We were married on Guy Fawkes, 5th November 2011 – the same date as both our maternal grandparents.

The venue we chose is Ottimo Cibo in Bishops Court, which is the perfect place for a small and intimate wedding. This venue is close to our hearts as the owners Nikki booth, who is a chef and her husband William booth, who married us, are friends of our family

The ceremony was held at the bottom of their beautiful garden with 55 family and friends sitting on white fleece blankets. Origami birds hung from the trees and guests blew bubbles as we walked back through the aisle!
Our guests literally sat wherever they wanted to – as the wedding was completely informal. We loved being able to mingle with everyone.

Nikki prepared all the beautifully presented cocktail style mini meals as well as gorgeous ” Mol (e) cake”. Each guest received a bottle of homemade lemon cello as a thank you gift – also made by Nikki – to which I added name-tags.

The Groom and male members of the wedding party wore baby pink socks to compliment the overall pink theme of the wedding

In the spirit of Guy Fawkes, we danced our first dance with magical sparklers lighting our way

It was a wonderful day made possible by many friends and family that gave so much of their time and effort to make the day memorable for us

Photographer – Cara Lee Photography
Cake – Nikki Booth: nikki@ottimocibo.co.za
Food – Nikki Booth: nikki@ottimocibo.co.za
Bouquets – Flowers for Africa
Wine – Jordan
Décor – Nikki Booth: nikki@ottimocibo.co.za
Hair and Make up – My mom and my friend Shona Bradford
Wedding dress – Joletta designer resale ( Jasmin dress)
Jewellery – Evora
Music – Peter Wyness (Any event) peteranyevent@telkomsa.net

Image credits: Tiffany B Photography

Vanessa and Malick celebrated their wedding reception at the beautiful Devonvale Golf Estate in Stellenbosch on Sunday, 23 October 2011. Guests arrived after the nikah ceremony and enjoyed drinks, canapes and lawn games (boules and croquet) while the couple were off having their photographs taken (by the lovely Tiffany Burnham). Once the couple arrived- everyone was seated and friends and family offered speeches, readings, prayers and blessings for Malick and Vanessa. A festive buffet and decadent desserts were served after speeches and guests were asked to use the disposable cameras (on their tables) and photo-props (scattered throughout the room) to capture the excitement in the air. The ballroom, which was decorated in touches of silver and white, lots of sparkling fairy lights and orchids on each table created a soft and beautiful elegance that contributed to the magic of the night. Before guests left they were asked to join the newlyweds in lighting sky lanterns and setting them off into the beautiful night sky. The couple also treated their guests to surprise gifts as a thank-you – cigars for the guys and delicate fans for the ladies.”

Service providers:

Venue:  Devonvale Wine Estate

Photographer:  Tiffany B Photography    Tiffany B Photography on Facebook

Dress:  Anja, Cotton Flower Creations Melkbos 0844079225

Make-up:  Aliki from Head 2 Toe

Decor Rentals:  Quirky Parties

From the bride:
Like every girl I had been planning my ‘perfect wedding’ my whole life. So, when my husband proposed to me, it only took me a few days to ‘present’ moodboards of what I wanted our wedding to be like. We both agreed that we wanted a non-traditional, relaxed, outdoor wedding. We decided that we didn’t want to leave our guests to do a couple’s photoshoot, so we did it in Newtown before the ceremony began. We had group photos on Harley Davidson motorbikes because my husband is completely obsessed with anything motorbike related.

The décor had to enhance our rustic and vintage theme so we used spray painted KOO tins, old bottles and antique tins as vases with lots of tea lights, fairy lights and lanterns. The welcome drinks were Coca-Cola and Fanta in glass bottles and we served canapés as a main course. To complement the theme, instead of having dessert, we decided to have a ‘sweets table’ that had sweets which brought about a sense of nostalgia and fond memories of our childhood. The table contained toffee apples, love sweets, Popeye sherbet, bracelet candy and lots more. The ‘open-mike speeches’ allowed anyone and everyone to say a little something, which also made it more relaxed, because there were no prepared speeches.

At one point in the evening, I stood outside and took a moment to reflect on the entire wedding and I realised it was exactly how I had planned it. We were surrounded by our nearest and dearest and everyone had a good time. Some of them still talk about how enjoyable it was to attend such a relaxed and unique wedding… and that’s exactly what I wanted!
Photographer: Melanie Janse Photography
Dress: Joseph Anker
Make-up and Hair : Michelle Swart.

