South Africa was the next stop on my frequent flyer card. This trip was extra special. Not only was I going to see friends I hadn’t seem in ages but my brother was getting married and so was my aunt. 2 weddings, one hen party, huge family gatherings and lots of coffee dates, dress fittings, seafood, laughs and not much sleep was on the agenda while we were in Cape Town.
We spent most of our time on wedding admin so much so that we were nearly late for wedding number one, my aunt’s. We had to go suit shopping for the grooms men which took longer than anticipated. Who knew it was that hard to find clothes for guys, but it was. We then had to rush back to pick up our clothes for my aunts wedding and drive the 2 hours to the venue as it was out of town. We arrived at the hotel 5 minutes before the bride was meant to walk down the aisle. However we were not dressed for the wedding yet nor was the wedding at the hotel. I have never seen 8 people get dressed so quickly in my life. We all cleaned up really well and headed for the venue. Thank goodness the bride was running late so we had plenty of time to catch up with family before the ceremony started. It was a beautiful ceremony in a wine cellar. Sadly it was cold and wet but they had prepared for the cold part and there were blankets on each persons chair as well as the canape area. The rain stopped long enough for us to capture some great photos and the rest of the night was a great party. Keeping with the wine cellar theme, the wedding cake was a pinotage cake and the guests got to choose between two favours. The guests had great fun bottling their own brandy, however I decided to go with the favour that would be able to packed into my suitcase with ease – brandy fudge. Let’s just say I didn’t need to worry about it fitting into my suitcase, it didn’t last long, yum yum.
Between the 2 weddings we enjoyed lots of seafood and sushi. I think it was almost a competition to see who could eat the most sushi during our time in South Africa. The V&A Waterfront has some great restaurants but we kept returning to our favourite one Willoughby’s. I can highly recommend it if you are ever in the area.
My favourite spot to visit in Cape Town is a lovely little cafe called High Tea. It is just gorgeous. They serve individual sized cakes. My favourite is the lemon meringue pie. I order it every time. I am very grateful that I have a friend who loves it as much as I do and we always get together for tea here.
The wedding celebrations started the day before the wedding. Two families about to become one big family came together to help set up. I must say it was a real family event, as family were involved in so many aspects, which I love. The groom designed the wedding invites, the bride painted the cake toppers (the bride did way more than that but I thought that was pretty cool), the brides aunt did all the flowers, the brides sister made the cake, the meat came from the brides parents farm, my other brother made the rings, the brides sisters and myself were some of the bridesmaids, my twin brothers were groomsmen and my cousin was the ring bearer. After everything was set up we had a huge family braai(barbecue) for all the family staying on the next door wine farm, Zevenwacht. My mum’s family had come from all over the world for this special event so it was a big reunion. The bride and groom’s families had an early-ish night as the next day was the big day!
Most of the time we were in Cape Town it was freezing cold. I had not packed for this weather so that did not help either. We were all getting nervous about the wedding day weather. But I know there is power in prayer and I knew there were quite a few of us praying for warm weather. We were not left disappointed, it was the hottest day of the whole trip and perfect for our strapless bridesmaid dresses.
My married friends all tell me that your wedding day goes past so fast, well this wedding day flew by for me so I’m not sure what to expect when I get married. It was just such a fun day. The morning involved hair and makeup for the bride, bridesmaids, mother of the bride and mother of the groom and granny of the groom at the wedding venue, Langverwagt. The groom, groomsmen and a few close friends were running around setting up last minute things while we kept the bride hidden away from the groom. Before we knew it it was 3 o’clock and we were waiting to be fashionably late. The groomsmen all turned up looking pretty good in their waistcoats and escorted the bridesmaids to the beautiful garden, a short walk round the corner.
There is something so magical about a wedding, seeing the groom with a tear in his eye as he watched his bride come towards him. And then they were husband and wife and it was time to kiss the bride and celebrate.
We had such a great party. Everyone was on the dance floor including my gran, who would put a few youngsters to shame with her partying ability. We were all very sad when it was the last song and the clock struck 12. I had danced my shoes broken – it could possibly also have been from climbing into bushes for some of the beautifully posed photos, I think a bit of both. See more pics here.
We had a day to recover and spend more time with family before some of them had to return to the airport and we had to go off on our next adventure…into the WILD!
All wedding photos are from Kellandphotography.
More than cupcakes 
