Making the Most of Your Wedding Photos

by gaby

Hello lovelies! To start off your Friday, I asked Cheryl McEwan, a fab Cape Town photographer (and SouthBound Bride too!) to share some of her insider secrets – what you need to know to get started, how to get the most out of your pics and what to do with them after the wedding. She’s sharing her top tips from engagement to happy ever after with you this morning – thanks so much Cheryl!

**********************************************************

Hi all you lovely SouthBound Bride readers! I am so honoured to have been asked by Gaby to share a bit of advice and perspective from a wedding photographer’s point of view with you all. Your wedding photos are one of the most important aspects of your special day and of course the lasting memories left after your wedding. You want to be able to get the very most out of your photos and your photographer so I hope the following will help you with this.Read More

Take Five Wedding Looks…

by gaby

Hello beautifuls, as you read this I’ll be landing in Cape Town for a little stint in the Mother City (yay!) and probably getting lost in my rental car (every time!). I can’t wait to see my lovely friends and industry colleagues, and to spend some time looking at the gorgeousness that is the Western Cape province. And speaking of gorgeousness, I have such a fab shoot to share with you today – in fact, it’s more than a shoot, it’s like five inspirations in one. It comes from the team at TopVendor Wedding Awards, who you might recall me mentioning, and was photographed by Ronel Kruger (with gorgeous flowers by Elle Fleur). Whether you’re a modern bride, a boho bride, a romantic bride, a statement bride or a rustic bride, you’ll find something here to inspire. And it’s not just for the main lady – there are some adorable decor ideas and styling for flower girls. I promise you’ll fall in love with at least one look! If anything, it’s choosing between them that’ll be the hard part… ;)Read More

Real Wedding at Diamant Estate {Suzanne & Nick}

by gaby

Hello lovelies! I am rushing to catch a plane to Cape Town as I write this, so no big spiel from me this morning. Suffice just to say that this is a really gorgeous wedding! And that the pics from Illuminate Photography certainly speak for themselves, as do the happy faces of bride, groom, bridesmaids, guests… So much prettiness and happiness and pastel goodness in one place! Enjoy :)Read More

Trend Alert: Candles

by gaby

As the year starts drawing to an end, we wedding bloggers begin to think about the trends that have made an impact in 2013, as well as those that are top of our crush lists for 2014. There’s one I have been watching for a while, and I have to say, I am loving what stylists have been doing with it, and it’s candles. I know, right? Who knew they even went out of fashion? But when we’re talking candles here, we’re talking tall and taper candles, multiple candles (the way that flowers were done a couple of years ago), coloured candles, and even candles on wedding cakes, birthday style. LOVE. So I thought it was about time I brought this look to the blog. Here are some of my favourites from t’internets.Read More

Garden Engagement with a Jenna Clifford Ring

by gaby

They say sometimes when you know, you just know. And sometimes… well, your mother knows before you do. That was the case with Shayna and Gavin, who have such an unusual and awesome story (read on for more). And the mother in question (Shayna’s) is none other than South Africa’s own Jenna Clifford, whose name you’ll no doubt recognise from her beautiful line of jewellery. So as you can imagine, this shoot features a very sparkly sparkler too – I just adore Shayna’s ring! This is one for the jewellery fans, for the romantics, and for all the mothers out there who still hope to set up their daughters (except mine, don’t get any ideas mom! ;) ) Huge thanks to the fab Kallah Ohr for sending over her gorgeous pics.Read More

Real Wedding at Allesverloren {Amanda & Stephen}

by gaby

What an exciting day it is when I get to feature a new photographer, but today is especially exciting, because the lovely Tamryn Henn of i.am.tamryn is no stranger to SBB. In fact, I’ve known Tamryn ever since she was a SouthBound Bride herself! Now she’s a fully-fledged photographer, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be featuring one of her weddings. Even more so because it is gorgeous: proteas, lace bridesmaid dresses, adorable little people in the wedding party, a stunning wedding dress and one of my favourite ceremony areas ever. Wait till you see it! So much loveliness to kick off your Tuesday. And look out for the super romantic moment when the groom sings his bride a song he wrote just for her! Sigh…Read More

Colour Story: Indigo & Violet

by gaby

As promised, here’s another of the SBB Collection that we haven’t yet featured – this collection of wedding invitation loveliness was the result of a collaboration between SouthBound Bride and the designers of the Invitation Gallery. Each designer chose one of our inspiration boards to work from, and today’s is really digging back into the archives – Indigo & Violet is from the early days of SBB. That may be, but the colours – two rich variations on the purple palette – are really hitting the spot for brides nowadays and the motif used on the collection (hydrangea) is very much of the moment in terms of floral design. So I thought it was high time that we took a fresh look at the way you can incorporate this look into your wedding. Here’s the original board…

Full inspiration board credits here.

The stationery suite could work for just about any venue, but I’m particularly fond of it for a garden wedding or perhaps a vineyard. It’s feminine without being overpoweringly so, sophisticated without being bling, and perfect for a romantic bride who just loves her shades of purple.

Read More

Inspiration Board: Denim, Peach & Coral

by gaby

Peach and coral together are so my current fave. Or coral and blush. It’s that developing ombre-ness of it that really gets me. But the thing is, that these shades are a bit… well, I don’t know, tropical? without a bit of a cool base to ground them. A certain shade of indigo works wonders. So does navy. But today, I’ve paired them with one of my absolute best blues, because it not only comes with a pretty colour but with texture and chilledness too. I am talking denim, as you can probably guess by now. Denim, which you can actually make chic for a wedding, because, like burlap, it’s a surprising and interesting texture that can be softened or glammed up with the addition of more romantic tones. Play around with modern and classic, traditional and irreverent, for a combination that is 100% you. I love the mixture. But what do you think?

Colours: Blue, coral & peach

Top row (l-r): Cake {Sweet & Saucy Shop}; bouquet {Bryan Rupp Photography/Champagne Wedding Coordination}; bride in denim jacket; peach neon; bridesmaids {Tec Petaja}
Row 2: Love is like denim… {Brancoprata}; rings; bridesmaid bouquet {Brit Rene Photo}
Row 3: Couple {ee Photography/Sweet Sunday Events}; caravan; table setting {Elizabeth Scott}; cocktail {Rebecca Wood}.

 

Once Upon a Wedding Dress

by gaby

Good morning lovelies! We’re about to kick off your Friday with some very pretty pictures, courtesy of Debbie Lourens Photography. I love when creatives take some time to play and experiment, and what I really love about this shoot (apart from the gorgeous crowns by Samantha Hanlon, my new happy find) is that Debbie used a vintage lace wedding dress, picked up on eBay. Although she didn’t know the history of the dress, she knew that it was over sixty years old, and started dreaming up a shoot around it. If you’re planning some pre-wedding portraits with your beloved, I think the idea of wearing a vintage dress is very cool – it’s what one of our own RLBs did, to stunning effect. Why not check out eBay and let your imagination run wild?Read More

Real Wedding at Waverley Hills {Anneke & Dawie}

by gaby

Time for another beautiful real wedding, folks. And even though the sun has (finally) come out to play in SA, this is a winter wedding through and through. What I love most about it is how the bride and groom tried to make sure that there was a cosy contrast between the chilly outdoors and the warmth inside – kind of a ‘weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful’ vibe. With bright and cheerful shades of pink and protea everywhere, and lots of lovely handmade craft details, the glow doesn’t just come from the Waverley Hills fireside, but from the love of friends and family, as they gathered to craft and then enjoy this happy day. Coba Engelbrecht was there to document every hand-warming heart-melting moment.Read More