After getting engaged in Belagio, Lake Como, Itlay. Our hearts were set on getting married in Venice a year later.
Then Covid happened and our Venice wedding dream became impossible.
We looked at local alternatives for a small intimate wedding, but this came with many challenges. We were losing all hope on finding a dream solution. Added to this, we had to postpone our wedding for 18 months due to covid and all the restrictions related. Finally we were happy to come up with an alternative to a traditional winelands wedding. With no-one being able to travel, we decided on a weekend getaway with family and friends to Plett would create the best way to celebrate our special day, and spend some much needed time with friends.
By having a weekend getaway, this allowed us to spend more quality time with each of the 15 couples that made the trip to Plett. Our small intimate venue that we had exclusive use of, Sky Villa Hotel, provided the flexibility we wanted so that we could make use of different areas the hotel has for the different requirements of our wedding celebration.
It all kicked off with a casual Friday night Gin & Tonic gathering when all arrived. Saturday morning started with a Champagne breakfast to kick off the festivities. The breakfast area has a fantastic view out over the Plett lagoon, and this made for a relaxed chilled vibe. A cold front weather snap made us change plans from the hotel's roof top venue, to taking it inside so all guests could stay warm. Rather than a traditional approach, we kept it light and easy to manage by taking a deconstructed approach to the catering. We did cheese and cold meat platters for guests while they waited for bridal party to arrive at the pool side. Making use of the Hotel's main entrance area, we did our formalities of exchanging our vows and a few short speeches there. We then took things into the lounge and bar area, and instead of a sit down dinner we served platters of selected cocktail bites catered by the hotel. This allowed for the relaxed interaction of all guests, and being able to go to the bar without separating the intimacy of all at the celebration.
No party is complete without a DJ. For this we made use of the hotel's local DJ and turned an outside undercover area into our dance floor, allowing all in the bar area to be included with antics on the dance floor. Back in the lounge area a desert table along with Nespresso machine for self service coffee helped keep guests sugar and caffeine levels up and the party going until way into the night.
With all guests staying over at the hotel, nothing better than all having a hangover Sunday breakfast together the next day to round off what was a fantastic celebration weekend before guests headed back home.
Looking back there are no stand out highlights and memorable moments of the day, as everything of the day from having breakfast, to getting ready, having my make-up done and having to spend it with the people we love, every little moment of the day was a highlight and will always be memorable.
Having had to keep everything local due to Covid travel restrictions, we were happy to support local and went to 57 Waterberg Game Lodge for a nice bush breakaway.
As every girl, we always dream about our wedding day and dress since we are small.
I sometimes have a distinct taste, but also know what I want. I googled some dresses, but it did not take me long for find THE DRESS I will wear on my wedding day.
Unfortunately I could not fly over to America to buy it, but had to turn to a brilliant designer to make me my Vera Wang replica and boy-oh-boy, my socks were blown off when I saw the final result. I looked like the fairytale princess I always dreamt of in my off-white champagne colour dress.
I'm not a big jewelry person, so just to round off my dress I wore small ball earrings, but nothing around my neck, as the focus had to be on my dress and I did not wat to spoil it in any way.
Hair, we decided to just tie it tight in a high pony and make-up we wanted to keep a natural as possible.
I did however had my nails done and lashes by the fabulous crew at The Beauty Spot in Cape Town
http://bspot.co.za/
Dress made by : Eugene Vogel - https://www.eugenecouture.co.za/
Jewelry : Lovisa : https://www.lovisajewellery.co.za/
Shoes: Sexy with Attitude : https://www.yde.co.za/designers/shoes/sexy-with-attitude
Sky Villa Hotel in Plettenberg Bay. We had a weekend Celebration and booked out the whole hotel, so all guests stayed over at the hotel.
https://capesummervillas.co.za/
Perched on a hilltop overlooking Plettenberg Bay, Raw Africa Boutique Collection's 5-star Sky Villa Boutique Hotel - a world-leading luxury destination
I do like to train, so I just kept on doing what I normally do, go to gym at 5am and stick to a healthy eating plan.
We did however do the teeth whitening thing, it was always a want to do, so why not before our big day.
I had my nails and lashes done just to round off my look.
As we had a nice intimate celebration at a Boutique Hotel, we did not need to really have décor, as the areas of the hotel we used just perfectly fitted in. We had a few bouquets of flowers, but we were really lucky in having it all with what the hotel had to offer.
The Groom did not want the traditional suit look and went more for a smart casual look with khaki skinny pants, blue checked shirt and white smart dress sneakers, as did the groomsmen and this was also the dress code set out for the men. Only smart dress sneakers were allowed for the men.
Groom and groomsmen's outfits were put together from Kingsley Heath, Zara and tailors for their waistcoats.
With all things non-traditional our wedding spoke of, my Bridal party consisted of one and my "maid" of Honor, was my best male friend from school.
He followed the look of the groom and groomsmen, but different color pants to match my band on my dress, but white tight shirt and white smart dress sneakers.
Our marriage officer was Robert Steiner
We actually had our pictures taken on the Thursday before our celebration, so that we did not cut into the valuable time we had to spend with our guests.
8/5 Photography took the most amazing pictures and then we also had a friend taking some pictures during the night.
www.eightfive.co.za
We did not, we planned and arranged everything ourselves
Hahaha, we arrived in the Sky Villa Hotel's Landrover Monster Truck
We severed canopés, which were all prepared by the hotel's cheff.
Our cake and dessert table treats were prepared by Claire's Cakes
Then of course, our MCC was the fabulous Miss Molly from Moreson Wine Farm in Franschoek, they went the extra mile to have it all delivered 3 months prior to ensure no lockdown restriction will leave us thirsty :-)
https://www.moreson.co.za/
I like to be creative at times, so did it all myself
We did not take any dance lessons, but our dancefloor was never empty.
We had a local DJ (DJ Ollie) that kept everyone jiggling the whole night and the sound and lighting was all provided by the hotel.
Perched on a hilltop overlooking Plettenberg Bay, Raw Africa Boutique Collection's 5-star Sky Villa Boutique Hotel - a world-leading luxury destination
