main meal which included an array of tasty choices ranging from meats to salads and buffet desserts which consisted of a delicious choice of cheesecake, mousse & malva pudding. The choices we made for our final menu was the perfect combinations with compliments to the chef on our big day!
We did an electronic wedding invitation which worked out extremely well as we could keep proper track of our invitations and the RSVP's thereto.
We printed our own table settings and menus for the tables!
We decided on a very plain and simple design to fit in with the elegant and soft feel of the whole weddings.
My husband doesn't like dancing...so this was quite a moment to look forward too. We did not take any dance lessons, nor do we dance together on any other occasions! Thus, the moment to look forward too... On the night of our wedding, our wedding song, Say you won't let go from James Arthur played romantically in the background with the smoke machine enchanting the atmosphere with smoke filling the dance floor...and there we did it! We danced as if we had attended many dance lessons and it was the most perfect moment!
My cousin is a DJ and he spoiled us by being our DJ and doing the lighting for our big day as a wedding gift! He was extremely good with reading the guests and the songs that they liked to dance to! He was also very creative with the choices of songs that he had made during the whole night when formalities were dealt with.
The party was amazing and so much fun! There was someone on the dance floor from the moment that the dance floor was opened until the end of the reception!
Having firm roots in the photography industry, we understand the Number One rule for weddings: You Only Get One Chance!
Baker boys is a boutique style bakery based in Pretoria east, supplying Pretoria and the Gauteng area, stretching to different game lodges and wedding venues in the vicinity.
