T-Bone Walker calls it “Stormy Monday”. And yes,most Mondays feels kind of stormy to me. But there’s always a beautiful real wedding to brighten my day. The answers of the brides and grooms always puts a smile on my face. And today’s sweet wedding is no exception.

Nic and Nikki (sounds like a scene from My Big Fat Greek weeding), tied the knot in December. Nic says :” Our wedding was themed around beginnings and adventure. On our invites we had illustrations of us setting sail on a boat behind a ship’s wheel. Throughout the wedding decor we had different “love is…”  illustrations, but all consisting of the trials and tribulations of a classic adventure in the wild and in a marriage”.  Nikki describes the style of their wedding as “classic with a touch of quirkiness”, and I say that’s right up my wedding alley!

We heart this wedding for so many reasons. Well, to start with the blush and coral colour scheme is simply gorgeous. And that ruffled cake has made my cake loving heart skip a beat. Last but certainly not least, the stationery is out of this world. We can’t get over the table numbers!  Anyhoo, this wedding is for all you detail lovers  out there. Enjoy!

Tell us your love story? How did you meet and fall in love?

I had recently visited a new church and I remember seeing this really tall, seriously handsome guy with dreadlocks and tattoo’s. He intrigued me, a lot – he just looked different, in such a good way. I had just met some new friends and they were very into the Cape Town music scene, with boyfriends and friends in bands. Being quite into music myself, i took an interest. Nic happened to be in a band with one of my friends boyfriends and she invited me to one of their shows in Stellenbosch. Of course i went! I don’t even think we spoke that night, maybe a word or two..but I was childishly skittish whenever he was in my immediate vicinity. We started hanging out more, in groups, we had poker evenings and most nights we would sit next to each other sharing jokes and making small talk. It was so much fun. Nic is quite a dreamer and I don’t think he picked up on my very obvious flirtatious ways, so I eventually decided to take it upon myself and ask a friend for his number whilst we were out one night. I asked what he was up to and he ended up joining us. I then made a very obvious move and invited him to walk my seriously cute sausage dog, Sniff, on the beach with me (I think that’s when it clicked). He accepted, we got ice-cream, chatted and walked Sniff for hours. I didn’t know then, that dogs (and food) are the keys to his heart. We chatted more and more, sometimes until 3 in the morning. We became such close friends, which last for a few months. Nic used to draw me little pictures, and educated me greatly on all his favourite bands and artists, we used to go out and play pool together, eat ice-cream and walk sniff.. until Nic took me out for dinner one night, held my hand and asked me to be his girlfriend (romantic, right?). We kissed for the first time that night (in my drive way), when he dropped me off at my house. We were together for 3 wonderful years, got engaged and got married 1.5 years later.

 So how did he pop the question?

I was totally shocked and completely surprised! SO to mark the 3 year date of “being happily together” – we decided Panchos would be a good idea for dinner… We wanted to go the night before because the FIFA soccer world cup was starting the next day and places would be totally crazy. Panchos is one of our absolute MOST favourite restaurants…possibly in the world – I had booked because Nic had told me he had no airtime..he downplayed everything so well..and because I’m so inquisitive..he had to do ANYTHING in his power to prevent me from picking up even the slightest whiff of a proposal! EXCELLENT job you ;) Even before we left, he claimed to not want to dress up and wanted to wear shorts (to dinner?), I practically had to force him to primp up. Straight after I called Panchos and booked..Nic got onto the phone with them and told them his plan, and instructed them to give us the best and most private seats in the house! And they did. I knew nothing about this so was very chuffed when we walked in to find the best table waiting for us, I thought we had simply gotten lucky. We decided to order a delicious jug of strawberry and lemon margarita – somewhat of a tradition. We chatted and toasted to our 3 years going strong and eventually ordered some dinner. Nic didn’t finish his food – which I found odd…as he eats (probably) too much generally. He was acting a bit strange after we had our main meal..I just thought he wasn’t feeling so good and I still asked him what was wrong. Turns out as he said later, he was so nervous he had to force feed himself. We sipped on our drinks, pondering dessert, as I am a huge fan. The waiter came a few moments later and put dessert menus on our table – not asking if we wanted to have a look or not, he was under strict instruction by Nic to put them down and run in case I had said I didn’t want to look at them. Panchos don’t have menu folders – the ones with the sleeves inside, they normally have laminated ring bound ones. But Nic had organised some fancy pants ones, through a friend of mine and had been there earlier that day to drop them off. Nic had typed and printed out his own dessert menus to put in the sleeves. As I opened the menu, the first page read: “Our chef recommends…” in very fancy script and I still remember thinking to myself….”WOW, Go Panchos – how snooty” Then I turned over and the 2nd page read: “that you say yes…” At first I was VERY confused, I turned over again and there was nothing there..so I looked at Nic and he was staring at me not saying anything, so I stared back…this continued for a few more seconds until I clicked and looked down as Nic held a beautiful handmade wooden box with a sparkly ring inside. He slipped the perfect ring on my finger and when we got back to his apartment, we were welcomed by a path of rose petals and candles, an ice bucket with champagne and some chocolates, even balloons. We sat on the balcony and drank champagne listening to the pre soccer world cup concerts happening all over town, talking about our future. The night could not have been more perfect.

What were the highlights of your wedding day?

Walking down the aisle towards my soon-to-be (then) husband. We both had tears streaming down our cheeks, it was an incredibly special moment. I would also have to say, that one of my highlights was the first moment we were alone together on the day. There are so many people around you all the time, that when you have an alone moment, even just for 2 minutes, it’s so special. Breakfast that morning with my girls was also so lovely, and something I will never forget. NIC: When Nikki arrived to walk down the aisle. It was the most perfect moment of the day, everything fell into place.

Any advice for brides-to-be?

It’s so easy to say this now, but relax. Everything will work out. Although there is a lot to do, planning your wedding should be fun more than stressful. Rope in your family and friends, they are more than willing to help, don’t be a control freak because that makes it worse for yourself. One other thing is to keep your eyes locked on your groom when you walk down the aisle. It’s such an incredible and sacred moment that happens once in your life, and you don’t want to miss the look on his handsome face when you walk down the aisle to become his wife. It’s also a huge sense of comfort when everyone is staring at you!

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently? 

I think I would’ve given my people more to do. I just didn’t want to be one of those brides that is all about her wedding. I didn’t want to impose my wedding on anyone else’s life. But looking back on it, everyone was so eager to help, which I should have been a little more open to. If I think about it, I will force my help upon my friends weddings, even if they say no – just because it’s such a special thing event to be involved in.

Where did you get most of your ideas and inspiration from?

Blogs & Nic’s talent for illustration. Seeing as we are both in the creative industry, we had a lot of fun planning the whole concept of our wedding, and it flowed fairly easily.

Any time saving or organising tips?

Don’t sweat the small things. We poured so much love into our decor and favours, half of which were left behind at the end of the night. Most people don’t notice the little things in the way that you do. If it’s really important to you, do it. But if it’s even just slightly a “nice to have” – then leave it out. I am a designer and Nic an animator/illustrator, so it was very important to us to have a lot of attention to detail and we really enjoyed doing it for us. But it’s not always necessary.

What song did you choose for your opening dance and why?

We chose “Grow old with you” – Adam Sandler. Robbie sings it to Julia on the airplane in the movie ‘The Wedding Singer’. Our band did a SUPER version of it and then then kicked into a golden oldie straight away, and everyone joined in.

Were any of your family members or friends involved in the wedding and what were their contributions?

So many people were involved. The brides-maids of course were there every step of the way, I am so thankful for them! My step-mom Lindy, was hugely involved in running errands, picking up ribbons and brown paper bags, jars and candles for the tables to name a few..but she really pulled out the stops for me, was such a rock of emotional support and it wouldn’t have been possible without her. Nic’s mom, Jane, is an absolute bargain queen, to put it lightly. She has a knack for finding anything you need, no matter how rare or non-existent. She helped so much with all the little things, the boys outfits, the little wooden fans for our order of service, and so much more. What a star! Karen, my step cousin made all the petal cones for the guests, over 100 of them. All of my friends were so supportive and constantly offering their help. One of those Sundays I drank tea with my two friends, Sigrid and Kristin as we tied favours in string with little thank you tags, which took about 5 hours! So many people helped out, for those I didn’t mention, we really do appreciate every little thing. We are so blessed to have such kind and willing friends and family. I would also like to say a special thank you to Jan, my mom’s best friend, who sent me a gorgeous flower to wear in my hair, all the way from Australia, it was just perfect.

How does your wedding reflect your personalities?

NIC: Our wedding reflected our personalities perfectly, as we created a lot of the theme ourselves. The colours and decor were beautiful and crafty, and the illustrations of the two of us on our adventure added a Quirky, unique and fun feeling. this sums us up quite nicely. NIKKI: We also really wanted people to feel like they were at “OUR” wedding, so in making / designing everything ourselves, our personalities and characters really spoke in every aspect of decor and stationary. Nic did all the illustrations and I, being a designer, did all the stationary. It was such a fun collaboration! 

Did anything unexpected happen? 

NIC: Well the weather was looking gloomy the entire day, from sunrise up until, literally, 5 minutes before Nikki arrived down the aisle. I was stressing the entire day, especially seeing as we booked the venue purely on its outdoor appeal. The entire day I saw the blue of the sky 3 times in total. It was dark, windy, and there was even a spell of rain 2 or so hours before people had started to arrive. I eventually had made peace with the weather and prepared for the big event. Nikki, as brides are, was late and like I said, literally 5 minutes before she arrived, the clouds broke away, the wind dropped and the most beautiful sunlight spilt through the canopy of leaves just in time, and remained perfect for the rest of the evening and night. A complete miracle!

What are you looking forward to now that you are married?

Well…we have just bought a house, so things are going fantastically for us :) Our plan this year is to be home-makers, get a baby (bulldog) and to enjoy and cherish every moment as husband and wife.

Service Providers:

Bridal Accessories: Accessorize, Summer Blossom

Bridesmaids dresses: Mr. Price

Cake: Vicious Delicious  and Patisserie Claire

Dress: Sharon Burrows

Entertainment: Blaze Function Band

Flowers: Joanna and Nicky – The Vintage Room – 071 2896930 /0835061685

Food: Meliam Catering

Hair: Cheryl Parker

Hiring: Joanna and Nicky – The Vintage Room – 071 2896930 /0835061685

Make-up:Cheryl Parker

Photographer: Gavin Casey

Rings: Rohan Cherry Design

Shoes: Forever New

Stationery: The Bride

Venue: Langverwagt