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Colour schemes, décor, flowers & style

I am not one for much colour. I like earth colours and grey, white and black. So I knew from the start that there would be no colourful wedding for us, as I am a very plain person. I told Sieglinda from Waterfront Guestfarm that I don’t know exactly what kind of vases and such I like, but I wanted it to be sophisticated. So she had very little to work with from my side, with only one word. I wanted the colour scheme to be grey and white, with a little green, but not so much that it looks as if my colour scheme is green, so I said the only green I want must be part of the flowers.

For the mock-up Sieglinda put on three styles with different shades of grey and white. We decided that the grey alone looks too dead and was ‘n little too dark. We went with a silverish tablecloth, with a glittered overlay. The flowers were perfect – she knew from that one word what to do. We had white roses and a few other flowers that I don’t know the name of, but the decorations were perfect and not overdone. It was a very clean, open, sophisticated look that we wanted and that was exactly what we got.

DIY projects

The only things I made myself were the wedding invitations, which was in electronic format, and my hairpiece. Otherwise, it was all in Sieglinda’s hands to make this wedding into everything we envisioned.

The dress

I Googled a lot on the different kinds, designers, shapes and colours for wedding dresses. As we live in Upington, the selection is very limited and you may struggle to find the perfect dress, especially if you have a tricky figure like me. There is always the option to buy a dress in another town or city, but that entails a lot of planning and time, as you will have to plan trips and schedule appointments.

I planned to start looking for a dress in Upington, so I visited all the bridal stores and also the individuals that had dresses that they sell from home, which they order from the cities. I didn’t get one dress that worked for me, as I already had ‘n specific style in mind. Once I realised that I wasn’t going to get a dress in Upington, I started to get quotations from Cape Town as we were planning a trip there before the wedding. All the dresses I looked at were very beautiful, but I felt that I wasn’t sure that it will be the one once I get to Cape Town and we had limited time for me to do dress shopping.

While I was looking at the dresses from Cape Town bridal shops, I found out that one of my friends who made dresses, but stopped due to other responsibilities, was going to start up again. I immediately contacted her and we went to the fabric store. She said the colour of the dress that I showed her would suit my complexion. In Upington we found the perfect silk and lace for the dress. She asked my dress budget and she said she would be able to make this dress for me within my budget.

My dress colour was ‘n type of champagne and was close to mermaid style. The dress was made from silk with a lace overlay with the most beautiful beading on the lace.

The wedding day

It’s hard to describe the favourite moments as there were so many. But moments that stood out even from the favourite moments, were the magical ones like when my father walked me down the aisle, the fact that I could have my grandparents there and give them and myself the privilege of seeing their first grandchild getting married, even though their health isn’t in ‘n good state, the speech my husband gave that was dedicated to me, and our first dance, as well as the father-daughter dance were unbelievable.

The unexpected

First of all, I don’t like surprises and I like to stick to routines and planning. I don’t like things that happen without me being prepared for it. I had a bad incident with a bridesmaid that dropped me during the reception, which was very emotional and bad for me. As we moved on with the program I hugged my husband and my dress tore a bit on one of the shoulders, but luckily my other bridesmaid was super and she organized a pin and fixed it for me.

One thing that surprised me was when my father and I were busy having our father-daughter dance, my one brother that was 21 at the time, took over from my father and danced with me for a while and then my youngest brother 13 at the time, took over from our other brother. This happened to be very special to me as it was such a beautiful gesture.

Advice for future brides

The first thing that I said after the wedding, that brides must focus on, is selecting their bridesmaids carefully. I learnt that the hard way and it is very bad, as you pay a lot of money for this special day and you put a lot of money into bridesmaid gifts and you must be sure that you will be your bridesmaids’ number one priority for the day.
Prepare yourself that things may happen that are out of your control and that you won’t let that spoil your wedding day for you.
I would advise brides to do as I did and not have children at your wedding under the age of 13. You are very stressed about someone accidently stepping on your dress, or breaking things which you will be liable for. We also saw at other weddings that children take over the dance floor and in some cases spoil the first dance and so on.

Anything extra

I must say that any bride will be happy and delighted with the end result if they choose to use Waterfront Guestfarm and Sieglinda as their wedding planner. She has such a calming effect on you, as she has been a bride herself. Her main focus is to make your day into everything that you imagine it to be and more. She went out of her way to accommodate our family and friends’ children under 13 years of age to be entertained at the guesthouse, so that the guests didn’t have to make alternative arrangements for their children.
on the lace.