There are days when writing this blog feels a little like wish fulfilment. Ask and it shall be given unto you, kind of thing. Because it was just a few weeks ago that I was all “I am dying to see someone with a giant chess set” and now here today are the lovely Bennie and Carla and their giant chess set (amongst other awesome lawn games). I don’t know why, but that makes me ridiculously excited. (Come on. It’s a giant chess set!) And that isn’t all! Because I have also been on about how much I love Great Gatsby and the 1920s, and you guys, that is the whole theme of Bennie and Carla’s wedding. Eek! What can I say, you stylish brides and grooms make mama very happy. :) And that STILL isn’t all. Because not only did this couple have the most gorgeous, gorgeous flapper party ever with their friends (who were all fun enough to dress up), but the lovely was captured by Nastassja Harvey, who you may remember from this amazing wedding (yeah, I know you do, because it’s our most viewed wedding EVER). Nastassja is a total superstar in the making, and I am thrilled to have her on Cap Classique again. SO. Get your glad rags on and crank up the gramophone, because trust me, it’s time for a happy dance!

How beautiful is the bride, Carla? (And how much are we loving her dress and birdcage veil combo?) Well, she was also nice enough to fill us in on a bit of background to the big day:
Bennie and I are both from Montagu, a small town in the Western Cape. We have known each other for around 14 years, after Bennie’s family moved to Montagu from Nelspruit and our parents became friends. We weren’t very good friends at that stage, and only knew one another from our family visits, because he’s five years older than I am. As we grew up, we started getting to know one another by meeting at friends’ houses for braais. It was only four years ago that we started dating.

How he propose? One day he asked me to give him an idea of what I would like my engagement ring to look like… so I gave him a sample ring and all he did was laugh at my design. Months went by and one day after my hockey practise  he came over to my flat and as I was tying my hair up he grabbed my hand and put a ring on my finger! I didn’t think it was funny – I thought he was joking (he is a real joker) as it didn’t look anything like the sample ring I gave him. But when he asked the question I knew it was for real and when I took a good look at the ring it was even prettier then I could ever have imagined and he did it all by himself.

The theme of our wedding was ‘The Great Gatsby’, so everyone had to dress up for it – every single guest, even the older ones participated! Our colours were red and white. We chose the Guano Caves because it was so beautiful with the mountains that surrounded the venue and the big lawn and swimming pools that fitted so beautifully with the natural setting. Because everything was natural, there was no draping or chairs to be covered like at a traditional wedding.

The ceremony started at 2pm and was held outside in the middle of the bush with lots of trees around us. We had an outside wedding, so the guests had blankets to sit on like it was a picnic and we had a steel drum band playing. The food came out every hour till 8pm when the dessert table was set. This was our favourite thing – we had jars full of sweets so every guest got a little box to fill as a gift. We also had garden chess, croquet and bowls set out on the lawn so the guests kept themselves busy while we were at our photo shoot. What made it so nice was that we could chat to all our guests and mingle with them. We had disposable cameras that we hung in a tree and, as for our guest book, we used an old typewriter.

Our wedding was totally different to the “normal” weddings that we are used to. I think it showed a big part of our personalities. Both of us said that we wanted a wedding that wasn’t formal –  in fact, very informal – and our day turned out exactly as our personalities are. Most of the decor was made by myself with friends and family. I also made my own wedding cake – it was just a small carrot cake with cream cheese icing and white chocolate on the sides. Then the bigger part of the cake was made out of sweetie pies. {Love, love, love, love, love this detail! – Ed}

My advice to future brides is not to worry if you have too many ideas or your colours don’t match – in the end you will get your perfect day. Cut pictures out of magazines or get ideas on the internet and paste them in a book, and the closer you get to your wedding date you will find the perfect ideas and everything will fall into place! Don’t take everything on yourself – give your bridesmaids, soon-to-be-husband, family, friends and groomsmen jobs to do and let them help you with what needs to be done. Finally, just enjoy it as much as you can! It’s the most amazing day!

Carla and Bennie – big THANK YOU for sharing your insanely awesome wedding with us today, and wishing you a lifetime of happiness together. And, of course, another big thank you to the fabulous Nastassja. You can see more of this wedding on her blog.

Service providers:

Venue: Montagu Guano Caves Guest Farm
Catering: Ronel Herbert
Photography: Nastassja Harvey
Flowers: Rita Roussouw and Toit van Deventer
Bride’s dress: Something Old Something New
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Urban
Hair: Benita
Makeup: Ciska Marais