We had originally planned a huge wedding in Tuscany which we had to postpone multiple times due to Covid. My sister took me to la Cotte for a mini bachelorette in January 2021 and I called my fiancé ( at the time) immediately to come out the next day ; we decided then and there to have a smaller version of the wedding in Cape Town.
With only 90 of our closest family and friends we celebrated first in the sunshine, then under the stars on the perfect day.
Highlights would definitely include Ross’s face when I walked down the aisle, getting the spend the day and party the night away with all our loved ones, many of whom we hadn’t seen for a long time, getting married by one of our best friends Mark Jones, our very interesting menu, and how we danced all night!
We first did a western cape honeymoon directly after the wedding - we drove through to montage for a few nights Jonkmanshof, then headed up to Bushmanskloof. To finish we spent a few last days back in Franschhoek, first at La Clé then at Akademie house.
My look was defined by my beautiful bohemian dress which was the first dress I wanted - from Rue de Seine in New Zealand - I tried on lots of dresses in Cape Town, and went to various boutiques in Europe but didn’t find anything I loved. I combined it with natural big curls and a flower headpiece from Kadou florals.
When we decided on the Cape Town wedding I took a gamble and ordered the East gown directly from New Zealand and it was completely perfect - it didn’t need one alteration.
I always and only get my hair done by Savas ( https://instagram.com/savashair?utm_medium=copy_link ) and make up by Tarryn Lee Kelly ( https://instagram.com/tarryn_lee_kelly?utm_medium=copy_link ) and they both outdid the,selves.
My shoes were yves saint laurent but I went barefoot for most of the afternoon.
All my jewellery was special family items.
We got married at La Cotte in Franschhoek and I really can’t recommend it enough. All of our guests could stay on the farm which was a blessing given the uncertainty of Covid, and we used the whole farm.
We started Friday with a girls night in the hotel pool suite - massages and dinner.
Saturday was the big day ; we were married in the lawn in front of the main Manor House, followed by cocktails and canapés on the lawn with music from Caitlin and Vaughn de Ville, then onto a fabulous dinner by slippery spoon under the stars down the long lawn at one table. Our main party was in the Manor House, and we finished with an after party at the villa.
Sunday we had a goodbye pool party at the hotel pool which was a great way to wind down after the weekend
Ross wore a suit from Kale & Co
All my bridesmaids wore BeachCult dresses from my new event collection in colours they chose.
Johnny from Slippery Spoon was the best person we can possibly imagine - we had a wildly creative menu including trout served on smoking Namibian hardwood at the table, and hunting season springbok with 25 year pot still brandy served in a wheel of Parmesan - all to pay homage to our Favorite places and dishes.
