Walking down the aisle towards my future husband in the presence of my family and friends to the song 'beautiful in white' by Westlife was the ultimate highlight!! Our family members made such moving speeches and welcomed us each to their family.
Paul and I had the most romantic honeymoon at St Micheal sands. We adventured to a crocodile farm and zip slides. We found the cutest little restaurants and a lovely waffle house, and ofcourse we walked on the beach and had dinner looking at the sunset.
I was so blessed to be able to make my own wedding dress with the gracious help of my aunt and my cousin. The lace material was shipped in along with the beads and hair piece. The rest of the materials I bought at Habby and lace in Vereeniging (I'm like a kid in a candy store when I get there). Two months before the wedding we started to sew. Every day I added beads to the lace for a couture effect. Two weeks before we started putting it together. I even had to make a custom pattern as I couldn't find an existing one that would work. The night before the wedding I made the final touches on the belt and vail. I also did my own make up. My wonderful stepmother treated me to semi-permanent eyelashes and a wedding mani and pedi at her salon. Then an angel flew from heaven to do my hair. After a few failed test runs with local hairdressers my step brother's date, Angela, flew in from George and offered to do my hair for free. It was incredible and I am so humbled at her kindness. My cousin lent me her beautiful jewelry set for the day and my shoes were just plain white pumps (mmm, so comfy...)
Paul chose the location. He wanted a beautiful place that could do everything. Buisfontein Safari Lodge delivered on every expectation. The location was breathtaking and they offered us such a amazing package including the Honeymoon suit for the night and a complementary lion safari drive and an oh so yummy breakfast.
I lost about 5kgs before the wedding with intermittent fasting. My stepmother regularly treated me to beauty treatments and my creative cousins gave me the kitchen tea of my dreams! A spa day!! It was a brunch with champagne and cake too! They dressed me up and invited more than 20 ladies to the kitchen tea. We were all spoilt with massages.
Planning a wedding can be stressful and expensive. Paul decided we choose a venue that would 'do it all'. Busfontein Safari lodge decorated the chapel and reception for the special day. Our colour theme was burgandy, silver and blue. They arranged the tables, flowers, bouquets, shoulder bouquets, food, wedding cake and lighting. The food was incredible and the cake amazing, they even made complimentary desserts for us. Such a nice touch. The cake was redvelvet-cheesecake on the bottom layer, chocolate cake in the middle and lemon curd at the top. We couldn't pick a favourite flavour because they were all so delicious! The only rented item were the serviettes.
Ah, what an amazing group of girls. I can't think of them without getting teary. They all offered to buy their own dresses for the occasion which was so kind of them. My two cousins got their dresses shipped in from switzerland and Paul's cousins bought their dresses from china town in Randfontein. Apparently burgandy red was a difficult colour to find. All five girls looked amazing though!
Pastor George Fourie did the wedding ceremony for us and his message was heartwarming!
A lovely lady by the name Bernelee did the photography on our big day. She was a delight and so much fun to work with. We had a blast in the bridal party pictures! The quality was also fantastic.
We had quite an intimate wedding with only 50 guests so almost all were family members. Both our families are of the 'we all get stuck in and help each other kind'. They all asked to do something and did it with so much love and care. Paul and I planned the wedding and all our family helped to make it a spectacular reality.
Oom Piet offered to drive me to the hall in his beautiful white Mercedes on the wedding day. On the morning of the wedding he had completely forgotten. It was quite funny to get him there in time.
Buisfontein safari lodge
Paul has a very talented cousin who printed our program in a newspaper style. It was incredible!
Paul's other cousin brought her sound system and we had the kids get involved by being DJ. We all had so much fun! Paul and I had secretly practiced dancing while working on our future home. Bear footed on the empty kitchen floor.
