Recent Weddings

Country wedding

Unposed, natural photos are probably my favourite part of photography.  To get the “moments” I have to give direction to most people.  Once in a while you get people that are so natural that I don’t have to say a word.  I can just play! Christiaan and Debrie were one of those couples.
 
Their wedding were in the Bushveld at Zakopane Country Lodge and again we couldn’t wait for this destination wedding! Give me airoplane food any day of the week!
 
 Where did you meet?
We met in 2001 when we both attended the same high school.  We only started dating in 2004; 14 February 2004 to be exact.
 
Venue: Zakopane Country Village, Brits
Dressmaker: F Wilson Fashion Design, Pretoria
Hair: Karien @ Hair Affair, Pretoria
Make-up: Iza Cloete
Flowers and wedding planners: Louise/Cáreli du Plooy/Anien  082 781 3941
Videographer: Photographic d’Art
 
Interesting fact:
We grew up within a radius of approximately 2 km from each other.  Unaware of the other’s existence.
 
 
See their photos here.

West Coast Blast

A relaxed fun wedding!
This is the best way to describe Blikkies and Rene’s most special day. These two did not stop smiling and laughing for one second!
 
How did you guys meet?
Ons het ontmoet deur my sussie Anel en sy broer se verloofde, Linda, se gekonkelry.  Einde 2009. Hulle is beste vriendinne en het saam geswot in Pretoria.  Hulle het my nommer vir Blik gegee.  My foon het ‘n oproep gekry van so sexy outjie en van daar af was dit history.
 
Venue:  Seatrader Britannia Baai  www.seatrader.co.za <http://www.seatrader.co.za>
Dressmaker:  Rachelle Fourie
Hair and make-up: Iza Cloete
Flowers:  Ronel Bloemiste Vredenburg
Videographer: www.visualeye.co.za <http://www.visualeye.co.za> 
Cake: www.withlovebaking.co.za <http://www.withlovebaking.co.za> 
 
 
Interesting fact:
Blikkies is ‘n GROOT visserman!  Ek Het ‘n groot visservrou geword, if you can’t beat them join them!
Stapelvoedsel: SUSHI!!

See their photos here

5 Years – Pretoria

This beautiful destination wedding was in Pretoria.  As you know we are always looking for a reason to jump on a plane, so when Leanie and Hanno contacted me we immediately said yes! We will be there… like two bears on a chair in a square.
 
The Civil Engineer and writer met in February 2010.
“I was invited by our mutual friend to go sailing with them on their sailboat in Hartbeespoortdam. Needless to say, when I met the co-owner of the boat we couldn’t keep our eyes off each other and the hunt began.  He knew the exact day he would ask me to marry him, eight months in advance after our first holiday while on a road trip with friends through Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.”
 
 
Venue: Mountain Honey Estate in Pretoria
Chapel: Nazareth House, Waterkloof, Pretoria
Dressmaker: Lizette Prinsloo
Hair: Sarina Labuschagne
Flowers: Zoe Flowers
Videopgrapher: Renier Lamprecht
Catering: Chez Mari Catering www.chezmari.co.za
 
Interesting fact about the couple:
“I am five years older than my husband and completed varsity before he left school!”
 
See their photos here.

Crisp Winter wedding

 This Boland morning wedding took place outside Franschhoek.  Although chilly it was truly one of the highlights of the year!
Francois and Barbara got married in the heart of wine country.  With wine being one of their passions in life it was so fitting.
 
Where did you meet?
“What started out as a normal autumn evening, developed into a day that we will never forget.  We often get asked how we met, and well, here is the official story…
Both of us love exercising, so on the 28th of March 2008 we separately went to our local Virgin Active in Paarl for an early evening work-out.  Before this day we have never spoken a word to each other, but in the weeks leading up to this day we gave each other ‘the look’…you know, the one where it feels like everything and everyone around you is a blur.
So there I was, doing my routine when suddenly Francois appeared next to me…
That’s basically how we started, when Francois said the three words I’ll never forget… ‘Hi, ek’s Francois’”
 
 
Venue: L’ermitage (Franschhoek)
Dressmaker: Elizabeth Stockenström
Shoes and jewellery: Lily Blue
Hair: Brigitte Kent from Kymric Hall
Make-up:  Iza Cloete
Flowers: Aartsappel
Videographer: Irma Malan
Wedding programmes and canvasses: 2design
Our website: www.kom-deel-in-ons-droom.co.za
Website designers: Ideal Marketing Solutions
 
 
Interesting facts about us?  
 
I don’t admit this every day, but Francois is a much better cook than me. We absolutely love Italy and both of us have a passion for good music. Francois plays the violin.  Barbara loves writing poetry.
 
 
See their photos here.

Cape Town City Wedding

Weddings in the Western Cape is rarely in the City centre.  It’s normally in the surrounding Boland areas. When I spoke to Branken and Trudie the first time and they said the wedding was going to be in the CBD I was over the moon!
The ceremony was at the AMAZING Groote Kerk. This is probably one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen.
 
Branken and Trudie met at University of Stellenbosch. What started out as just friends eventually turned into something more and the rest is history!
 
