Real Bride: Kelly
Today's featured bride is Kelly. She had an amazing wedding in Cape Town, South Africa. One of the coolest things about her wedding? She had NO FLOWERS! When I was first looking through her pictures, I didn't even notice! It wasn't until I read her survey that I realized she didn't have any! I had to go back through her pictures again because I almost couldn't believe it! Read on to see her amazing venue and beautiful lack of flowers for yourself!
Your name: Kelly
Partner’s name: Glen
Wedding date: 1 May 2015
City, State: Cape Town, South Africa
Tell us more about you!
How long have you been together? 7.5 years
How did he propose? (Or how did you propose?) Glen surprised me by taking
me on a beach picnic and making me think it was a double date. He ended up proposing on the beach, with no one else around, and then took me on a series of fun dates throughout the day: picnics, walks, games and meals with friends and family. It was perfect!
What was your favorite part of the wedding? I really enjoyed getting ready with my bridesmaids on the morning of my wedding. It was so chilled and stress-free and it was exactly what I needed! At the actual wedding, I thoroughly enjoyed our ceremony.
What went wrong with your wedding? Honestly, nothing. Everything went according to plan, as far as we know.
Did you find any tricks to save you money? We didn’t have any flowers in our wedding and instead we opted for lots of leaves. We collected leaves for weeks and spray painted them gold. Our centerpieces were little trees that lined our two long banquet tables, and these also served as wedding favours.
If you could go back and redo it, would you change anything; and if so, what would you change? I’d probably have fewer speeches and I’d emphasize that they should be shorter (I tried!).
Do you have any advice for new brides? Your wedding is one day. As long as you are married at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if the napkins match the bridesmaids' dresses. Those types of details are great, but not essential.
Did you over-plan or under-plan, or was it just right? I am a wedding blogger so I think I got it just right. I spearheaded the planning and my husband joined me every step of the way, so it was a really special time of planning together.
Did any of your vendors knock your socks off? All of them. Seriously!
Did any of your vendors disappoint? Nope, not one.
What was one (or more!) special element in your wedding that isn’t in most? We chose not to have a first dance and instead we opened the dance floor by singing a song for our guests. We chose “No Matter Where You Are” by Us The Duo.
What do you wish you’d spent more on (whether you were able to or not)? If I could’ve had an open bar, that would’ve been amazing! We just couldn’t afford it, so instead, we had wine and grape juice on the tables and we had a cash bar.
Where do you feel like you could have saved money or overspent? I think we did a pretty good job of not overspending.
How many guests did you invite vs how many RSVP’ed vs how many actually came? We invited 120 and we had 111 people RSVP. On the day, one person was sick, so we asked a friend to come in her place.
Wedding Venue: Langverwagt
Caterer: Melliam Catering
Photographer: Love Made Visible
Videographer: Mark Fisher
Planner: Me (Lovely Pretty)
DJ/Band: Atic Mobile DJs
Dress Designer: Forever New
Menswear: Top Man
Officiant: Jason Humphreys
Hair Stylist: Nicole Snowball
Cake: Seline van der Wat (Masterchef South Africa)
Invitations: Self-designed
