You know how there are those women who have a rare luminescent quality, so that when they walk into a room, all the light seems to be drawn toward them? Today’s gorgeous (and thoroughly lovely) bride, Brinley, is one of those women (and I can say that because I know her). Rupert must have felt like all his Christmases had come at once when she said “I do”, and you just have to look at her face to see that the feeling is completely mutual. When I heard that Brin was working with the Wedding Concepts team to organise her wedding from her home in London, I knew it would be beautiful, and with a venue like Vrede en Lust, even more so. But what I really love is how the joy just jumps off the screen at you (captured faultlessly, as always, by the wonderful Joe Dreyer). This is the perfect mix of British charm and South African sunshine (including Zulu dancers leading the couple from the ceremony to cocktail hour), and I’m beyond excited to share it with you!Read More
Yaaaaay! We’re back with Part 2 of the Swan Wedding reveal!! So exciting!
A get-away car was not something I ever really thought much of, but when my mom sent me a photo of this beautiful old cream Citroen, Dirk’s and my hearts were completely set on it. What I didn’t know, was that my awesome brother and his wonderful girlfriend created special bunting (which matched the rest of our wedding perfectly) as a surprise pressie for us. Awesome, right!?! Aw, they even added a Just Married Emergency Kit filled with some munchies and Red Bull so that we could regain our energy for the ‘Groot Partytjie’ (for our English-speaking readers this means “big party” – while being engaged Dirk and I never spoke of ‘Our Wedding’ but always called it ‘Our Big Party’) which was to follow!
In terms of decor, we brought in more neutral tones in the reception area, with gorgeous French linen runners from Domaine du Cap in Paarl and whitewashed crates filled with white flowers. The pops of red, were created by filling brown paper bags with delicious bright cherries. Nom nom! I also made sure the menus and place names added that touch of colourful fun to the dining table, and Dirk’s and my ‘mascot’, a cardboard deer trophy we lovingly call Mumford, took centre stage at the bridal table.
We were dead set on our guests having a brilliant time. For Dirk, that means great music, so together with our ‘third Muskateer’ he spent time compiling the perfect playlist for our Big Party. It meant so much to us hearing all our favourite songs and we got the people dancing to classic hits such as Brother Louis. Even our uncles and aunts were on the dancefloor!
Being traditionalists at heart, we also added all the conventional thrills such as bouquet tossing, garter scrambling and even had activity boards prompting our guest to interact with the speeches by singing the traditional songs such as “Kinders by dosyne” and “Lank sal hul lewe” (basically the Afrikaans versions of “Jolly good fellow”).
A detail which definitely had the guests reaching for more was our cookie buffet. You see, I love a good cookie, so we decided that we would swap desert for a cookie buffet which doubled up as a favour too. I baked dozens of mouth-watering yummies (think, toffee caramel and gingerbread couples!). Annari from Nelle Cakes made the most beautiful hearts and zoo biscuits. Friends and family pitched in, and Delsma added delicious white chocolate wedding cupcakes until we had a table heaving with goodness. My brother hand silkscreened hundreds of cookie bags and Dirk’s sister gave us the wooden Bride and Groom topper as a gift.
I made a conscious effort to take every moment in – I didn’t want the day to fly by as so many people had said it would. And it was funny, the day felt exceptionally long (in a better than good way!) and I can remember so many mind blowing moments in absolute detail: the exchange of the ‘this is it’ with my maid of honour just before walking into the church, Dirk’s face when my dad and I walked down the aisle, the exuberant shower of popcorn once we could say we are now Mr and Mrs, all the hugs and kisses when we welcomed the guests at our pre-drinks area, the applause walking into the reception hall, our first dance as newlyweds…
But when asked what was my absolute favourite moment, I cannot say. If pushed I will say that walking down the aisle was it – tears were streaming down Dirk’s face, the music was overwhelmingly beautiful (a good friend played ‘Comptine d’un Autre ete: l’apres midi’ from the soundtrack of my favourite movie, Amelie, on the piano) and I was so aware of being surrounded by all the people we love and cherish. But even better was the moment I realized just how amazingly loved Dirk and I are: probably 70% of the guests flew all the way from Gauteng to attend our special day, Dirk’s parents drove over 1700km with their car filled to the brim with ‘wedding’ and never complained even once, my parents who enabled everything – they would have moved the earth if we had asked them to! My brother hand silkscreened the cookie bags, played courier, played driver and together with his girlfriend, Marike, make over a 100m of bunting; my aunt probably baked 300 custard cookies (if not more!). I can carry on forever about all the love we felt the weekend of our Swan Wedding – my good friend even flying from London just to be there, Dirk’s aunt who took so much care with the flowers, all the hands that helped set up (you guys rule!) and all the beautiful words of encouragement on the night (and re-felt when opening the mountain of gifts and beautiful cards). It was all pretty overwhelming, but amazing and I know I felt like the luckiest girl alive.
