Our wedding day was nothing close to ordinary. When we first got engaged on the 6th of March 2021, we were in our love bubble. Things like lockdown and covid regulations didn't even feature in our wedding planning.
Long story short, two week before our wedding day, President Cyril Ramaposa announced Total lockdown, no gatherings and curfew af 9. Just there was were my dreams (since I've been a young girl) of being a beautiful bride, surrounded by my loved ones, celebrating till dawn, crushed.
We were devastated and heartbroken.
This was just the beginning of something beautiful and more special that we could ever have imagined.
Luckily because of good friends, beloved family members and God. The picture became more clear. We don't need a big party, a late night or the ordinary type of wedding experiences. All we needed was close friends, a tree and a garden on the family farm. This turned into the mos wonderful and memorable day of our lives.
We had the opportunity to experience all of the traditional wedding activities in a not so traditional way.
The guests had the opportunity to all sit around the warm evening fire, exchange stories, make memories and were part of our perfect, small, intimate, wonderful wedding. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't change one thing.
This was the most special and not so ordinary wedding day of my life.
Yes, we were very blessed to go on honeymoon.
This was the most fun and best holiday ever. I don't think we will ever have a holiday better that this one.
We went to Maldives. The Islands name is Adaraan Select Hudhuran Fushi. If you are looking for extraordinary food, wonderful people and a real Islands experience. This is the place to go.
warning, once you're there, you'll struggle to find the will to come back.
My look was very vintage and timeless.
My hair was worn up, with a low bun hanging in my neck. This was decided because of my dress neckline. Thanks to @Salon Ini'Hartjie, @Rianka the owner who made my look more special.
My make-up was done as natural as possible, I asked for my freckles not to be covered, and she didn't just meet my expectations she exceeded them.
Thanks to @ShirleyKeyserArtistry for creating a masterpiece.
My wonderful dream dress, at one moment I got sad because I had to take my wedding dress off otherwise I'd ruin it for the wedding. I am totally inlove with my @Vonvebridalcouture dress. Her name is Nyla and I couldn't picture myself in a different dress.
I wanted to be as comfortable as possible throughout the evening and decided to wear @Zellies as my wedding shoe.
My dress had a built in bra, that wasn't necessary to wear with the dress. I wore a Victoria Secret undergarment, which helped with the, no pantyline situation.
@Egte Perels/Real Pearls provided me with the most perfect Pearl earnings, necklace and bracelet. Providing me with the final touches for a vintage/Timeless wedding look.
Becaue of our very strange circumstances and extraordinary wedding planning, we got married on the family farm, in the garden under the tree. It was winter time, so imagine the commotion the week before the wedding, fresh flowers and new white rock were placed, all to make the old tree in the middle of the garden more beautiful for the wedding. The farm is Vadersgift in the Free State just outside Petrus Steyn.
Some of our guests did stay the night, but that's just because they are family and/or live there.
I am a teacher, juggling beauty trips and work was quite a challenge. I used a facial mask once just before the wedding. I extra hydrated my skin with Cetaphil Hydrating cream and used Pearl drops to slightly whiten my teeth for the wedding. All of these products can be purchased at Clicks.
For my weight I used SAiCs natural drops "The Solution for 8 weeks" I have started with the drops before we got engaged and stopped when we came back from honeymoon. I lost 10kg up until now (with cheating of course)
It is obviously healthy to go for a walk or a jog. I did that every other day, but this wasn't just for the wedding, it was te stay healthy aswell.
Our decor was vintage and Rustic mix, with a little bit of farm style.
my colour scheme was dark blue, green, brown, maroon and silwer.
Because of our extraordinary situation we used my mother-in-laws house for the venue.
Months before the wedding they rebuild their home to an open plan home. (kind of perfect if you think about it). Eventually we rearranged everything in het house. We used the dining room and TV room for our dance floor and table seatings. outside we used fairly lights and connected them to the trees outside, this created a beautiful fairy light and starlight effect.
Just outside the porch was the beautiful big wedding tree. We draped the tree with linen and hung lanterns with flowers in them, to create the rustic look I've been planning for. We also created a podium for the reverent to stand on with pallets. Flowing from the podium were seats made of hay bales and a hey bale wall built next to it to create a church like atmosphere.
I used Papmasgrass, eucalyptus and spider mum (maroon and white) in glass silinders to create a beautiful aisle.
all over the wedding we only used eucalyptus (which we received from a friend who has a tree)
Proteas and spider mums, which @martiesblomme provided for us.
Papmasgrass which we got from our farm as well as neighboring farms.
We eventually used all our things to fill up the spaces and used @hernelwedding&partyhire to help us with the tables, chairs, linen for the tree, lanterns, fairy lights, cutlery, glass silinders for aisle and decor for sweets table and guests table
The groom wore a royal blue Woolrich suit, white Polo collar shirt, with a light brown Pringle belt and light brown Sledgers shoes, all were bought @Sedgars.
All groomsmen and groom wore a light brown leather tie made by @ox&leather
Groomsmen bought their also royal blue Chinos at Woolworths, with a white shirt of their choice and brown leather shoes of their choice.
My bridesmaids wore a maron dress, long sleeves and skirt popping out in the middle, creating a beautiful wave.
All made specifically for them by @choosejoy.
Diamond earrings bought @lovisa and their own Redemption or Blue Betty
leather shoes.
Gerrit Strydom
We used @embracefotografie. Janke is a star, she was willing to help us within a weeks notice.
She captured everything I wanted to be captured. She had very creative ideas and were open for ideas from our side. She was there for every moment and captured the special moment for us to keep forever. She is willing to walk the extra mile. She always made us feel comfortable and beautiful.
We also had a post wedding photoshoot and asked @palmphotography to capture a more relaxing shoot and environment. He did his word so well, I always knew what to do when, I also sheared some of my insecurities with him and he was very considered about that, providing me with poses were I feel comfortable and beautiful. He provides that extra special attention and gets excited with us about our ideas and photos. Definitely a must have for a wedding photographer.
I had no planner, only helpers like my mother, mother-in-law, bridesmaids and Liezl from @hernelwedding&partyhire.
My grandfather owned an old 1975 Mercedes Benz, a light blue colour.
I used the Mercedes, which my father drove, for my transport to the wedding and back to where we slept that evening.
Our food was prepared by @EsmeWales who as a small catering business in town. The food was delicious, I couldn't stop eathing, it was better than a cooked meal from your mom (sorry mom ;) )
Our wedding cake was made by my mother @SonjaSmith. A very special moment and cake indeed
We had nothing printed, because of our situation.
We only had a welcome canvas created and painted by a very good friend @MariskaBester. This canvas hangs in our house amongst the pictures as a reminder.
We did not go for dancing lessons, we believe that there is beauty in an unplanned moment. The candles, and fairy lights created a very romantic and warm atmosphere.
Unfortunately our covid wedding could not allow people coming and going from town and back.
We created our own music Playlist and opend the Playlist to our guest in order to keep them happy and to motivate the dancing.
