Elopement en Vogue by Green Goddess & Debbie Lourens

When I put out a call for elopements and intimate weddings among our favourite SBB wedding pros, I was absolutely thrilled to receive this stylish gem by Green Goddess flower studio, with beautiful images by Debbie Lourens – one of those submissions I just think of as a ‘hell yes’. With a sort of 1950s Italian Vogue feel, it tells the story of a pair of starry-eyed lovers and a surprise elopement. Totally adorable, and incredibly romantic! I just love everything about it, from the bride’s gorgeous Gavin Rajah dress and coat to the flower-embellished umbrella, and the cake display that’s almost too pretty to eat. And even though it’s an editorial, I love the intimate, fun feeling that the team managed to create – the same feeling I imagine that a real couple would experience if they pulled off this wedding coup. This, friends, is why elopements are awesome.Read More

Frozen Fairytale Styled Shoot from the New Wedding Inspirations Magazine

On a day like today, where every fan in the house is on full blast and I’m still wilting at my desk, it seems a million miles away to be featuring an editorial shoot with misty castles and frozen gems, but that’s another reason why I love it so much! Loosely inspired by Disney’s Frozen, it’s the tale of a princess who is trapped in a freezing castle, dreaming of escape and a world of colour and sunlight and laughter. But even though it’s so fantastical, at the heart of these gorgeous images is a set of super inspiring wedding details, from berry-laden table and cake, to the most GORGEOUS gowns by Gavin Rajah, that would make any bride feel like an absolute princess. We’re sharing this shoot from the pages of the current Wedding Inspirations magazine, and inside you’ll find all the info you need to reproduce this stunning wintery look from the lovely Celeste Potgieter of Celeste Styled Events, as well as loads more wonderful wedding inspiration, so do grab a copy today. In the meantime, let’s sit back and enjoy these beautiful images by Claire Harries and Kristi Agier.Read More

Dairy Shed Darlings Styled Shoot

Good morning lovely friends! Today’s inspiration is just DREAMY. Seriously, I was all jaw on the floor for at least ten minutes after I saw these pics for the first time. Beautiful bridal styling, AMAZING dresses, and a backdrop that is rustic chic perfection. And in fact, the backdrop is what initially brought photographers Claire Harries, Claire Thomson & Angelique Smith together, since they wanted to showcase a gorgeous new venue near Durbanville, the Dairy Shed. With help from in-house co-ordinators Two Birds and SBB faves, the Green Goddess floral geniuses, they produced some absolutely breathtaking bridal images, as well as a table that is elegant rustic perfection. Get ready to be wowed.Read More

Nutcracker Ballet Styled Shoot by Debbie Lourens & Green Goddess flower studio

Fun fact: I was so bad at ballet, they held me back a year. Yup, I failed ballet. Which is obviously a HUGE surprise if you know me, since I am totally graceful and never walk into doors or trip up on my own feet or ANYTHING. Fortunately, I’m not holding it against ballet as a whole, which I still love, and which I still think is incredibly beautiful as an art… and as a wedding inspiration. In fact, there was a big trend toward ballet a couple of years ago, but that was all about frothy pinks. Today’s styled shoot is a little different – it’s perfect for the winter bride, with rich berry hues, and just a tiny touch of Christmas (fitting for the ultimate Christmas ballet). But even though it’s seasonal, it’s never themey. Instead, it’s full of beautiful new twists on old themes, and a touch of shimmery gold. I am completely and utterly blown away by every frame shot by Debbie Lourens, and especially by the incredible florals done by SBB directory member Green Goddess flower studio. And red ballet shoes? Yup, I love it ALL. I may have failed at ballet, but this shoot wins on every level.Read More

Q&A with Green Goddess Flower Studio

Happy Monday people! For those of you who haven’t yet gone on holiday, I have some lovely inspiration for you today. First of all, it’s time to meet another great supplier (or two, in this case). Last week, I shared some Christmas table inspiration from Green Goddess, and today we’re going to chat to the two lovely ladies behind the name, Coral and Chantell.

Hi ladies! Tell me a bit about your company.
Green Goddess Flower Studio is named for the green arum lily, indigenous to Southern Africa. We are a boutique floral studio offering a very personalised wedding flower and décor service. We are big on attention to detail and it is our hearts’ desire to get to know our clients and really amaze them with the beautiful and unusual work that we love to do. We also do flowers for other special occasions such as birthday parties, corporate functions, product launches and love doing commercial work that requires out of the box thinking and results.Read More

