The few days leading up to the big day left me feeling stressed and worried that everything was going to go according to plan. However, when I woke up the morning of the wedding, I was so calm. I knew this day was all about my husband and I and it was so lovely having my mother and bridesmaids around me. Before I had my make-up done, my twin sister handed me a letter which my husband wrote to me. My husband is not the romantic type, so reading this letter brought tears streaming down my face, which is why it was done before the make-up!
Another memorable moment of the day was seeing my husband at the end of the isle at the ceremony. I was feeling fairly calm (thanks to all the rescue tablets!), but the highlight was seeing my husband on the verge of tears. To see how much this also meant to him, was such an amazing feeling.
My husband and I have always shared a special connection with the stars and the universe. We have always wanted to go and see the Northern Lights, so we booked a cruise along Norway for 12 nights with P&O Cruises. It was one of the best decisions we have made, and we did manage to see the lights! Although not as much as we wanted to thanks to a lot of cloud cover. However, we did a lot of other activities at each of the ports we stopped at. One of the highlights was going husky sledding through the snow in the middle of the wilderness. Afterwards, we sat and played with the dogs for what felt like hours, pure happiness!
The main feel I wanted for my wedding look was to be comfortable! I have also always loved the winter and the cold, and I wanted my wedding dress to represent the sun glinting off snow on a winter's morning. I got my dress made by the amazing Didi from Didi Couture, and it was the best decision I could've made! She listened to what I wanted and made my dream into a reality.
To complement my stunning dress and to be comfortable, I managed to get the most beautiful sparkling white sneakers from Kate Spade in the US. I wear sneakers almost every day, and why change for your wedding day!
My hair and makeup was done by the talented Lesley-Ann from LA-Makeup Artistry. Because I was getting married on a hot summer's day, I wanted to wear my hair up and off of my neck so that I could stay as cool as possible. She managed to achieve my vision and created the most beautiful rose pattern up style with a small plait along the one side. This was complimented with a beautiful hair clip I bought from Lovisa. She complimented my makeup beautifully, making it simple yet elegant.
When it came to wearing jewellery, I decided not to wear a necklace. My dress had delicate lace going over my shoulders, and I didn't want to over-do it with too much detail. I did however wear these amazing drop earrings that looked like sparkling icicles, perfect to go with my Winter theme.
As for the lingerie, again I wanted to go with something comfortable. Since my husband's favourite colour is red, I decided to go for a bright red lacy underwear from La Senza, which was surprisingly comfortable!
Motivated by "all things beautiful", the work of Didi and her team is sure to leave you enchanted.
My wedding took place at Delsma Farm, near Riebeek Kasteel in the Western Cape.
This venue had accommodation for about 70 people, so almost all our guests were able to stay over for the night which was amazing! Accommodation was a major factor when choosing our venue, as we didn't want guests to worry about getting anywhere after the reception.
Another thing we were looking for was somewhere quiet and away from the city. Delsma Farm was perfect, only an hour or so drive from Cape Town. It is accessible from a dirt road, far away from the outside world, with only the sounds of nature and farm life filling the space. It had beautiful views of the mountains in the distance, and the reception hall was modern and elegant (with aircon!).
Delsma farm is ideal for small to medium conferences and teambuilding activities. The Function and Conference Centre is able to seat 220 guests. It also has a meeting room for ...
A week before my wedding, my bridesmaids flew me up to Johannesburg for my bachelorette weekend. During that weekend, we went to a spa called Aesthetic Elements in the Radisson Blu hotel in Sandton. We got an hour long full body massage, and spent some time in the salt room. It was very relaxing!
As for heath and fitness, I tried to do some exercises and toning so that I could look the best on my big day, but I didn't do it as much as I should've! I did try and eat less sugary snacks in the build-up to the wedding to prevent any breakouts.
Two days before the wedding, the mothers, my bridesmaids and I went to get manicures and pedicures done. My bridesmaids were going to wear open sandals for the wedding so had to have their feet looking good. It was also a great bonding time for all of us.
My decor, flowers, and chairs were provided by Monique from Mon Petite Fleur who is based in Riebeek Kasteel. She was recommended to us by the venue, as we wanted someone local to the venue. She helped us with renting beautiful white Tiffany chairs which is what we wanted for our overall look, as well as other smaller items like lanterns for the ceremony and outside space, and a British red post box for our cards. She also did all the flowers and decor for the tables. We wanted simple colours of green and white, and she created beautiful displays for the tables and of course our bouquets!
Because our wedding was on a hot Summer's day, we wanted to hire tents for the ceremony and the cocktail hour space. We used a local company called TwinFlame Tents, and they custom made a bedouin tent for the ceremony area as it was an unusual space, as well as provided a standard bedouin tent for the cocktail hour.
