Lazy Sunday Boudoir

by gaby

It’s been a while since I featured a boudoir shoot here on SBB, but when Kerry of Piteira Photography sent these gorgeous pictures over, I couldn’t wait to put them up! For me, boudoir isn’t like doing an FHM shoot or trying to be overtly sexy in a Vegas kind of way – it’s a subtle photographic exploration of an individual woman’s sensuality that makes her feel good about herself and her body, and shows something of her personality. That’s why I like the term boudoir, because it’s like a peek behind closed doors into a private world. That’s exactly what this shoot feels like – a chilled out Sunday morning spent reading in the sunshine, being just a bit too lazy to get dressed. I absolutely love Kerry’s dreamy photographic style. It makes me think I am going to have to be brave enough to do one of these myself sometime! And don’t forget, Kerry and her husband Luis are available to shoot weddings and boudoir in South Africa at certain times of the year – drop them an email to chat about dates.Read More

Real Wedding at Riverside Castle {Jana & Pieter}

by gaby

Almost there folks – Friday tomorrow! I’m easing you into the second half of the week with a wedding that’s all kinds of pretty and sweet. Shot by our new friends Carolien + Ben at Riverside Castle near Pretoria, it’s got all those dreamy South African wedding elements: soft vintage pastels, protea bouquets, warm neutrals and a touch of lace. But I also absolutely love the tiny little bird details – the origami cranes made of book pages and the beautiful hand-drawn stationery. It’s just the right mix of whimsical and romantic, and I know that you will love it!Read More

Kelsey Genna Wedding Dress Collection

by gaby

I’m so excited to bring you this post today and introduce you to the work of New Zealand-based dress designer, Kelsey Genna, because believe me when I say this is really a name to watch. When Kelsey sent me her very first bridal campaign, I was immediately struck by how unique, gorgeous and wearable her dresses are. I know many brides who aren’t into the whole traditional dress thing, and want something more boho without sacrificing that wow factor – in fact, I’ve featured many such brides right here, and I can really see Kelsey’s designs on South African brides. They’d be amazing at a farm wedding, for example, and I love that they combine a slightly vintage edge with an elegance inspired by flowers. Not to mention that I’m dying over these campaign images and how beautifully the dresses have been styled – I do love me a good floral crown! If you’re thinking “I love these, but New Zealand is, like, far”, then worry not, because Kelsey often works with brides in other countries and will happily ensure the dress is made to measure and supremely flattering. I can’t wait to see real life brides in these beauties, and to follow what Kelsey does next.Read More

Real Wedding at Bushfellows {Maxine & Frans}

by gaby

You people bring me such joy, you know, with your clever weddings! Over here in the UK, or when I’m speaking to American friends, people are always saying “South Africans have seriously beautiful weddings, and you’re not afraid to take risks and do something different”. They’re right, and I absolutely love that. It’s what made me start this blog in the first place. I love that I get to feature everything from incredibly luxurious, elegant affairs with the finest of everything through to relaxed celebrations on the beach, or in someone’s back yard. They all bring something new to the table. Take, for example, today’s wedding at Bushfellows in Limpopo. Maxine and Frans are a couple of free spirits, who wanted to have an amazing party with their friends and capture that perpetually laid-back African beach bar vibe, but in the bush. Just the concept of that is so cool – I mean, how much fun would that wedding be, right? And then of course, there’s the execution: bridesmaids in flower crowns and sundresses with individual bouquets (yay!), a beautiful bride in the most fun dress ever (lovingly made by her mother), mismatched florals, colourful tables under flower awnings, and a pinata instead of a wedding cake. No seriously, a pinata. That is the awesomest. And they gave new meaning to the term ‘barefoot wedding’ when they took all their guests’ shoes as an ‘entrance fee’ (to give to charity) – with socks as favours in case of cold feet! I absolutely love these pictures from friend of the blog Simone Franzel – she’s done an amazing job of capturing such a special day and it was so hard to narrow them down. This is really going to get your Wednesday off to a blazing start, so buckle up, and enjoy the ride!Read More

Durban Fun Engagement Shoot

by gaby

Boy do I ever have a story to tell you about this shoot! A few weeks back, I had an email from Christy-Lee Hosking of Pickle Photography, submitting a super cute styled engagement session on the Durban beachfront. And instead of passing on the how they met story herself, she asked the bride (Megan) to mail me directly. Which is serendipitous, because if she hadn’t, I never would have noticed Megan’s surname on her email. And if I hadn’t known Megan’s surname, I wouldn’t have realised that she’s my cousin. What! Yep, my cousin, and not even such a distant one either. Megan’s grandmother was my grandpa’s little sister, and while we’ve met once (a loooong time ago), I would never have recognised her. But here we are, connected. Isn’t that cool? I know for sure that the grands are sitting up wherever they are, smiling about it. Anyway, this isn’t just a cool shoot because of my small world story – in fact, as I said before, it is adorable, thanks to the styling of Sarah of Urban Lace and Christy-Lee’s photography skills, not to mention the Durban Fun World backdrop. But Megan and Warren also have a really amazing story to tell about their journey to this point, and I couldn’t be happier for them. They got married last weekend – congrats, cous! And a big thank you to Christy-Lee for sharing this shoot and bringing us together.Read More

