Our wedding took place in the Tsitsikamma forest amongst the highest of pine trees, right next to the ocean. The most memorable for us was the laughter and chatter of our guests that echoed through the quiet forest. You could smell the pine trees, hear the crackling of footsteps on the pine needles and literally feel tranquility on your skin. It was breathtakingly beautiful and a once-in-a lifetime experience.
Our biggest dream was to have a weekend away with all our most loved friends and family in a gorgeous setting. Our loved ones travelled from Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Cape Town to spend the whole weekend together and we had a ball from Friday through till Sunday. The highlight ofcourse was the wedding in the forest and our amazing reception overlooking green hills and the ocean! Having this experience come true for us will bring us so many joyful memories in years to come.
Hubby spoilt us with one night at a secluded forest resort and spa. We stayed in a glass villa surrounded by nothing but trees! We had a romantic little balcony and a fireplace. The rest of the week we stayed in Knysna Heads and spent a lot of our time pondering over the amazing ocean view from the jacuzzi on our private deck. It was AMAZING and soooo relaxing.
Our theme was "Bling in die Bos" so my shoes had some gold and sparkly in, my earrings and small handbag (to keep accessories) as well. My dress was long-sleeve with the top covered in lace and a flowy skirt to suit the forest backdrop. The look I wanted was 'casual elegance'- nothing too formal. I had to be comfortable in the rugged terrain so nothing was over the top. I also chose to have a simple bouquet, made out of pennygum only, as this has symbolic meaning to me (meaning fulfillment of God's promises).
My dress was made by Julie Wedderburn and my bouquet was done by Mercia Baker.
We got married in the Tsitsikamma Forest and our reception was held at Misty Mountain Reserve. Our guests stayed the whole weekend at Tsitsikamma Lodge and Spa.
Our permit to get married in the forest was done through MTO.
Before COVID I tried to go to the gym every day, but once we got stuck at home I went for a jog every now and then, drank plenty of water and watched what I ate (more or less). I didn't really follow a super strict beauty regime.
We had pennygum , candles and fairylights everywhere. The only flowers we had were on our cake, welcome sign, seating plan (which basically said, sit anywhere) and our arch. We tried to keep everything very simple, yet elegant, since we felt that the natural environment in itself was beautiful enough.
For gifts we gave each couple an umbrella just in case it rained - this also made for a cute photo in the forest and they received this when they checked into the lodge on their arrival. We also made little olive oil bottles that we used as part of our table decor at the reception and stuck personalised thank you stickers on the bottles that we designed ourselves. Or placemats were normal brown carton with the wedding menu printed on.
We rented tiffany chairs and wooden tables from Events and Tents in Plett and the rest of our items such as candles, candle holders & serviettes etc were rented from Flower It - we drove it all the way from Bloem to the Tsitsikamma. We rented fairy lights from a vendor in Cape Town.
Getting married in such a rustic environment definitely presented us with a lot of challenges and transport + suppliers to and in the area was expensive. We did many things ourselves such as stringing our own fairy lights, making our our confetti sachets containing bird seed and asking my dad to make the arch & Heinrich's mom to make us bells for the forest. Trying to keep things elegant, yet simple and finding suppliers to assist was not easy. We came across Mercia from Meraki in the Tsitsikamma very last-minute and she was able to turn our vision into reality by bringing everything together on the day. She also sourced and did our flower arrangements for us.
My son was my hubby's best man- he is 7 years old. They both wore beige chinos and dusty blue-ish jackets. Their clothes were sourced from normal retailers such as Truworths man, H&M etc.
I didn't have any bridesmades. My niece was my little flowergirl and she wore a soft pink dress with lots of lace.
Because we didn't have bridesmaids we asked our guests to wear bling in specific shades of golds, beiges and greens.
We officiated the marriage beforehand and this was done by Petrie Spies.
A friend handled the ceremony in the forest for us.
We had the most amazing photographer- Ewald Stander.
We also placed a polaroid camera at the reception for our guests to use.
Most was done ourselves but we did find Mercia Baker from Meraki one month before the wedding and she assisted us a lot in bringing all the loose ends together!
We didnt use any special transport to the wedding.. I drove to the venue with my parents and the chat-time in the car was super special.
We had a beautiful, simple cake done by Beatrice Theron and a friend drove it through all the way from Bloem to the Tsitiskamma.
The catering for the reception was done by Misty Mountain Reserve and the food was absolutely delicious!
We designed all the stationary ourselves and printed it at a local printer. (Kprint)
To save on cost we didn't send out physical invites for the wedding.. instead we made a video invitation that showcased our journey to find the perfect venue and inviting our guests to spend the weekend with us.
The welcome sign, confetti sachets, guest's gifts on the table, placemats, seating plan and tissue covers for the forest were all designed by ourselves. We also made cute colouring books for the children to keep them busy at the reception.
It all looked beautiful and goes to show that there are ways to save costs on the smaller items.
Our reception took place at Misty Mountain Reserve- it's a beautiful venue situated on a hill and has a breathtaking view over the ocean. The food was exceptional- they served mezze platers for our guests whilst we were taking pictures and the welcome drink was lavender infused champagne. Our main meal was steak with a gorgeous mushroom sauce and delicious veggies. The cake was our dessert, served with coffee and tea.
We used DJ Dayne-Lee for the music in the forest as well as reception.
Our first dance was literally our first dance together... ever! We didn't even take dance lessons.
