photography fridays #2

For the second instalment I had to post a photo by one of the most talented wedding photographers in South Africa – Christine Meintjes.

In my humble and photographically uneducated opinion, her strongest talent is her ability to capture detail, while keeping the picture clean and simple. Hence this photo. The way your eye catches the gorgeous protea bouquet and the groom’s boutonniere, and then you are slowly drawn into the soft surrounding landscape...perfection!

Enter dreamland....here:

my colour inspiration

And finally...

Greens and pinks - my colour inspiration and my favourite!

Cred: 1 Christine Meintjes 2, 3 Style Me Pretty   4 Anna Kern - Swedish photographer 5 Meant to be Sent 6,7,8,9 Style Me Pretty

some colour inspiration

"Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises."

-Pedro Calderon de la Barca [Spanish poet and playwright, 1600-1681]

Our wedding colours are a confusion of greens, pinks, white and grey. Hopefully, like my friend Pedro suggests, there will be lots of green loveliness. (I had an Argentinian friend called Pedro when I lived in Colorado - he too was wise, it's obviously a wise name.)

I have (often) strayed from these basics and our guests will perhaps walk into our reception and think mmm...where did this purple birdie come from?

But if I stuck to the colour scheme that would be a theme wouldn’t it?

Navy and yellow - extremely popular in the States

Peach and aqua - or pink and blue if you're a pleb like me

Shades of purple - a lovely, toned-down take on many a bride's favourite colour

All white - I love this, especially with vintage touches of silver

 

Black, white and pink - sophisticated, perfect for a city wedding

Purple and orange - if done properly can be gorgeous and classy

 

Red and white - not my favourite, but popular with more traditional brides 

Yellow and grey - soft, pretty combination and trendy at the moment

Cred: all images above are from Style Me Pretty, and the colour dots shamelessly stolen from that icon of bridal style Bijoux Bride.

My colour inspiration...coming SOON!

The Honeymoon

One of the best parts of getting married...the HONEYMOON.

Who doesn't want a reason to splash out on a wonderful holiday with your favourite person in the whole world? I have all these pics saved on my hard drive from our honeymoon planning, and just had to share their island paradiseness:

"Floating" huts in the Maldives at the Conrad Rangali Island



Desroches Island Resort in the Seychelles



The 5 star Shandrani in Mauritius

Dhow by the pool in Zanzibar (sorry guys, couldn't find which hotel this is!)

 

What I really love though are people who have a honeymoon that reflects their personalities. (If we did that with the number of people who go to Mauritius, I would assume 70% of newlyweds are couch potatoes who love all you can eat buffets, cocktails by the pool and getting sunburnt while trying windsurfing.)

I know a couple who went adrenaline hunting in Bots with elephant back safaris and white water rafting down the Zambezi. My idea of hell. Perfect for them! Another lot went to Japan of all places. To absorb a beautiful new culture and language.

Our honeymoon is a bit more...local shall we say. Will spill all the details later, I'm so excited to share!

photography fridays #1

I thought this would be a fun idea!

I have all this amazing work from amazing photographers sitting on my hard drive and on my pinterest...so I'll share some. Just cos.

This piece of gorgeousness is from my talented friends Tam and Pete of Dawson Photography:

I absolutely love the clean lines and simplicity of this photo. Like everything was put just there to make the perfect black and white picture.

Why do people burn stuff at weddings?

Because they are BORED! And obviously there is plenty of kindling – serviettes, menus, the odd snotty tissue.

Invariably the bride and groom are blissfully unaware of the pyromania of their guests. It’s the poor family member who gets lumped with returning the hired decor items who has to please explain.

So why are people bored?

This is one of the first things I considered when planning our wedding. I wanted to have a wedding where the guests are considered too and not just Bridezilla and her groom sidekick.

I think it’s the conundrum of fitting it all in; photos, speeches, food, that makes a lot of weddings just plain yawnworthy. You can’t expect people to wait for two hours, with nowhere to sit, and then hope and pray alcohol will keep them from getting restless.

Nicky and I went to a wedding recently, a beautiful wedding. But they made us wait for more than an hour outside the reception venue with non-alcoholic welcome drinks. I thought this was quite uncool. Especially considering there were elderly people, and The Girl With the Fooked Knee (me). Contrast this to a bush wedding we went to in July, where we sat at our table reconnecting with old friends and knocking back some cocktails while the couple had their photos. Muuuuuuch better.

My solution: throw out all the unnecessary stuff (throwing bouquets, sniffing garters, speeches by every Auntie and cousin brother), have a First Look. Let your people into the reception venue before you arrive. And have some consideration for the poor souls who are wearing their favourite 9 inch heels, and who came 100’s of km’s to your special day.

And here, have a pink blueberry cocktail:

Pic courtesy Cap Classique

a kindred spirit

And I thought I was the only one.

Alexis from OMG I’m getting married is a lady after my own heart. In the post I have linked below, it feels like I am speaking!

No themes, no wedding planner, just a wedding about two people who want to be themselves.

So from this post my theme is: “I happen to like green, I recycle and I like candles in glass bottles with lace”.

Pics courtesy 100 Layer Cake

Troue Sokkie Treffers Vol. 25

So one of the many things we sorted on our little EL trip was the DJ. VERY important if you are planning one of those people-pissed-and-thinking-YMCA-is-cool-again weddings. Like ours.

Because as different as our wedding is going to be, it will definitely be FUN. I am certain because I have met every member of both Nic’s and my family who are coming and they are NUTS.

Nuts but awesome.

So the DJ. He is this 100 year old dude, so at first Nicky and I had the fright of our lives. Thinking 80's cheese and Loslappie here we go. But we told him there will be a R100 fine for every Afrikaans song he plays. Needless to say he caught our vibe.

And then he showed us his music collection. Once again, we were pleasantly surprised. He is good where there is a crowd of both older and young people, but no gross cheesy music that should forever remain in murky pub clubs from our varsity years – Tin Roof Claremont ringing a few bells.  Thank the freaking Pope.

Nicky and I are planning quite a cool little entrance – no bloody emo music. It involves a top hat.

I cannot tell you how much I laughed at the expression on this guy's face!

PS if you want a laugh, google "dancing at weddings". It seems we all go a little crazy when so much love is in the air!

something new

Well this is just boring. It’s always the dress slash shoes slash garter (horrors) slash fascinator etc.

Obviously my shoes will be new. Because otherwise it’s the 100 year old slops I mentioned a while back. And not some creamy pinky flowery bit of shoe heaven.

WHICH I STILL CANNOT FIND.

Getting quite desperate here. I tried on some cute ones at Forever New in Rosebank (an Aussie export like Trenery and Country Road). But true as nyanies they were a bit too tight near the toes, and I have quite narrow feet so who is wearing these things? Is there now plastic surgery for FEET?

So I need a different approach. Clearly.

Even Nic is becoming quite good at spotting potentials. He let me go into Aldo the other day (usually a huge mistake, because I seriously love every shoe they’ve ever stocked). But sadly, it was all too high or brown. Methinks it’s time to bring out the big guns. I haven’t yet used my Phone a Friend lifeline. Thankfully.

This is the shoes in all their girly glory: