You know, I’ll never forget the first time I visited London’s Borough Market. I’m embarrassed to say it was many years after I started living here, but maybe that was a good thing, because it also took a few years for me to become more of a foodie and certainly more of a cook, and I’m not sure I would have appreciated it before. There’s something so special about a market – the smells, the sights, the sounds and the general happy vibe as people stop here, taste this, buy that. So when market weddings started to become a thing, I was completely on board. Especially because it’s a great way to get your guests to mingle and relax, which is something that today’s bride and groom understood only too well. They had a big guest list, but they wanted their friends and family to socialise and relax, and they hit upon a brilliant way of making that happen. Starters were served market-style, from the cutest little striped tent stands. C’est adorable. The French stripes continued into the marquee reception, complete with brightly coloured flowers suspended from the ceiling in glass jars and bottles. I absolutely LOVE this look – it’s so happy and pretty and fun, and I’m delighted to be sharing it with you today. The fab Drikus Le Roux was on the scene to capture every pretty stripe and smile.Read More
Hello lovelies! Today we’re heading just a little bit north of the border, for the first SBB wedding from Namibia. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been fascinated by the Namib desert, and would love to visit one day! So I couldn’t resist this lovely wedding of a Swedish bride and Namibian groom, with its sweet rustic detailing in the middle of a desert setting. It reminds me of the pictures we have of my great grandfather having picnics with his tennis club in the bush – they’d trek out with blankets and chairs and a gramophone, and it was all very civilised! With so much natural beauty in our country and those of our neighbours, I’m a particular fan of weddings that take advantage of these incredible views, and you don’t need to compromise on the classically pretty wedding you’ve always dreamed of to do it. Photographer Drikus Le Roux was there with Karolina and Arno to capture the beauty both inside and out of the marquee. Oh, and PS, don’t skip the text – this is the cutest ‘how we met’ story!Read More
Oh I am SO EXCITED! Today’s wedding is a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party!! Now I should admit, I’m a little partial to a bit of Alice in Wonderland because once upon a time I, myself, was Alice. Not in a went-down-a-rabbit-hole-and-hung-out-with-a-stoner-caterpillar sense, obviously. But when I was 12 my school put on the play, and I got to be Alice. Actually, I feel this is probably a good moment to apologise publicly to anyone who had to listen to me sing. Or act. Sorry folks! But whatever, I loved it. And the thing I remember loving THE MOST was that I got to play croquet with my own prop flamingo. (Cool, right?) So basically the second I spotted this wedding – flamingoes, playing cards, key necklace and all – I tweeted photographer Drikus Le Roux telling him I MUST feature it, and to my relief, he said yes. Cue me grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat. And I’m doing it again today. So… without further ado, let’s follow the King’s advice to the White Rabbit: Begin at the beginning, go on until you come to the end; then stop…
Lovely bride Angela sent over all the background on her Wonderland inspiration: Gerrit and I are both originally from Johannesburg. We met in a nightclub there. He asked to take a photo with me, and the rest is history! We moved to Cape Town about two years ago and Gerrit proposed in February 2010. He planned a very romantic dinner for me at our home – we had a fondue and when he brought the dessert he asked me to close my eyes and when I opened them, before me was a pot of melted Lindt chocolate and a plate of sliced fruit. In the centre was the most beautiful ring! Then he asked me to marry him – it was very romantic :)
We are both huge Tim Burton fans and I have loved ‘Alice in Wonderland’ since I was a little girl, so after we went to see the Tim Burton ‘Alice in Wonderland’ movie we decided that we wanted to go with that theme for our wedding. This also helped us decide on the red, black and white colours for our wedding.
We went to have a look at a lot of venues but when we saw Le Manoir De Brendel we fell in love with the place and the giant chess board was a huge plus! We wanted an intimate wedding with all our important family and friends there. We also wanted something different as we ourselves are very unique in that way that we don’t want to go with what everyone else is doing, but to have something unique that would wow everyone, whether it be good or bad. We decided to have a morning wedding with a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party as our reception, where we served a lot of finger foods presented as a buffet and cakes as this would fit in better with our theme. We were so happy that we chose to have a casual wedding as opposed to a more formal one – it made us and our guests feel very relaxed.
I think our whole theme speaks for itself and to be honest a lot of people didn’t think that we would be able to pull it off and we did. With a lot of help and advice from our wedding planner and a lot of hard work it was a huge success! We supplied most of the decor, such as the flamingoes and stuffed hedgehogs, the place name cards and all the props for our photos. Laura (my maid of honour) helped me make feathered hearts.
Angela & Gerrit – you guys rock! Thank you for sharing your lovely and original day with us! And big thanks to Drikus Le Roux for sharing more of his fashion forward pictures – love them! You can see more on his blog here.