From the bride:
Six years ago I met this gorgeous man when I worked for him as a waitress at his restaurant, while completing my studies. For the first two weeks Mark point blank refused to speak to me, as I supposedly left him speechless. Nevertheless after we eventually started conversing, he kept me laughing with his dry wit and sense of humour and we became close friends. Mark’s policy was to never date someone he worked with so after his partner fired me he got his chance and promptly asked me out. The rest, as they say is history.
Mark and I have always done things a little differently and the proposal, or should I say proposals, were no different. Mark proposed to me three times to which I responded: “Maybe”, “Ok”, and “Of course yes”
Both Mark and I wanted to create an intimate wedding celebration, where people could just have a lot of fun and enjoy themselves. We decided on a three day affair filled with delicious foods and lots of handmade touches. This led us straight into a DIY wedding. I initially started making paper flowers as I loved the concept of guests being able to take the flowers home with them, which meant they could look at them over and over again and remember a happy day. After that I started making other things out of paper so the paper theme just stuck.
My advice to any bride would be to just enjoy yourself as much as you can. All the people at your wedding are there because they love you and just revel in that love.

A list of the awesome vendors at my wedding;
Ceremony: Old Castle brewery in Woodstock
Reception: Salt, at the Ambassador Hotel in Bantry Bay
Dress: Rene Heydon – www.rene-h-couture.com
Flowers: Made by me and I will soon be opening my own paper company called “Papertales” for all those paper lovers out there.
Catering: Jacques de Jager
Photography: Kellandphotography   spkelland
Make-up: Lindsay Boucher www.makeupanddelight.co.za

From the bride (Skye):

Neil and I met while volunteering at the British Museum, London, in 2005. Our relationship grew stronger over the years as we shared a fondness for exploring London’s art, culture and heritage. I took Neil home to South Africa with me several times over the years, and we enjoyed visiting Kruger, the Natal Midlands and Cape Town together. On New Year’s Eve 2009, just at the clock was striking midnight, Neil proposed to me at our home in London.

We were married in the garden, overlooking beautiful Midlands countryside, at Lastingham Guest Lodge on 9th April 2011. We shared our wedding day with 56 guests – many of whom had travelled from around the country and from Europe to be with us on the day.

Without doubt we decided to marry in South Africa – I wanted to be married near to my family and where I grew up, and we realised that our budget would stretch a lot further than if we got married in the UK. Plus, we wanted an autumn wedding with sunshine!

We chose to hold our wedding at Lastingham for several reasons: the gorgeous Edwardian farm house provided the perfect backdrop for our ‘colonial chic’ style wedding, and we knew we could trust Lynne Holding’s interior design experience to bring our ideas to life. Lynne also provided brilliant wedding coordination on the ground while Neil and I planned the wedding from London.

Neil and I share a love for all things vintage, and we chose to represent our South African and British heritage through elements of colonial styling for the wedding. We really enjoyed planning our wedding; the time spent gathering vintage-inspired accessories for the bridal party, designing our own stationery, and scouring antique shops for teacups all added important personal touches to our memorable day.

It was important for us to make our guests feel well looked after and entertained throughout the day. Following the ceremony, we cut our wedding cake and toasted the celebration with speeches. While group and creative photographs were taken by our talented photographer Sean Kelland, guests had the opportunity to enjoy a traditional afternoon tea on the lawn, play a game of croquet and relax while listening to fantastic live jazz music from Beat-Route.

At dusk guests were invited to take their seats in a marquee, situated alongside the Lastingham farm house, for the evening reception. The ‘colonial chic’ style of the wedding really came together in the marquee – we wanted to reflect both an ‘out of Africa’ element with a sophisticated dinner setting that echoed early 20th century style entertaining. The marquee was draped to represent a camping canopy, while the entrance was decorated with palms in ethnic pots, hurricane lanterns, Nguni hide rugs, travelling trunks and camp-style seating. Within the marquee, guests were seated at long banqueting tables decorated with damask linen and crystal glassware, beautiful flower arrangements in a variety of silverware, groups of old books and frames holding wedding photos of our ancestors. During part of the evening, we asked the DJ to play 1920 – 1940s music, which we had collected, to mimic the sounds that might have been played from the vintage gramophone we also displayed in the marquee.

Following the delicious three course meal provided by Lastingham, we enjoyed our first dance and disco. Coffee, wedding cake and a cheese platter were served later in the evening. The day was incredibly surreal for Neil and me, but we thoroughly enjoyed our celebration of love and commitment and were delighted to have family and friends share the day with us.