From Dirk, the groom (yes, we finally let him speak!): Funny how the big day just creeps up on you, although you’ve planned for it for such a long time in advance. I will never ever forget the sight of Anelle and her father coming down the aisle. That image is burnt into my memory forever and it’s one of my favourites for sure. Looking so elegant and beautiful, I saw my friend, my love, and my life from now on. I couldn’t be happier. Although I cried (a little bit), our wedding was all about being comfortable and having a blast with all our friends and family. It felt special to sit alongside my ever smiling lawfully wedded wifey, as well as my old and new family at the main table, taking it all in, sharing in the culmination of so much planning and preparation which I experienced first-hand. That, and getting to contribute to what was definitely a fantastic celebration, with all of my friends down in the “Boland” which I now call home, having fun and laughs until the wee hours of the morning. I look at all these pictures and I can honestly say it is EXACTLY how I experienced the whole day and evening. A great day and evening indeed.
Dirk and Anelle: You guys… THANK YOU for sharing your wedding journey with all of us. It’s been a privilege. I couldn’t be happier for you, or wish you more love and joy in your lives together. xx
Service providers:
Venue & catering: Delsma Farm Photography: welovepictures Stationery: Seven Swans Flowers: Anette van Brauershaven Bride’s dress:Lunar Bride’s shoes: Trenery Earrings: Ida Elsje Groom’s suit: Sesto Sento (Willowbridge Mall) Wedding bands: Ivan Bancroft Groom and groomsmen’s rosettes: Hill’s Rosettes contact Sue Eveleigh ([email protected]) Hair: Riana Ehlers Makeup:Iza Loubser Wedding Car: Kontrei Toere Bunting: Me Thinks (Marike Jordaan) Cookies:Nelle Cakes
I once had a boyfriend who woke me up on my birthday with champagne for breakfast, a very generous Harrods voucher, and the promise of a day of shoe shopping. That was pretty exciting. I kind of feel the same today, because I’ve been anticipating this wedding (along with many of you) for so long! Today I can finally reveal in all its splendour the wedding of our real life bride, Anelle Mostert of Seven Swans, who kept us wrapped up in her planning process and inspiration for much of last year without ever giving away too many of her wedding secrets (you can read the full series here). When Anelle and I first came up with the idea of Real Life Bride (Swan Wedding), I had no idea just how much enthusiasm and effort she would put into her posts, or that she would become a dear friend. And you guys, she made THE. most. beautiful. bride. She and her handsome husband, Dirk, look like a pair of rockstars and I am just blown away by all of the amazing details as you’ll see from their pictures. And oh, the pictures. Not only is this one of my favourite weddings ever, not only am I thrilled to bring you the big reveal, but I also get to feature images from the absolutely incredible welovepictures (happy dance!). Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know Travis and Maike are big news in wedding photography (not just in South Africa) and they have knocked this one for a six. Seriously, I could go on and on, because their collective eye is just BEYOND… and more than that, sheer joy just shines out from their pictures. But I’m pretty sure they must be getting bored of hearing how amazing they are. It’s kind of a given at this point. So I’ll cut through the luvviness and just say wowthesepicsarestunning, and thank you so much Travis and Maike! Ok, here we go. (The post is in two parts with a FULL breakdown by Anelle, based loosely around the categories of her previous posts) so make sure to check back after lunch for LOTS more!
