Good morning! If you guys loved the autumn inspiration on the blog yesterday (and you did), you are going to die when you see what I have for you today. Zoe and Grant have been massively patient with me – I have been waiting to share this wedding at Dieu Donné for months, but I knew it was the one I wanted to kick off the new SouthBound Bride. It’s so unusual, with its autumn theme (a season South African brides are only just starting to discover, I think) and the details are so thoughtful, quirky and personal. Like pretty leaves instead of confetti, or the paper birds and cats hanging in the trees along the aisle. In fact, don’t get me started on that aisle – I LOVE IT. And I especially love how it became a feature with the addition of fairy lights in the evening. So clever. In fact, the whole thing’s clever and beautiful and atmospheric, and the amazing Jules Morgan has captured it perfectly through her lens. Zoe and Grant – thank you SO much, and I hope it was worth the wait!Read More
You didn’t think I’d let this week go by without something Twilight-related, did you? I have to admit, although a few years ago I never would have thought I’d be a fan, I can’t WAIT to go and see the latest film. A wedding! In a forest! Jacob with his shirt off! All my favourite things. I’m guessing lots of you will be feeling the same way, and although it may sound a bit cheesy, Twilight actually makes a great little theme for a bachelorette or hen party (assuming the bride is a fan, of course!). Here’s everything you need to know to make it Twi-umphant rather than Twi-hard, and turn your bestie into a bitten smitten kitten.
Back to the grindstone this week! But I can’t complain too much since it’s only a couple of months now until I’ve worked out my notice and become my own boss. My new little office is coming along nicely (thanks to a helping hand from my amazing housemates, who painted the base coats while I was away – how nice are they?) and soon Cap Classique will have a brand new command centre. And that’s not the only reason I’m so chirpy this morning – just wait until you have a look at this wedding I have been bursting to share with you! I dare you not to get a big grin on your face as you look at Cari Eksteen’s scrumptious pictures and read Andre and Marietjie’s super cute his ‘n hers commentary! They are so adorable. I love love love their grey and red colour scheme (how amazing are the red pincushion proteas with the brunia?), and the amazing attention to detail they put into the accessories for their pictures – those little pops of red that keep showing up and making me smile. And let’s not forget the shoes! Those little beauties first caught my attention and I still heart them madly. Not to mention the cake… Oh, everything! This is one example of a farm wedding done just right – enjoy! PS Fun fact: Andre’s parents are also called Andre and Marietjie – talk about meant to be!Read More
You know what, I’m just going to say this (even though I know one day I may totally regret it). I love involved grooms. Yes, I know it’s tempting to be all “You know what honey, I’ll just organise everything because you don’t care about what colour flowers we go for, do you? You just pay.” In fact, I know this works for a lot of grooms, as well as brides, who already feel like they need to please their moms and moms-in-law and a variable army of aunts, uncles, friends and suppliers who have big fat opinions on your big fat wedding that you simply must take on board. I used to think the best system was for the groom to just have the power of veto. But writing this blog, I’ve been surprised and delighted at how keen some of the grooms are. (Keen as sleen, as my friend Abigail would say.) Admittedly, it’s often the most creative grooms who get most involved, and today’s is one of them. He kicked things off with one of the most creative, handmade, and truly South African two-part proposals I’ve ever seen, and then he and his talented bride designed and made everything for their Simon’s Town beach wedding. And you guys, it is beautiful. So heartfelt, and with such attention to detail – my best kind of wedding basically. Plus, Lizelle Lotter has absolutely triumphed with these photos, so light and airy and romantic that I could look at them all day. So grabba cuppa, and prepare to swoon.Read More
Ok, something you don’t know about me – I am a HUGE big band fan. Which may not seem that strange, but when I was in high school, it made me a little unusual. I was, for example, the only kid I knew who begged my father to bring Harry Connick Jnr CDs back from a business trip in America instead of, I don’t know, MC Hammer or Boyz II Men (don’t get me started about my love for Harry). The only person I know who puts Ella, Dean and Frankie on my iPod when I’m feeling the mean reds and can sing along to pretty much any Gershwin lyric. So you can imagine that when I saw Jackie and Japie had pulled off a 1940s Glamour-themed wedding at Molenvliet, I was super excited to feature it! As we all know, love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage, and the two of them wanted to celebrate theirs in style – getting a kick out of champagne with their besties, facing the music and dancing all night and promising to love each other come rain or come shine. (Ya, I know. I couldn’t stop myself. Throw your tomato if you must.) They had a shindig old Frank himself would have been proud to have thrown, co-ordinated by Jaco van Loggerenberg of Just Jack and photographed by the fab Andre from Zara Zoo. And now I get to share it with you. Ain’t THAT a kick in the head?Read More
It’s no secret how much I love the Cape countryside, with its breathtaking winelands and lush farms, and all the incredible wedding venues that take advantage of the rural settings and spectacular scenery. But I also get really excited when a wedding comes across my desk that taps into the vibrant heart of Cape Town instead. Anyone who’s spent any time there will know what an amazing city it is, and there’s so much largely untapped potential for vibey, modern weddings that your guests will really remember (and not have to shell out for accommodation either, bonus!). Case in point: Annerie & Murray’s GORGEOUS red and black number at Kelvin Grove. It’s clear from the first glance that this is a couple who are alive with vibrancy and passion and who brought that energy to their Big Day. My best bits: playing card ’boutonnieres’, streamers instead of confetti as they shared their first kiss, the clever vinyl and apple place settings, the groom’s suit and tie (and of course the bride’s lovely dress) and their couple shoot, which might be one of my favourites ever. It’s modern wedding perfection, and is brought to you through the fabulous photos of Wesley Vorster, who I’m thrilled to have on Cap Classique for the first time! Get ready to be wowed!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.
I’ve been wanting to do this inspiration board ever since I saw the winning dessert table design in the European Sweet Table Contest by Belle Amour. Debs took a vintage fairytale approach, and with that forest wallpaper and the blood red, snow white and black as ebony colour scheme, it was simply stunning. I thought it would be a great starting point for a winter wedding. Obviously you want to avoid Disney cheese, but you can take design elements straight from the story – dozens of mirrors lining the walls, red apples at every place setting – just try to avoid the temptation to dress your seven bridesmaids up as dwarves! ;) Colette Dinnigan currently has a Snow White bridal collection, and this pretty dress has the perfect mix of drama and whimsy. Pile on the red lipstick, and you’re sure to be fairest of them all!
You know how there are those women who have a rare luminescent quality, so that when they walk into a room, all the light seems to be drawn toward them? Today’s gorgeous (and thoroughly lovely) bride, Brinley, is one of those women (and I can say that because I know her). Rupert must have felt like all his Christmases had come at once when she said “I do”, and you just have to look at her face to see that the feeling is completely mutual. When I heard that Brin was working with the Wedding Concepts team to organise her wedding from her home in London, I knew it would be beautiful, and with a venue like Vrede en Lust, even more so. But what I really love is how the joy just jumps off the screen at you (captured faultlessly, as always, by the wonderful Joe Dreyer). This is the perfect mix of British charm and South African sunshine (including Zulu dancers leading the couple from the ceremony to cocktail hour), and I’m beyond excited to share it with you!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
