The 26th May 2018 was hands down the most nerve wrecking, exciting and memorable day of my life.. trying to break it down into a few highlights & memorable moments is pretty difficult but if I have to pick one, my favourite moment would be seeing the smile on Etienne's face as I walked down the aisle. It was a smile I hadn't seen before. The amount of love I felt in a single smile is something I will never forget.
Other incredible moments that were so special was seeing my dads reaction when he saw me in my dress for the first time (being a daddy's girl, this was a big deal). Having all our friends and family from around the world together in one place to celebrate our love. Seeing our entire group of guests from the youngest being 3 years old and the oldest being 79 years old all out on the dance floor partying with us.
From beginning to end, this is a day I will never ever forget!
My husband being the incredible man he is wanted to make sure our honeymoon was in a place that was at the top of my bucket list. Knowing my love for the sea and all things beachy we journeyed for 16 hours by plane to get to my dream destination. Bali and the Gili Islands. Exploring and trying new things in this beautiful place with the one I love was an absolute dream come true.
My wedding look encompassed everything that I am as a person.
I wanted to be completely "me" on my wedding day which might sound strange to some because it's my only BIG DAY, but I really wanted everything about my look to represent who I am. Natural and simplistic.
I left my big crazy curly hair completely natural and free. My make-up was natural looking and done by my special friend Toyah Bush from Forever Flawless Make-up. My dress was a two piece, which had a long sleeve lace top and a high waisted long flowy skirt. It was designed by me and made by a life long family friend, Loredana Amorim. Flower embroidered heels that represented my love for nature and a pair of pretty leafy earrings to match the pattern of the lace on my top.
We both knew we wanted a ceremony based on love rather than traditions, so when we started our journey of looking for the perfect venue we knew exactly what we were looking for.. a romantic outdoor setting. After looking at 3 different venues, we knew we hadn't yet found the one. The perfect venue needed to be one that took both our breaths away. As the saying goes, third times a charm but in our case the fourth time was a charm when we stumbled upon Bellwood. This was the venue that took both our breaths away. Walking through that forest, we both looked at each other and knew that this was the one.. Offering not only a forest setting but also the option of a chapel in case of poor weather. It seemed too good to be true, but they had even more to offer.. Included in our package were cottages for our family and friends which was perfect in having a weekend long wedding celebration with the people we love the most.
The decor and flowers for our wedding were pretty and simplistic. We used a lot of different sized candles from Ultimate Candles, a ton of penny gum and a few bunches of baby's breath from Fresh Flowers International. Our ceremony area was full of majestic pine trees and didn't need much "doing up", but my amazing bridesmaids beautifully drapped tulle and penny gum on the arch in forest to add a hint of decor. For our reception area we used the tables supplied by Bellwood and hired white Tiffany chairs from CHC. All our other decor items like our table seating plan, table numbers, and donut stand were made by my precious dad. He can literally make anything! #daddysgirl
My handsome groom wore a navy suit which he bought from Woolies. He paired this with a pair of suspenders from YDE, funky socks from Tread & Millar and a beautiful floral tie from His Apparel. His groomsmen wore the same outfit except for the suit jacket.
My bridesmaids wore different shades of blue, infinity dresses that were made by Lavender Moments. They were all styled the same way except for the MOH who styled her dress differently. I got the inspo of having different shades of blue from the good old Pinterest.
When deciding on someone to marry us, the decision was easy. Our pastor and mentor, Tim Kidgell from Olive Tree Church. Because marriage is about love and relationship it was important to us that the person who was marrying us had a direct impact in both our lives.
Our special day was captured by Jessica Moya Macleod (photographer) and Shannon Botha from His & Hers (Videographer). Both of whom are friends of ours from Olive Tree Church, so it made it that much more special having them share in the (behind the scenes) moments with us.
Nope. Working within a budget this was not something we could afford but fortunately between both our families we have lots of talented hands that all got together to make our day as special and beautiful as it was.
Our food was prepared by CHC Catering.. DELICIOUS!! They customized a menu to our preferences and accommodated us to ensure we got what we wanted on our day and our INCREDIBLE cake was made by Candy from She Bakes. (Our friends and family are still talking about how good the food and cake was).
Being a creative person I decided to do all our wedding stationery myself which was not only a cost saver for us, but it also meant that I got to be physically involved in creating something special for our big day.
Matt Barnard from Southern Lights & Events was an absolute gem. He supplied us with a cordless mic and speaker for our forest ceremony and entertained our guests during the canapes as well as throughout the entire night while we partied the night away. He provided all our music, lighting and smoke machines.
