I apologise in advance. I usually let you know when a post is photo heavy. In the history of Vanilla Blonde, this has got to be THE largest number of photos in one post. To be honest, I didn’t think it was actually possible to fit so many in. So, like I said… I apologise in advance for the scrolling and possible finger cramp. Get some tea now! Please also look out for the writing and explanations in between the photos! This has to also be the blog post that took me the longest to compile, but it was so worth the hours and hours. 

When I sat down with Jadee Fernandes, from Watermelon Events and Coral and Chantelle from Green Goddess to discuss the theme and feel we wanted, it was pretty amazing. I actually wrote about it here, but here’s an excerpt from it:

I loved our detailed meeting because not only did they take the time to really listen to me and bring in their expertise, but everything I was trying to verbalise (which is harder than it seems), they understood. When I didn’t know how to explain what I wanted, I’d show examples via Pinterest (side note – how did weddings actually get planned before Pinterest?) It’s so great to be on the same page and speak to people who understand and just get me! I’d show them a picture example and say: Like this, but not exactly. Or show them a pic and say: Like this, but less. Or like this, but more. Somehow they got it and I’m thrilled.

We are happiest in nature and because the huge barn was stone with gorgeous chandeliers, we didn’t want it to look too rustic. We wanted it to look elegant and transform into an enchanted forest fairytale.

Jadee and her team and Coral and Chantelle were absolutely incredible and there aren’t enough words of gratitude!

My pet peeve of wedding tables is decor that is in your way, blocking the person in front of you. I’ve actually been to weddings where people have moved the flowers and centre pieces off and onto the floor. Cringe.

Our colour palette was mint, greens and white. We had lots of candle light for ambiance, fairy lights, greenery, green leaves and white flowers.

My Mom hand wrote every guests name (170 of them) in her beautiful handwriting. It’s sentimental because it’s my mom’s handwriting, which I adore so much, that I have a tattoo in it. Each name tag went into a potted succulent, done by the brilliant Martin Hammond. He really put so much care into spraying the little pots white, finding the perfect mint colour ribbons and hand picking the succulents. Thank you Martin!

It served as a place setting and also as a take home gift, so that our love could continue to grow. 

My Mom also made our Guest book. She made the pewter cover, in our emblem. Amazing!

It sat on a table with white pillar candles lit to remember those loved ones who were celebrating with us in Heaven.

Each guests name was placed into these forest fairytale rings with the table number they were seated at…

We also bought each guest a Lotto Ticket, but sadly we didn’t have any new millionaires. What a story that would have made!

Instead of many tables around a dance floor, we decided on the main table and 4 large banquet tables of guests. We love Family Style Dining, so it wasn’t plated food of a choice you had to make (chicken or beef?) or a stand-in-a-queue buffet. Instead, we had big plentiful platters on the table for our guests to enjoy and taste a little bit of everything on offer. It gave it a real Mediterranean/European feel. We had platters of vegetables, bowls of sweet potato chips and tender pieces of chicken and sliced rump that was prepared on the Souvla Machines.

We also had midnight snacks of Mini Kitka Rolls With Grilled Chicken, Ripe Camembert, Caramelized Onions And Rocket.

All catered by Picnic Company & Mustard Catering, who were superb.

We sipped on Nederburg Brut and wines from the Nederburg Heroes Heritage collection and Allesverloren Rosé, Coco Vita coconut waters and alcohol from Pernod Ricard served at the bar brought in by Thirst Bar, who are the most professional and accommodating bar service you can ask for. Sox and I entered our party to the song: Boom Shake the Room by Will Smith.

We had some of the most incredible speeches. Martin Goodman was our excellent MC and he pulled the whole evening together. My Dad said a speech that was just Wow!

Karolina Sky said a speech that had me in happy tears.

2 of Sox’s groomsmen gave wonderful speeches: Dave Raad…

…and Marc Delaporte:  

Yaron Wiesenbacher had asked us if he could say something and read something he had written for us. He is one of the best writers I know and he was excellent.
We had broken the speeches up between courses, so that it wasn’t too tedious.

Finally Sox stood to say his speech.

One of the funniest moments was when it sounded like he was ending his speech and I thought he had forgotten to thank the bridesmaids. So in the middle of his speech, I called him over to whisper “Don’t forget the bridesmaids” … Turns out he was just getting started and I went bright red. Everyone was laughing and Sox teased that his wife was already exercising her right to tell him what to do! Haha!