It was also my first visit to Brio Restaurant opposite the church.  AWESOME!
 
Venue: Brio 1893 Restaurant in Adderley Street – great venue for winter weddings
Dress: Elbeth Gillis
Hair: Phoenix Hair in Wellington
Make-up: Chris and Martin, Bobbi Brown Make-up Artists at Edgars, Tyger Valley
Flowers: Prickley Pear Wedding Planners
Wedding in Groote Kerk Cape Town by Ds John Smit
 
 
See their photos here.

Home sweet Home

Weddings in South Africa normally happen at venues that specialise in events. Unlike the USA we rarely will have a reception at our home. It was so cool to attend a wedding where they had a tent at the bride’s house where she grew up!
I must state however that it is not the average pigeon box that most of us live in. It’s an awesome South African home with a huge yard in Robertson! What a party!
Tries and Werner met through mutual friends at the 5 Flies Restaurant in Cape Town during May 2008. Since then they lived overseas and couldn’t wait to tie the knot!
Venue:  Bride’s family home, Robertson
Dressmaker: Susan Ellis Steinhauser
Hair and make-up: Annemart Strydom
Flowers: Phillip van Rensburg, Robertson Bloemiste
Wedding planner: Lizelle van der Westhuizen
Videopgrapher: Melanie Stockenström, Perfect Productions
Catering: Plum Kitchen

Interesting fact:
Although we were only introduced to each other during 2008, we discovered that we appeared on each other’s school photographs (obviously we did not attend the same school).

See their photos here.

The Picture Makers

 Wedding photography in Cape Town  can sometimes be very unexpected. Sometimes it really works against you. Sometimes you get a nice surpise. This happened at Rouan and Marike’s wedding in Somerset West, Western Cape.
On the couple shoot the day was heavily overcast and light levels were fading fast. Somerset West has a lot of suburban landscape so it’s difficult to find open space with a great background. We drove franticly. On our last turn through a suburb we saw a school entrance and as we entered the gate we saw open grass field with Table Mountain beaming through awesome colours as the sun’s last rays surprised us with the perfect landscape background. Marike is a full time artist (painting) and Rouan an architectural technologist and with their visual background they appreciated this unexpected surprise as much as us.
 
How did you meet?
 
The longish short version of how we met: Rouan and my brother had been friends since pre-primary school, we were in the same primary school and church, and our families knew each other.  There had been various crushes on each other during high school, resulting in a movie date in ’98 (he held my hand!) and a party date in 2000 (he put his arm around me!). And finally the more grown up party date in ’03 (he kissed me!). And then Rouan went to the UK and a whole lot of almost dating happened until he was back for good, and our wild oats had been sown.
It’s so hard to make the decision to take the step from best friends to dating, but on the 2 November 2007, the friendly dinner date accidentally turned into a very unforgettable romantic date, and we couldn’t believe what we had been missing out on!
 
Service providers:
- Venue – Croydon Olive Estate -
- Dressmaker -‘LadyK’ – karen.ladyk@gmail.com
- Suit – Tidy Tux Century City
- Make-up – Helene Cloete
- Hair – Anna Pepper
- Flowers – Anname Lotz
- Décor – Marike
- Videopgrapher – Anton Kleynscheldt
- Live Music – Joshua Grierson – 072 068 9772 -http://joshuagrierson.tumblr.com/
 
Marike:
“I think one of the most important things in a wedding is to celebrate the couple, and people tend to miss that in all the tradition. One of the things that made our wedding special to us, is that it was very ‘us’, it was very laid back and casual, we don’t dance, we rather just chilled with friends, our music, silly décor, and most importantly we had enough time to connect with each other now and then, to take it in and realise we’re married! When we got in the car with Riekert and Iza for the couple shoot, it was so nice to get away from the well wishings and hugs, and just relax and realise that TODAY is that day we’ve been looking forward to for ever!
And by the way, choosing your wedding photographer is such a personal thing, because you share a lot of the day with them, if you don’t get along it can put such a damper on the day, and we were SO happy that we got to work with Riekert and Iza, they just made it all more fun and precious. That night after the wedding we had a cup of coffee and just went over the whole day again, did you see when this happened, it was so cool that that happened.. and we agreed that we didn’t even care that much anymore how the photos came out, cuz it was so fun, the experience was enough – BUT THEN WE GOT THE PHOTOS!! And I keep losing days going through them, and reliving everything!”

See their photos here

Table Mountain Wedding

This Table Mountain backdrop wedding was perfect! Josh and Melody got married on a gorgeous day on Blouberg Strand.
As they had an early afternoon wedding we had to wait for the sun to set a bit before we did their couple photos.  Again Cape Town does not disappoint.
 
How did you guys meet?
“In 2007 we were drawn to rural Ohio in the USA to work for The Salvation Army at one of their summer camps, Camp NEOSA.  Josh lives local to camp and Melody is South African living in the UK.
Of all places in the world it was here that God brought us together and initiated our friendship. Neither of us can actually remember the first time we met, so perhaps it wasn’t quite the ‘love at first sight’ story.  After the summer we stayed in contact over the year as we were both studying for our undergraduate degrees.  Melody returned to Ohio in 2008 and we worked at camp for another summer.  We became great friends as we spent a lot of time together enjoying chatting during any break times at camp. As the summer progressed our feelings grew stronger for one another. At the end of summer, Josh finally told Melody about his feelings while overlooking the camp’s lake.
 
