WAT 'N BRUILOF FEES! (because it just doesn't have the same oomph in English)
Our wedding was a weekend festival of love starting with a family & friends pizza night on Friday and ending in a beachfront brunch on Sunday.
I can earnestly say that our wedding day was nothing less than perfect and I do not regret anything (maybe only trying harder to persuade the venue to let us stay longer). Our focus was not on things but on people and our guests made our wedding memorable, we wanted to have all the amazing people in our lives present. Our guest did not disappoint, from young to old they brought life to the party. We had an absolute ball, keeping all the formalities and speeches short and to the point (but very heartfelt of course) we very quickly opened the dancefloor and we danced and laughed the whole night through.
With so many memories I can truly just say that the pure joy that I experienced throughout the day was amazing, I could literally not stop smiling from the moment I opened my eyes that morning. But the overall best must have been making the biggest promise of love to the man of my dreams surrounded by nature with everyone we love and God as our witness.
We planned our Honeymoon together where we road tripped through the Western and Northern Cape enjoying all that Cape Town and the West Coast has to offer. It was pure bliss and an amazing break away with a lot of resting after all of the hype of our wedding day.
Simple but Different - my bridal style.
The dress - I knew what I wanted (Enzoani stole my heart), after fitting a few different types of dresses the choice was quite easy. I chose a dress that was simply beautiful and so comfortable with its special details seen in the lace and unique back.
Hair & Makeup - Someone very quickly informed me of a local makeup artist and hair stylist in George that I just had to use (no questions asked), being a little skeptic I still took the leap of faith booking her as she only had 2 open weekends left for 2018 and WOW... The immensely talented Wilna Allpass from the beginning just understood me and what I wanted, she motivated the very natural me to be a bit more glamorous for my big day and I loved the outcome of it.
I went with a classic and comfortable upstyle for my hair to ensure that I did not hide the beauty of the back of my dress.
All the accessories from jewelry to shoes and lingerie was carefully chosen over a long time of walking through many malls and shopping centers with my best friend (aka mom).
Jewelry - Lovise
Shoes - Green Cross
I am a qualified makeup artist based in George, Western Cape and I also do wedding hair styling for brides. I do location work in the the Garden Route area (Knysna, George...
This beautiful farm venue in Waboomskraal was perfect for us!
My husband's dream was to get married in the wheat fields on their family farm in the Karoo which had many challenges (especially the fact of having to wait too long after deciding on a short engagement). My dream was simply to get married outdoors and this venue made us meet each other halfway and made everything effortlessly perfect. Wanting to get married outdoors always has its challenges but we were blessed from above with the absolute best weather possible for the time of the year and our day outdoors was beautiful. We decided on this venue as a destination wedding in the garden route as all of our friends, family and loved ones were far and thus every single guest had to travel far with most of them flying in for the weekend.
The accommodation was the only challenge as Waboomskraal was a small town with not enough accommodation for all our guest but we arranged that our guests could make use of local bus and shuttle services from George and Oudtshoorn and back after the wedding which worked out perfectly.
Me and my Maid of Honor treated ourselves at Pure Skin in Mosselbay to amazing facials and pedicures the week before.
My focus was just to be my natural self and I drank a lot of water, ate a lot of fruit and veggies and tried my best to be as active as possible in the months leading up to the wedding.
I really wanted to only use local suppliers for all of my decor needs (those that me and my mom and now mother in law did not do ourselves). As I am a very simple soul when it comes to flowers, I don't like roses and I love wildflowers it made it very easy for me to be, as my bridesmaids would say, simple but different. I bought Proteas and Fynbos locally at Santa Bonne and Bofberg flowers and wanted to add a bit off the karoo feel adding succulents and aloes out of the gardens of many loved ones and neigbours. We also drove some unique greenery down from the Karoo. I added a rustic feel by adding Tolbosse and rusted barb wire that I sourced on the farm that I now call my home. All tables and chairs and lighting was done for me by the venue with a few table elements like underplates that I hired in from Fancy Functions in Mosselbay. My tablecloths, runners and serviettes were all made by my amazing and patient mother. With the help of my old and new family and my bridesmaids, we put it all of our decor together in no time the Thursday afternoon and Friday morning before the wedding.
