Cape Town Wedding: We got married, again!

April 17th 2021 was the date we were married (again) at the beautiful Grand Dedale Country House (now Doolhof Boutique Hotel) in Wellington. It has always been a firm favourite of mine throughout my years of planning, and I was so happy that Andy loved it as much as I did when we went to view it. We had eloped the September before, and finally we had our chance to say our vows in front of our friends and immediate family. Our guest list was unfortunately tight because of covid restrictions, but we have a beautiful video that we can share with everyone who couldn’t make it.

Planning a wedding, postponing a wedding, eloping, and re-planning the wedding – is not what we had in mind for 2020 and 2021. And whilst doing that, I was helping all my couples postpone their weddings too. It was a wild year!

But I can honestly say that, even though things were stressful, we absolutely loved our wedding day. It was perfect in every way. We were very lucky with the weather, April can be slightly cooler, but our entire wedding weekend was 36 degrees!

I was so relieved that we didn’t have to move to Plan B for wet weather. We had 50 guests attend and the entire day was set to be outside. This was also helpful with covid and made everyone feel comfortable. The ceremony was in the lower part of the garden, the cocktail hour was on the top lawn, and the dinner was on the open verandah that looked out onto the mountain.

The boys had a chilled morning and got ready up at the main house.
We decided to hire 2 photographers, which made the morning very relaxed and each photographer got to be with us. We have so many lovely photos from that morning.

Yolande du Toit was the hair and make up artist for myself, our moms and my bridesmaids.
I am not a huge make up person, but I love a red lip! Although we did a full face of make up, it didn’t feel like I was wearing a heavy foundation, and even though it was 36 degrees, it lasted the entire day and night. We have worked on many weddings together and have become friends, so it was lovely to have her vibrant personality with us while we got ready.

Our ceremony was heart felt and full of tears (mainly from Andy I might add) Tony was our marriage officer, he married us legally when we eloped, so it was nice to have him with us again for when we said our own vows. The horses in the paddock where a lovely added farm feeling, and we giggled as we heard the cows next door ‘moo’ while we were saying our vows.

The cocktail hour was filled with the incredible voice of Mischa Smith, an incredibly talented singer. The food was sensational by the in house chef. We decided to minimize our seating time, and so we doubled up on the canapes and scrapped the starters. This also gave guests an opportunity to taste a lot more of the canape options on offer. We had our coffee station by Magnificent Barista Boys going throughout the day and night. As not everyone drinks alcohol, it is a nice added touch to let guests decide what they want, and when.

The sunset was so beautiful and so Catherine Mac, our amazing photographer, took us behind the venue onto an open field for our photos. She captured the light so perfectly, and we already have photos on our wall. We absolutely love all of our photos and couldn’t be more grateful that she was available for our day. Wynand and Clyde from White Lines did a phenomenal job at capturing our day on film. I have worked with White Lines for many years, and am always so caught off guard by how they manage to capture the day so perfectly. We have watched the video a few times already, and it never gets old.

Rowenna and her team from Botanica were our florists. I didn’t give Rowenna much guidance in terms of the overall look. She knew I liked a lot of fresh, light and white looks that we had worked on over the years. I always point out what I like at each wedding we do together, so she already had a pretty good idea on my thoughts. The one thing I was quite set on was the look of our arch, and wow, did she knock that right out of the park. Her lovely father actually built the structure for me. All the table top decor came from our company, The Hire Haus. All the white and glass looked incredible and I was so proud that it was displayed so beautifully. There is not one thing I would change about our decor and flowers. We wanted to be a bit more relaxed when it came to the seating plan, so we named our tables after some of our favourite TV shows, and everyones names on the menus and seating plan were all the guests nick names (if they had one) “By Kerrith” did our menus, ring box and seating plan and I think it paired perfectly with the overall look.

Andy and I decided to do our labels and the rest of the signage ourselves, we didn’t want anything to match, and had fun playing around. We had a fun sign in the bathrooms for our emergency kit & we created vinyl labels for our wine bottles, which the guests could take as they left the wedding.

