Other - SouthBound Bride

Reader Survey 2012

17 September, 2012 by gaby

Good morning, friends! Can you believe it’s been four months since I relaunched SouthBound Bride? On the one hand, it seems like it’s been forever, and the old branding and website is a distant memory. On the other, these months have flown by! But now that we’ve all settled into our new home, looked around a bit, found our favourite spot on the furniture, I have a favour to ask of you, my lovely readers. If you could give five minutes of your time to answering this year’s reader survey before today’s inspiration board appears shortly, I would be hugely grateful. I promise there’s not too many questions, but it’ll give you a chance to give feedback on the site – on what works for you and what doesn’t, what you love and want more of, and what you think could be improved. Last year’s survey resulted in real developments – for example, lots of you said you wanted to see more real weddings, and South African weddings and suppliers outside of the Cape, and now that’s exactly what we do, with three real weddings a week from around the country. Or the fact that you asked for more on hen nights and bridal showers, and that’s been a growing area. So I really do take on board what you say, and I would love it if you would take part. This isn’t just for brides and grooms – wedding suppliers, there are a few questions in there specifically for you too!

I’m hoping you’ll do this just because you want to make the site the best it can be for you, but as an extra incentive, I’ll be giving away a little prize to one random person (you don’t have to leave your name and email address unless you want to enter the draw). The final contents will depend on what kind of reader wins it, but it will definitely include a copy of the fantastic Irrevent A-Z Wedding Guide: South Africa, which is a brilliant read no matter which side of the industry you’re on.

A huge, huge THANK YOU in advance… You can enter the survey by clicking on the image below or right here.

Let Them Eat Wedding Cake #4: The Cake

10 September, 2012 by gaby

What isn’t there to love about cake?

A cake is an experience. From the whisking and mixing of the ingredients to its delicate artistic finishing it is a feast for the every sense. A cake is a birthday with re-lightable candles, a celebration, a gathering, a gesture of love. It’s happiness on a sunny day, sprinkling breadcrumbs in the garden for the birds and eagerly waiting for your mum to call your name to lick the spatula. It’s running through excitedly and devouring every last bit of the raw cake batter goodness, sometimes wondering why it ought to be baked at all. It’s that distinct, warm scent of deliciousness that makes you hold your hands over your face whilst you stare longingly into the oven, barely waiting for your creations to achieve the much anticipated golden brown colouring. It’s wearing pearls in the kitchen pretending to be Julia Child. Indeed, a cake is a memory, and so being, is a wedding decision deserving of some thought.

In the movie Father of the Bride, wedding planner Franck suggests that one begin the planning process by thinking of the cake, as the cake will determine the wedding that one ends up having. The cake suggests colour, formality, tone, and in line with Franck’s advice, choosing the cake was actually the very first wedding planning decision that I remember making… A 2005 decision to be exact! :) Flipping through a magazine, I had seen it, torn it out and kept it. A decision easily made, and a cake I just can’t wait to see!

Recently, however, it is actually this, the Father of the Bride movie cake, that I have found myself staring at bizarrely often. The rich butter coloured cake seems to almost twinkle with the magic, warmth and comfort of the Disney classic and seems to say ‘wedding’ with an inspired confidence.

Featured in My Wedding Day

7 September, 2012 by gaby

A while back you might remember me mentioning a shoot I was co-styling, loosely based on the Sparkle & Blush inspiration board I created last year and featuring the gorgeous matching Invitation Gallery stationery suite. Well, I am thrilled to announce that brides-to-be in South Africa can finally see the results in the brand new My Wedding Day, which should be out in shops next week! (Although you’ll have to fight my mom for a copy if you’re in Westville.) You can also read all about the amazing team of suppliers I worked with, including photographer Chanelle Segerius-Bruce and stylist Louise of b.loved Weddings, and find Louise’s top tips for recreating the look or adapting it for your own wedding. We had so much fun putting it together – I just hope you love it as much as I do!

I have to say that women’s magazines (particularly South African ones) are very close to my heart – I used to read my mom’s stack of Fair Ladys literally from cover to cover, many times over, and in fact I wonder why I went into books instead of mags (actually, I think it was because I didn’t want to write, which is ironic for a now-blogger, right?). As much as I love the online world, featuring in a South African magazine for the first time makes this little journey of mine feel more real, and I’m really quite proud and excited! Big thank you to everyone I worked with (full list below) and to the lovely Chanel over at MWD – it was a pleasure working with you and I can’t wait to see a copy!

