We had the most incredible day, surrounded by all of our favorite things! We had an outdoor ceremony in the Durban Botanical Gardens where we had Riccardo’s (the man of the moment) grandmother playing piano alongside a cellist while I walked down the ilse. During the hymns we had a flash mob of Durban singers join in while Ric and I lead the hymns. We were then all transported by the Durban rickshaws to one of our favorite coffee spots, The Coffee Tree, which was a few hundred meters down the road. There we had a halfway stop and refresher with the talented Zayne Holl creating the beautiful music and Durban’s most hospitable human, Judd Campbell welcoming every person with a delicious Cappuccino! Everyone then hopped back on the Rickshaws and made their way on to The Market(which is one of Durban’s finedinning open air courtyard restaurants) where we were met with great live music, food, family, fairy lights and wine! The outdoor ambiance was electric...! To top off the night we had my band play while the dance floor was a flurry of energy and excitement! All of my favorite Durban singers hopped on and off the mic providing a number of ‘face-melting’ tracks that made the night end with a bang!
We heading across to Vietnam where we spent a couple days in Hanoi, then up to the breathtaking mountains of Sapa where we hiked through the rice paddies. We then went to the most beautiful world Hertitage site for a couple days on the most incredible 5star cruise in Halong bay. We then flew down to Hoi An, which is the ancient city of lanterns and spent sometime soaking up the sun on the beach during the day and taking in the mysteries of the lanterns and lights in the evening! We then hopped across to South Korea for a couple of nights to visit my sister and her husband who live in Soeul and lastly, headed onto Japan which is where Riccardo is stationed part time for a a few months.
I went for the simple-natural-beauty look. No body wants to be unrecognizable on their wedding day! I chose one of Durban’s favorite hair and makeup artists, Lindsay Nixon who in just INCREDIBLE! She swooped up my hair, contoured and painted my face and made me look and feel all kinds of magic! My dress was made and designed by the one and only a Terrance Bray. I met with him, I described what I wanted, he drew a great picture and then threw the most gorgeous gown together in a matter of weeks! He even made a little sassy jacket to go with incase the winter encroached on us! Every show girl loves a little sparkle, so I found the cutest sparkle takkies at ‘Some call it Spring’ to wear under my dress! I cannot cope if my feet get sore, so these were the best things I could have worn to make sure I had a great day!
We had a little bit of a roaming wedding! We started at Durban Botanical Gardens for the ceremony, had our halfway coffee stop at The Coffee Tree and then ended off the day at The Market.
I didn’t follow any particular regime! It was a little bit of a crazy period before the wedding as I was busy trying to finish off my new album
Lighting is everything! Being an outdoor wedding, fairy lights were a necessity and created the ambience that I was looking for. The main flower used was the protea, I had glass jars of proteas on the tables along with glass jars of tea light candles, there were floating candles in the fountain and an indoor wooden stage for the band and dance floor.
The groom wore a navy suite which he bought in london, he had it tailored to fit him perfectly by Terrance Bray. The groomsmen wore stone chinos, navy bow ties and navy braces.
My bridesmaids wore navy lace, long sleeve, knee high dresses. For shoes, they wore cute lace white tommy takkies.
My dad was the legal marriage officer and Ryan Matthews officiated the ceremony, preached and went through our vows with us.
A great friend of mine, Elsie Baker, who I have done numerous photo shoots with over the years and she has been instrumental in helping me profile my band and myself as an artist. It was so special to have her photographing the whole day. Paige Baites who is an incredible artist, took footage and edited the video so beautifully!
We used the Durban Rickshaws to transport us and the guests between the different venues.
The Market Restaurant prepared all of our food. Let me tell you, it was The most delicious food in all the land! Lisa van Niekerk from Lola’s, made our scrumptious carrot cake.
We had very casual dance lessons with friend of ours, Candice and Nathan. They helped us loosen up and learn a couple keys moves to make our first dance feel and flow! We had a live band. Being a musician, I called favors left, right and centre..! My band played and all of my singer friends hopped on and off the mic creating an election dance floor!