My husband got his suit from a small shop in our local sopping center, called Andrew's Boutique. He got personalized attention, and they custom fit the suit to his small stature. He got a dark navy suit to complement the wedding colours which were navy, white and silver.
His groomsmen were scattered across South Africa, so they all got grey suits to match as best as they could.
They all wore the same ties, which was a beautiful navy with a hint of silver running through the stitching.
My husband got special cufflinks for himself and his groomsmen. He loves to play poker, and he got the Ace of Spades as his cufflinks, and he got Kings in different suits for his groomsmen.
I had a vision for what my bridesmaids were going to look like early in the wedding planning process, and it also revolved around being comfortable. I decided to get their dresses custom made, so that I could fulfill my vision and make sure that each girl was comfortable. Alicia Bosch Couture in Johannesburg was the designer for my bridesmaid dresses. She made a trip down to Cape Town so that she could understand my vision more clearly. In the end, she created beautiful lace topped long dresses in navy, which my girls have all worn again after the wedding.
As for their shoes, I knew they were going to be running around the whole day and it was going to be hot, so I bought them these beautiful silver sandals for them to wear. Their feet thanked me afterwards!
Their hair and makeup was also done by LA Makeup Artistry, and she brought in an assistant to help with all girls. Because I had my hair in an up style, I decided that my bridesmaids should wear their hair down lightly curled, with small plaits pulling their hair back from the front. This was finished off with a small white flower from the bouquets and silver twisted earrings.
For our actual ceremony we got a good family friend to do the proceedings, and we did all the official things afterwards behind the scenes.
We used Willie from Cape Marriages to do all the official proceedings. My husband and I did not want a religious wedding and Cape Marriages can cater for any type of wedding which made them perfect. Willie did things quickly and efficiently, with minimal hassles. He also registered our marriage for us at home affairs, making one less thing to worry about!
Astrid Bradley Photography was the photographer for our wedding, and I could not be happier!
I wanted light and bright photos, and I fell in love with her style. We did an engagement shoot with her a few months before the wedding to get comfortable with each other and what we could expect on the big day. She is a lot of fun to work with, and she makes you feel comfortable in front of the camera.
We chose her Premium package as we wanted her to capture as much as possible of the wedding day, and it came with various printouts, a USB stick, a framed photo and a photo book to keep all our memories safe.
I did not have an official wedding planner for my wedding day.
My mother-in-law acted as the main wedding planner to help me with all the planning.
We did not get any fancy transport for our wedding. We used our own car and hired cars to take everyone to the venue, and we stayed the night there so there was no need to drive away.
The venue provided all the food and drinks for our wedding.
We worked closely with the chef onsite, and she came up with an amazing menu for the big day, and it was delicious! The food was definitely one of the highlights from the day, as everyone complimented on how good it was.
We decided to have canapes during cocktail hour as our starters, a sit down meal for the main course, and a buffet table for the dessert.
Our wedding cake was made as a gift from my husband's great aunt. We told her our vision and she created a beautiful white wedding cake with a navy sash in the middle. I let my husband choose the wedding flavours, and he chose chocolate for the top tier, vanilla for the middle tier, and the bottom tier was fake! Our cake topper was a chance for us to have some fun and put a bit of our interests in the wedding. My husband and I love computer gaming, and we got a custom topper made out of fondant (from Icing by Design) of us two sitting back to back playing computer games. We still have the topper sitting in our lounge.
I was very lucky to have my twin sister design all the signs and stationary for my wedding. She is a freelance graphic designer (Haylstorm Design) and did it all for us as a gift, which was so amazing!
She knew our vision and created the most stunning stationary. The invitations and thank-you cards were sent via email, while everything else was printed by Rocket Signs in Cape Town.
We wanted our guestbook to be something unique and different for us to keep after the wedding. So we got a large puzzle in the shape of Africa, with our wedding logo printed at the bottom (where South Africa is). We will be moving over to the UK soon, and we wanted something to remind us of home. This magnificent puzzle was created and made by Tag It!
We wanted our reception to look like a Winter midnight, so we wanted the ceiling to look like stars. The venue draped the whole ceiling with warm white fairy lights, and they went the extra mile by putting up individual lights which twinkled like the stars. It was so magical!
We got our DJ for the ceremony and reception from Southern Sound. They provided all the sound, music and lights for the dance floor. They played all the music we requested, and were a delight to work with.
My husband does not dance at all, and he was terrified of our first dance! We did not have any professional dancing lessons, but we did practice a few times beforehand so that we felt more comfortable on the day. I even taught him how to do a little turn, which made it fun for the guests to watch.
Motivated by "all things beautiful", the work of Didi and her team is sure to leave you enchanted.
Delsma farm is ideal for small to medium conferences and teambuilding activities. The Function and Conference Centre is able to seat 220 guests. It also has a meeting room for ...
