Waking up that morning and knowing I'm getting married to my best friend and the man I want to spend the rest of my life with was the biggest highlight. Getting ready with all my bridesmaids got all of us into the mood and then almost being late for my wedding, the man driving the wedding car sped so fast in that little vintage car that all my hair was almost blown out by the time we arrived at the venue! But once I walked down the isle none of those things really mattered. The most special part was his vows to me, he had me in tears for the first time that day. After the ceremony we went to the most magical place for photos where you stand at the top of the cliffs with the ocean in the background. So windy, but 100% worth it.
Yes we did. We had to go back to work to go to a friend's wedding the weekend after ours, but left for honeymoon to the canary islands the day after their wedding. It was magical!
I tried to go for the classic look. Upstyle hair with loose curls. My mom actually did my hair for me and it was great (she's not a hairstylist). For makeup I wanted it quite natural because no one wants to look at your wedding photos and not recognise yourself, so after plenty of YouTube tutorials and a new bunch of makeup I did my makeup myself and helped my bridesmaids with their makeup. My dress: Bride & Co was having a massive sale and this was the first dress I picked when I walked in there (I just can't resist bling). I honestly thought I would end up buying a super lacy dress, but my intuition surprised me and I ended up with this one being my favourite on my body. It is insanely heavy, but you don't even feel it once you have it on (viola chan dress).
Shoes were on sale from shoe city. So comfy that I wore them the whole night! Lingerie were my "something blue". The pearls were my "something borrowed" from my mom and earrings and headband from Lovisa
We couldn't afford to get married anywhere in or close to Cape Town (We live in Cape Town), so we started exploring our options in the Garden Route because I grew up there so some of my family still lives there. Everything was so much more affordable and we went to go look at some venues. As soon as we saw Colnera Estate just outside Herolds bay we fell in love. It was perfect for a classical wedding combined with a bit of outdoors and close enough to the beach if you wanted a beach wedding or photos on the beach. We stopped going to look at other venues and decided this was it. Most of our guests stayed for the long weekend as it was over Easter weekend. Accommodation included Oubaai golf estate, herolds bay resort, colnera chalets and plenty of self catering accommodation close by.
Haha not a lot of people know this, but I was training with my husband triathlon style (We did lots of swimming, spinning and running). I also used Ripped Freak hybrid fat burner capsules every morning, USN protein shake for breakfast and CLA 3000 capsules twice a day. I tried to cut most of my alcohol and anything sugary and tried to eat small snacky meals 6 times a day and green tea with supper. For my beauty regime I tried not to skip washing my face and doing the whole cleanse, toner, vitamin c serum, eye cream and face cream leading up to the wedding. Whenever I would start to see a breakout I would do a face mask and that sorted it out. For my teeth I just used my normal Colgate whitening toothpaste. I also made use of the Nu skin self tan sunright instaglow for my face and upper body. I didn't really have time or more money to be able to go for any spa treatments. But all these things worked really well for me.
For décor I tried to keep it as simple as possible because flowers and florists are extremely expensive. We mostly had painted wine bottles that we had collected on the tables with a few roses and greenery in them as well as some tea light candles. We bought the flowers from Garden Route flowers and my mom did all the floral arrangements, arch flowers, bouquets, boutonnières etc. The tealight candles we bought from PEP home and MRP home and the candle jars mostly from Superfloral in Cape Town. Outside we had Chinese lanterns that we bought from China Town and waterfall fairy lights also from China Town. Most of the draping, chandeliers and decor inside the venue came with the venue.
The groom wore a suit from Edgars as he struggled finding the perfect colour and material elsewhere (it took him even longer to find his perfect suit than it took me to find my dress). The groomsmen wore their own navy suits. Shoes were from David Jones, bowtie from Woolworths, watch from Nixon (A wedding gift from me to him) with our wedding date engraved on the back. Not sure where he bought the cufflinks from, but they all looked so dapper!
My bridesmaids were the most beautiful ladies out there. They looked absolutely stunning in a 2 piece bodysuit and skirt with loose curled hair. The bodysuits were from Pick n Pay clothing and the skirts were made by my mom! Each of them picked their own nude block heel shoe. I am so impressed at how they managed to do their own makeup and hair. They looked beautiful. Earring were gifted to them from me and bought from Lovisa. Most makeup from Urban Decay.
With my dad being a church minister, we had the biggest honour of being wed by him. He walked me down the isle and married us after. It was one of the most special things of our wedding. His name is Gideon Volschenk. Even though he's my dad, we still had to go through all the marriage counselling and talks before the wedding. I think having your dad marry you just assures you a little bit more that they approve of the man you're getting married to.
We had the most amazing photographer and videographer! They made us feel super comfortable and we ended up with the most beautiful photos and video! The lighting was perfect and they made it look even better. Photographer: Peter Chan photography. Videographer: Jaco from JVS film productions
We did make use of a photo booth, but had such a bad experience. Their equipment didn't work when they arrived and they had to wait about an hour for someone to bring new equipment and after the wedding I am still waiting for them to give me the memory stick with all the photos. Most of the photos are super blurry. They really struggle to return my emails and WhatsApp messages. So really bad experience.
I didn't have a planner. I did most of the planning with the help from all my bridesmaids, husband and my mom. All of the family and close friends helped a lot on the day and the owner of the venue helped a lot with on the day coordinating.
The bridal car was from uncle Japie Beyers. A beautiful vintage turquoise-ish Chevrolet (and it's got steam). He rents out the car for special occasions. The bridal party drove in 2 of the wedding guests cars. A Mercedes and Volkswagen Tiguan.
I must say, the nerves and adrenaline are just so much on your wedding day that you don't end up eating much and you just pray that there will be some wedding cake left for you to take home (must be a sign of a really good cake). Our caterers were Chilli and chive catering. We had a buffet of sweet and sour chicken pieces, sirloin in red wine jus, salads and baked potatoes with cheese cake for dessert. The food was to die for! They also did a meat, cheese and pate bread table before and it was insane! Everyone complimented the food. Our wedding cake was a 3 tier cake with a layer of carrot cake (bottom), chocolate cake (middle) and lemon and poppy seed (top). It was a semi-naked cake with drip chocolate icing and fresh roses. The most beautiful cake I've ever seen and it tasted Devine! The cake was made by Sheila Jonck's designer cakes.
I bought really pretty metallic paper from rbe paper and designed and printed all the table numbers and menus at home myself. One of my bridesmaids designed a welcome sign for me that I had enlarged and printed at our local 3@1 printing shop. You can really save a lot of money if you have a decent printer and Google.
The reception was perfect. The DJ was included in the venue package, so we didn't have much of a choice for a DJ. Background music during supper was great, but dancing music was okay. He didn't really play any of the songs we asked for before, luckily we had a party crowd who is easy to please. He also did the sound and lighting which was really good. A nice disco ball with spotlight in the middle of the dance floor. We actually didn't have time to take dance lessons before the wedding, I think we practiced our first dance once, 2 nights before the wedding and then just winged it on the night.
