Category: Inspiration

Practical Planning: Vegetarian Wedding Menus

by gaby

Afternoon, lovelies! I get a lot of queries from readers and as much as I have learned about weddings, there are lots of times where I think it’s best to consult the pros – especially since South Africa has such a wealth of fantastic wedding service providers. So when I had a request for information on vegetarian wedding menus, I went straight to a caterer who I knew would be able to answer my questions and provide you lovely readers with lots of inspiration, Sasha of Prep’d by Sasha Catering. With lots more couples going meat-free themselves (as well as meat eating couples who want to make sure their veggie guests are treated like VIPs), it’s a great time to ask yourself whether a vegetarian menu is right for your celebration. The good news? You don’t have to sacrifice even a little on taste, as Sasha proved by whipping up an AMAZING menu for you all. And the best part? You can download all of her completely delicious recipes!

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Romantic Winelands Anniversary Shoot by Dehan Engelbrecht

by gaby

Last week I shared loads of love stories in the form of engagements and proposals, but it’s worth remembering that in real life, the love story doesn’t end after the wedding reception with “and they lived happily ever after…”. The end of your wedding planning isn’t a finish line, but the start of a whole new journey. As I’ve watched my friends fall in love and marry, I’ve celebrated with them, and danced at their weddings. As they’ve stayed married, I’ve watched those relationships change, and grow, and become something so much deeper and more wonderful even than they were on the day they promised to spend their lives together. So often here on SBB we honour weddings, but beyond the pretty, what we’re really doing is honouring marriages. I love that today’s couple shoot gives us a chance to do that in a visual way, because rather than an engagement, it celebrates an anniversary. And it just happens to star one of my all-time-favourite wedding people, beautiful Nicola of The Pretty Blog, and her handsome husband Wynand. Nicola’s the real deal when it comes to wedding bloggers – she’s as stylish and graceful (and gracious) off the page as she is on it. And you just have to see the way she and her husband look at one another in this gorgeous, atmospheric shoot by Dehan Engelbrecht to know that their love story is the real deal too. I’m so happy to be sharing it with you! Oh, and PS, the amazing hair and makeup is thanks to Marli Basson.Read More

Protea Bouquet Recipe #1: Protea & Bougainvillea

by gaby

This is such an awesome week on SBB, with lots of exclusive content, created just for you! Today we’re debuting a brand new series, which I am super excited about. With a big bow to Wedding Chicks, who pretty much pioneered the whole idea of bouquet recipes, I wanted to focus on proteas – not just our national flower here in South Africa, but a current wedding trend that we have been rocking for quite some time. Because we South Africans love us our proteas, just like we love butternut, and avocado, and braais, right? Even after seeing literally hundreds of protea bouquets, I still get a thrill when I see a new one, especially when it uses an unusual variety or combines it in a different way. So I decided to throw out the challenge to South African floral designers, and we’ll regularly be bringing you gorgeous protea bouquets in all their glory, as well as broken down into their components. Kicking things off is the very lovely Lizl Pieterse of Flamboijant, one of our very special sponsors. Lizl’s bouquet is perfect for a summer wedding, and I loved that it not only used proteas and other fynbos, but incorporated Bougainvillea. I have such a summer flower crush on this plant, and I would LOVE to see it in more bouquets! As well as showing off the bouquet thanks to Lulia Photography & Design, we asked Lizl a few questions about her ideas and inspiration. Huge thanks to both these talented ladies for sharing this with us today!Read More

How to Create an Elegant Shweshwe Wedding by Piteira Photography & SouthBound Bride

by gaby

I am BEYOND excited to share today’s shoot! Not just because I think it’s so pretty, but because for me it’s another step in the direction I have dreamed SouthBound Bride would grow. See, I don’t just want SBB to be another wedding blog, another place of prettiness and support and inspiration (although it’s all of these). What has always made the blog different for me is that it is all about South African weddings. So, to me, it’s also important that SBB is a place that epitomises South African wedding style. What makes our weddings unique? What do they look like? How can I celebrate the designs and traditions that are close to our hearts? I still have work to do in many areas to adequately represent our diverse and beautiful country, but one thing I wanted was to celebrate what I think of as icons in SA style and design. I started dreaming of styled shoots that combined current international wedding trends, but had our very own homegrown twist. Today’s is the first of these for 2014, and the uniquely South African element we’re celebrating is shweshwe. Which I LOVE. And you guys, this is the year for shweshwe. It’s happening.Read More

Inspiration Board: Copper & Shweshwe

by gaby

I’m so excited to bring you today’s inspiration board, because it’s a preview of a mini-shoot I’ll be sharing with you tomorrow, a collaboration between myself and Piteira Photography (yay, can’t wait!). It features one of my absolute FAVOURITE prints, a truly South African design element (and one which is going to be really hitting its stride in 2014): shweshwe. For me, using this iconic South African fabric is the most gorgeous way to bring a homegrown twist to your wedding design, and still be right up to date with wedding trends internationally (prints, after all, are having their day in the sun). You can get shweshwe in quite a range of colours now, but the original indigo is the one I love most, and it’s a stylish and contemporary shade that combines beautifully with many other colours. I wanted to show how the pattern can be used in a really elegant way – for example, at a classic winelands venue – so I combined it with cool wedding white and a contemporary metallic, copper, for a bit of warmth. The colours look really graceful together, especially with the addition of white candles as a third key design element. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see where we ended up, but for today, I hope you love our inspiration!

