The day flashed by so quickly... I had to remind myself to take a deep breath and be present because, after the big day & planning, all I would have is memories. After getting ready, the videographer made my dad stand on the porch looking out into the garden. I walked up to my father, feeling like a real princess and I tapped his shoulder. I will never forget the way he looked at me when he turned around, with joy in his eyes and pride in his heart, he sobbed. I couldn't help but cry either. Behind his tears, he said wow you are so beautiful, Henri is one lucky man. We got into his car and drove to my church with excitement. Heart pounding... My daddy walked me down the aisle and my husband to be stood there, unable to hold his tears back, it was then that I realized a man that can cry is a strong man. I got myself a keeper! One of the biggest highlights was when we worshipped together and washed each other's feet as a symbol of our devotion to each other and that we would always love and care for one another no matter how dirty our feet are.
The excitement was real after the wedding, and all I wanted to do was enjoy some quality time with my husband on an exotic island. COVID may have destroyed our dreams of an adventurous honeymoon in Thailand, but my husband got creative and surprised me as he always does. He found a local boutique BnB called Petite Provance... and WOW, from the moment we stepped into the place, it felt like I was transported to France. From the furniture to the background music in the cafe', I was amazed. We spent 3 nights away and then, unfortunately, had to head back to work.
As cliche as it may sound - my husband always tells me that he loves me just the way I am. In his eyes, I look best without make-up and fancy hairstyles. So I made sure to listen to his requests. I kept everything simple but beautiful. The look I went for is less is more. I was blessed as my friend, that is a fashion designer, was kind enough to let me wear her dress. It is beautiful and unique with beading and lace. It is the princess dress I always dreamed of, and it fit me like a glove - not one alteration had to be made. My hair was pinned back and out of my face with the bottom down with a soft curl. The top of the dress was so detailed that I only wore my mother's earrings to finish the look. My make-up was a soft smokey eye with white in the inner eye to enhance my green eyes and a lovely nude lip.
We got married at Freedom House, our church in Burnedale, Salt Rock. Our friend has a beautiful guest house called Blue BnB's. We rented out rooms for the family so that we could all stay at the same place. Blue BnB's was also our reception venue.
My husband is a landscape architect and loves the outdoors so I decided on implementing a lot of greenery and wooden textures. The church had a very rustic feeling, my decor supplier Penny from For The Table hung some origami butterflies in the venue. She did lovely lanterns with roses along the aisles and I had an amazing lemonade stand with beehive jars and glass bottles so guests could help themselves. My rose gold chairs matched the rose gold cutlery at the reception with the light pink candles. I arranged for Jane, That Girl on The Violin, to play the acoustic violin while everyone enjoyed their beautifully packed canape's in brown boxes.
My husband and his best man went to Woolworths and just about bought every item for their wedding outfits. My husband bought a light blue jacket to match his dreamy blue eyes and wore a long-sleeved white shirt with chinos, a leather belt and boat shoes to finish off the relaxed, beach look we were going for.
My bridesmaid had a short, bottle green dress made at her dressmaker.
Our marriage officer was Fiona Briggs
Our photographer was Erin Van Der Merwe, it was amazing shooting with her. She made us feel so comfortable and at ease. She also did a pre-wedding shoot with us to ensure that we were confident and comfortable on the day. Our videographer was Ryno Nortje, we can't wait to get the footage back from him as he has such a unique style and outlook when capturing content for weddings.
My dad let us use his white SLK Merc. It was magical when my husband opened the roof as we were getting ready to leave the church for photos. By the time we left the inside of the car was full of colourful popcorn confetti.
4 weeks later and people are still saying how amazing the wedding food was. Jennifer Swanepoel from Food House did our catering. She did roast lamb on a spit with the roasted vegetables & potatoes at the bottom so that the juices from the lamb could drizzle over the vegetables and crisp them up perfectly. The individually plated chocolate brownies were crisp on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside. These were accompanied by some berries and ice-cream. My mother in law made our naked wedding cake, it was 3 beautiful layers of carrot cake, red velvet and chocolate with a decadent cream cheese icing. Sadly, the cake was so good that there wasn't any left for us to take home.
Penny Trystman
At the start of the ceremony, my friend Laura Nixon played the piano. For the rest of the ceremony, our friend Cuchulain managed the sound as we had pre-selected all of our songs. We surprised the guests with a Dirty Dancing number ( The Time of My Life ), my husband and I had practised a dance with airlifts and all. While guests were eating canapes, Jane Magner, played the violin.
