It’s been a while since I featured a ‘country vintage’ style wedding here on SBB, but this has become such a South African classic, that I can’t resist it once in a while! Pastels, lace, old books tied into little packages, succulents and beautiful roses – it’s the perfect fusion of ‘masculine’ rustic and pretty ‘feminine’ style. Which is more than just a style preference with today’s bride and groom (who met on the dance floor and have been dancing ever since!), a farmer and a designer whose combination of these elements also perfectly represented the beautiful balance of their relationship. There are some truly South African touches here – LOVE the groomsmen’s windmill bouts, reflected in the ribbon used to tie up the napkins, and of course in the gorgeous rural surroundings of Delsma Farm. SBB sponsor, the lovely Nicole Rich, was there to capture every glorious moment!Read More
There’s nothing sweeter than a girl-meets-boy-next-door-story, is there? Well today’s couple are literally the boy and girl next door (or across a park anyway), who first fell in love on the swing set and married fifteen years later. So adorable! I just love their pretty wedding, and the bride’s relaxed attitude about it being a rainy day is something anyone could learn from! But I think my favourite thing about their Delsma Farm wedding (or the decor, anyway) is that it’s such a fun twist on the shabby chic decor we’ve seen a lot of this season. It has the main ingredients: mismatched florals, proteas, books tied together with lace, striped tablecloths; but translated into a yellow and grey colour scheme it’s completely fresh. It just shows that you can take a style and really make it your own, be playful with colour, and that adopting a style doesn’t have to just mean one thing. The beautiful pictures full of light were taken by awesome Adene Photography.Read More
When looking at weddings, I often see that little verse crop up: “Today I marry my best friend”. And it’s such a special thing about relationships, how the person you fall in love with becomes your friend as well as your partner. But sometimes you come across a couple who really have married someone who was their best friend first. It’s a rare and wonderful thing, and today’s couple are it. I can’t even imagine how amazing that must be, but you can see Terri and Tim glowing with it on their wedding day. Aaaah! Not to mention all the other gorgeyporgeyness. Oh, just you wait. The bride’s dress? Amazeballs. Terri said it made her feel like a princess and wow, did it ever make her look like one! Bridesmaids dresses? White. SO cool, so on trend. In fact, all the guests wore light colours, and Terri mentions the way it gave everything a 1920s vibe, which I also happen to love. Dessert? Sweets bar. Entertainment? One of the coolest photobooths I have yet seen with a massive selection of props. It all adds up to an absolutely dreamy celebration at Delsma Farm, captured by the very lovely Cheryl McEwan. You can find out more about Cheryl on the blog tomorrow, but let me just say, this lady has a talent for bringing out the beautiful in everyone she photographs. I could have done a whole post on just the pictures of Terri, and it was really hard to narrow them down. You’ll see what I mean…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!