Look at these pics… it says it all…

Well, Sox spoke for 52 minutes and no one felt the length at all. His speech was riveting, emotional and so heartfelt I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it. One minute we were laughing, one minute we were crying and then back to laughing again. He was incredible!

He didn’t realise he had spoken for so long, but some friends had a bet going as to how long his speech would be, so they had started timing it.

There wasn’t a dry eye when he spoke to his Dad and Mom… 

We also happened to have 2 Birthdays. Jarrad’s birthday was that day, the 5th of March and Lucia’s birthday was the 6th of March, so we arranged 2 birthday cakes with sparklers for them. 

Speaking of cakes…We had the most incredible forest fairytale 3 tiered cake made by The Cake Duchess. Thank you again to Kerryn and Kirsty Du Toit from KDT Comms for helping us with this. You guys were amazing! The attention to detail was incredible and all the flowers and leaves were edible – sugary delights! We had carrot, red velvet and chocolate tiers. My mom made the wire Mr and Mrs. Cake topper and it was borrowed from my sisters wedding cake from the year before.

We also had a gorgeous Dessert Bar with huge helium balloons filled with confetti, candles and home made Baklava and Greek biscuits, made especially by Sox’s mom, Dimitra. There were bowls of Swiss Chocolate that my Aunt and Uncle brought from Switzerland and the cake.

Our beautiful Mom’s! 

Right lets get into the party…

My Dad and I did our father daughter dance. We danced to Bob Carlisle’s Butterfly Kisses and then my Dad handed me over to Sox, as a rite of passage, for our First Dance. The very first song we ever slow danced to when we first met was, Lonestar’s Amaze and we danced to that. Our guests all lit sparklers and I was surprised (you’ll see the look on my face) by confetti canons that shot off and it was magical!

I removed my petticoat to reveal the slits in my dress for the dancing…

Yes… that is my husband doing “The Worm.”

It was then onto the Greek Dancing and traditional Greek plate breaking and burning of whiskey. We had 1000 plates to break and it was absolutely insane!! Men poured whiskey onto the floor, set it alight and had the whiskey dance and the other traditional dancing. Afterwards, it was back to the party and our party went on until 04h30 in the morning.

While we headed off to the honeymoon suite, some of our guests continued to party at the lake having sunrise swims.

One of the best pieces of advice we received, was for Sox and I to slip away, taking a bottle of champagne with us and sit away from our party, but close enough to look in and see the party we created with all our loved ones. I’m so glad we did this because we had a moment as newly weds, drank champagne, laughed, kissed and sat full of gratitude and prayer.

Another thing that, in hindsight made our party even better…there was no cellphone reception. It meant that no one sat on their phones. The only time I saw phones was for pictures and selfies, but then they were put down again, instead of spending another 5 minutes of bowed heads adding filters and Instagramming. People chatted to each other, they danced and had fun, without their phones and it was the best!

The following day, we had a company arrive to do a Lamb Spit and we spent the day lounging (a little hungover, but happy) by the lake, swimming and relaxing.

Now you understand why it was the best weekend of my life!

I am so happy I got to share our Wedding(s) with you. Thank you so much for reading the whole Wedding series.

Little Black Book:

• Wedding planner/co-ordinator: Jadee Fernandes from Watermelon Events www.watermelon.co.za
• Catering: Lauren Rohloff Picnic Company and Mustard Catering. http://picnics.co.za/
• Wedding dress (designer) Hendrik Vermeulen info@hendrikvermeulen.com
• Wedding shoes: Lilikoi
• Wedding suits: Frank Bespoke suits http://frankbespoke.co.za/
• Photographer: Shantelle Visser http://www.shantellevisser.com/weddings/
• Videographer: Brian Seymour from Shoot and Create http://www.shootandcreate.co.za/
• Rings: Engagement ring from Olga and our wedding rings from Charles Greig. My wedding ring is very unique… it’s a Jacket Ring made up of two diamond wedding rings and the engagement ring slips in between the 2 rings, fitting in between them. Each band represents each ceremony.
• Hair and Make Up: Scar Hair for the colour (scarhair.co.za) and Kimlyn Sisam as hair stylist and make up artist for both days. https://www.facebook.com/SimplyBlushMakeupArtistryByKimlyn/
• Cake: The Cake Duchess http://cakeduchess.co.za/
• Flowers and Decor: The Green Goddess: http://www.greengoddess.co.za/
• Bar services: Thirst Bars http://thirst.za.com/
• DJ: DJ Roy Hendrickse