Well, Janlo first noticed me at our church over a year ago. I am very involved in our church activities and am usually very busy on Sundays, so I only noticed him later on. He then started playing the drums for our church services later on in the year and I would see him occasionally, but I wasn't really thinking about boys at that stage.
He finally decided to introduce himself to me one day. He told his friends he was going to say Hi to me and prepared himself for the moment. Unfortunately, on that particular Sunday I was very tired and not feeling too well so the introduction did not go as he had planned.
Janlo then decided that if he was going to properly catch my eye, he was going to need some help from his friends and their wives, so he dropped some hints and they organised a social for us to get to know one another. I wasn't very sure of what was happening when I first got the invitation, but then had a week to figure out exactly what my friends were up to… He was good looking and played the drums, so I thought I would just go with it and that it wouldn't be that bad. That night he confidently introduced himself to me a second time, and we spent the rest of the night chatting non-stop!
The next day he called me; we went for a coffee and a walk on the beach. Again, we both just enjoyed every moment and spent the entire day chatting and laughing. After that, we spent every day together. He had planned a few work trips overseas, so we were physically apart fora while, but we Skyped and messaged one another every day. To say the least, we could not get enough of each other - my one friend said that we were in our own little "love bubble", and I think we still are.
We started dating on the 21st of November and by 27 April Janlo got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.
We had visited some of my friends in PE and we were driving back to Cape Town along the Garden Route. I had mentioned once to him that there was a beach outside Knysna that was lined with old castles and it could be a nice site to go have a look at. He drove down to that particular beach and we went for a walk. There was no one there and it was a beautiful day. He stopped me and asked if he could read me something that he had written (I had no idea what he was doing). So he read me this beautiful letter about how he views me and our lives together and then got on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was so shocked and so excited that I simply cried with happiness!
We only had 8 weeks to plan our wedding so there was very little time to second-guess ourselves. We have so many talented friends and family members who all came together to help pull it all off.
Our wedding's inspiration all actually came from my engagement ring. We had a black, gold and white theme, which mimicked the colours and elegance of the ring Janlo proposed to me with. I just wanted it to be glamorous, but not too over-the-top - just simple and beautiful.
My favorite part of the day was when I finally got to the end of the aisle and I took Janlo's hand before our vows. I felt safe, calm and ready to go on with the day – and the rest of our lives.
There wasn't really a theme as such. The most important thing for me was that it was intimate. We didn't have a big wedding, so everyone that was there were close friends and family. We wanted them all to have the opportunity to get to know each other and be relaxed and simply enjoy the time together.
I knew from the beginning that I didn't want the usual, fluffy, white dress. I found a picture of a wide, A-line skirt with box pleats and loved it immediately. Ricci, my designer, and I then went to have a look at some fabrics and found the black pleather and stretch (which my dress' bodice is made up of) - we both loved it and knew we had to use it. I just adore my wedding dress, it isn't too formal for our relaxed wedding and it was so different.
I am not really a big fan of coloured flowers. Whenever I buy flowers for myself they are usually white, so I decided that I would also just like white flowers for the wedding. I also really love gold, so I spoke with Myli, my decorator, and we thought it would be a great idea to spray paint some flowers and succulents gold and black to contrast with the white. I really loved how it all turned out. Even the groomsmen and my dad's lapel flowers were "glammed up", and it was such a nice, unique touch.
We didn't have a first dance, just like we didn't have many other traditional wedding aspects.
My biggest hope was and is that everyone that was there had a great time, that the conversations were always inspiring and that it always be a day that we remember as the start of a new beginning for Janlo and myself.
I am so blessed to have such amazingly talented friends and family. My friend and bridesmaid, Natalie Locke, helped with most of the planning and organising. I know that without her many of the details and small treats along the way would have never happened. I am so grateful for all her efforts and hard work to make my special day happen!
We travelled in and around the Western Cape for our honeymoon. We started with Paternoster, then went on to the Matroosberg Nature Reserve and then ended it off at Old Mac Daddy's in the Elgin Valley.
Ricci JvR, local fashion designer and award-winning graduate from CTCFG, is vastly making her mark in the South African fashion industry.
