We were in the same primary school, he was a year ahead of me, head boy of the school and we started speaking. Me being a young girl, I was so in love with him I even named my favourite teddy bear after him! When he went to high school we stopped speaking for a while until I was about 15. We started seeing each other casually and I distinctively remember saying to two of my friends at that stage, " this is the boy I am going to marry" and of course they laughed it off. When I was 17 years old, him 18, we started dating and that was in 2013, we have now been together for 6 years and he IS, in fact, the man I am going to marry!
My Fiancé had this diary which I was always allowed to use and read, until all of a sudden I wasn't allowed to touch it! We then went away with my family for the Easter Weekend and my dad announced that we had received a "free" game drive for two and suggested my fiancé and I go. On our game drive, there was a random table set out with flowers and champagne and the most beautiful sunset, however, I was told that this was part of the game drive, so still, I was oblivious to what was coming. My Fiancé then said "let's take a video so we can choose a nice photo in the sunset instead of many self-timer photos" and so he successfully recorded the entire thing! After he put the video on he opened the cooler box and took out this diary of his (only then did I realize what's happening) and gave it to me to read, so I opened on the date and it said: "Will you marry me?". After about 40 minutes the game driver went to fetch my parents and we celebrated with champagne in the sunset.
On the morning of our wedding, we prayed for rain because for us rain is significant and it is believed to be good luck. The ceremony and canapés went by without even a drop and then, whilst doing speeches, the heavens opened and we got not only our rain but a whole torrential rainstorm. Many people would freak out about something like this, but for us, it was a blessing.
Originally we were going to go to Bali for our Honeymoon but because of everything that is going on, we decided to road trip our beautiful country instead. We flew to Port Elizabeth (My husband managed to get me checked in, on the plane, and flown all the way there without me having a clue of where we were going) when we landed, we picked up a rental car and drove all the way to the Western Cape, specifically the Craggs area. We stayed in a beautiful forest lodge for a few nights and then we road-tripped back towards Tsitsikamma looking for accommodation as we went along. Our last stop was in Saint Francis Bay, which we found to be the most beautiful place. It was such a great adventure, so different from the normal Honeymoon because we were out and about every day finding cool things to do, or try. Our Honeymoon was so special because none of us had ever been to that side of our country and the road-tripping, without a set plan made it so much more fun and definitely made us grow closer!
My wedding look from day one was going to be a natural, elegant yet sophisticated look. My hair was in a loose bun with baby breath flowers stuck into it, this was done by Celeste Scott who owns her own salon, TINT. My makeup was done by Skulpted by Kai and consisted of a natural look. I am not one to wear a lot of makeup and so I did not want to try and change my appearance on my wedding day, Kaila did an amazing job at doing my makeup in the most natural way possible but still efficient for photographs, etc. My wedding dress was bought from Olivelli Bridal Boutique in Northcliff. The dress I wore was Malia, Blue by Enzoani. I made the decision to buy my dress because it was the dress that I fell most in love with but I did decide to make my own changes to the dress, specifically the back of the dress. My jewelry was my most sentimental part of my outfit, my bracelet was a gift from my groom and new family, they gifted it to me on the morning of the wedding. The anklet I wore was a gift from my two best friends who also gifted it to me on the morning of the wedding. The earrings I wore was a gift from my parents, my mom took a few diamonds out of her first engagement ring as well as a diamond my late grandfather gave my mother for her 18th birthday and we had them set into beautiful drop earrings, done by Pedro Jewellers. Finally, my engagement and wedding band were made privately but designed by my husband. My wedding band is a thin rose gold band with 15 tiny diamonds, the number comes from 1 being my husband's favourite number and 5 being my favourite. The engagement ring has a K coloured diamond which symbolises my name, it also has 7 smaller diamonds which is our lucky number. Lastly, my engagement ring has an intertwined band which symbolises my husband and I coming together. All my jewelry was rose gold as this is my favourite colour.
We got married at a beautiful venue called Black Horse Brewery out in Magaliesburg. Close family and friends stayed on the property or at surrounding guesthouses.
I did not believe in a pre-wedding regime as I believe one should constantly look after themselves, not only when a big event arises. I did do a lot more gyming than I used to, focusing specifically on my back for my open back dress. I went for a few more facials than normal and I had my nails done a while in advance to help them grow so that on my wedding day I could paint my own natural nails, and not have fake ones.
After postponing our wedding in April, we chose to go simple and not create waste when it came to decor. Our venue lent itself to this idea as it is beautifully decorated in greenery and flowers already. All we did was have simple greenery, candles, and fairy lights on our tables and the bridal table just had a few white flowers in between.
The groomsmen got their suits from the Designer Warehouse in Wynberg, Johannesburg. Their suits were a simple beige colour. The groom designed his suit himself, he and I went to buy the material, leather, and buttons ourselves and took it to a tailor in Cradlestone Mall. The groom's suit was also a beige colour with leather lapels. On the inside of the suit jacket we had our original wedding date embroidered.
The bridesmaids wore a beige colour wrap dress, this was to ensure that each girl was comfortable in what they wear and it allowed them to still have some sort of freedom with regards to how they wore it. The dresses were made by iCandee.