My Husband being a farmer (a handsome one I must add) bought most of his clothes at deJagers (a mostly men's clothing shop found in most towns in the Western Cape). The Groomsmen were gifted bowties, socks and pants bought at local chain stores paired with what they had in their closets to not break anyone's bank. We embroidered handkerchiefs for all the groomsmen, brothers, fathers and grandfathers of the bridal party.
Me and my bridesmaids saw a dress on the runway at the Oakfield wedding expo that we all loved. I contacted the designer at Gelique Couture in Pretoria and all the dresses were made and fitted perfectly according to my bridesmaid's bodies. This was my gift to my beautiful best friends.
Our Pastor Marius Barnard from our small hometown Hofmeyr in the Karoo know for its pink church building.
The BEST photographer we could ask for, from taking engagement photos in the rain (and owning it) up until our wedding day she made me and my now husband feel completely comfortable. We wanted to enjoy every possible element of our wedding day and live in the moment (as we all know a wedding can fly by so fast) so we decided to not take to many photos. We also didn't want to leave our guests alone for too long and as the sun was setting to fast for Liezel's liking we decided on taking photos a few meters down the road from all the wedding festivities. In a very short time, Liezel got it right to capture us perfectly in every single image. We even finished off the shoot with a few photos featuring a beautiful full moon and arrived back before all of our guests were seated (and we actually had to wait outside for a little while). Later on, I received the best comment where a friend asked me if we even went to take photos because it felt like we never left. At the end of the day, all Liezel's photos were simply a perfect display of our love.
JVS Productions made our wedding video alongside Liezel Volschenk. The power couple Jaco & Michelle of JVS Productions are an absolute treat to work with, such warm and kind-hearted people with a huge passion for what they do.
I almost didn't even realise they were there filming the whole day, they just perfectly fitted into our schedule and with their amazing videography skills, we could recreate the day for family members that were not able to attend.
A photo booth at the venue ensured for entertainment after the ceremony for our guests and also made for an awesome wedding book where guest left a copy of their photo and wrote us a letter.
We hired Ilze du Preez of Oppie Plaas Venue to coordinate our day and make sure that everything ran smoothly (which it certainly did). This took so much pressure off of us and the day of the wedding we could peacefully get ready for all the wedding festivities.
The Oppie Plaas Venue prepared the food and it was absolutely incredible, we had so many people tell us afterward how they enjoyed the meal, and the best was that there was minimal waste as we had a buffet and everyone could go back for seconds and thirds (the thirds even maybe became fourths - thanks to the venue's amazing "pampoenkoekies").
Our wedding cake was not the traditional cake, I personally don't eat cake and thus decided on cheesecake but not a typical cheesecake, a tower of cheeses made for me by Kasselshoop Cheese in Stilbaai Western Cape. The cake was decorated in our garden route theme and was served with bountiful nuts, fresh fruits, and olives. The cake was cut after our ceremony and was served alongside our canapes of fresh loaves of bread and pates.
Being blessed with a best friend that was not only my Maid of honor but also a very talented graphic designer, she helped me and we did all of the design ourselves including our wedding website. Printing was done by Blitsdruk a local printer in Mosselbay&George.
Singer-Songwriter Brighitte De had a live performance during our canapes and entertained our guest to a variety of lovely background music that created an awesome vibe. DJ Morne or DJ Majestro as we called him made sure for a great pre and post-ceremony atmosphere and kept the party going all night long.
I am a qualified makeup artist based in George, Western Cape and I also do wedding hair styling for brides. I do location work in the the Garden Route area (Knysna, George...
