My then fiancé always commented on grooms crying when their soon to be wife walk down the aisle. Lo and behold as he saw me, he started tearing up. Knowing this giant, I know get to call my husband has had his breath taken away and flooded with emotions made me very emotional. Trying to keep my tears back I continued walking doe the aisle to "I get to love you - Ruelle".
Our German priest speaking his best English being very concerned no one will understand him because of his German ascent ended up giving one of the most magical ceremonies.
Our main goal was for our guests was to truly have a good time with us. WOW, the number of guests telling us how much fun the wedding was, how beautiful the day has been and convincingly saying it has been the best wedding they have been too, made the 11 months of hard planning so worth it. The amount of joy we had will stay with us for a lifetime.
Everyone always says their wedding was the best, But open heartedly Stephan and I can confidently say WE HAD THE BEST WEDDING!
After the wedding we were on our way on honeymoon to Umhlanga Rocks, KZN for a week. This adventure was filled with adventures and a lot of "chill" time.
When people say "you will know it's your dress when you put it on" was always something I didn't understand, as How would your dress make you feel any different than what it does on the hanger. BUT let me tell you when I put on my dress I felt like an absolute princess and knew this was it! I had a completely different idea of what I thought I wanted to what I actual ended up with. I paired this beautiful dress with elegant white heals for the ceremony and thereafter I swoped to my white sneakers.
Make-up and Hair was done by the fabulous Tammy Scafturis. Wanting a glam but still feeling myself, she truly out did herself.
Our vision for a venue was it had to be modern, elegant and classy yet minimalistic with neutral coloured structures. The Lakeside was exactly what we were looking for. From the breathtaking lake to the incredible glass chapel and extremely sleek reception area. We decided to look no further even though it was only the second venue we had viewed.
Having rooms for our guests within meters from the reception for those who wanted to sleep over.
It ticked all our boxes.
Modern luxury alongside quintessential African vistas creates a unique setting for your bespoke event.
Being a bit of a modernized tomboy, I grew up loving to look after myself. For the wedding I wanted to remain looking and feeling like myself so decided to only do the following in preparations: Eyelash extensions, self-tan, manicure and pedicure.
My beautiful bridesmaid and I went for a spa day at Life Fourways Spa. Both being "tomboy's" this was way out our normal, but we pleasantly enjoyed the experience.
My vision for the decor and flowers was to be minimalistic yet elegant.
Our colour scheme was black and white with a hint of dark green.
The ceremony area we didn't want much decor as I wanted the main attraction to be the glass chapel, therefore we decided on only having the white tiffany chairs and white round arch covered with floral pockets of greenery and white roses.
The Canape area looking over the lake and wild animals eating we had the lounge couches and high white cocktail table. Our guests had the option of gin or beer on tap to enjoy while we took photos.
The marble reception area had long rectangular tables that had green leaves with baby's breath flowers and white roses and combination of long vases with floating candles and long candle sticks down the center. Glass underplates with white plates, white napkins and silver cutlery. We then decided to gift our guests a Lindt chocolate paired with a cherry liqueur - Kleiner Keiler (keeping the German tradition going). Fairy lights on the rafters providing ambiance.
This provided the perfect balance of minimalistic yet elegant.
Modern luxury alongside quintessential African vistas creates a unique setting for your bespoke event.
Sticking to the wedding colours the Groom had a full black suit on with the white formal shirt and a dark green tie, while the Groomsmen had black suit pants with black waist coat, white formal shirt with a dark green tie.
My Bridesmaids had long formal black dresses with pop of green earrings ensuring a reflection of all the wedding colours.
We had "two" ceremonies, one being the religious and the other being Legal.
Our religious ceremony was given by Brother Bendikt from St Bonifatius German Catholic Church while the legal officer was Nadine Botha Esterhuizen.
We first got legally married by Nadine followed by the religious ceremony.
Our religious ceremony was so special and unique. As two families joining, speaking different languages it was important to include all languages and backgrounds. Stephan being German/ English and Jaydene being Dutch/ English and majority of our guests being English we decided to have our German priest speaking English.
Bianca and Michael from Infinite Revere were the absolute best photographer's and videographer we could have ever had. The two of them made the experience fun and effortless.
After a food tasting experience at the venue months before our Wedding Day I had decided on the food and cake for the day. The food was delicious, our guests kept reiterating how amazing the food was.
Modern luxury alongside quintessential African vistas creates a unique setting for your bespoke event.
With our stationery my idea was for it to be as minimalistic as possible with only white, black and a hint of green to be used.
A dear friend of mine so willing to assist me in making my stationery went back and forth deciding on the artwork I wanted to achieve through-out the entire wedding, from menus to thank you cards. With many trail prints we finally had the final look on all the stationery required, we printed it at home and assembled it.
We decided to have a live Saxophonist to entertain our guests. The Saxophonist was Rike from Rike on Sax while sound and lighting was Brent from Sound Hatch Productions. Together they made the magical experience of sound happen for our guests.
Modern luxury alongside quintessential African vistas creates a unique setting for your bespoke event.