Colours: Indigo, copper & white

Top row (l-r): Sash with shweshwe rosette {Julie Wilhite}; cake with high taper candles {White Loft Studio/Mayflour Cake + Confection}; table setting {}; long tables {Jose Villa}
Row 2: Shweshwe bowl; invitation suite; shweshwe fabric
Row 3: Blue bridesmaids {Caroline Tran/Kelly Oshiro}; copper tag escort cards {Mark Brooke Photography/JL Designs}; brass candlesticks; copper vase {Docuvitae/Kourtney James Perry}.

 

Romantic Beach Elopement Wedding Inspiration by Pickle Photography

by gaby

You guys. I feel like this shoot is my very own Valentine’s gift. To me, from an awesome team of suppliers, including stylist Sarah Reynolds and photographer Christy-Lee Hosking of Pickle Photography. And from me to you. I absolutely fell in LOVE with this dreamy beach styled shoot the minute it landed in my inbox – the soft Jose Villa-esque quality of a chair amid the dunes and the sky, the beautiful barefoot bride and groom (who are a real couple, how gorgeous are they?) – and who could resist dresses that included a pale blue ballerina skirt? I’m just so smitten by every image, and in a completely non-cheesy way, I think it captures the very essence of romance on this, the most romantic of days. I loved that the team took a pared-down approach, and focused on the love, because as much as we get excited over pretty details here, the love is always, ALWAYS what matters most. So huge thanks to the team for sharing it with us… and here’s wishing you a day full of real love.Read More

Karoo Farm Engagement by HisGlory-Photography Love

by gaby

Afternoon, SouthBound Brideys, and just enough time for me to share one last love story with you today (as well as some spectacular Karoo scenery – how beautiful is this country of ours?). Stefan and Yolandi’s ‘how they met’ is adorable (and proposal amazing too!), and since in a way it was Stefan’s farm that brought them together, it seems like the most appropriate place for them to have had their engagement shoot with HisGlory-Photography Love, together with their sweet dogs (you know how I love dogs by now!). It’s the perfect way to finish off our celebration of love on Valentine’s Eve.Read More

Adventure Proposal by Judith Doubell

by gaby

We’re continuing our day of real love stories with another gorgeous proposal/engagement shoot, this time from Grahamstown photographer Judith Doubell. Judith’s dear friend Louis asked for her help in planning (as well as photographing) the perfect proposal for his girlfriend Esti on their visit from Johannesburg last year. Judith not only helped him pull off an incredibly romantic proposal, but involved a number of local creatives, which is very cool. When Judith ‘left for work’ that day, she suggested the couple go for coffee at a nearby roastery, where they were presented with a hand-drawn treasure hunt map and instructions to take photos of themselves at all the city’s points of interest. Everything was planned to perfection, from their walk around town to a friend driving them to a guest house for a picnic (where Judith was secretly hiding in the bushes with her camera). Stashed in a box of macaroons was a beautiful engagement ring, and Louis got down on one knee and secured an excited “yes!” from Esti, before enjoying champagne and a spontaneous engagement shoot. How cute is that? You can read the full story (and check out the couple’s instagrams from their treasure hunt) on Judith’s blog.Read More

V&A Waterfront Proposal by Photofuzion

by gaby

I promised you a week of Valentine’s celebrations and today is going to be an unabashed celebration of love. You know, love, the reason we’re all here, right? I am such a romantic – one of my favourite things is how every couple has a unique story, a unique interlacing of tiny miracles that work together to bring two people together. A proposal is more than just a cumulation of those miracles into a categorical Yes, it’s also another unique part of each couple’s love story. So needless to say, I love the proposal stories almost as much as the ‘how we met’s. This morning we not only get to bask in Ridwan and Rukoya’s happy glow, but we actually get to see the moment he proposed – how cool is that?

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Cymbeline Paris 2014 Collection

by gaby

Afternoon, brideys! Since this is our Week of Lurve, I couldn’t NOT let us spend a little time in the City of Love itself, Paris. Because, as you know, Paris is always a good idea, right? ;) This little slice of amour comes courtesy of one of my favourite international wedding dress design houses, Cymbeline. I am a big fan of the romantic Cymbeline gowns, but I must admit that I’m also smitten by the fact that their lookbook is beautifully shot around Paris each year, so it’s double the loveliness and inspiration. And while you may not be tying the knot in France, there’s no reason why you can’t bring a bit of Parisian panache to your bridal style. So come with me, as we jet off for a few moments to the most romantic place in the world, to enjoy some favourites from the latest Cymbeline collection.Read More