I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that I love all the weddings I feature here on Cap Classique. Because, let’s be honest, I have been blessed with some seriously unfreakingbelievable prettiness on this blog (and trust me, there’s lots more in the honey jar). But sometimes I don’t realise quite how MUCH I love a wedding until I’m busy putting the pictures together and I start to get butterflies thinking how gorgeous it is and how much you guys are going to love it. Which is exactly how I feel about Chené and Andy’s wedding at Natte Valleij. When I start throwing around words like ‘vintage romance’ and ‘secret garden’ you know it’s going to be beautiful, and boy is it ever. The details are just beyond gorgeous (my favourite is the hanging birdcages – WOW) and the bride and groom look like they stepped straight out of a fashion shoot. It’s pretty much perfect, so get ready to fall in love too! Oh, but first I get to introduce you to Chené and Andy’s photographer. Abigail Klopper of Abigail K Photography is not only an up-and-coming Cape Town snapper, but she’s also leading the way in getting the wedding industry up on their social media. This is one savvy chick, and I’m very excited to have her here on the blog!Read More
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.
So let’s talk awesome ideas. Penicillin, the printing press, electricity. Wine. We like that one. The White Company. Yep. I’m not sure if my readers in the US or South Africa even know what I’m talking about, but the White Company is GENIUS. Everything they sell… is white. White linens. Thick white Egyptian cotton towels. Bathrobes. Candles that smell so good I want to eat them. Lots of lovely white goodies that I want to put in my big, luxurious white fantasy house. Which looks a lot like Diane Keaton’s in As Good as it Gets, and overlooks Camps Bay (hey, it’s a fantasy). There’s something about white on white that makes me feel happy and free. It’s so… clean. Which is why I pore over every White Company catalogue and pretend I live inside it. Which is also why I love the white-tastic Kleinevalleij wedding venue near Wellington. I have been dying to feature an all-white wedding from there ever since I saw it and today, my friends, the day has arrived. And what a wedding it is! Captured in stunning colour by the wonderful Adene of Adene Photography, it’s full of clean lines and clever details dreamt up by the super stylish bride, Madri, and her team of talented suppliers. From the soft white blooms to the glow from the white paper lanterns, it is perfection. And my favourite touch? Madri’s personalised quote napkins. Seriously gorgeous. So sit back. Enjoy. Pretend you live inside this wedding. I know I am.
Charles and I met through mutual friends at the Gimnasium and Paarl Boys High inter-schools (a huge event every year in Paarl). He was 24 and I was 21, both very young with the same zest for life. We love the outdoors and try to spend as much time outside as possible. He is a winemaker by profession and I am a liquidator. Charles and I liked each other from the word go, we had the same interests and I knew immediately that he would be my husband one day. In the first two years we didn’t see each other often as he was doing harvests overseas and I was completing my legal studies, but as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder! Every time we saw one another was magical and we grew closer and closer wanting more and more time with one another… With his last harvest in Mexico he bought me a ticket to New York where he went down on one knee on top of the Empire State Building and asked me to marry him. I said yes ;-) And the planning started…
I always knew I wanted to get married in spring. It’s the most beautiful time of year for me in South Africa – everything is green and the weather is perfect. Charles moved to his family farm in 2007 and now farms with pears, peaches, nectarines, pomegranates and figs near Tulbagh, with a small wine cellar (boutique wines). I decided on my colour scheme years before the wedding when he took me to see the farm for the first time in spring 2006 – I fell in love with the white blossoms of the pear trees and decided then and there that my wedding colour (one day) would be white. A fairytale white wedding, with lots of blossoms. We used the blossoms effect in our wedding invitation as well, with a poem written by Charles.
We got married at Kleinevalleij in Wellington. The venue is situated at the foot of Bainskloofpass with the most amazing view of the mountains. I drove past it on my way to the farm one evening and decided to go have a look. I walked in and phoned my husband five minutes later to tell him I had found our venue! It was only the third venue I viewed and I did not need to see any others – it’s a stunning venue with amazing staff (Anelma, Maudre and Hannes). Everything right up to the leather couches outside on the patio is white, so I was one step closer to my all-white fairytale wedding.
I found two wedding blogs called It’s a Jaime Thing and Style me Pretty from which I got most of my ideas and pictures for the wedding. I wanted different flowers in various holders on each table, and everything and anything white from blossoms to veldlillies and Nico Loubscer of Paarl who did my flowers and décor, a true genius with magic fingers, had the best ideas and knew immediately what I was looking for. I gave him a couple of pictures and said surprise me, and I had enough faith in him to let go and give him the freedom to do whatever he wanted with the décor and flowers… I loved every little detail of every table! As I said, the man is amazing! I love quotes and words of wisdom and decided to print one for each guest and fold it around their napkin. We chose each quote carefully for every guest – I think this took longer than anything else!
