My husband and I both married when we were in our 40's. Our first marriage for both of us! So it was a long awaited occasion not just for us, but also for our friends and family.
The morning started with heavy showers(apparently a blessing) and we both were slightly worried, because our plan was to have the ceremony outdoors and the reception under a Bedouin tent. If it didn't clear up, plan B would have been to have the ceremony on the dance floor inside the tent. However, 10 minutes before I walked down the isle it cleared up and guests all grabbed a chair from the reception area and seated themselves outside. It ended up being perfect weather!
We got married in the estate we live in and literally walked from our home, down the road to the venue where we exchanged our vows and had the reception.
One of my highlights was being able to be walked down the isle by my 78 year old father and the proud look on my mom's face to see her last daughter FINALLY getting married to an amazing man.
We were surrounded by all our close friends and family and the love and happiness we felt was overwhelming. It was truly a love festival!
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My dress was designed and made by Didi Couture and her fairies. She also made my oldest sister's wedding dress 26 years ago, as well as a few of my close friend's dresses. It was a fitted with a flare, blush full French corded lace gown with imported illusion bodice and hand embroided with lace and beading. I wanted a boho chic dress to fit in with our market themed wedding style. My jewelry and shoes was my "something borrowed". I wore one of my bridesmaids jewelry(earrings and hair piece) and Zellie vintage shoes that she wore on her wedding day. My garter was my middle sister's that she wore on her wedding day 22 years ago. So I guess that was my "something old".
My makeup and hair was done by Nelmarie Basson from Aesthetics by Nelmarie and I couldn't have asked for a better person. It was done elegantly natural with lots of focus on my eyes. She knew exactly what features she had to accentuate. My hair was swept up into a loose, wavy bun and later the evening I could take out a few pins to let my hair down for a more relaxed look.
We got married at the clubhouse of Croydon Vineyard Estate in Somerset West, Western Cape. We actually live in the estate and it was so convenient to have the venue just down the road from our home. Guests were able to rent homes on Air Bnb inside the estate and some could Uber from nearby guesthouses and hotels, such as the Lord Charles and Spier hotel.
My husband have always loved the outdoors, so we would regularly go on hikes or a run on the beach. Together with that we both enjoyed doing some weight training. We both also followed a Keto diet to drop a few pounds and drank lots and lots of H20.
My beauty routine continued with daily cleansing, a good Vit C serum, retinol, moisturizer and SPF cream. Leading up to the wedding, I did 4 dermapen sessions to ensure good skin rejuvenation and two days before the big day I had a light chemical peel and moisturizing facial.
When we started planing our wedding we did not want to have the reception in a hall, but rather open air or under a Bedouin tent to create a more relaxed, festive and atmosphere for guests to roam freely and still feel part of the celebrations. We wanted to create a market vibe!
Croydon Estate's big lawn was perfect for that and we rented a large Bedouin tent from Touareg tents that basically covered the entire lawn to seat 150 guests. We didn't want planned table setting and opted for long rustic wooden tables and hay bales with the white and gold checkered dance floor in the centre of the tent. 4 Every Event provided us with the additional furniture hire and string lights inside the tent.
Our budget was fairly tight and I decided to do the flowers myself with a few of my friends, but a week before the wedding my brother's date for the wedding offered to help. She was a Godsent! An array of fynbos, proteas, roses, Amaranthus tails, seaholly and Celosias was used to create amazing arrangements.
I was in the hospitality industry for a couple of years and did the planning and coordination myself.
