Our wedding day was absolutely amazing!!! We had a small family (and friends) affair of 80 guests. It was by far the best day of our lives.
The whole day was the most amazing and most memorable but as the bride my first most memorable moment was standing at the door of the most amazing little chapel with my dad, finally realising that this is the moment I am actually getting married and seeing my husband to be standing at the alter waiting in anticipation for his bride... that moment gave me butterflies. Seeing everyone around me who play a part in our lives and who care about us was so special. The look of joy on each of their faces... after all it took us 13 years to get married so I am sure everyone was thinking... Wow finally these two are getting hitched :)... saying those vows to each other is by far the most emotional thing one will go through on your wedding day and is sure to be held close to our hearts.
The night before i slept at the venue with my sister and that was most special as she had gone through a lot of effort t make sure i ate my breakfast the next morning and was a happy bride... along with my three other bridesmaids
Our first dance was definitely a moment never to be forgotten... We danced to Aerosmith "dont wanna miss a thing"... something we worked very hard at and was beautiful when that moment arrived.
We had also changed things up a bit by not throwing the garter or bouquet. We opted to rather give the bouquet to the sweetest little blue-eyed, blonde headed girl (8 years old) at the party, Georgia who couldnt stop showing off her beautiful flowers to everyone as i am one of her favourite people and she felt super special coming from me.
We also decided as we knew that my 22 year old brother would have loved to catch the garter... after a few hints.. that we gave it to him a few days later.
Another memorable moment was a beautiful family affair that took place, my sister, her husband and my dad did a performance of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's "Shallow"... my sister on vocals, her husband on vocals and and my dad playing guitar. To top it off we had some close friends and family sleep the night and have breakfast with us the next morning... as the new "Mr and Mrs Russell" :). That was super special!!!
Yes we did, after all the stress of planning a wedding we took a break and drove off to Club Mykenos in Langebaan, where we spent time lazing around, regaining ourselves again, enjoying the sea view, we spent a day at Kraalbaai lagoon and spent a lot of time drinking champagne in the jacuzzi at the Spa at Mykenos.
We are currently planning a part 2 to our honeymoon as most of our money was pushed into having as little debt as possible after our wedding, hence the not so honeymoonish honeymoon and would love to go to Thailand or Bali for our first year anniversary.
I had a very classic and timeless element to my look for the day. I have a love for the 50's... striking red lip and cat-eye look and i was looking for a typical off shoulder dress. i tried on about 3 dresses at Bride and Co in Canal walk and when i fitted this very classic Oleg Cassini design which sat like a glove... i knew it had to be mine. The dress was made of duchess satin and had a beautiful silk like feeling on my skin... the detail of the pearl like buttoned back blew me away... especially when i coupled it with my super long veil (my inspiration not to make it shorter came from the Duchess of Sussex). i fell in love with the long veil look. As a bride with a large bust line it was also imperative that i find something to complement the "ladies". This dress gave me comfort and support and made my bust look great... it was everything i wanted and more.
My hair was done by the superb Merle Titus as she has a flair when it comes to doing something different. I had an elegant up-do with a be hive element and a pearl hair clip.
My makeup was done by the talented Colleen Van Rensburg. She was able to give me that soft bridal look... a bit of a golden tone on my eyes with an amazing deep red lip... which was by the way KISS PROOF! :)
I had a beautiful pearl bracelet borrowed to me by my husbands aunt. it was the last gift her husband bought her before he sadly passed on. I also wore a stunning pearl necklace gifted to me by my husbands aunt all the way from California. I coupled this with a pair of single pearl earrings and finished my look off with a touch of Hugo Boss "the scent - for her" fragrance.
My shoes were a little less bridal and a bit more of a wear-again shoe from Next Step in Canal Walk. It was a pretty sparkly silver low wedge-heel. which left me totally comfortable but still gorgeous on the day.
Our photography was done by the talented Samantha Hanlon from Sunkissed Studio.
A small guest house in Durbanville called Kolping Guest House where the chapel was on premises making it all very convenient for our guests.
We booked out the whole of the guest house and we had the privilege of having breakfast with our family and friends the next morning.
I treated myself to gel nails and false lashes at Whiplash by Claudia in Goodwood and a spray by Ageless Faces in Claremont.
I pretty much kept weight off by hitting the gym when i had the time, i ate well and made sure i fitted into my dress at least once every 2 weeks, which i purchased almost a year in advance.
We had an elegant, romantic feel to our decor and lighting without the colours we chose overpowering the look we were going for. We used striking shades of purple and turquoise in our decor with subtle lighting by the use of candles and fairy lights. We opted to go for fishbowls with floating candles and flowers instead of using flowers as a whole and tall centre pieces without preventing the guests from being able to communicate to one another comfortably.
The tables and chairs were draped in white cloth and decorated by means of runners on the tables and organza ribbons tied behind the chairs.
The groom wore a grey suite from Bride and co and so did the 3 groomsmen.
The groom wore a striking purple tie whilst the groomsmen wore turquoise.
The bridesmaids wore a wrap dress with a twist, in light variations of purple and turquiose with the wrap being a tulle like material. The dresses were made by a dressmaker, Christine, from Welgelegen.
We had an Anglican Priest officiate our service, although we are not from that denomination it was a family friend who even gave us preparation classes, which is a must for every couple getting married to go through i would say.
Samantha from Sunkissed studio captured our day. The bridal shoot took place in the Majik forest in Durbanille. She used natural sunlight and captured the most beautiful pictures where we were in our natural state and not a sort of posed photoshoot. She captured it giving our photos a romantic, comfortable feel.
We had a blue BMW, surprisingly tying nicely into the colours of the wedding. This was loaned to us by Auric Auto in Claremont.
The food was catered for by the wedding venue and our cake was baked by my cousin Toni Jackson who has previously placed first and second place in the Canal Walk Bridal competition. The cake was amazing... out of this world...
My brother, a qualified Graphic Designer, Daniel Comer did our invites and menus for us.
We had an amazing dj by the name of Patrick, he brought state of the art lighting to the event and the music was top class from 80's till now and the guests had a real good party. We were even suprised by him with firecrackers that went off and looked beautiful, outside of the dance floor whilst we did our first dance to Aerosmith "dont wanna miss a thing".