The highlight of my day was of course getting married to my best friend, my lover, my partner in crime, the man of my dreams, the ONE I want to grow old with! The only time I cried the whole day was when we walked into the venue together to Queen’s Born to Love You and everyone we love so dearly was there to share this magical day with us (out of 130 invitations, only ten people couldn’t make it!). During the evening I took a couple of seconds every now and then to stand still and take it all in – to see our friends and family laughing, dancing and enjoying themselves. We had so much fun with all our guests! Before the main course we made sure we went round to say hello to every single guest, and then after dinner it was party time!
Our whole mission was not to have the perfect wedding, but to throw the perfect party! For our canapé/starter we had a spread of breads and biscuits, preserves, cheeses and patés, as well as butternut and apple soup served with bread sticks. I ordered wooden cutlery from Green Home and used rub-on letters to write the different cheese and paté names on each spoon. I have lots of baskets, boxes, and other containers on the farm, which I gave to our caterers to use for this bread table to create a farm vibe. For our dessert, we went high tea style with all our favourites: cheesecakes, pecan pies, brandy snaps with fresh berries and cream, crème brulee, dark chocolate mousse cakes and small sugar cones with vanilla ice cream (a fave of mine). We had disposable cameras with props (tiaras, moustaches, etc.) and we have the coolest photos and memories from that and from our DJ who also started taking photos later in the evening.
I decided from the word go that I was going to enjoy planning my wedding. It only happens once! I chose my service providers very carefully, mostly working from references or taking notes from weddings we attended. I can recommend every single one of them! I met with them, explained to them what I wanted on our day and gave them a lot of pictures to work from, and on the day, I was most probably one of the most relaxed brides ever!
Congratulations to you, Madri and Charles! Wishing you every happiness. And a big thank you to Adene for sharing her gorgeous photos – great to have you on the blog again! You can see more of this wedding on her blog here.
A lot of brides and grooms these days want something different for their weddings. To stand out from the crowd, and give their friends and family something to talk about. Some really go out of their way to achieve this – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But being different doesn’t always mean you have to do something wild and crazy. It can be a whole host of small touches that add up to an overall experience. (Aha, you knew I was going to start talking about details again, didn’t you?) That’s what today’s couple did. They wanted something a little out of the ordinary, and so they booked a beautiful and unique venue – Beloftebos (one of my personal favourites) is set in a forest with an oak canopy so thick it actually fulfils South Africa’s indoor marriage regulations! Then they chose gorgeous, indigenous flowers (some of which I’ve never seen in a wedding before) and decked their tables with topiaries instead of bouquets. They complemented these with elegant charcoal bridesmaid dresses, hanging hearts and pretty stationery, and served yummy rustic food. And then they topped it all off with a rock band. When you put all that together, it’s really special, and I bet their guests felt really special being there. All of this loveliness is brought to life through the lens of the wonderful Nikki Meyer, a big Cap Classique favourite! Welcome back, Nikki!
Zelda sent over some background on the day – I just love how her enthusiasm shines through in everything she says! One lazy summer evening during a braai at our friends’ place, I noticed the only guy there who wasn’t wearing shoes and was immediately intrigued. I made my move and told him he had gorgeous feet, taking photos of them. By 11pm the meat was in the oven and we were starving… Well, they always say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and that was true in this case! We ended up sitting on our haunches on the kitchen floor with me feeding him chops. Then, like Cinderella I jumped in my 4×4 and drove off into the night. I didn’t lose a slipper but I made a big impression! About a month later friends invited me for a weekend away and to my surprise, in the little fisherman’s town of Velddrif, there he was, the man who won my heart and the beginning of my life as a wife and his as a husband.
One cold windy Friday, Giulio rocked up at home with so much energy, suggesting we should go take photos on the beach. I looked at him thinking he was crazy, but went along with it. We stopped at Blouberg Beach to take photos of the shipwreck and were there for quite a while and just as the sun set, with me capturing the shot and him standing behind me with his arms around me, I looked down and there it was. A royal blue box with a beautiful diamond! My word, I always said “I’m not a bling person” but I must admit, I LOOOOOOVEE my ring! Oh, but let me get back to my story, I was so shocked that no words came to mind. The excitement got the better of me and I just could not stop laughing! Giulio actually had to calm me down and ask me what my answer was. And of course it was yes, yes, yes!
