The moment I had my dress on and realized this is it, it was just the most amazing and peaceful moment.
When my dad walked into the room seeing me with all my make-up and the dress was just an unforgettable moment.
As we walked up to the church it was amazing to take in everything that I have always seen as a student and now standing at a new chapter in my life as a married women. As we arrived at the church my 3 year old nephew came running to me and just kept on saying: "wow", it was the sweetest most genuine little face.
I think the outstanding memorable moment was that my grandmother of 98, that is still sound of mind and fit as a fiddle was there to witness her first and only granddaughters wedding.
But of course the best and most memorable moment was to see my soon to be husband with tears in his eyes and having the look of genuine love and peacefulness in his eyes, and at that moment I knew I am with the one my heart loves.
We went to the magical island of Bali. We spend five days at the coast at Nusa Dua where we went on snorkeling trips to Penida island with their warm, bright blue tropical waters. We also did some day trips to some of the local temples such as Uluwatu temple.
After our leisurely coastal days we went on to the forest village of Ubud. We went on different excursions such as trekking the volcanic mountain, Mount Batur for the magical sunrise. We also went to the Gates of Heaven and experienced local markets and cooking classes. Days were ended off by strolling around Ubud town and looking for the next amazing massage parlor and dinner.
Bali is an absolute amazing island with some of the most friendly people I have met in a long time.
I had a very good idea of what I wanted my dress to look like, but was not sure if it would work. It was the first bridal shop that I went to, and found my dress with the third dress that I fitted that day. It was an Enzoani wedding dress called Kaylin. It was a full-length, A-line dress, with lace all over and a deep sweetheart neckline. The color was Ivory with a light blush under tone. I immediately fell in love and new I wanted that one.
Being a winemaker my work environment seldom allows for me to wear heals. So for my wedding day I was looking for a very comfortable shoe that i could wear the whole day without killing my feet. I found a astuunign pair of Espadrille woven wedge heel at Foschini. They were extremely comfortable and fitted with the dress color and also with the whole wedding colors and look.
For my make up I went for a natural look with bronze eye-shadow and a neutral blush color for my lips. My hair was softly pinned up in a low bun with soft curls around my face.
I wore minimal jewelry to maintain the focus on my dress. I did wear beautiful hanging Swarovski earrings and only my engagement ring.
In 2005, a new bridal collection emerged and quickly rose to compete with top brands by merging traditional and modern European styles into exquisitely hand crafted gowns.
We got married in the wine lands in the beautiful town of Stellenbosch. We had our ceremony at the Moederkerk in the middle of town.
We did not have a big wedding and only had a handful of friends and our closest family. Therefor we we had a lovely dinner at Oppie Dorp restaurant in Dorp Street in Stellenbosch.
For the wedding night we stayed in the iconic Coopmanhuijs that was built in the 1713. It is a South African National Monument since 1978. It is a beautiful hotel walking distance from the Moederkerk were we had our ceremony as well as walkin gdistance from Oppie Dorp.
I am a sporty type of person by nature so I did not change to much but just trained a bit harder than usual. I did go for a very relaxing full body massage at Sorbet beauty salon in the week of the wedding. I did not change to any new creams or beauty regimes but just kept to what I have always done. Soap and aqueous cream/
I am a nature lover and love the outdoors with their natural colors and elements. Since it was a small intimate wedding family and friends jumped in to help with the flowers and decor. The flower arrangement for the church was done by Bernie Engelbrecht, who works at Waterford Estate were I am the Assistant Winemaker. The church bouquet was done with Eucalyptus and proteas with some yellow fynbos in between. For the table flowers my dad and Bernie arranged Eucalyptus as a table runner with beautiful red Proteas and blushing brides in between and some fairy lights. I folded some origami swans beforehand and they were also placed in between the flower arrangement.
My hand bouquet was arranged by a long time friend of mine's mother, who also happened to become a friend of my mother when they moved to Hermanus. The hand bouquet was a big King Protea, with soft Geralton white and pink wax and Eucalyptus leaves.
All the furniture, cutlery and crockery was supplied by Oppie Dorp Restaurant and Wine bar. The area that we had to ourselves for the wedding has lovely dark green walls and the table cloths where a light grey. So the earthy Eucalyptus and the dark green walls complemented each other beautifully.
Clinton wore a dark navy blue suite and a crisp white shirt from Woolworths with a handmade brown leather bow tie from a local company called Weef. He is a Marvel movies fan, especially Spider man, so I got him Spider man cuff links.
WEEF is a gentleman’s leather lifestyle brand - all handmade in Cape Town, South Africa and exported to the rest of the world.
We had our local minister from the Moederkerk, Dr. Johan van der Merwe.
We had the lovely Lee from Striped Fox Photography. We met Lee one late afternoon in Paarl over a cup of coffee. She immediately made us feel welcome. She has such a vibrant and lovely personality. She had me very comfortable when I was busy getting ready for the big day. She captured very interesting elements such as a very cute photo of my 3 year old nephew who pulled up his shirt while I pulled up my dress to walk, my dad and Clinton drinking beer at the same time - one of relieve and one of stress maybe? ;)
She also made us very comfortable and let us just be ourselves during our couples shoot after the cermony.
It was an absolute joy to work with Lee, and she has so many different packages, such as an Elopement packages which covers 4 hours up to unlimited hours package.
We did not have a wedding planner, we organised everything and my best friend helped on the day to ensure everyone knows their place.
Coopmanshuijs hotel is walking distance to Moederkerk as well as to Oppie Dorp so we did not have the need to arrange a car to drive around. For our photos we jumped in with the photographer to where we took photos.
Oppie Dorp Restaurant and wine bar made the food. While we took photo;s our guests had drinks and canapes at the wine bar where they had lovely cheese and meat boards and cupcakes. Our menu consisted of starters, Butternut soup or Pork Belly. The mains were lamb with polenta, beef fillet and line fish of the day. The dessert was malva pudding and an amazing red velvet cake.
The red velvet wedding cake was made by Madelein who is my parents neighbor in Hermanus.
I made the invitations myself and Clinton's parents made a fridge magnet with our names and the date of our wedding day on it.
We had a small and very intimate reception in the restaurant. Our family and some friends are scattered all over the world coming from Mauritius and Hong-Kong, so it was important for us that everyone could have a great time together and catch up with one another, especially in today's busy lifestyle that people lead. There were soft back ground music and soft lights.
In 2005, a new bridal collection emerged and quickly rose to compete with top brands by merging traditional and modern European styles into exquisitely hand crafted gowns.
WEEF is a gentleman’s leather lifestyle brand - all handmade in Cape Town, South Africa and exported to the rest of the world.
