Staying with our theme of bridesmaids today, I have some more lovely eye candy from the fabulous SBB photographer sponsors, who have opened their albums to share a gorgeous collection of bridesmaids – both ready-for-their-closeup and behind-the-scenes. I always think it’s a pity when I don’t see any pics of a bride and her girls – not only do their dresses bring a lot of colour and cohesion to the images (and after all the hours you spend picking them, why wouldn’t you want them to be seen?) but because the time spent between a girl and her best friends on the morning of her wedding is so precious and such a celebration of their friendship. When I was a BM for one of my besties, Nikki, a few years back, she decoupaged a gorgeous black and white of her with us two bridesmaids on a wooden box afterwards and filled it with prints from the wedding – still one of the nicest gifts I have ever received and one I treasure, along with a framed version of that pic. It reminds me not only of how special it was to be her witness that day, sharing bridesmaid duties, laughs and memories with the third of our trio, Tracy, but also of all the other special moments in our friendship. Today’s post is a tribute to that wonderful feeling, and also to all the jobs both big and small that BMs do to make sure that their bride has the day of her dreams.
Category: Featured suppliers
Fit for a Queen
So… you’ve met the man of your dreams, you’ve dated, you’ve met each other’s parents, you’ve realised you want to spend a lifetime together, and the moment you’ve been waiting for since you were a little girl has finally arrived. Not THAT big moment (we’ll assume he’s already popped the question) – the moment you get to go into a wedding boutique and play dress up. The first time you really get to feel like a bride, when your mom will well up and your best friends will sigh, and you’ll all drink champagne and say yes to the dress. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from visiting both high end boutiques and (sometimes slightly dodgy) budget ones with friends, not all dress fitting experiences are made equal. And nothing makes you feel less bridal than getting stuffed into a shabby sample by a grumpy assistant in a tiny changing room with peeling wallpaper and a curtain hanging precariously off the rail.
Fortunately, that doesn’t have to happen to you. If you read the blog regularly, you’ll know that a brand new branch of Olivelli has now opened in Cape Town, and as well as drop dead beautiful dresses, Olivelli is all about personalised service. Owner Natasha Colson, who was inspired to open her own branch after a blissful experience as a bride at the flagship Gauteng Olivelli store, is passionate about making all her brides and their guests feel like royalty when they come in for their fittings. More than just another wedding chore, it’s an experience.Read More
Supplier Spotlight: Tattyoo Temporary Art Tattoos
Favours. They’re kind of a pain, aren’t they? You want to give your guests a little something special, that reflects the design of your wedding, makes them feel special and appreciated, but doesn’t cost the earth. So you spend months making pots of jam following your grandmother’s recipe, and adding pretty lids and labels. Come the end of the night, half your guests have left them behind. So.Annoying. For that reason, I’ve become a big fan of favours guests can enjoy at the wedding itself or immediately afterwards, and today I have SUCH a cute one to share with you! I’ve seen temporary tattoo favours popping up in a few weddings over the last year, and I absolutely love them. Advantage one: they add something really fun and irreverent to proceedings, because they’re unexpected in a wedding context. Advantage two: they make for awesome photographs. Advantage three: they’re relatively inexpensive, and you don’t have to worry about your guests leaving them behind.Read More
Q&A with Stephanie Veldman
In our Reader Survey (if you haven’t completed this yet, you still can right here) one piece of feedback that has been coming through is that you’d like to know more about wedding pros. So I’m delighted to introduce you to Stephanie Veldman, a Cape Town-based photographer. Her photographs really caught my eye from the first time I saw them – they seem to have a special kind of radiance, which is of course exactly what you’re looking for on your wedding day. I wanted to find out more about her, so I asked Stephanie to answer a few questions for you all.
Brides Getting Ready {Sponsor Showcase}
To finish off your Friday, I’m trying something new here on SBB. I’m lucky enough to have some wonderful sponsors on the site, who make it possible for me to bring you beautiful inspiration on a daily basis. Many are talented photographers, and while we regularly feature their real weddings, I thought it would be nice to showcase their work on a monthly basis, so you can get a glimpse of their different styles. They’re all taking bookings right now, so if you like what you see, be sure to get in touch! We’re starting off, as any wedding day does, with images of the bride getting ready. My mom reminded me the other day of a wedding that happened in our street in Johannesburg when I was a very little girl, and not only do I clearly remember the awe that my best friend and I had for the bride in her white dress and veil, but I remember the photographer posing her looking into her mirror, and when I saw that picture I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Photography trends and techniques have changed as those years have gone by, but the images taken as you share special moments with your mom and bridesmaids, the nerves and anticipation, the sense of expectation as you finally put on The Dress (not to mention your immaculate hair and makeup), are going to be some of your most treasured. So without further ado, give it up for the talented SBB photographers!
Q&A with Essie Letterpress
Happy Friday, my lovelies! And time for me to introduce you to another fabulous South African service provider. Essie Letterpress is one of SBB’s sponsors, which I’m thrilled about because I love their work so much – not just the beautiful letterpress printing they offer, but the designs they produce as well. It makes me want to reach into my screen and stroke the invitations (is that a publishing thing? an obsession with paper?) just so I can feel those delicious indentations and smell the ink. My love affair with letterpress aside, Vanessa and Ben of Essie Letterpress are just the nicest people to work with, so I asked them to share some behind-the-scenes info and advice with my readers.
Hi Vanessa – thanks so much for taking the time to answer a few questions about your business! How did you get into letterpress?
