Joanne and Simon married in April in beautiful South Africa. They wanted their day to be a hodge podge of happiness that was understated and sincere.

I love the super stylish wedding party, the skirt and blouse bridesmaids outfits and the prettiest fairy light adorned outdoor reception. Beautiful.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Knot Just Pics for sharing their images with us today, here is what they had to say about the day;

“Simon and Joanne live in the UK so for the last year of wedding planning we have been chatting long distance. We fell in love with the sound of their wedding from day one and we were not disappointed! When we finally met them we loved what a relaxed and totally smitten with each other couple they were. The planets aligned to give them perfectly warm and dry weather on what had been the rainiest week in ages which was perfect as their reception was an outdoor one and although their wedding was in Autumn, the weather was perfectly mild. There décor was beautiful and their entire reception area which was lit by fairy lights as it got dark just looked like the most enchanted fairy-tale one could imagine! These two are definitely by far the most chilled couple we have ever shot, letting their wedding unfold at a natural pace was a dream for us! They are so full of spirit and energy that listening to the two of them read their vows to each other melted our hearts a little bit. Despite the fact that both Andy and I somehow managed to get tick-bite fever while shooting their couple pics, it was so worth it to share the day with this awesome twosome, their bridal party and family!”

 

The Proposal… In September 2011 we got engaged in a small cafe Rome.

The Vision for the Day… A Hodge Podge of happiness.  We envisioned a simple, understated and sincere wedding day.

The Planning Process… Planning was difficult from such a distance.  But almost a blessing because you had no opportunity to get caught up in the details!:)

Budget… R50,000

The Venue… Under the Marula, Shongweni

The Dress + Accessories… Dress – Rosetta Nicolini, Verona. Shoes – Karen Millen. Pandora bracelet – gift from my husband on our engagement and we add a charm on for every major life event – so to date I have a suitcase (move to London); a heart (engaged); a house (our first home) and a beaded heart (married)….wonder what’s next ;) Heart locket – another gift from my husband from when my dog passed away.

Finding the Dress… My dress was found in London town …luckily it was a pretty easy find (was the 2nd dress that I tried on)!

Groom’s Attire… Pants – Stone Chinos from Burton. Shirt – White casual collared shirt with Arm patches from Esprit. Shoes – Grey converse sneakers. Jacket – Grey Sports blazer from Esprit. Buttonholes – scrabble pieces of his initials set on purple flowers (we love scrabble!!!)

The Readings + Music… Music: Walking down the aisle – Ingrid Michaelson “I can’t help falling in love with you”. First Dance – Ingrid Michaelson “You and I”.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… Skirt – Stone coloured sequin skirts from H&M. Shirt – White Blouse from H&M. Shoes – White and silver thong flip flops from Primark (I am 5ft2 inches…couldn’t have my bridesmaids towering over me!) I also had two head bridesmaids – my man of honour (also named Simon, who has been my best friend since primary school – wearing the same as the other men) and Simon’s sister (my husband) Julie Barnard in a vintage purple dress. All bridesmaids also wore scrabble earrings with their initials on them.

The Flowers… To be honest I couldn’t tell you exactly what flowers we had at our wedding.  But I can say that they were purple!  The flowers were done by Simon’s stepmother Joan who is an amazing florist.  Joan managed to relay the feel of the wedding perfectly through the country feel of the arrangements.  Each bridesmaid’s bouquet was a long stemmed country bunch.  My bouquet was made from brooches which I collected from my family and friends over the past year – I am very sentimental!:)

The Cake… We had chocolate cupcakes with scrabble cake toppers and a carrot cake to cut.

Your Photographer… Andrew and Szerdi – who were absolutely incredible.  Simon and I really don’t enjoy posing for photos and so our brief to Andrew and Szerdi was to keep it short and sweet, and to focus on capturing genuine moments rather than posed shots……boy did they achieve that!!! There photos they took are so honest and we absolutely couldn’t have asked for any more than that!

We also had Love Bucket as our DIY Wedding Videographers ….. this involves hiring 2 HD camcorders and your guests use the cameras film the wedding. You then give the cameras to Love Bucket who edit your footage into an awesome music video.  Our video is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5GOei2C2Ho

The Details + Decor… This was all down to my Aunt (Janine Cheek), who has a true love for all things old and pretty!  The relaxed vintage feel of the wedding was articulated through the old bound books on the tables, the vintage typewriters and suitcases dotted throughout the venue and the seriously vintage photobooth, fully equipped with antique dress up!

The Honeymoon… The Maldives in September 2013

Memorable Moments… Walking down the aisle was my absolute favourite part of the entire wedding.  The amount of love I felt was so overwhelming!

Advice for Other Couples… Enjoy your day and don’t sweat the small stuff!  Your guests feed off the bride and groom’s attitudes so if you have fun everyone else will too!

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Venue – Under the Marula –  http://www.underthemarula.com/

Photographers – Knot Just Pics – http://www.knotjustpics.co.za/

DIY video – Love Bucket – http://www.thelovebucket.co.za/diy-video-kit/

DJ – MSS – [email protected]

 

Oh so dreamy. Thanks so much to Joanne and Simon for sharing their gorgeous wedding with us today XOXO Lou