Undoubtedly the highlight of our wedding was the reunion of it all. Friends and family from all over the world coming together in a magical place to share laughter and friendship after years of being separated by the pandemic. But the highlight of the day was walking through the streets of Istanbul accompanied by musicians with onlookers cheering and giving their congratulations. If felt like the air was joy and we were all dancing in it.
Boy did we honeymoon! We decided to open up our honeymoon in Cappadocia to any of our guests who were able to join and luckily for us 16 of them did. We stayed at the incredible Aza Caves and made sure not to skip the sunrise hot air balloon ride which was unlike any experience I've ever had. It seems incredibly cliched and you may be tempted to sleep in (the 4am start is jolting) but it was utterly magical (and I'm not a fan of that word but nothing else seems to fit). We enjoyed eating at Haruna with it's spectacular views and at Seten Restaurant which has an incredible terrace to have sundowners on.
But the highlight of our honeymoon was when John and I stole away to Fethiye and found ourselves in heaven at the luxurious five star beach resort, Yass Collective.
I get goosebumps just thinking about my dress and the wonderful journey of it's creation with Vesselina Pentcheva. Her patience, kindness and constant delight were undoubtedly woven into my gown and I will treasure it forever. Having worked in the industry for a long time John and I wanted to our wedding to be anything but traditional and this applied to the dress as well. I wanted something sophisticated yet dramatic, a dress fit for unique Istanbul and something a little edgy. I think it's spectacular.
Because the dress and the veil were flamboyant, I felt the hair should be very simple and understated. Michelle of Snapdragon worked for a year developing the colour and condition of my hair and on the day @sinanhairstylist worked his magic. My makeup by the talented @sevdesenaurucu.
My shoes came from Shein. My underwear from a store somewhere in Istanbul that my brides' men had to go find last minute because I left all of mine behind. My earrings I bought a Woolies a million years ago and my wedding band cost R89.00 from a small jewellery store somewhere in Sandton and it's my most treasured item - along with my outstanding engagement ring from @thediamondboutique_za.
We were married in Istanbul, on the Bosphorus. The place we were engaged, a city we hold dear to our hearts. We wanted everyone to experience this magical place and so decided to have our wedding there. We all stayed at The Barnathan Hotel, part of the Meroddi group of hotels and were taken care of so wonderfully. Our ceremony was held at the Crimean Church, our reception luncheon at Soho House and then we took the party to a boat that cruised the Bosphorus as the sun went down. It was the most spectacular day.
I've never really been great with a skin care routine but I've always kept my face out of the sun and hydrated (with whatever moisturiser was at hand). About six weeks before the wedding I went for a botox treatment with Dr Nanita Dalton and may now be addicted to the procedure. I did spend a bit of time at Sweat1000 getting into shape before the wedding, a workout that's totally my vibe. HIIT training with huge dance beats and fat cells running for their lives!
The Crimean Church in Istanbul is exquisite and we did not want to add a single thing. The same goes for Soho House. The boat we danced the night away on needed some decor and so we had some branded bunting made in SA and hired a local florist to add Turkish rugs, cushions and vibrant floral arrangements.
I chose to have my brother and my cousin as my brides' men and along with John's best man we pretty much sent them a picture of what we would like them to wear and asked that they only grabbed what they had in their closet. Being that they are all such stylish men they already had everything they needed and all we had to do was add a Hugo Boss tie. They looked fantastic and we are ever grateful to them for keeping their jackets on in the insane heat of Istanbul that day!
Canon Ian Sherwood was kind enough to bless our marriage at the Crimean Church. As South Africans it was required of us that we officially get married in SA which we did on our own in Graaff Reinet. But that's a great story for another day.
I cannot express enough the brilliance that is Amanda Wiggill of Estilo Photography. A long time friend who I met through the industry, Amanda (who recruited her equally talented husband as her second shooter) exquisitely captured the essence of our wedding and we will always be indebted to her. As a couple who is really uncomfortable in front of the camera Amanda was able to entice us out of our camera shy shells and it was magic. Our wedding photos are simply outstanding.
Having been to Istanbul a couple of times I was able to plan the wedding myself and recruited Too Istanbul to help with events leading up to and on the day. It was all pretty stressful as planning any wedding is but Covid really played havoc and the language barrier at times was frustrating.
