Real Wedding: Katy + Chris

Today's post has all the makings of a perfect wedding. With a gorgeous bride and groom, a timeless neutral and white colour palette, and set at the most amazing wine estate on a beautiful Cape Town day, this really looked like a dream day for Katy and Chris. When Katy sent over her wedding photos to us, we literally couldn't choose from the hundred pictures she sent through, all captured by Monica Dart. So grab a cup of tea and settle in for a post filled to the brim with prettiness. 

THE BASICS:
Full names of the bride and groom: Katy and Chris
Date and year of your wedding: 01.03.2014 – 3:30pm until 1:30am
Venue: Gabrielskloof Wine Estate, Bot Rivier
Colour and/or Theme: Rustic chic, white, natural palette




THE DETAILS:

 So what’s your love story?
Chris and I met at Plett rage just after finishing high school, through mutual friends. So we have been together since December 2005 and have been through university together, our first jobs and the big move to London in 2011 (with a whole lot of travelling in between)!



How did he propose?
Chris proposed in December 2012 when were back home in Cape Town. It was our 7 year anniversary the week before when I was in Cape Town but he was still stuck in London, so we had planned to go away together when he arrived to celebrate. Chris said he would sort out the hotel and I would sort out the dinner…so when we arrived at Le Franshoek and were shown to their 5 star vineyard suite, I was feeling the pressure for dinner! It was such a boiling hot day so I wanted to swim as soon as arrived but Chris wanted to exchange anniversary cards and presents first, so I got his present half, half changed into my bikini already. Chris got a store bought card and woollies PJ pants (his favourite) which I was excited to give him... whereas Chris made me a photo book of all our memories in chronological order from our first picture and obviously the most beautiful diamond ring that he designed himself! Needless to say he won the presents that year!



What was the best lesson you learnt through planning your wedding? 
Trust in your service providers! It’s their full time job! They don’t try and do your day job so don’t try and do theirs! We were lucky to have hired the most amazing team so we didn’t have to worry/stress about things not being right.



Any tips for brides to be?
Get all the major things booked early on, like venue, photographer, videographer & makeup artist, then take a break, no need to stress about everything at once – planning should be fun! We had the luxury of having 15 months to plan so after the important things were booked we had time to take things nice and slowly so things weren't too overwhelming! Chris and I made a list of all the things we needed to do, from big to small, and then crossed them off systematically. It was amazing to see where we had started with our over 100 items to having them all sorted!


How did you decide on the colour or theme of your wedding?
I originally thought I was going to have a vintage pastel colour palette, as per our invitation that Ruby & Swallow designed. But then I realised I don’t particularly like colour! Our flat is extremely neutral, with only black and white artwork and greys and neutral furnishing. Our venue Gabrielskloof, is such a beautiful/striking venue in its own right so we didn't need much to show it off! The neutral stone walls, wooden beams, concrete floors and dark grey industrial door screens complemented a more neutral palette. And what is more wedding than exclusively white flowers! I know that we will never look back and say why did we choose that colour/theme!?! A white wedding is classic and timeless.



How involved was your husband or family in the wedding planning?
Chris was extremely involved. In his own words ‘he didn’t want to show up his own wedding and not know what it looked like or what to expect!’. I did most of the research and then we decided together on individual items. Living in London made logistics a nightmare and my mom was amazing in being the middle man and full time wedding co-ordinator! My parents even found our wedding venue! It was the last one we saw on our blitz wedding planning tour and we both loved it!






What would you change about your wedding day if you could?
We had the best day imaginable and everything went so well! We had gale force winds the day before and it rained the day after so we were lucky with the weather for our outside ceremony (which I had my heart set on). Maybe the only minor things I would change would be being a bit late due to one the cars breaking down and my dad having try and push start it in the sweltering heat!


Were there any elements of your wedding that you did yourself?
Living in London, it was obviously not physically possible to do loads of DIY elements, but I did try where possible! I sourced and painted our ladder 'altar' myself over the Christmas break in the grey to match the door screens at our venue. I also made the seating plans, name tags and table numbers.



Did anything unexpected or extra special happen on your wedding day that surprised you and your husband? (Or just you!)
Maybe just that I wasn’t nervous! Even when I had to say my our vows! I think we were both just so happy.

What was your wedding song?
Leo Sayer – ‘You make me feel like dancing’



What was the flavour of your cake?
We had red velvet cupcakes with a bigger cake on top to cut!




Did you go on Honeymoon? And if so, where did you go?
We went to Thailand and Cambodia and had 2 weeks in paradise…

SERVICE PROVIDERS:

Venue: Gabrielskloof Wine Estate
Coordinator: Mariaan Groenewald from Gabrielskloof Wine Estate
Photographer: Monica Dart
Decor: Rowena Rood from Botanica Flowers
Stationary: Ruby and Swallow! We had a wedding website invitation – www.chrisandkatywedding.com
Dress (including bridesmaids dresses): La Sposa wedding dress and Coast (UK store) dresses for the girls
Hair: Tersia from Make-up and delight
Make-up: Lindsey from Make-up and delight
Flowers: Rowena Rood from Botanica Flowers
Catering: Gabrielskloof Wine Estate
Cake: Gabrielskloof Wine Estate



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