Let Them Eat Wedding Cake #3: The Venue

3 September, 2012 by gaby

From the moment the ring is slipped onto your finger and your betrothal gleefully announced, a couple is advised to quickly find and secure two things that can become booked up over a year and a half in advance – the venue and the photographer. Indeed, not only are these some of the first tasks in the wedding planning process, but also some of the most important.

Being a tad wedding crazy (as mentioned in prior posts), I had already spent endless hours looking for venues online and had seen many a beautiful property, but nothing ‘us’. Staring at my computer screen, nothing had made me shout “THAT’S IT!” at an audibility common only to those of us with farm upbringings, or childhood operatic aspirations. Well… that’s not entirely true. We had found the perfect place months before the engagement. A place that would have effortlessly pulled off the theme in question and that we both loved. But it had only been able to seat 80 guests, which despite my initial fairly deep denial, I soon came to realise simply wasn’t realistic for us.

And so with the realisation that our wedding was only a year away, the euphoric “it’s my birthday everyday” engagement feelings began to be replaced by a rather palpable anxiety felt right in the centrepoint of my chest. Waste time and lose the perfect venue. We had to find a venue!Read More

Let Them Eat Wedding Cake #2: The Inspiration

27 August, 2012 by gaby

I think it’s a gut thing. Or an equilibrium thing. Or something to do with getting that sense of peace and calm and ‘wow, I can imagine it this way’ feeling. That’s how I knew that the church was ‘the one’, that’s how I chose my dress, it’s how I chose my cake, and it’s how I have been trying to choose all the many things in between. And so when we started thinking about themes and places that have inspired us, it didn’t take us long to decide.

Versailles. Paris. Does one really need reason to be inspired by such things? I had heard of the beauty and magic of France and was proud of my French heritage, but it wasn’t until I’d climbed up from the metro and experienced it, that I really knew. And I say experienced because it wasn’t just a storybook-like beauty that greeted me, but an air of something, a feeling, a magic – you couldn’t get this from pictures. “Every man has two countries – his own and France”, and we felt just that as we stood looking over the Seine with perfect snowflakes falling ever so gently, or when we went back in the spring and sat around a fountain in the Jardin des Tuileries eating our breakfast baguettes. Paris swept us off our feet, filling our minds with possibilities and creative aspirations. A day trip to Versailles made the word ‘wow’ seem completely overused, but it was on a return trip to Marie Antoinette’s Petite Trianon and Hamlet where we really found the four-year-old-in-Disneyland, ‘I can’t quite believe this is real’ type of happiness. And so that was it. Marie Antoinette had seemed to love beautiful things – dresses, cakes, shoes, opera – interests which she’d famously indulged, but she’d also loved nature, and the sanctuary of her Hamlet. And these are the elements we would like to bring into our wedding. There will be no palace or attempts at creating one, but perhaps the finer things might be brought through in the details. Marie Antoinette enjoying tea in her garden perhaps. Royal, but familiar.

When I picture our wedding I picture one of three things. The first is the ceremony, walking down the aisle with my dad, and seeing Justin waiting for me at the altar; another is an aerial view of myself, arms out and spinning slowly, taking all the prettiness in, taking in the magnitude of the day, trying to store it all in memory, and trying my very best not to let it pass too quickly. The third is more of a feeling that accompanies the image of myself staring at our finishing reception through a window, feeling excited, happy, content. Feeling that everyone knows how much we love them, everyone knows how incredibly special they are, people are happy, and that it was a good day.

Enjoy the prettiness!

Sources: Flower girl {S: Tamara Menges; P: Archetype Studio Inc.}; dress with flowers; macaroons with rings {S: Plan On Forever Events; P: Ruth Eileen Photography}; pink shoes {S:Catherine Sheppard of The Life Styled; P: Elizabeth Messina}; rose with ring {S: Lovelee Affairs; P: Paperlily Photography}; Laduree cake; Marie Antoinette’s hamlet; film stills from Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola (2006); escort cards with carnations {S: Before I Do Events; P: Josh Elliott Photography}