Real Wedding at Villa Luna {Cheree & Mitchell}

by gaby

I have something quite different for you today. As you know, I absolutely love and admire the South African wedding photography community and am so lucky to showcase their work on a daily basis, but of course, as I spend so much time on international blogs, there are some international photographers whose work I have come to be in awe of. Some are what I’d consider the really big hitters – many of you will be able to guess the kind of names I’m thinking of, and one of these is Jonas Peterson. A photographer whose work I respect for its uniqueness of perspective as well as richness of narrative and emotion, Jonas is based in Australia (although he shoots many destination weddings) and has been named one of the Top 10 wedding photographers in the world. He’s a big inspiration not just to me, but to many photographers, and in fact taught a workshop in Cape Town a while back. But I didn’t think I’d ever actually be able to share one of his weddings on SBB – after all, we only feature South African weddings on these pages, and Jonas’ work is very much in demand in the blogging community. So as you can imagine, when the opportunity arose for me to do so, I leapt at it! Last week, Jonas took the unusual step of offering up his latest wedding (which is actually a special two-parter in both Sydney and Cape Town) to bloggers on a non-exclusive basis, and when I found this out on my weekly blog hop, I got straight on the email to ask if SBB could be a part of it. I was thrilled to get a ‘yes’. So here we go: no info from the bride and groom, and no patter from me on the wedding details, just the chance to revel in some astonishingly beautiful pictures. For me, they really capture the wildness and the grandeur of the Cape scenery, and those gorgeous radiant shadows round the mountains as the sun begins to set. Take a deep breath, and dive in.Read More

Let Them Eat Wedding Cake #9: The Registry

by gaby

Regardless of whether anything is actually purchased off it, setting up a wedding registry really is fantastic fun! Having my very own barcode-gun-in-hand-moment was definitely in the top five of wedding planning experiences that I was excited to have. And when we saw that O.live Chemistry of Living was one of the stores that the Bespoke Wedding Registry worked with we immediately knew that we wanted to register with them. Not only were the items that Laura from Bespoke Wedding Registry showed us stunningly beautiful, but the ‘contribute towards’ feature that they offer on the website that they set up for you allows people to spend any amount they like whilst contributing to bigger ticket items. So we were able to choose freely, even putting things like an ice-cream machine and a Kitchen Aid grain mill on our list. :) And as it turns out, I am a gravy boat person. Since registering I have, on more than one occasion, found myself falling in love with all different kinds of beautiful gravy boats. Gravy boats, Mason Cash mixing bowls, Egyptian cotton sheets and singing kettles now make me excited in the way that stationery excites those people you see smiling at the all the books and pens in CNA (Justin). And Laura is AMAZING. She was able to find everything we asked her about – taking on new suppliers to make sure our gift registry was just perfect for us. Don’t these just make you so happy?

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Inspiration Board: Cleopatra’s Gold

by gaby

Good morning, lovelies – did you have a fantastic weekend? Get up to any Halloween antics? Today’s board is one of my own inventions – sort of a mix between my recent Moroccan influences and a decadent art deco interpretation of Egyptian style. The colours – black, white and gold – are classic for an evening celebration of course, and paired with pretty luxe details like these beautiful bridesmaid dresses, gold-detailed glasses and those sandals, would make for a really lovely wedding. The bride’s makeup would be dramatic, and she’d wear a stunning mantilla – maybe with a flash of sequins on her dress and a henna tattoo. With so much going on with the table settings (love these print tablecloths, by the way, even if Kim Kardashian did use them), I’d keep the rest of the decor relatively simple – isn’t this tent-like draping a simple and lovely way to do things? The stationery would be a designer’s dream, and I’d combine several rich patterns in the three main colours. I would LOVE to see someone pull this off!

Colours: Gold, black & white

Top row (l-r): Bride in chair {P: Jose Villa}; bridesmaids {P: My Big Day Photos}; rings {P: Michelle Turner Photography; P: Leah Michelle}; glasses {P: Katie Neal Photo; D: Alchemy Fine Events and Invitations}; art deco mural
Row 2: Invitations; makeup {P: My Big Day Photos}; gold sandals {Elie Tahari}; gold beanbag; mantilla veil {P: Picotte Weddings; D: Wedding Nouveau}
Row 3: Table setting in gold, black and white {P: Katie Neal Photo; D: Alchemy Fine Events and Invitations}; henna tattoo {P: Picotte Weddings; D: Wedding Nouveau}; sequins {P: My Big Day Photos}; draped reception {P: Frenzel Photographers; C: Jesi Haack Weddings}.

