Southern Weddings

One last peek at the South African goodness (and general matrimonial awesomeness) that was Estelle + Pieter’s wedding.  We would be remiss to close this feature without mentioning a few more of the beyond-fabulous vendors: Flowers in the Foyer did the florals, Teresa Joubert designed the bride’s and bridesmaids’ dresses, the accessories were from Boezaart Bauermeister, the food was catered by Dish Food and Social, and the stunning, stunning details were the mastermind of Aleit.  And, of course, one final shout-out to photographer Christine Meintijes for making Emily – and the rest of the SW team, but especially Emily – so happy with this wedding.  And by happy, I definitely mean a little bit embarrassingly ecstatic. 

Describe your wedding cake: We’re not traditional people so didn’t have a wedding cake.   Instead, we decided to do something good for nature and planted an endemic tree. The tree symbolized our new beginning together; just as a tree grow, so will our love and relationship grow and bear good fruit.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? When Pieter and I entered the reception area, Jack Johnson’s “Better Together” was playing.  Everyone stood up, applauded, whistled and went wild. Pieter made me twirl around on the dance floor and I wanted to shout “IT’S TRUE!! IT’S ALWAYS BETTER WHEN WE’RE TOGETHER!”
What’s next for you as a couple?  What are you looking forward to in the future?  We are both currently focusing on finishing up our respective studies.  I’m busy with my Master’s degree in Human Nutrition, focusing on pediatric HIV nutrition, and Pieter is completing his actuarial science exams.  Other than studying, we’re hoping to see as much of Africa as possible and to travel to the rest of the world as often as we can!

There’s something magical about tented receptions, but the loose, billowy structures that shielded Estelle + Pieter’s guests from the hot South African sun have an especially dark and mysterious quality about them that just screams desert chic.  Not exactly like the crisp canopies covering sprawling Southern plantations, but what I would give to see these bazaar-inspired tents at an Alabama socialite’s shindig!  And I can’t tell if it’s the near lunch hour (or just Christine Meintjes’ stellar photography) that’s making the spread prepared by Dish Food and Social look like heaven on a plate, but I’d like one of everything, please!  Also, we HAVE to note that Aleit is the genius behind so many of these fabulous details, more of which we’ll have in just a few!

Three words that describe the day are: Love, laughter and excitement.

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The venue. We got married on my family farm outside a small farmer’s town, called Swellendam.  The setting is what really made the wedding what it was.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I didn’t find a wedding dress… I believe the Lord sent me a dressmaker for my wedding dress to find me! I had ideas in my head on what I wanted: I wanted something gold, vintage, lace and layered with silk and frills, but not over the top. The dress was more than I could have hoped for!
Describe your wedding flowers:  Our farm is next to the mountains and we have an indigenous vegetation there called “Fynbos.”  The whole look and feel of the wedding decor was centered around the flowers, plants and natural beauty of the surroundings. We used Fynbos from our own farm for the centerpieces and the florists brought the rest. The arrangements ranged from wild mushrooms, thorn branches, proteas to yellow orchids and malva leaves in all sorts of antique vases.  My bouquet was not a bouquet; rather, I had our family dog Mila leading me to my dad and all the way to the aisle, before I gave her to my brother. She was there throughout the entire wedding, checking on us every now and then to make sure I was okay.

Friends, there’s a reason why we have a “Details” feature here on Southern Weddings, and I’m pretty sure that reason looks a HECK of a lot like Estelle + Pieter’s wedding.  I’ve got three posts devoted to their soiree today, and each one is chock. full. of details.  Seriously.  Not a filler portrait to be seen (though the ones we did include are stunning, thanks to talented photographer Christine Meintjes!).  So though this wedding comes to us from the South of Africa instead of the South of the United States, there are SO many ideas to inspire in this wedding.  More soon!

P.S. Estelle’s dress + her bridesmaids’ dresses (both designed by Teresa Joubert)!  The bride’s Queen Victoria-inspired riding boots!  The ceremony seating + fans + umbrellas!  I DIE.

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story.  We met the first time at church in September of 2007, but the real meeting took place in December.
On the Thursday before my summer holiday to visit a friend in Pringlebay, I impulsively decided to visit a friend of mine at Pringlebay, a small Cape coastal village. That Saturday morning, I found out that three friends from Johannesburg would be joining us for the weekend.

I remember walking down the stairs and seeing this blue-eyed, “bushy-tailed” guy standing in the living room. We were once again introduced and the rest is history.  The planned weekend getaway turned out into an unplanned five day road trip along the coast. We swam in the sea, played beach bats, danced, laughed, went wakeboarding and stargazing, and, in the process, fell hopelessly in love with each other!

After five days, we returned to our families at their respective holiday houses along the coast, but the friendship and fun didn’t stop there. Pieter visited me almost everyday of the holidays and we both knew that life was never going to be the same again!

Describe the proposal:  For the next year, Pieter and I lived apart from one another, but the distance couldn’t kill the love.  After a year of flying between the two cities, hours of telephone conversations and countless emails, he asked me to marry him at my family’s beach house.  I knew he wanted to ask me to marry him since we already had the ring designed and made, but the time he took to pop the question was something!  He first needed to ask my father’s blessing, but he didn’t realize what a mission it would be to get my dad alone over a family holiday! He tried everything to make an “unofficial appointment” with him, but it never worked. In the end, he decided to ask my dad in our kitchen after dinner the one night while the rest of us were watching television! (He had a very hard time, because both my brothers and their wives expected something, so they kept interrupting his conversation!) The whole appointment with my dad stressed him so much that he actually forgot to plan something for the proposal! Luckily, my sister-in-law was there to help. She got him the number of a place where we could go horse riding (my favorite thing in the world!) and they organized to pack a picnic breakfast for us and to hide it somewhere along our road. The appointed morning came and everything went according plan.  We celebrated the engagement with family dinner’s and cocktail parties for three consecutive days!