Our wedding day was one I will remember forever! It was everything we had hoped for and more. We had our nearest and dearest with us and people come from all over the world- Mauritius, Australia, Canada, Spain and all over SA too. I cried happy tears from Friday afternoon after we had set up out whole wedding with the help of our family and friends until Sunday morning knowing it was all over. A lot of our service providers were family which made everything even more special. My husbands aunt did our flowers and my aunt married us and did our ceremony. Saying our own vows was also something so sentimental and personal to us and definitely a highlight of the day. We had an absolute blast of a reception. We didn't worry about a thing and just made memories for life and danced the night away, eating our main meal at 2am in the morning when we go back to our accommodation. Our venue The Greenhouse Café at Rosemary hill was absolutely breathtaking and TJ or coordinator was out of this world! And to say we had the best photographer ever is an understatement. And lets not forget the most handsome, amazing, kind hearted, corny and sweet man I now get to call my husband. I couldn't of pictured a more, special and unforgettable day with him. Everything was a highlight and just thinking about it brings me to tears! I have married my absolute soulmate and best friend!
We have not been on honeymoon yet. We are going in September 2022 and doing an epic Cape road trip stopping in Philippolis on the way down and back home. We are staying in Airbnb's around the cape and visiting cape town central and surrounds, Stellenbosch, Franshoek, Hermanus and more. I am a chef and big wine lover so we will be visiting ALL the wine farms and go to some of the best restaurants in the Cape. We have planned to visit Robben island and do a segway tour as well as the Franshoek wine tram.
My wedding look was very simple, elegant, old Hollywood glamour, antique accessories and pearls. My wedding dress was simple, old Hollywood glamour. It was silk and off white and had a structured sort of corset top but no lace up back. It had a long train and was designed by Alena Leena and from The Wedding Boutique SA in Kramerville. It was not something I ever imagined I would choose but once I put it on for the first time I knew this was the one by a mile. I felt so elegant and it suited my small frame. I had a pearl veil and stick on individual pearls in my hair. I did not want a traditional updo hairstyle so went with a twisted ponytail which I loved. My nails were beige and matched so well with my beige suede heels and rose gold, morganite and diamond rings as well as my grandmothers antique pearl and gemstone earrings and her gold pearl necklace. My hair and make up was done my Glammed up by Jessica Addinall who I went to school with. I didn't want a traditional bouquet either, it was wild and different with hanging flowers and not round with beautiful cement ribbon tied around the stems.
We got married at The Greenhouse Café at Rosemary Hill in PTA and yes ourselves as well as most of our guests stayed on the farm too or in surrounding accommodations.
I normally gym 5x a week so my health and fitness did not change much. I eat relatively healthy too so my diet did not really change besides cutting out most sugary sweets to help with my skin as I struggle with pimples. I went for a facial a few days before the wedding and got my eyebrows waxed for the first time in my life hehehe. I did not go for teeth whitening but did use Listerine whitening for 3 weeks before the wedding.
Our wedding look was autumn in winter. Our colors were greens, rusts, red wine, burnt orange, cement and beiges. My husband wore an army green suit (which he pulled off amazingly).
Our ceremony area was very simple with origami birds ( that we made by hand) hanging from the one side of the steel structure. We had ghost chairs and a gold hexagon arch with our beautiful floral arrangements on it. We used my moms antique carpets down the aisle and made individual bags of dried pennygum confetti for each guest. We walked out our ceremony in a cloud of bubbles which I loved!
Our reception area was inspired by a greenhouse so had green plant walls and hanging greenery. It had a high beamed roof and lots of windows. Cement floors and wood. We had our main table which we sat at and 2 long tables for our guests. We had cement linen table runners, rust colored napkins, gold cutlery, antique mismatched gold candlesticks and a mismatch of all different shapes and sizes brawn and clear vases for our single stem flowers that went down the middle of our tables. We did not have any big center arrangements which was one of the things I 100% didn't want. Our flowers were also very different and unique. I didn't want any traditional flowers like roses and my mom dried a whole bunch of hydrangeas which we used too.
Most of our decor came with our venue hire
We rented the remainder of the decor I wanted to change from Love Beloved
Our flowers were done by my husbands aunt Maria Lucas from Melrose Stores in Rivonia
Our table runners were from The table cloth hiring company in Marlboro
Our DJ came with the venue too and was Sonic State production
My dear friends made my ABSOLUTELY stunner of a wedding cake too
Myself, wedding party and Mom made a lot of the decor and my mom did ALL the stationery.
My husband wore an army green 3 piece suit (which he pulled off amazingly) with dark brown leather shoes, belt and skinny tie and a white shirt. He had a paisley pocket square in our wedding colors and wore funky socks. His suit was from the oriental plaza.
Our groomsmen wore brown leather bowties and suspenders with white shirts and beige pants as well as dark brown leather shoes. Matt and Milly leather made all our leather items.
I wanted my bridesmaids in different color dresses as well as different styles. We got infinity dresses from Icandee bridesmaids and function dresses. Each lady wore a different color and tied and styled their dresses differently. They wore brown shoes and pearl earrings. They had flower crowns on their heads and had their hair down and curled. Their dresses were red wine, chocolate beige and 2 different tones of rust/burnt orange. Our little flower girl wore the same dress just in miniature lol with a flower crown too.
My aunt did our ceremony and was our officiant. I had always wanted a person close to me and a big part of my life to marry us and not a complete stranger.
Our photographer was Zandalee Smit from Zandalee Smit photography. I could not of asked for a more amazingly talented photographer who we got along so well with! We have only seen our glimpse gallery and not the full lot of pictures yet and are waiting in anticipation for the rest.
We did not use a photo booth but relied on our awesome guests to take amazing pictures. We also did not have a videographer but relied on 2 important guests to take videos of our ceremony and again on our guests to take videos throughout the night.
We had an on the day coordinator but otherwise myself and husband did all the planning by ourselves with the help from our family and friends with some small elements. I knew what I wanted from the very beginning and had a very specific style and idea in mind so it was easy to put together but I will not say it was not stressful lol.
We did not need any wedding transport as our ceremony area, reception and cocktail hour was right next to each other all on one venue.
Our venue The Greenhouse Café at Rosemary hill prepared all the food.
My friends James Agiotis and Motheba Makhetha from Rafifis cakery made my stunner of a cake. I again knew I wanted something very minimalist and contemporary but artsy at the same time. I also knew I wanted all white. We had an all white 2 tier thin cake with white rice paper sails arranged beautifully on it. The flavors were chocolate overload and coffee and salted butterscotch.
Myself and husband designed all our stationery and my mom printed it all out on paper we found at PNA.
We did not take any dance lessons. We went with a natural dance, go with the flow with spins and dips.
Sound, lighting and music was all by Sonic State productions.
We did not have any live music but did have a special song for literally everything and my god child recorded her playing my favorite song on the harp to use for our cake cutting, this was a surprise so it brought me to tears.