We dated over a long distance for most of our relationship. We were finally able to see each other again in September 2009 when Josh moved to the UK to complete his Master’s degree (or to pursue Melody!?).
In July 2010 we visited family in the USA, Josh took Melody to their ‘spot’ at camp – a bench underneath a tree overlooking the lake, where we first admitted to having feelings for one another.
There he got down on one knee and asked Melody to be his wife!”
 
- Venue:  On The Rocks Restaurant, Bloubergstrand, Cape Town
- Dressmaker: White One designer
- Hair: Simone Gibbons, Hugo the Hair Company, Panorama
- Make-up: Hugo Minnie, Hugo the Hair Company, Panorama
- Wedding stationary: Louisa Gibbons
- Flowers: Flowers and More
- Wedding Cake: Petits Fours, Bloubergstrand
 
The irony:
Josh’s father didn’t want him to move away for university because ‘he would fall in love and have children in a different part of the country’.
Josh met Melody (a South African) while working at a summer camp in his home town of 5,000 people.
We decide on a Cape Town wedding as it’s the most beautiful city in the world and Josh finally had the opportunity of meeting Melody’s family, including the overprotective older brothers!
 
See their photos here

Truly South African Wedding

Wessel and Inette had a proper South African Wedding at Die Klip Lapa.  It was truly a country affair with real South African hospitality.
 
The two teachers studied at the same university, but didn’t know about each other until one night:
“Both of us got dragged out of the house for a night about town by friends.  Nevertheless, we met the old classic way: in a bar.  We started talking and never stopped.
He was the perfect gentleman and we both ended up telling our parents we met “the one” that same night…  I (Inette) only found that out about three years later.  What a laugh!”
 
We also had the privilege of working with Ian from “Vision on Fire“.  One of the best videographers around.  With Iza doing the make-up I knew this bride was going to be in good hands. We got an amazing sunset which really was the “cherrie op die koek”!
This works wonderfull for the dramatic Wedding photography that I sometimes experiment with.
 
- Venue:   Die Klip Lapa, Robertson
   023 626 5929  admin@kliplapa.co.za
- Dressmake:  Denise Veldman, New Zealand
- Hair: Mariska, La Vie  
- Make-up: Iza Cloete
- Flowers: Anna (Die Klip Lapa)
- Wedding planner: Anna
- Videographer:  Vision on Fire
- Invite Out (stationary)
- Harvey Fine Teas
- Rob Signs
 
 
“They say opposite attracts:  we are living proof of that!  We are exactly the opposite and that’s the thing we love the most about each other!”
 
See their photos here.

Blind date – Paarl

André and Hanli got married outside Paarl on a sunny winter’s day.

We met through a blind date on 15 May 2009 and married on the 14 May 2011!
“After two weeks of meeting each other, it felt like we have known each other for ever. We got engaged in Mauritius, it was terribly romantic! We chose our wedding vendors by word of mouth – all sharing one thing – they had to be people’s persons with whom we felt comfortable and would be able to give our own ideas.”

Dress: Janita Toerien
Make-up: Marietjie Hurtur
Hair: Hugo Bornman
Flowers and Decor: Mint & Magnolia
Catering: Retha Rix
Video: Gerrit en Frannie Visser
Invitations and ceremony “paper”: Lezanne Bester

What’s supposed to be a winter day turned out to be a true Summers day. As we knew Andre and Hanli from even before they met it was so relaxed and seeing their love was a privilage.
See their Photos here

Hidden Spots – Paarl

Rike and Cobus got married at Kronenburg just outside Paarl. She got dressed close by at their family’s farm and with A LOT of other guests also at the house it really felt like “My Big Greek wedding” It was so much fun.
 
How did you guys meet?
During April in 2004, we met at one of Stellenbosch’s local “hang-outs” – yes, really!
 
Wedding vendors
- Venue: Kronenburg-  www.kronenburg.co.za
- Dressmaker: Christine O’Kennedy – www.christineokennedy.blogspot.com
- Make-up: Hannelie (Basic Beauty)
- Hair: Salon de la Roche (Paarl)
- Flowers:  Glee events and promotions  www.gleeevents.co.za
- Wedding planner: Hanri at Glee events and promotions
- Videopgrapher: Darron Donald www.photosbydonald.fotopic.net
- Wedding cake:  With love baking (Charyka van Wyk)
- Music: Deejays music (DJ Theo)  www.deejaysmusic.co.za
 
With weddings it’s always a challenge finding new spots for photos. It’s sometimes a case of scouting a bit and taking a small road here and a gravel road there.
It’s also amazing that a spot may be under your nose and you haven’t noticed it before, even though you’ve driven past it 50 times. I just love all the scenery in their photos.
The two of them were so into each other that we had to keep reminding them that we are actually taking photos!

See their photos here