We wanted our wedding to be a celebration and to be different from other traditional weddings. We were first going to get married on the West Coast and drove up one Saturday, but nothing appealed to us and we stopped for a quick bite with friends. One of them suggested Beloftebos and we immediately jumped in our car and drove all the way to Stanford. When we got to the venue, we just knew: ‘this is it’.
I must admit, almost until the very end, I had no idea of what colour scheme I wanted. The only colour I had was the bridesmaids’ dresses and that was charcoal. Our invites were printed on cream paper and we used charcoal there as well. I love trees and used an old oak tree to symbolize our wedding as we were going to get married under oak trees.
My mother is so special to me, and I was lucky enough to have her do most of the decorating herself (with a bit of guidance from me! ;) ). We used my dining room table as inspiration and except for the crystals and hearts (which are so my mom!) everything was similar to the way I have it at home. I wanted to keep everything natural with a bit of French flair and so we only used topiary trees on the tables and local fynbos (indigenous flora) for bouquets – mine was sewejaartjies (helichrysum). These indigenous trees and flowers, unique to South Africa and our environment, were one of the elements that made our wedding special.
Highlights of the wedding? My husband was the best thing, of course! And although the venue created great ambiance, it was my friends and family that completed the celebration of our promise to each other. We also loved having a live band (Crimson) – not many people have a rock band at their wedding for entertainment!
In the end, it definitely wasn’t the usual beach or wine farm wedding. Just as we wanted, it was different, and as unique as our relationship.
CONGRATULATIONS, Zelda and Giulio!! Wishing you both a wonderful life together! And a big thank you as always to Nikki Meyer – you can catch more of this lovely wedding over on her blog.
So. Imagine the story of a girl who dreams of wide open spaces and a boy who shares that dream. They meet, they fall in love, and they begin to live their dream together. On a farm, full of big-eyed cows and golden fields. There’s a ring and a proposal, and they plan a wedding. But more than anything else, they want the wedding to be a celebration of the dream that they share – of this life that they love. So they have it on a farm, and they invite not just their favourite people but their favourite animals to come along as well. They have their photos taken with cows (cows called Penelope & Xerox!), give their guests carafes as gifts, and place local flowers in dairy urns around the venue. They keep it simple, and rustic – dairy chic, if you will. And to top it all off, they serve milk instead of champagne for the toasts. Would you not fall head over hooves for such a story, and such a wedding, and for the sweet couple who planned it? Because I know I did, pretty much the minute that photographer Claire King (Photography by Claire Nicola) sent over her dreamy pics for me to look at. And now I get to share it with you, yay!Read More
I never cease to be amazed by how beautiful my home country is. Despite having seen some truly awe-inspiring places on my travels, nowhere quite makes my heart soar the way that South Africa does. The big sky, the variety of flora and fauna, the African-ness of it. When photographer Jacques Lloyd of Real Simple Photography kindly sent over Ilanie and Johan’s wedding at Galgeberg Resort in McGregor, it reminded me of that. The scenic backdrop of the ceremony is just… beyond. It reminds me of a line from one of our national anthems, which roughly translates as: “over our eternal mountain ranges/where the cliffs give answer”. It is without doubt a very special place for two people to promise to spend their lives together, and what makes this wedding even more special is that it was the first one that Galgeberg has hosted. I’m super excited to be able to share it with you today.
If you look up elegance in a dictionary, you’ll find alongside a mention of grace and taste, the concept of elegance as something cleverly simple. So whichever way you define it, elegance is what today’s wedding is all about. A bride in a beautiful dress, carrying a single rose-flanked protea. Poised. Stunning. A lovely guest house for preparations. Bridesmaids in the softest shade of pink. A groom at home in his suit. A succulent boutonniere. A vineyard reception. Wooden tables. Damask. Little sprigs of brunia on the napkins. Simple gifts of fudge and cigars, charmingly presented. Every detail is perfectly formed, and each has its place in the whole. It’s cleverly simple, and tasteful and graceful. It’s elegant. Which makes it the perfect match for photographer Joanne Markland, whose photographs are always pure elegance. And how much do I love, love, love the final pic in this series – the way that no matter what wedding craziness is going on around them, the bride and groom share a moment of stillness and connection. So whatever craziness the working day holds for you, take a moment for yourself here too, and enjoy.Read More
