There wasn't one thing in particular that stood out above anything else on our big day, absolutely everything went according to plan and was exactly as I had envisioned it! It was just such a beautiful day, from start to finish! From the day we set our date, I had said that we are going to have the most amazing weather, and sure as nuts, it was a warm 28 degrees, beautiful sunshine and not a breath of wind! I could not have asked for better! It was just the most amazing day for a wedding!!
No, we haven't been on honeymoon yet. We are looking at going to Indonesia in a couple of months' time.
I was going for an elegant, classy chic look, if I could describe it like that. My dress was a Helen Fontein, purchased from Chiqwawa Bridal in Pretoria, fit to flare style with gorgeous lace detail. I had soft toulle off the shoulder sleeves added which I thought finished it off beautifully. My hair and makeup was done by Rika van der Veen, I had a lovely upstyle with soft curls around my face and makeup was less natural and a little darker, incorporating a dusty rose/mauve on the eyes. My shoes were super comfy, got them from YDE and my earrings were silver danglies from Lovisa.
We got married on Hilton Farm, 18km outside of Grahamstown. It has a gorgeous old stone chapel, from the 1820 Settlers days, where we had our ceremony, followed by our reception at The Shearing Shed, also on the farm. The shed was a completely blank canvas which we could transform into whatever we wanted it to look like, which is exactly what we did!
I invested in a decent cleansing device (which was actually voted the number 1 cleansing device in the world in 2018) with an activated cleanser which I used twice a day. Definitely gave me glowing skin ready for my big day! The same company produces a whitening toothpaste, which I also used twice a day which helped lift coffee and red wine stains, it was amazing!! And much cheaper than teeth whitening procedures at the dentist!! We also invested in using incredible multivitamin supplements which we also took twice a day.
The venue was a completely blank canvas, a shed on normal days, with lovely exposed wooden beams and extremely rustic! Exactly what I wanted when I started planning our wedding. We hired in the services of Dynamic Events who did the whole set up for us from tables, chairs, draping - the lot! The outside area, which was set up for the cocktail hour, was decorated with covered hay bales to create seating, crate loveseats, wooden benches and wooden cocktail tables scattered around. We had a harvest table area, a gin bar as well as an old wooden tractor trailer which we used as the beer and cider station. Inside the venue our draping was every second truss and had an ocean effect. It wasn't the traditional white colour, it was a light dusty colour which went perfectly with the venue. We had 3 rows of long exposed wooden tables with a burlap table runner down the middle, main table was also exposed wooden table. Chairs were gorgeous wooden crossback chairs. On the tables we had lovely wooden lanterns with copper string lighting inside of the lantern. Along with the lanterns, we had eucalyptus branches and proteas running down the middle of the tables. I didn't want big elaborate flower arrangements, but rather something simple and rustic, which is exactly what it was. Above the main table we had a wooden light box with carbon filament light bulbs hanging down and along each row of the guest tables also had carbon filament light bulbs. The dance floor had some fairy lights as well as a few disco lights. My bridesmaids had hoops instead of bouquets, which had some small dusty pink roses, sea holly, eucalyptus, bruno balls and limonium. I had a bouquet which consisted of these elements as well as a gorgeous king protea, it was absolutely stunning!!
The groom wore a navy David Jones suit, white shirt, navy tie and tan shoes. Groomsmen wore the same except no suit jacket. All items were purchased from Woolworths. Each of them had a superhero sock as a bit of fun and I got these from Everything and Wedding
My bridesmaids wore a 2 piece lace top and skirt. The lace top was ivory and they wore a cami top underneath and their skirts were a dusty rose colour, beautifully soft and flowy with 2 layers of soft toulle. I got the inspiration for their dresses off of Pinterest and were made by Ella V.
Our Pastor and marriage officer was David Stansbury. He was very relaxed and delivered a lovely message on our special day!
Hannah Minkley captured our special day. She has shot 2 of my bridesmaids weddings and is due to shoot another one in September this year. Hannah was always there in the background clicking away, you hardly knew she was there! Her direction was brilliant, she made us feel comfortable and we cannot wait for some sneak peaks of what she has captured! She's extremely friendly and super chilled! Loved working with her.
Studio Cibo catered our wedding. The food was out of this world!! We had a harvest table during the cocktail hour which served as a 'starter'. This consisted of trail mix, popcorn, crostini station, housecured Charcuteries, pickles & jams, cheeses, paté's and butter, mushroom and butternut soup. Our main course consisted of lamb loin lollipop with herb, black pepper and parmesan crust, asian marinated Frenchcut chicken drumsticks, basil pesto & cherry tomato penne pasta, fondant potatoes, cucumber & corn salad with a paprika & yoghurt dressing. She also made donuts for our donut board and this was served with the wedding cake.
The wedding cake was to die for! It was a 2 tier semi-naked cake, the bottom layer was made of 3 layers of carrot cake and the top tier was 3 layers of smaller chocolate cake. Absolutely divine!!!
We had a DJ at our reception, he was arranged through Dynamic Events, who also did the sound and lighting set up.
We went for private dance lessons with Francois van Eck. He was phenomenal in choreographing our wedding dance for us. I often had a grumpy fiancé before the lesson and had to drag him there, but we had so much fun during the lesson that it was all laughs and smiles at the end of it! We went for lessons for about 8 months prior to the wedding.