I was living in San Francisco twelve years ago, whilst studying interior design, when I first came across letterpress, as one of my housemates was doing a part-time course. I immediately fell in love with it! I went on to work as an Interior Designer, but when I moved to a farm from Cape Town two and half years ago and wanted to do something creative, I instantly thought about starting a letterpress printing company. There was also a gap in the South African market for letterpress, so it seemed like the perfect venture.
As well as straightforward letterpress printing, what other services or products do you offer?
We offer a design service, and on the printing side we have just started doing hot foiling as well.
Q&A with The Desert Rose Project
Hello friends! First of all, my apologies if you stopped in yesterday and found the site down. The bad news is, it was kind of a stressful day sorting that out. The good news is that the reason it all went pear-shaped is because so many of you have been stopping in to check out SouthBound Bride. You crashed the server, y’all! Which is actually a great problem to have. :) Anyway, I’ve made a few improvements, and the site should actually load a little faster for you now too. Thanks for your patience!
On to today’s feature. I am absolutely thrilled to bring this one to you, because it has everything I love. Friendship, entrepreneurship, art and passion for details, and some good old South African ubuntu. What first caught my eye about the Desert Rose Project was the gorgeous wire hangers that had started popping up in South African brides’ dress pictures, a local cousin to a trend that started across the pond, but with a unique African twist. I loved them, but I had no idea where they came from. Then I started working with Yolande Snyders, a Cape Town photographer and one of SBB’s friends and sponsors. I found out that Desert Rose is a joint initiative by Yolande and her friend Tendai, a local wire artist. Not only do I love what Tendai creates, but I was dying to know more of the story and how this unique partnership came about, so I sent over a set of questions to the pair of them, and I’m sharing their answers with you today. I know you’re going to feel as much enthusiasm for this initiative as I do, not to mention wanting your very own piece of Desert Rose art to add an extra something special to your getting ready pictures!Read More
Olivelli Cape Town + WIN a Free Fitting
Good morning, SouthBound belles! I have some exciting news to share with you this morning. Those of you in Gauteng may be familiar with Olivelli, a dress boutique that carries some absolutely stunning, exclusive designs, and offers a unique, personal fitting experience. Well, good news for those of you in the Cape: Olivelli will be opening a branch at Tyger Valley next month!
Q&A with Piteira Photography
Happy Friday, friends! It’s been a crazy but wonderful week at SBB headquarters, as I take a bit of a break to enjoy the Olympics. I’ll tell you more about it on the weekend, but for now, let’s just say that I am super excited and proud for all our gold medal winners! And speaking of South African talent, I have an awesome (part-South African) duo to introduce you to this morning. I first came across Kerry and Luis of Piteira Photography when I featured their adorable engagement shoot right here on the blog, and after that I started following their gorgeous work both in South Africa (where they spend time every year) and in Portugal, and they have really just gone from strength to strength. Somehow we all managed to synch our schedules and catch up in Cape Town in March, and they were just as warm and lovely in person as they’d always seemed online. I love the story of how they met, and I wanted you to meet them too, and to hear a bit of what they’ve learned working in Europe as well as SA. I love the concept of a husband and wife team shooting a wedding – not only do you get two talented photographers and two lens perspectives, but you also get two creative minds. And I’ll give you an insider tip – Kerry and Luis just happen to still have dates available for December 2012, so drop them an email and let them know I sent you. ;) {Oh, and PS, come back later today for a special SBB announcement!}
Hi guys! Thanks so much for talking to me today! Tell us about how you met?
We met while working as photographers for a cruise-line company and worked together onboard for several years before moving to Portugal.
How did you get started in wedding photography?
Honestly, it was quite by accident. We never really thought about being wedding photographers because we didn’t really identify with the traditional, posed, cliché style that was predominant in the industry… we didn’t even think about it for long enough to consider that wedding photography didn’t have to be like that, until we were asked to photograph a wedding close to where we live. It was a last minute request and a favour for a friend so we took it on and it totally changed our minds about what wedding photography can be. The couple was madly artistic and gave us free reign to shoot whatever, however we wanted, the ceremony and decor was totally original, bohemian and completely non-traditional, we had the best time ever and at the end of the night we decided that if we could shoot weddings the way we shot that one, we could do this forever… and that was the beginning.Read More
William Clarke Flowers Workshop
Sometimes I get to do the coolest stuff. Like a couple of weeks ago, when I got a certain invitation in my inbox. Did I, it asked, want to go and hang with William Clarke Flowers and a bunch of fabulous wedding bloggers, learning to make a hand-tied bouquet while sipping champagne? Did I? Pff. Stupid question. So the following Saturday, off I went to the William Clarke studio in London. My dear friends Louise of b.loved and Amma of Beyond Beyond were there too, and I also got to meet the lovely Meryl of Homegrown Bride, Michele the Bridal Coach and of course Nicola of Propose PR, not to mention William Clarke himself, the delightful Brian, and associate Deborah Zwetsloot of Wedding Day Hire. (And you know that thing I said yesterday about South Africans secretly taking over the world? Well, William’s in on it. He’s a born and bred Saffa, who started out in hotels and moved into flowers, and now posh people pay him to make their dining room tables always look like they’ve been styled by Homes and Gardens.) So there we were, drinking Pimms and champagne before noon (well, it was five o’clock somewhere) and snacking on breakfasty canapes and generally just feeling impossibly glamorous. Brian and Deborah took us to see their secret stash of awesome in the showroom next door, where brides and grooms can have a full consultation to weigh up their decor options.Read More