Let Them Eat Wedding Cake #1: The Proposal

13 August, 2012 by gaby

That’s right, you guys! It’s time for a brand new real life bride series, and I am SO excited! I was so totally overwhelmed by the response to my call for a new RLB a few weeks back – not just by the number of submissions, but by your enthusiasm and willingness to share your ideas and stories with me. It was truly heartwarming, and a reminder of how privileged I am to do what I do. In the end, I couldn’t bear to choose just one, so today I am thrilled to announce that you’ll be meeting not just one but THREE new Real Life Brides, who will be taking you on their wedding planning journeys! The posts will be staggered to accommodate the different wedding dates, so you’ll meet brides 2 & 3 later, but today I get to introduce you to the very lovely Candice, our Marie Antoinette bride! Candice charmed me with her introduction email (excerpt: “I love Downton Abbey and avoid the sun in an attempt to acquire skin as pale as lady Mary’s… I think that the time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time and that eating and sleeping are two perfectly respectable ways of spending one’s time. And if I could, I would wear a wedding dress every day for the rest of my life.”) She has her eye on Versailles for inspiration, and she’ll be telling you all about it in the coming weeks. For now, a huge WELCOME to Candice – don’t forget to show her some love in the comments! :)

Five Brides

15 June, 2012 by gaby

Good morning friends! I have something a little different for you today, but I absolutely love it! A trash-the-dress/rock-the-frock session with a difference! I was intrigued when I spotted these pics over on Joanne Markland‘s blog, of five bonny brides walking along a Cape Town beach. It turned out that this was a very special photo shoot put together by five cousins: Hailey, Melissa, Leigh, Rene and Robynne-Leigh. The girls decided that, once the last of them got married, they would all get back into their wedding dresses one more time and have photographs taken together. Jo shot Robynne’s wedding last year, and soon after, the cousins came to her with their idea.

Unfortunately on the day it was extremely windy and cold, but this didn’t dampen anyone’s excitement and enthusiasm as they put on their sneakers and played princess on Sunset Beach near Milnerton. As they said: “it was great fun and created memories… ones we will never forget”.

What do you think? Would you rock the frock with your besties?Read More

The Cape Luxury Experience

8 June, 2012 by gaby

Happy Friday, SouthBound brides! Almost the weekend! One thing I haven’t had much of a chance to do since I relaunched the site is to tell you about what I got up to when I was in South Africa, and today I want to share a particularly awesome day I had last week in Cape Town. (Can it really be JUST last week?) But it didn’t start off awesome. Nooo. I’d got up and glammed up, only to be comprehensively rained on while I packed the boot of my rental car. And I don’t rain on pretty, let me tell you. Frizz deluxe, mascara everywhere, damp, limp cardigan. I looked awesome. I had errands to run, and ended up being super late to meet the wonderful Vicki of I Want That Wedding for coffee (having been rained on AGAIN walking all the way up Kloof Street because OMG-where-is-the-parking-in-Cape-Town?). She took one look at me and burst out laughing, which was the only appropriate response really. So by the time I made it back down the hill to see my friends at Wedding Concepts (who you’ll know from the beautiful weddings they have co-ordinated that I have featured here), I was feeling more cheerful but still pretty frazzled.

But of course, the WC crew are used to frazzled nerves, since they deal with stressed out brides on a daily basis. They took me in and fed me cupcakes and cappuccino, and told me all about their rebrand into the Concepts Collection. Pretty snazzy, I can tell you (just look at the new wedding blog!). This now encompasses weddings, travel and events, and they told me all about how these work together harmoniously for someone planning their South African wedding. Think: plan your wedding, get your guests over at the best travel rates (all part of the service) and then spoil them with some pre- or post-wedding events. How much fun is that? I particularly liked the way they think of all of these as ‘experiences’. Especially for brides and grooms (or their families) who are travelling to SA, there are so many amazing experiences to be had in our gorgeous homeland. And then came the best part: I was lucky enough to be treated to my very own ‘experience’. Yep, I am SPOILT. Be jealous.

Featured in You & Your Wedding

31 May, 2012 by gaby

That’s right, friends – I am super excited to announce that UK readers can now find a bit of SouthBound Bride goodness in the latest You & Your Wedding, which is on sale now. I can’t wait to get hold of a copy myself!

You’ll have to buy the mag to get all the details, but for now, I can tell you that you’ll find some awesome decor and fashion inspiration. Early this year, I teamed up with the amazing Chanelle Segerius-Bruce and super stylist Louise of b.loved Weddings (as well as a team of fabulous people) to take the Sparkle & Blush concept to the next level. It’s pretty, it’s glam, and it’s totally do-able. You’ll be hearing a LOT more about the shoot and South African brides will have the chance to see it soon too! In the meantime, check out this behind the scenes video exclusively on the YYW site.