Service providers:
Venue (including catering and coordination): Lynne Holding & Mike Macnab, Lastingham Guest Lodge, KwaZulu-Natal Midlands www.lastingham.co.za
Photographer: Sean Kelland, Kelland Photography etc, Western Cape www.kellandphotography.com
Flowers: Kerry Dinkelman, Kerry’s Flowers, Pietermaritzburg
Cake: 3 tier wedding cake with sugar flowers made by Pam Alty;
cupcakes made by Skye (bride)
Bride’s Dress: Monsoon Bridal (UK)
Vintage Headband:  Flo & Percy (UK) www.floandpercy.com
Hair: Zelda Du Toit, The Salon, Pietermaritzburg
Groom’s Suit: New & Lingwood, House of Fraser (UK)
Décor: vintage props and teacups sourced by bride and groom in the UK and South Africa;
Safari props and silverware sourced by Lynne Holding and Kerry Dinkelman
Stationery: collages designed by Skye (bride) and printed by Precision Printing (UK)
Jazz band: Beat-Route, Durban www.beat-route.co.za
DJ: Mega Music, KwaZulu-Natal Midlands www.megamusic.co.za

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From Ilze:

Our love story:
We met each other in 2009 through a mutual friend (also one of the groomsmen) at a party and immediately hit it off. Grant, however, was working abroad as a chef and as fate would have it, was only home for a visit at the time. We decided to stay in contact via email and telephonically but tried to keep things as casual as possible since he was away most of the time and neither of us wanted to read too much into our connection. Eventually we starting writing each other old school love letters (would you believe it!) through the mail and when Grant finally let me know he would be back home permanently we were ecstatic. He let me know immediately on his return what his intentions were, so we swiftly starting planning and within months, had set a date!

The day:
It rained cats and dogs all morning and just half an hour before our service the skies cleared. My girlfriends kept the jokes rolling in throughout our prepping, so we literally laughed all the way to the alter. Having our family and friends there all the way from the Cape and abroad was a God-send We literally partied from their arrival till their departure.

The day is over in the blink of an eye but the true pleasure lies in bonding with your hubby during the planning and just enjoying the execution! Rare but TRUE: Grant and I were lucky in that we had the exact same – casual, yet sophisticated, quirky and fun image of the decor elements and how our day would play out – which made the entire experience a breeze. We both have a strong faith in God and stay prayerful that our union will continue to be a blessing to those around us.

Many of the details are DIY and all the printing and such (which I couldn’t manage) I had a friend do for us. It took months of dedication, patience and sore lil fingers and hands but it was totally and completely worth the effort in the end. Thankfully too – it helped having hubby around to rub the sore away and cheer me on.

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From the bride:

Juan and I met while studying in Stellenbosch. A mutual friend briefly introduced us to each other. After some time we went our separate ways. Juan moved to the Southern Cape to work and I stayed on in Cape Town. When Juan realized I was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with we started our long distance relationship resulting in an 800km roundtrip to see me every weekend.

Eventually Juan moved back to Cape Town and life carried on for another year. On my birthday last year he took me to Franschhoek and after a special breakfast he popped the question. Immediately we took off to my family’s farm to celebrate and in the excitement my birthday took second place

We were married on the Family Farm just outside Wellington on the 7th of May 2011.

The celebration kicked off with an amuse-bouche of teacakes and macarons. A coffee booth was set up with lattes and espresso’s to warm up the chilly morning.

The ceremony took place outdoors with the incredible view of the majestic mountains of the Daljosaphat Valley ahead. On arrival each guest received a gift bag, which included the programme of events, bottles of Karoo water and sweet nibbles.

After being showered with rice and confetti we joined the bridal party for a photo session in a shocking purple 1970’s Apache.

Starters of oysters, bacon wrapped cherries; rooster brood, sushi and more were served while master pianist Helmut Meijer entertained guests. During this time a game of golf was going on with cases of wine up for grabs for the winners.

For the reception a marquee was decorated as a magical secret garden

Birdcages and chandeliers hung from the roof with the most stunning flower arrangements including cutouts of birds of all shapes and sizes. Green and gray floral tables cloths completed the garden feeling.

The main course was setup in a delicatessen style, complete with a deli marquee and hanging blackboards. There was a huge variety of food, something for everyone

After the main course a dessert table was setup with decadent cakes, truffles, cheese cakes, traditional “melk tert” and a variety of sweet treats. We also decided on having a candy buffet so that our guests can have a treat on the way home

The coffee booth was set up again with cheese platters with fresh fruits, figs and stunning home made preserves, jams and farm style breads.

This day was a dream come true and an unforgettable celebration of love for both Juan and myself.

