Nina & Alex

This intimate Yzerfontein beach wedding took place in the middle of January in the middle of the week!

Most of the guests were from Johannesburg and flew down to Cape Town to celebrate with the happy couple and joined them in the beautiful west coast.

The minute I met Nina and Alex, they felt familiar to me.  I had just finished watching Younger on Netflix and Nina is the spitting image of Hilary Duff except Nina is a darker version.  It was surreal.

Alex on the other hand, reminded me of my sons best friend.  It wasn’t the looks but the mannerisms.  They were so familiar to me that I felt as if I had known them a long time.

Nina was a wedding event planner in Johannesburg and her attention to detail was phenomenal.  Even though her wedding was intimate, everything had been thought of and the decor was next level beautiful.

In fact, that is how Nina and Alex met.  She was the event planner at his brothers wedding.  Now doesn’t that remind you of Jennifer Lopez in the Wedding Planner!  How utterly romantic!

This intimate wedding took place on the beach in front of the beautiful Thyme & Tide Guesthouse in Yzerfontein.  Nina and Alex booked out the whole house for their wedding day and their guests were able to enjoy a beachfront property at its best.  Sitting on the decks and watching the sun set over the ocean while Nina and Alex had their photoshoot was an absolute treat.

While the guests enjoyed the sunset and the children swam in the pool, a small army of chefs were busy in the kitchen preparing a sumptuous gourmet meal for everyone to enjoy.

After the sun set, the happy couple returned to be surrounded by their loved ones and enjoy their wedding day with those who were really close to their hearts.

Their special  day was total perfection!

Suppliers:-

Make-up & Hairstylist – Makeup by Lauren

Florist – yes exclusive flowers

Dahlia’s – Adene’s flowers

Minister – Stephen Van Basten

Stationary – Oh Yay

Wedding cake and cupcakes – Florentines

Jewellery – GC Manufacturing

Planning & Designing- the beautiful bride, Nina!

Previous wedding can be viewed here!

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Belair Wedding – Paarl

Megan and Evan – a joyous Belair wedding reunion!

This Belair wedding was joyous.  I have never, ever seen a bride who glowed with happiness as much as Megan did on her wedding day.

Evan was definitely the biggest reason that she glowed but he wasn’t the only reason. Although without a doubt, he was the main reason!

The other reasons!

Two months before their wedding, Megan and Evan emigrated to Australia as she had successfully applied for a position in Melbourne  but had to start immediately.  They decided to go but fly back to Cape Town for their wedding.  Needless to say, coming home after two months and having all your family and friends at your wedding was another reason to glow!

The final reason, I am sure, is that jet lag definitely was catching up with her, so the best way to handle it , is to pour the bubbly and be jolly!

Friends and family came from across the globe to celebrate this stunning wedding.  Her best friend travelled from Sydney, her uncle and his family travelled from the USA and her sister and her family flew down from Johannesburg.  Not only was this a wedding but it was a glorious reunion too.

Suppliers

Belair was the most magical, pretty venue in Paarl.  A perfect backdrop to a beautiful wedding.

Tracy from Trunk Events was the cool, calm & collected wedding planner.  It is always a pleasure to work alongside this talented lady.

My Pretty Vintage were the talent behind the floral creations. The venue looked amazing.

Shake ‘n Bake created the beautiful cake!

The awesome, Minki Du Plessis was the Make-up and Hairstylist.

Her perfect wedding dress was from Tying the Knot!

DJ Joe kept the party going until way after my bedtime!  He had everyone on the dance floor all night long.

DJ Dean was in charge of all the sound and lighting.

Chef Daddy were the caterers and  also treated the guests to midnight snacks.

A big thank you to my second shooter, Just Judy!

View previous wedding here!

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Sarah & Jan

ClaraAnnaFontein was a stunning backdrop for this  engagement photoshoot.  Sarah and Jan were one of the couples who won my engagement photoshoot giveaway.

They were such a sweet couple and an absolute pleasure to photograph and furthermore, I thought their story was quite cute too!

Their story!

They met on a cold winters night in a pub in Stellenbosch that was holding a quiz night.  A friend introduced them and they became friends but Sarah then finished her studies and went travelling to Thailand and unfortunately lost touch with Jan.

