The whole day was exceptional and exceeded even my greatest expectations.
We chose the date, 23 September, as it was our three and a half year dating anniversary, and going forward, to celebrate our anniversary we could always go away for a night as the next day is a public holiday.
A year ago Western Cape experienced flooding on 23 September, so we were praying for good weather and were blessed out of our socks with a beautifully sunny day of 30C!
My bridal party consisted of my mom, sister, daughter and niece - which was extremely special to me and the groom squad was my husband's eldest son and my son. Having family beside us and with us made my heart extremely thankful.
We are both a second time around wedding couple and approached our wedding with the same goal and want - we wanted the people who have been involved in our relationship to celebrate alongside us. We wanted to keep it intimate and personal and really let go of some of the wedding traditions eg tossing the bouquet, and opted for a celebration including good wine and great food and enjoyed a feast together.
I did not want to get married in white, a very personal decision for me, so a champagne coloured, off the shoulder dress made me feel like a queen.
I am extremely blessed to have my dad who walked me down the aisle and to have him and my husband, Clinton, embrace before "giving me away" was one of the greatest feelings in the world.
There are so many moments to share, but some of my favourites:
There are big cellar doors in our wedding venue. We stood on either side, without seeing each other, held hands and my husband prayed for us declaring "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Definitely a tear jerking moment that remains in my heart always.
I was teasing Clinton leading up to our special day, saying that I would really like a form of a reaction to at least know that my appearance was pleasing. I pre-recorded a message which played to him and the wedding gifts before I walked down the aisle - and then when he saw me the tears streamed down his face as he was completely overcome by emotion. Clinton is an extremely disciplined, always in control, loves order and organisation - so his reaction came as a complete surprise to me.
Our ceremony, reception, socialising and gathering with those dearest to us created the best day ever with so many memories, I loved every single minute.
We spent our wedding night at the exquisite Baruch Guesthouse in Stellenbosch and spent the week in and around Cape Town. We plan to visit Clinton's family in the USA in 2025 and have a delayed honeymoon.
For my hair and make up, I opted for a natural but glamourous look. My hair was in an up style and my make up soft and subtle. My husband is not one for bold make up (thankfully) and I decided to stick to what I know suits me and not go "way out".
I opted not to wear white as a wedding dress, for personal and spiritual reasons, and decided on a champagne coloured, off the shoulder long dress which I found at Truworths. I felt so comfortable and good in the dress, it was most definitely the right choice for me.
My jewellery was plain with a solitaire "diamond" stone on a gold chain and single "diamond" stone studs as earrings. This was purchased at Lovisa.
The colour of our wedding was soft pink - so my something old was wearing high block heel pink sandals which I purchased from Truworths a few years ago.
We got married at Feestafel, Vredenheim Estate, in Stellenbosch.
The cozy, rustic venue was the perfect setting and Anne and her team went out of their way to create the best wedding day for us.
The majority of our guests are local, so they went home that evening. My family, from Port Elizabeth, stayed at our home.
I had to really focus on drinking a lot of water and a good night creme leading up to our wedding day.
Exactly one week before our wedding, I was discharged from a 6 day hospital visit, where I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colits. By God's grace, my body responded quickly to medication, and I was feeling much better by our wedding day. All I wanted was to enjoy my meal with our guests - and I thankfully was able to.
Important vitamins and minerals were very low, so I focused on eating correctly and aligned to the eating plan the dietician provided me, increased my water intake, limited work stress and took my vitamins and medication, along with lots of prayers.
The day I was discharged from hospital, I had my bridal hair and make up trial, and a week later my hair & make up Artist could not believe that it was the same person sitting in front of her.
We are both "less is more" kind of people and coincidently we share the Protea as our favourite flower - my husband always tells me that he loves buying me flowers because he gets to have his favourite flower in our home!
We had a single protea in a glass bottle / vase on the tables with a dusty pink chiffon runner. Two pillar while candles on stands provided the romantic light.
We sat at rectangle wooden tables, set up in a way that allowed all the guests to be able to interact and socialise.
Anne, from Feestafel, assisted with all the decor set up and Tasneem Daniels, provided the proteas.
My husband wore a charcoal coloured suite purchased from Woolworths. He wore a white collared shirt with a dusty pink tie to tie it up.
The bestman and groomsman wore an outfit they chose, provided they included a jacket in their attire.
Besides the dusty pink, I love sage green and felt that these two colours provided variety and complimented each other.
My mom wore a long floral dress from Truwoths.
My sister, matron of honour, wore a long dusty pink dress from Truwoths.
My daughter, bridesmaid, wore a long, sage green dress, also from Truworths.
My nice and flowergirl had a dusty pink long dress, which was made and purchased from a Bridal Facebook Group.
Pastor Lindani Gumede from Life Church in Somerset West led the wedding ceremony and Pastor Chris Swart, Senior Pastor at Life Church Somerset West, handled the legal part of our ceremony.
We are blessed to be part of Life Church Somerset West and having our pastoral team part of our wedding, relationship and family added to the wonder of our wedding day.
It was very important to us to have our memories captured with a unique touch. Chanelle, Kobus and Jaundre from Top Notch Productions made us comfortable, allowed us to be natural, silly and laugh by being ourselves and we are left with the most beautiful images which reflects our love, happiness and contentment.
This service provider was probably the one we searched the longest for - after reviewing their website and social media page, we believed that Top Notch Productions were the right and perfect vendor for us - and we were right.
Neither Clinton nor myself like overly posed photographs, we perfect natural images.
Clinton and I knew what we wanted for our wedding and Anne from Feestafel was engaging from day one and was focused on giving us the most perfect wedding day.
My dad drove my daughter, mom and myself to the wedding venue in his VW Tiguan.
Anne from Feestafel is so hands on and takes ownership of her venue - she provided us with menu options and then tailor made our menu based on our requests and requirements. Our guests absolutely raved about her spread - it was truly delicious.
Anne has a personal touch in all she does and she even had a platter for two of the harvest table waiting for us to return from our photographs. There was ice cold sparkling wine and a platter for two waiting for us, and after the time in the sun and heat, it was most welcoming as we were so thirsty and hungry.
Our wedding cake, we chose our first love, carrot cake. Our wonderful baker, Marna, from Flour Power, created the most delicious naked carrot cake which left guests returning for seconds!
Our stationery template was downloaded from Etsy and printed locally.
Our reception was a spectacular wedding fest of great food and good wine. We didn't want dancing and decided to have a big dinner together with our guests and honestly it was the best decision we made!
We spent so much time together and socialising with our guests - it was absolutely marvelous!