Service Providers;

Photographer: Just Judy www.justjudy.co.za

Flowers: Rustic Affairs Stellenbosch – Matilda

Make up – Helga Bridal www.helgabridal.com

DJ – Baha Entertainment

Wedding Dress Long – Elizabeth Stokenstrohm www.elizabethweddinggowns.co.za

Wedding Dress Short – Nevelene

Décor – Tonetts

Wedding Coordinator – Elsabe Du Plessis

Venue: Imbuko Wines – Uitkyk Family Farm – Wellington www.imbuko.co.za

Catering: Heartworx – Linda Bruyns

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Service Providers:
Photographer;  Rensche Mari
Dresses;   Bride and Co
Catering;  Stoep Caterers ( 013 ) 7937850
Hair;  Janine Manhouk - The hair and body shop
Make-up;  Rhouda Wartington
Grooms Attire;  Le MAnn
Venue;   Krokodil Lapa Malelane
Flowers;  Michelle ( michelle@classicflowers.co.za )
Car hire;  Herman ( herman.nel@vodamail.co.za )
Videographer;  Collin – Just shoot me
Stationery;   O-la-la Creations

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From Amy:

Both the Groom and I had a clear vision for our wedding day: a day of celebration in a natural setting with a cosy feel. Once we found the venue, Beloftebos, it made the actual planning process so much easier as it greatly influenced our ideas! We wanted to steer clear of a wedding that would be impersonal as well as cost a fortune, however we wanted to keep the style and integrity of the day. We made use of good quality, above average, vendors for those things we did not want to ‘skimp on’ such as the invitations and the cake, and where we could we relied on a bit of DIY and family and friends to help with the photography, décor and the like.

Recycled food tin-cans as well as glass coffee jars were used to pot our centre pieces. I made the table numbers from Scrap Book Paper and sourced the heart garlands from In Good Company. We used aloes to ‘decorate’ St. Thomas Anglican Church as to keep it simple and fuss-free. We wrapped them in hessian and tied a ribbon around it as to echo the country feel at the reception venue. We decided against dancing at the wedding, and in the place of the dance floor positioned a ‘low lounge’ – made from hay bales – where guests could relax and enjoy the bonfires and fairy lights which complimented the venue.

Erna, from Eterna Couture, made my dress. After an uncomfortable session with various dress-makers, I met with Erna and she immediately understood the look I was going for. It made a very big difference to have someone listen to me and advise me accordingly as to what I wanted for my day, instead of being told what I would look good in.

Again, in order to save on costs, the bridesmaids and myself did our own make-up. I bought their bouquets (bunches of ‘snap dragons’) for R30 each at a local flower shop, as apposed to the amount I was quoted per bouquet. I also made my own bouquet. Little things like this made a huge difference to the wedding budget, as well as added to the character of the day.

A bit about the wedding day:

Although this might sound cliché, it really was a perfect day! Even the weather played along! I refused to get wound up about the little things and tried to enjoy every moment of it! It is difficult to single out a particular highlight – from when my dad walked me down the aisle, when I saw Ben’s face, to the reception – with old ‘band stand’ hits playing in the background and amazing food – it was magical!

• Venue & Food: Beloftebos, Stanford (Meat: Eatwell Meats)
• Dress: Erna @ Eterna Couture
• Groom’s attire: Country Road
• Invites: Bianca @ Lucky No. 9
• Cake: The Cake Box
• Bouquet: Amy (Bride)
• Veil: Michana White
• Bridal Accessories (earrings): Attitude; Forever New
• Church: St. Thomas Anglican Church, Stanford
• Décor and Flowers: Amy (Bride);  Quirky Parties;   In Good Company
• Hair: Janine @ de Lau Wellness Centre, Sandbaai
• Make-up: Amy (Bride)
• Photographer: Sven @ Sven Ragaller Photography
• Living Wall: Garden Up
• Confetti: Scatterlings

Thanks Amy and Ben, your wedding was stunning and your dress amazing

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We had our wedding in the Tsitsikamma region of the Eastern Cape on a little patch of grass which sits between lots of stunning pine trees and a steep gorge which flows into the sea. The patch of grass was the venue for a picnic wedding. I opted for a bit of a natural palette going for baby blue, chocolate brown (yummy!) and offwhite. It was a midday wedding so everyone could enjoy the shade of the Bedouin tent and umbrellas which were scattered all around.

Our decor items consisted of pewter, glass and bottles in shades of blue and brown.

Bio degradable picnics bags filled with delicious picnic treats served as favours for our guests.

We had a two tier crazy cake. The cake was one thing we definately wanted to be outrageous. My sister made the cake and also the topper in shades of chocolate brown and blue…. (might not be everyones cup of tea (or cake) but we loved it)

Our dads did and amazing job with supplying a great ambiance with outdoor music and microphones as well as the drinks for the day and evening. Our moms made a beautiful effort with the flower arrangements on the day and making of their own famous recipes, which were included into the catering. My sister and her fiancé did a fantastic job on our picnic style catering. Andre’s sister arranged our long rectangular table with glass bottles and jars which were sourced from second hand stores in Port Elizabeth. Our friends and family really did an amazing job at helping us prepare our special day,

Our wedding day was a culmination of effort and love from friends and family. Resulting in a beautiful and special wedding day that we are so grateful for.

Thanks Leigh for sending the pictures and telling us all about your wedding and keeping us up to date via our message board. I know the two of you will have a great future together.

Photographer;  Ingrid Marais

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