My father came to fetch me from my room, and first sight, both of us had tears in our eyes. We started off, my nervous dad walking me down the aisle whilst my husband’s brother played on the piano. The best memory for me, was his face, the first time he saw me... I still get butterflies just remembering that! The pastor did the old Scottish hand binding ceremony, and of course we had a piper playing the bagpipes walking out. Being such a small, intimate wedding, only 30 guests, we got the chance to talk with everyone! Rowan’s speech had everyone tearing up and laughing at the same time. Our first dance, was nerve wrecking, as neither of us are big on the dancing thing, but the dance lessons paid off! We could not have asked for a better venue, as all of our mixed ideas, Pieter (from Pheasant Hill) turned everything into magical perfection! Fransie Pretorius from Profitea Photography captured every possible magic moment and made our perfect day last forever with amazing photos! We will be forever grateful to each and every service provider, family member and friends that was involved with our wedding! Even after 13 years, we still see stars in every day!
Unfortunately we have not yet been on Honeymoon, as our funds does not allow us for a trip at this stage. So we will be saving some more in order to go on Honeymoon.
Our dream is to go to the Isle Of Man, to go watch the TT Motorcycle race - it is one of the oldest races in the world, and we are trying our damndest to make this dream come true!
My beautiful gown was made and designed by Heinrich Greyling. The soft, flowing fabric was a chiffon material that has purple and gold woven through it, and end product looks almost like a soft dirty pink. The diamanté and gold lace pieces that was added, is a beautiful design that’s slightly more modern and not the traditional flower patterns but rather creating a leafy design. I hunted around for months looking for wedding shoes, until my husband and I went to the mall, and my husband walked into Trueworths & found my perfect shoes! They are dark grey, but had both gold and purple glitter on the many strings and complimented my dress just perfectly! The jewelry I wore, was a birthday gift from my husband about 8years ago, before we even thought about marriage. It is a beautiful set of plain clear diamanté’s in two strands, and the earrings are also strands of diamanté’s. Because we were getting married in August, where the evenings still gets a bit cold, I asked Heinrich if he could come up with some sort of jacket or shall to cover my shoulders. The shall he designed was just perfect! It was short at the front, as to not hide the details on my dress, and long and flowing at the back, made of the same chiffon fabric as my dress, with a wide white satin trim around the edges. For my head, I did not want a veil, so I just opted for fresh flowers in my hair - Blushing Bride + Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila)
Then again, due to our budget, I did my own makeup which turned out quite great for the day!
Rowan found this venue on one of his travels, and we really could not have asked for a better venue!! Pieter Bezuidenhout had quite a job, taking all of our ideas, incorporating both our South African heritage with wild flowers etc, as well as our Scottish heritage with tartan and Thistles flowers into our theme and decor. He managed to out-do himself! The flowers and table decor was woven together with all of our ideas into something that a thousand words could not describe! The wedding cake as well, was a combination of both of our tastes, bound together with MacGregor Tartan, thistles and wild flowers. All of our family stayed the night at the venue, and had our first joined Family breakfast - which was definitely fit for 100 Kings!! We have already started our planning for our first anniversary dinner back at the venue !
Two years ago, both myself and my hubby decided we wanted a better healthier life, so we started exercising and started an eating plan. In the first year I did not do any exercises- just eating according to our plan, and lost 12kg! I then started going to gym with my hubby and also enjoyed cycling on weekends to the local shop and back home. In the last two years, I have lost 26kg’s and my hubby has lost 32kg’s and gained some serious muscles! He looks just yummy! And we both feel glorious, confident and alive! Due to our budget, we just stuck to our normal everyday routines leading up to the wedding. The night before the wedding, I went and stayed at my mom’s. She spoiled me something spectacular with a Devine bubble bath, fresh juice, and a very well night sleep. In the morning she made me the most special breakfast ever that I won’t forget!! I am truly blessed with everyone in my life!!
Both of us, are born and raised in South Africa, but my husband comes from a Scottish heritage. I love the wild flowers we have in SA, so we definitely wanted wildflowers rather than the traditional roses and Lillie’s. We also really wanted to bring in the Scottish aspect with incorporating the Scottish traditional flower, Thistles. We wanted the look and feel to be as though you just went walking in the veld, and came back with arms full of wildflowers. We wanted it to be smart, slightly formal and luxurious with a hint of the freedom one feels when walking in the wild. The venue provided the DJ, sound equipment and lighting. The outdoor chapel, was draped with the softest organza, and the same flowers were used to make it picture perfect!
Heinrich Greyling Couture, also assisted with my husband’s suit, and made the perfect waistcoat from MacGregor Tartan! The suit was dark grey, and just made the MacGregor Tartan “pop” even more. Heinrich then also assisted with all the alterations to the suit for my brother-in-law.
We did not have any groomsmen or bridesmaids. But my sister’s 3 daughters were our flower girls, and her son was our ring bearer! My sister and mom, who was overly excited about the wedding, bought all of their outfits about 5 months in advance... it was brilliant! And of course, they looked just adorable!!
We asked a family friend and pastor, Charley Wenich, to marry us. Unfortunately for him, he had an accident a week before our wedding, where he broke is foot, but he arrived, in style, dressed up in suit, cast and crutches. He also did the traditional Scottish Handbinding ceremony for us. It was all brilliant and fantastic!
Fransie Pretorius from Profitea Photography was just what we needed! She captured all the moments, tears, laughter, craziness and love! Even with our shoestring budgets, she managed to give us our perfect memories capture on film that will last a lifetime!! We wanted a bit of fun, as well as the “professional” look, and she managed to give us even more! Her playing with light and shadows is masterful, and she really exceeded our expectations.
The only planner we could afford, was myself .... but with all honesty, Pieter Bezuidenhout from the venue, did all the planning and arrangements that we needed!! So that made our lives just so much more easier!
Since everything was at one venue, we did not require any additional transport, but there was one very big condition for me!! And that was that my husband’s motorcycle absolutely HAD to be incorporated into our day!! So his absolutely georgeous Triumph Speed Triple was the prize vehicle for the day!!
Again what an awesome venue! Pheasant Hill did all the catering for our wedding! They did canapés and cocktails whilst the guests waited during our photo shoot, we had a 3 course served meal. They also made our utterly georgeous and delicious wedding cake!
I was in charge of the stationary, and we opted to go with technology, and made a small website, with invitations and everything online!
Because we were such a small intimate party, we wanted to have one big long table, where everyone sat around the same table to symbolize our unity as one big family. It meant that each person who was there, we could look in the eye and hopefully share how important they are to us both! The venue provided the DJ for us, and C.J. was just great, especially with our eclectic taste in music! Since both of us aren’t big on the dancing thing, we went for dance lessons at The Beat Dance Studio, and after lots of laughter with some frustration from our instructor Jasmine, we did our dance like pro’s, if I may say so myself. All in all, from the feedback we got from our guests, everyone had tremendous fun and exceeded their expectations!