Urbantonic, All Things Wedding and Authentic Planning added their touch by supplying tables, chairs and lighting. I feel that lighting is so important and Lene and Chris made sure the lighting was exactly what I had asked for. I had a panic bride moment only a few days before, and asked them to add on silver coverings to each light bulb. It might not sound like an important need, but I felt like it would make a difference to the look. They made sure to add these in and I am so glad we did. Even if no one else noticed, I thought it looked amazing! The men all thoroughly enjoyed the lawn games by Mr and Mrs M. Everyone loves a game, and it is a nice extra to have that can keep the guests busy.

I wanted to add a few family & bridal party photos in here. The last year was a tough one, so it was super special to spend such a lovely weekend with our immediate families, who we just love and adore!

Adrian from Next Dimension Entertainment was our DJ. He also did the beautiful monogram on our dance floor. We have been in the industry for a similar amount of time, and have worked on many beautiful weddings together. He rocked the music right up until the end. Kirya Kuti surprised our guests with an amazing saxophone performance, and everyone was blown away by his talent!

Our speeches were hilarious, and there was so much laughing and happy tears. To have it all on video is so special. It is so nice to listen to them after the wedding. The day is very overwhelming and emotional, so you cant remember everything that was said.

Who could forget the dessert! We had a few options for this. We had a full dessert station by Wades Cakes, our wedding cake by our special friend Tiana from T’s Tarts, and my favourite ice cream cart from Tuist. This gave guests options to choose what they like, but it also doesn’t force them to eat something right after dinner. We had take away boxes for those that weren’t keen to eat anything sweet right away, and they got to enjoy it the next day. Our ice cream station was divine, and the owner, Ziska, came over with a big scoop of salted caramel ice cream on a cone for me before they left. I will be forever grateful she did that, haha. It is my favourite flavour!

Our photo booth by Propel was such a hit! We have the funniest photos, and it a great memory for everyone to take home. Our photobook sits proudly on our coffee table, all 66 pages! And I added in our photobooth photos on the last 2 pages to add some extra fun to it.

One of my favourite memories was the dance with my dad, and my first dance with Andy.
We didn’t cut the cake, toss the bouquet or throw the garter (I didn’t even have a garter) but the first dance was one tradition I was keen on keeping.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! If you are a newly engaged couple, I 100% understand how hectic it can be to navigate a wedding during this time, but trust me, it is so worth it in the end.

Thank to you all the suppliers for your support, our wedding would not have been the same without you. We will cherish the memories for years to come and wish we could do it every year just to relive that incredible feeling.

See below for the links to our suppliers:

Venue, accommodation, food & beverage	Doolhof Boutique Hotel
Hangover Brunch & all wine	Doolhof Winery
Live music	Mischa Smith
Photography	Catherine Mac
Videography	White Lines
Table Top Hiring	The Hire Haus
Venue for the welcome dinner	Pizza Vista
Coffee Station	Magnificent Barista Boys
Hair and Make Up	Yolande du Toit
Décor & flowers	Botanica Flowers
Furniture & Chairs	Urbantonic
Lighting & Tables	Authentic Planning
Other accommodation	Africamps at Doolhof & Andreas Guest House
Wedding Dress	The Wedding Boutique
Dessert Table	Wades Cakes
Stationary	By Kerrith
Wedding Cake	T’s Tarts
MCC	Linton MCC
Marriage officer	Tony van Vuuren
Guest Transport	Cape Town Group
Staff	Exact Staffing
Saxophone	Kirya Kuti
Furniture	All Things Weddings
DJ and dance floor	Next Dimension Entertainment
Bridesmaid’s Dresses	Hoiden Bridesmaids
Grooms Suit	Trenery
Groomsmen outfits	Mr Suit Hire
Ice Cream Cart	Tuist Craft Ice Cream
Biscuits of our dog, Maya	Lexi’s Crumbs
Photobooth	Propel Photo Booth Hire
Lawn games	Mr and Mrs M Wedding Games