Christmas Decor Inspiration

Good morning, friends! I usually keep things to weddings here on SBB, but with many of you having your last day in the office today, I couldn’t help but make an exception and include this lovely, rustic Christmas table from the ladies at Green Goddess Flower Studio, Coral and Chantell. I’m a HUGE sucker for the holidays, but sometimes it’s nice to take a fresh look at Christmas decor, especially for a sunny season as we have in South Africa. I’ve always been the one in charge of the Christmas table (mostly because I was well into my 30s before my mom would let me anywhere near the kitchen), and I would love to put together something like this for the family next time – the bright orange of the pincushion protea is evocative of the richness of traditional Christmas colours, but combined with aqua and soft neutrals, is all sunny days. I love the rough hewn wood of the hearts and angels, the fun gold touches (especially the hippo – EVERY Christmas should have a hippo!), the succulents and especially the way that the blocks create visual interest with varying heights for the centrepiece, raising the look (literally!) to something extra special. Sadly, this year I won’t be home for Christmas, but I’ll just have to look at these pics to feel some summer Christmas inspiration, and I hope you will too! For those of you leaving us until the New Year – drive safe and be smart, and have a truly wonderful festive season!Read More

Real Wedding at Little Stream {Monique & Kevin}

I fell for today’s wedding at Little Stream in Constantia the second I laid eyes on it. (One word: BUNTING!) It’s one of those balmy, happy weddings where you wish you’d been there, where the bride and groom and their guests seem like people you’d want to know. People who pitch in with the organisation and the set up, and bake goodies for the buffet. A couple whose top priority is socialising with their guests, and who choose a laid back English Garden Party theme that allows everyone to chill out in the sunshine, playing lawn games and drinking champagne. *sigh* All the pictures are by the lovely Rebecca Meissner of Love Made Visible, who has such a great eye for light and detail – I can’t wait to share them with you. So grab a Pimm’s or a cup of tea, and get into the spirit of this perfect summer afternoon.

A word from Monique:
Kevin and I met through a mutual friend while we were both at University. We got to know each other as friends for a while before we started going out and we stayed together while I worked in the UK for 18 months. In April last year I came back to Cape Town for a holiday and we made a list of things we wanted to do together, including a day in Stellenbosch (which we both love). Kevin planned a whole day doing all of our favourite things – a lazy breakfast, coffee and cake, a picnic in the Botanical Gardens. Apparently he spent the whole day stressing, which I didn’t realise – I had a lovely time! We went on to Mojo for dinner and after our meal we found ourselves a comfy couch and Kevin hopped down on one knee and popped out a ring and asked me to marry him! Just perfect! I moved back for good in August and we were married four months later.

Kevin and I have been to a number of weddings where we found that there wasn’t much opportunity to talk to the bride and groom and we knew we didn’t want that. Our overall desire was to have a wedding with a completely relaxed feel and plenty of opportunities to mingle and chat with our friends and family. After thinking about various different themes, we decided on an English garden party with lots of food (think cucumber sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, Pimms, etc.) and lawn games. When I told my sister of our plan, she took me straight to Little Stream. It was the first venue I saw and I knew that it was the right one for us – we didn’t bother looking anywhere else!

Walking down to the reception area on the day, I actually gasped at how beautiful it was! My talented friend Lyndal and our other amazing friends and family had transformed the area into something so stunning! It was exactly what I had hoped for… and more. We had decided not to go for one main colour but rather stuck to white and pastels so no single colour stood out. My mom sewed metres of beautiful bunting which we hung in the trees and it gave the reception area a very festive feel. Our decor was perfect, flowers exquisite, and food divine.

We really made an effort to create a relaxed vibe so we got speeches done and dusted at the beginning and it left the rest of the afternoon to eat, drink, laze on the picnic blankets, play croquet, etc. and have photos with the props in the photo booth. Some of the food was provided by our venue – the rest by our friends and family. My mother-in-law, Pam, made our wedding cake – it was incredible!

For our guest book, Lyndal drew us a huge picture of a tree and its branches. We provided little green ink pads and our guests printed their fingerprints and wrote their names, which is a great reminder of who was there on our day. For favours, we gave guests fabric heart Christmas tree decorations as it was so close to the holidays.

Looking back on our day we are so happy that we did something different and that we made an effort with all the little details. Our wedding was unique and definitely reflected bits of our personalities.

Monique and Kevin’s friends and family were such an instrumental part of making their day awesome, and they wanted to give those involved with set-up a special shout out. So, a big thank you from them to: Jeanne, Jeannine, Chantell, Adam, Michelle, Jason, Andrew, Lyndal, Irene, Kristi, Marisja, Adam, Kirsten & Bren, Mike & Karen, Reinhardt & Fiona, Jono & Tarryn, Graham & Allison.

And a big thank you from us to Monique and Kevin, and to Rebecca, for sharing this wonderful day with us! You can see even more of the pictures on Rebecca’s blog.

Service providers:

Venue & catering: Little Stream Conference Centre
Photography: Rebecca Meissner of Love Made Visible
Co-ordinator: Lyndal Alexander
Florist & decor: of Green Goddess Flower Studio
Stationery: DIY
Bride’s dress: Very
Bridesmaids dresses: Bridesmaids’ own
Hair: Carlton International, Cavendish
DJ: Grant from GBSOUND – 082 3365422
Pre-marriage course: Common Ground Church, Rondebosch

SBB ♥ Green Goddess flower studio, a featured member of our Directory