When Sarah returned to South Africa, her friend was then dating and later became engaged to Jans twin brother.  Jan was obviously asked to be Best Man and Sarah was asked to be Maid of Honour and then rest as they say, is history!  Jan never let her out of his sight again!

It wasn’t too long before Jan popped the question and asked Sarah to be his wife.  He whisked her away to the Seychelles and got down on bended knee!  And how could she say No!

So they will be tying the knot next year at Beloftebos!  Which is pretty perfect for this gorgeous girl as she is a lover of nature and flowers and Beloftebos will frame her beauty perfectly!

I genuinely enjoyed my time with this sweet couple!  Sarah is a warm and friendly girl with a heart of gold.  Jan could not have chosen a better person to be his soulmate.  These two are extremely comfortable and happy together.  They truly belong together!

Previous blogpost here!

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Bryce and Angelique

This perfect Cape Town proposal has been in the planning for a good few months. Bryce had bought the engagement ring while Angelique was on an overseas hockey tour in Holland. He knew exactly what he wanted to do to make his proposal special for his ladylove. He wanted to take her away for a weekend and it had to be rustic and where nature was the main drawcard.

The downside was that they both had very busy schedules and trying to organise a surprise proposal with so many elements became difficult. Firstly all the cabins were fully booked, secondly Angelique was writing exams and finishing her university course and thirdly Bryce was fully booked with hockey coaching and tournaments and lastly, my availability dates also had to be consulted.

But life has a way of working out and these two were meant to be together and so the stars aligned and the universe made a plan. Copia Eco Cabins phoned Bryce and said they had had a cancellation and would he be interested in the first weekend of 2019! Bryce knew that he and Angelique had their first free weekend before heading off to a hockey tournament up country. All he had to do was double check if I was available and luckily I was. The stars had aligned, we could go ahead a plan this surprise engagement.

Bryce and I came up with the plan that I would contact Angelique and ask her if they could help me out as a couple had just dropped me for a photoshoot that I was doing at the Cabins in order to give them some content for their instagram page. If she had really done her homework, she would have realised that Copia Eco Cabins have plenty of content for their instagram page but hey it worked and she fell for it hook, line and sinker!

The cutest moments was when she got to the cabin and was so excited about the shoot and said the container cabins were awesome and she thought that this would be a perfect proposal spot. I was slightly worried that she had cottoned on but luckily she hadn’t.

Bryce definitely scored brownie points for his choice of the location. It was romantic, peaceful with no internet connection! Bryce had also got his mom to purchase all the supplies for the weekend! And when Angelique realised that this was the spot for her surprise proposal she was beyond elated.

Like most ladies, she couldn’t wait to tell the world that Bryce had put a ring on “it”. The most important people knew and were able to be phoned but social media had to wait! We all promised that we wouldn’t post until she was back in the land of the “internet” and could make the big announcement herself!

We all had a celebratory glass of champagne with the happy couple and then we all left them to enjoy this special time.

Congratulations Bryce and Angelique! You are absolutely perfect for one another!

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Celeste & Marinus

This Blaauwberg engagement shoot was so much fun.  Celeste and Marinus were game for so much and nothing was too much trouble from running around in bikini’s to jumping into the ice cold Atlantic Ocean.  And their laughter was such great medicine for me that Sunday as I had come down with flu after stepping off a plane from Dubai.  I can honestly say that these two lovebirds were absolute naturals …as they really had no choice as I could not project my voice for love nor money that Sunday …but as you can see from the pics ….I had nothing to worry about ….they made my work easy peasy!

These two lovebirds were introduced by a friend four years ago and have had a long distance relationship over the last couple of years as Celeste works in Iraq and has been commuting between Iraq and Cape Town to have rondevous meetups with her handsome man.  On occasions they have met up in far distance lands for romantic getaways but they have now decided to take the next step and on 21 May they will be exchanging vows and becoming Mr and Mrs Du Plessis at the stunning venue, Nooitgedacht in Stellenbosch.

