If you love romantic, vintage inspired weddings (and I think deep down inside we all do), then you are going to adore this country wedding. Donovan and Emma got married on one of the oldest farms in the Tulbagh area, some of the buildings in the picturesque town date back over 250 years.

The history surrounding the farm inspired their wedding, and they reflected this in a number of the wedding elements. We used the wedding stationery to set the scene and created a  farm style feast reception.

Emma looked breathtaking, and extremely happy I might add,  in her Maggie Sottero A-line and mantilla veil. Nikki Meyer captured this intimate celebration.

Their story:

Donovan and I met through a mutual friend and, although it sounds like a cliché, we felt like we had known each other our whole lives. We could talk for hours, our record was a 13 hour Skype call, and we immediately found values and interests in common. During a surprise weekend away in the Cederberg, under a 250 year old fig tree, Donovan popped the question.

What were the highlights of your wedding day?

The highlight for me was all of the light hearted laughter and the overwhelming feeling of love. The stress just melted away as jokes induced fits of belly laughter and tears. It was wonderful to see our friends and family, and of course my groom, filled with so much happiness.

Any advice for brides-to-be?

My advice for brides-to-be would include three main points: stay organised (or find someone who can organise for you); know in advance that the ‘people’ part of your day is not controlable (you may be able to decide what colour flowers you want but not what Uncle Bob will say in his speech) and, most importantly, decide at the beginning on the style/theme of your wedding (there is so much inspiration out there that you can become overwhelmed by the sheer choices).

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

If we had to do it all over again we would hire a wedding planner to deal with the details on the day (I was up at 4am going through the last bits and pieces at the venue to make sure everything was in place!). We would also have hired a videographer in retrospect as it would be nice to have a living memory of our ceremony, the heartfelt speeches and of course the first dance.

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

My endless supply of inspiration was Pinterest. I created boards for each aspect of my wedding and filled them with inspiration from my favourite wedding blogs (The Pretty Blog, Style Me Pretty and Snippet & Ink).

What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome while organising your dream wedding?

The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was the overwhelming amount of well-meaning advice that I got from all sides – everyone had an opinion and expected/hoped I would follow their particular piece of advice. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t keep everyone happy and once I realised this obvious mistake my stress began to lessen.

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

My groom chose Fields of Gold by Sting since the song has sentimental meaning for both of us.

Did your wedding preparations include any DIY projects?

I attempted a few DIY projects during the wedding preparations and one of the biggest was the Limoncello favours (an Italian digestive which we fell in love with on a trip to the Amalfi coast). I brewed the lemon concoction using a traditional Italian recipe and let it ferment for six months before bottling and labelling it with my own specially designed tag.