 

Inspiration Board: Skipping Stones

by gaby

Sjoe. I have been getting more reader requests for inspiration boards than I can keep up with, but I absolutely love hearing from you and will get to as many as I can, so please do be patient! Our second board for the week is for Kelsey, who is planning a summer wedding at the college she and her fiance attended. I’ve seen quite a few college weddings on US blogs, and I think it’s a lovely place for a wedding – something I sort of wish we did in SA. Mind you, I don’t think you could pay me enough money to get married at the ugly shoebox that was the Stellenbosch arts building! Anyway, I digress. Kelsey dreams of a wedding that’s delicate, simple and romantic, and wanted to include both lace (because of the pretty vintage factor) and stones, because her fiance proposed while they were skipping rocks on the Boise River. How adorable is that? I love this sort of personal touch, and luckily I have come up with some really cute ideas. Kelsey’s palette is absolutely dreamy, and incredibly contemporary – light blue and light grey are such an of-the-moment colour combo. LOVE. I’m envisioning a classic wedding with some pretty but not too fussy touches. I adore the idea of a blue or grey wedding dress, but bridesmaids in these shades are just as wonderful, and I’d recommend bringing in quite a bit of sheer fabric if possible (also a big trend for 2013). The lace motif comes in through a lacy wrap for the bride, pretty lacy stationery (I wouldn’t use too much actual lace on the tables, to keep it unfussy), a lace decoration on the cake and even a lace backdrop for the photobooth. Flowers are mostly white, as is the rest of the table decor I’m picturing. (If Kelsey would like to keep it simpler, she could scale down that table decor.) For a vintage touch, I’d include simple details like ‘something blue’ embroidery, piles of ‘love letters’ tied together with ribbon (a new take on the book table decor trend), and how adorable are these crochet covered stones? The stone motif was the most fun to include – I absolutely heart the runner, because it reminds me a little of a riverbed (so appropriate here) but other ways to bring them in are though giving your guests wishing stones to hold during the ceremony, or stones to write on as a guest book alternative, stones inside hurricane jars with candles on the table, or even stones covered in clay with names stamped in as place cards (although not all at once please!). The end result is so pretty and romantic, don’t you think? Hope you agree Kelsey – good luck with the rest of your planning!

Colours: Powder blue & grey

Top row (l-r): Bride & groom {P: Ngg studios; S: Imbue Weddings}; embroidery; bouquet {P: Marta Locklear Photography; F: The Enchanted Florist}; table setting {P: Alicia Swedenborg; S: Vintage Honeymoon}; lace monogram cake {P: Juliet Elizabeth Photography; C: A Charleston Bride}
Row 2: Stones with crochet detail {P: Jose Villa; S: Joy Thigpen}; bride and bridesmaids {P: Costantine Delis for Vogue}; love letter decor {P: Briana Moore Photography}; stone aisle runner {P & D: Designs By Courtney}
Row 3: Sheer blue dress {P: Alicia Swedenborg; S: Vintage Honeymoon}; tags {P: Melissa Musgrove Photography: C: La Fete Weddings}; stones guest book {P: Lauren Kinsey Photography; C: Fete Weddings & Events}; hairstyle; lace cover-up {P: Samm Blake}

 

I Wrote a Letter to my Love…

by gaby

It isn’t every day that I get a couple making a return appearance on SouthBound Bride. Sometimes I hear news of babies and travel adventures from your photographers, sometimes you brides become fellow bloggers or industry pros, and I imagine one day I’ll bump into one of you on the street somewhere (although I probably won’t say hello, since you’ll have no idea who I am!). But today I get to welcome back one of my first couples in a styled photo session, which is actually very exciting. As soon as stylist Tamalin Braun sent over this stunning ‘loveshoot’ (like a cros between an inspiration shoot and a couple shoot – so cute!) I recognised Lauren and Riaan from their wedding (back when we were Cap Classique) – after all, it wasn’t easy to forget their breathtaking wedding pictures in the apple orchards. It’s so special to see them – two years on – still as in love as ever. The theme of the day was ‘I wrote a letter to my love…’ and I absolutely love the dreamy, slightly boho images shot in a canola field with Lauren and Riaan playing model. Aren’t they beautiful? Photographer Tiffany B. is the rockstar behind the camera, and I just love how she’s captured all the little bits and interactions, not to mention that delicious light. Thanks so much for sharing Tam and Tiffany!Read More