I know Celeste is beyond excited as she is doing her last stint in Iraq before heading home to become a “Mrs” …and I am just as excited as I know that I am going to have so much fun with this gorgeous couple against the beautiful backdrop of Nooitgedacht.  But first, Celeste and I have to do with one more stint in distant lands before we head back to the beautiful Cape Town for one gorgeous wedding taking place in our gorgeous winelands!  Definitely an awesome reason to head back to the beautiful Cape Town for!

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Their wedding photos can be viewed here!View Addie & Nicks gorgeous One & Only wedding here!

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You’re invited!
Ask someone that you trust to preserve their invitation in all its glory until the big day, to bring it along to the ceremony. Ideally, opt to have a spare made up with the originals that you can keep untouched until the wedding day! Preferably ask a member of your bridal party or the mother of the bride to bring it along to the “getting-ready” portion of your wedding day, during which time your wedding photographer may have a few extra minutes in which to set up for, and take, detail-oriented shots of your wedding invitations.

Squeaky clean
If you want your wedding photographer to take detailed photographs of your wedding shoes, especially when you do not yet have them on, ensure that they are clean inside and out. Wedding photographers are often asked to take detailed shots of, in particular, designer shoes purchased specifically for the wedding as well as a bride’s wedding accessories, such as earrings and her engagement ring, posed with, or even on, her shoes. Scuff marks and stains make for unflattering detail-oriented wedding photographs. It is also advisable to keep the insertion of gel insoles to a post-detailed-photography activity; nothing ruins the designer label in your glass slipper more than an unflattering, puffy gel sticker wedged into the side of said shoe’s open toe.

Hang on!
Bringing a customized, one-of-a-kind, or simply beautiful hanger on which to hang your wedding dress for wedding photographs is always a wonderful idea. Tuck your hanger into the bottom of your dress bag at your last fitting and avoid forgetting it at home during the last-minute scurry to get everything done on time!

The post Brides Listen up: The Devil is in the Details appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

Part 1 can be viewed here!

Suppliers:

Stationery : Lezanne’s Designs

Dress : Elizabeth Stockenstrom

Bridesmaids Dresses : Bride & Co

Groom : Hilton Weiner

Groomsmen : Euro Suits

Make-up Artist : Marietjie Hurter

Hairstylist : Louisa Marais

Flowers & Decor : Nico Laubscher from N Concepts and Design

Cake: Birdcage, Stellenbosch

DJ : The A-Team

Photobooth : Bambooth

Band : PageMac

Venue, Wines & Food : Webersburg

Butler Service : SABA Butlers

Videographer : Storyboard Productions

Assistant: Saskia Thiart

The post Cape Town Wedding | Paul & Marcela | Webersburg | The Day before you came – Part 2 appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

Kleinevalleij  summer wedding

Part 1

Jo-Anne & Wayne got married on a beautiful summery day in one othe prettiest valleys in Cape Town at the very popular venue, Kleinevalleij  summer Wedding Venue in the quaint town of Wellington.  Special mention must be made to the Mother and daughter team of Whispers of May who supplied and did the decor of the venue.  The decor was gorgeous and made you really feel the full impact of summer …it was so pretty and fresh.  All the bouquets and ceremony flowers were done by the talented team, Lol’s Flowers & Functions  and I must say the two teams worked in great harmony togehter …and on that gorgeous, hot summers day …their work was a total vision of a fresh summers day!  Hard to believe that the following weekend …Cape Town had floods!

Jo-Anne was a vision of absolute beauty and that was thanks to the make-up artist of  Nicolette from Weddings by Nicolette …although I have to say ..Jo-Anne is a natural beauty in her own shy, demure way but I was so glad to see that she wasnt as nervous as her engagement shoot which can be viewed here ….she totally blossomed on her wedding day!  And what can I say about Wayne ….well he rocked it …an absolute natural …he was definitely one of the easiest grooms I have worked with …but without a doubt totally head over heels in love with Jo-Ann …definitely her Prince Charming!

Take your time and enjoy this perfect Kleinevalleij summer wedding, it is absolutely perfect ..it has everything, Pretty bride,  handsome prince, cute children, fresh decor and a rocking party crowd who I am sure partied until the sun came up!

There were so many beautiful photos of this gorgeous couple that I have decided to rather do two parts!  Part Two can be viewed here!

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