It was all memorable!
Due to COVID, we decided to have a small and intimate wedding. 2 witnesses (my parents Neels & Trudi Prinsloo), my bridesmaid (Bianca Niemand) and live streaming (2 friends of ours offered to do this as a wedding gift - From Anja Brits Photography).
We had over 2000 people live stream across the word.
My mom and sisters were there to help me get dressed and keep me calm.
Willem came in, in a Mercedes Benz SLK200 (Rented from Charles van Nuwenhuys)
I cam in on a stunning horse (Rented from Dirk du Toit)
The ceremony was beautiful and exactly what we wanted!
Couple of photos after the ceremony at this gorgeous venue.
Because of curfew, we had a very short space to time to get everything done, but we did it all and left the venue before 8pm to be home on time.
Speeches, Cake Cutting, First Dance, Father Daughter Dance, Bouquet throwing (only my bridesmaid catching it haha) and the garter, we wrong the unmarried guys names on cards and drew one.
We did everything we wanted to and loved every second of it!
Our original plan was planned around Level 2 lockdown. Less than 50 people, social distancing, mask wearing, sanitizing & screening. But with the new restrictions, this couldn't happen, so we just distributed all the gifts we had already done to people that would have been at the wedding afterwards. The gift bag contained the following:
1. A Cupcake
2. A keyring with each person's name (men got blue, woman got purple). Printed this myself on our 3D printer.
3. A serviette ring with each person's name in Gold. Printed this myself on our 3D printer.
4. Bottle of sanitizer with personalised sticker that said "Spread love not germs" with our names and date on the back.
5. A set of bride and groom iced biscuits made by The TLC Cakery.
We decided not to postpone the wedding, but still go ahead. To us, all that was important is that we get married and have pretty photos:-)
It was a day we will NEVER forget and there is nothing we'd change!!!
Not yet, we will go once we feel safer with regards to the COVID numbers.
We plan on going to Plettenberg Bay, accommodation sponsored by some of our friends.
I actually went a lot more traditional than I thought I would.
Dress - Done by Leonie Architto Archityo (Architereira Boutique) - Leonie was absolutely amazing! My mother had a shoulder operation and couldn't go to Leonie's Boutique to fit dresses. Leonie then offered to take dresses to my mother's house 40km away. My sister and I went to choose dresses in the boutique. We ended up with 12 dresses, loaded them in the car and drove to my mother's house. My mother, 2 sisters and my niece was part of this process. As I fitted each dress, some stood out, but none caught my eye quite like the very last dress I put on. It was perfect and everyone agreed!
All I asked Leonie to do, was to add a layer of sequence to the skirt for a bit more shimmer (I had seen it on one of her other dresses) I was so glad I did that! It took the dress from wow to WOOOOOOOOW!!!!! Leonie took my measurements and made the dress to fit me. It fitted perfectly. However, I then lost too much weight and the dress was a bit too big. Because of the lace, I didn't want to alter the dress, so I had to pick up 6kg for it to fit properly again. On the day, the dress fitted perfectly! Funny story, I found a message I had sent Leonie on whatsapp a few months before of a photo she posted on facebook of that specific dress, stating that I love that dress. Fait? I think so:-)
Hair - Done by Janine Kruger (my other niece). We did a trial a few months before the wedding and I absolutely loved what she did with my hair. My something borrowed were clips she wore in hair her on her wedding day. The little flowers she placed strategically in the hair looked awesome!
Makeup - Done by Marisca van Berg - She was recommended by the venue. We did a trial a few months before and I absolutely loved the natural look she did for me! She listened to what I wanted and executed it perfectly.
Shoes - Bought from Ruby van Coller - The shoes were actually dancing shoes that I bought early in 2020, then lockdown happened and I never got to wear them, so I decided they were going to be my signature piece. I am a sucker for purple and these stunning purple shoes were perfect!
Jewellery - Here I went for something I never thought I would. Pearls. I saw this set on bidorbuy and just had to have them. They went perfectly with the dress.
Veil - My veil was an absolute impulse buy. Stunning cathedral veil with lace detail. I saw it online and bought it before even having a dress. It went perfectly with my dress. Leonie put see through studs on my dress to fit the veil to the dress, instead of on my head as it is quite a heavy veil.
Garter - Leonie also made my garters. Yep, I had two. One that we gave away, and also one that we had a ribbon printed with our names and date of the wedding on (we kept this one)
Masks - We had personalised masks made by Liezl Lewis with gold print. One for myself, one for Willem, one for my bridesmaid and one for each of my parents (our witnesses)
We got married at BosBoma in Kameeldrift, Pretoria. They were absolutely amazing! I still have contact with them and we chat often.
Other than having to pick up weight to fit into my dress, nothing else.
BosBoma arranged it all!
At the chapel we had Jip flowers everywhere! It was like a fairytale! It was outdoors and the chapel area itself is made of stone. Stunning!
In the reception hall, we had green leaves, jip flowers and dark coloured proteas on the tables! This was done by Isabel van der Berg, BosBoma's wedding co-ordinator. It was stunning and we loved everything she did!
Marnus van der Berg from Mountain Beats, BosBoma's resident DJ, put up fairy lights. It was amazing!
There were no groomsmen. Willem however wore a Mandorin suit that fitted him perfectly! We bought the suit from China Mall in Centurion.
My bridesmaid (Bianca Niemand) saw these dragon cufflinks at China Mall when she went to go buy a few items for us. She knew he'd love them and bought him a pair. She wasn't wrong... He did love them:-)
Originally I had the idea that my bridesmaid would wear her matric farewell dress to save some money and it would fit in with the theme of the wedding.
When I however had my dress, the two just didn't go together.
We then went to fit dresses at Leonie Architto Archityo (Architereira Boutique) for my bridesmaid together with my dress.
Bianca fitted two dresses, the second dress she fitted, was as if it was made for her. It was however in a wine red. Leonie had the same dress in black. That was it, I was sold on the black dress. Leonie held up blue and purple options to see how that would go, but still the black dress stood out for all of us. It took some convincing with Willem, but after showing him how nice black bridesmaid dresses are, he agreed.
The dress was originally long, but she is in her early 20's and I just felt she'd look better in a short dress. We opted for the shorter dress and now she also has a little black dress in her closet:-)
Our marriage officer was Retha Prinsloo - BosBoma's resident marriage officer. She was awesome! The ceremony was absolutely stunning and she even sent us the ceremony on e-mail so that we can add it to our album. This is very special!
Our photographer was Neelsie Kolbe from Neelsie Fotografie/Photograpy. She's BosBoma's resident photographer. She was amazing! Such a sweet person and captured moments I didn't even know had happened.
Our videographers and livestreaming people were friends of ours that did it for us as a wedding gift. Anja Brits and Nikki Costas from Anja Brits Photography. They are such special people and without them we wouldn't have been able to have so many people join in our ceremony!
Yes, our wedding planner was Isabel van der Berg, BosBoma's resident wedding co-ordinator. It was stunning and we loved everything she did! Her flower arrangements on the tables and at the chapel were spot-on!
She also made my bouquet and my bridesmaid's bouquet. My bridesmaid's bouquet was not a normal bouquet, it was quite unusual and she executed it perfectly!
Willem arrived in a Mercedes Benz SLK - Rented from Charles van Nuwenhuys. Willem is a big Merc fan, so I decided that he also needed a nice entrance! Charles made number plates that said Willem in blue for the entrance.
Then after the ceremony had number plates in gold. Front was Mr. & Mrs. Kruger 16 January 2021 and on the back was Just Married. This looked awesome and was so special and Charles is great!
I arrived on a stunning friesian horse rented from Dirk du Toit. Dirk usually rents out a carriage, but I wanted to be differnt and I absolutely love horses, so to me coming in on a horse was very special!
The combination of the white dress and the black horse was just perfect!
Dirk even put a white cloth on the horse so that my dress wouldn't get dirty! What an awesome guy!
Isabel van der Berg, BosBoma's resident wedding co-ordinator also did the food. It was a harvest table and a delicious spread with juice and pudding!
We had one small cake and 60 cupcakes done my Martie Duminy (a colleague of mine). She also made stunnig proteas to go with the cake.
My dad made us a stunning solid wood cake stand for this.
We decided to still go ahead with the cake and cupcakes even though we couldn't have all the guests and just handed them out afterwards. The cake I took to work and shared with some co-workers after the wedding.
The cake and cupcakes were a big hit and yummeeee!
The cake topper, together with our table numbers, engraving on our champagne glasses and my Bride hanger were all made by Denise Preston from Kreyatif Laser Worx. Loved everything she did for us!
Each guest also received a set of bride and groom iced biscuits made by Sam Vermeulen The TLC Cakery. They were beautifully done and absolutely delicious! They were a big hit with everyone!
We did everyting digitally. I did the design of our invitations and the sanitizer bottles myself. I used a photo of Proteas Willem bought me and incorporated that into the design.
The stickers for the sanitizing bottles, confetti cones and cupcake boxes were printed by Malcolm Kingston from Anglia Signs.
Malcolm also printed out signs decals, but we didn't use them due to time constraints with packing everything up in time for curfew.
Confetti cones, we ordered bio-degradable Eco wooden from www.wedding-favours.co.za.
Confetti cone stands I printed on our 3D printer at home.
We didn't take any lessons. We just did our first dance and a daddy daughter dance only.
Our DJ was Marnus van der Berg from Mountain Beats, BosBoma's resident DJ. He was awesome! Because we didn't have guests and time was little, we didn't have a party, I just gave him a list songs and he went with it from the entrances all the way through to the end. He did everything perfectly!
Marnus also put up the fairy lights and it truly looked like a fairy wonderland!
