This week we are headed somewhere really ruddy special… Botswana.

Liezl and Matt live in a small safari town and guests travelled from far and wide to join them. They had a rustic feel to their day with lace, gypsophila, a white colour scheme and personal touches such as the fan order of service. I so love the outdoor location, the lighting and the incredible setting for the portraits. WOW.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Juliet Lemon for sharing her photographs today.

 

The Proposal… We were on safari in one of Matt’s favourite concessions in Botswana, Mombo.  Matt is a private safari guide and wanted to visit an area in the concession that had previously been inaccessible due to the flood, so we set off  just the two of us in a game drive vehicle one morning with a cooler box of drinks to explore this area.  I noticed a bottle of bubbly in the cooler box but thought nothing of it as we often take bubbly with us on game drives with guests.   We later stopped at a beautiful site and parked the vehicle in front of a herd of red lechwe grazing in the water.   Here we sat and enjoyed the serene natural surroundings while listening to fish eagles calling and sipping on bubbly.   It was only after I had drunk half a glass that I noticed something shining in the glass.   I downed the rest to get to the ring and with a cheeky grin Matt asked me to be his wife with only the fish eagles, red lechwe and a lazy water monitor lizard as witnesses.

The Vision for the Day… Since our venue would be in the small Botswana safari town where we live,  the vision came easily: a vintage safari wedding.

The Planning Process… For most of our guests this was a destination wedding as many would be coming from outside Botswana, so we needed to give a lot more info than usual to help them plan their journey and stay.   To do this I set up a website, www.mattandliezl.com through myevent.com (whom I highly recommend) and filled it with all the necessary details.    Living in a small town like Maun does not make for the easiest of wedding planning;  wedding event services does not formally exist and the hire items that are available are limited, old and tattered.   What we couldn’t hire in Maun, we bought or rented from South Africa and sourced the rest from friends and local safari companies.   Having a theme helped me focus on how to plan and I spent a month scouring the internet, saving images and designing a mood board for every category (ceremony, flowers, table decor etc).   Once I had a clear mental image of the day, I was ready to put it all together.

The Venue… The venue was a friend’s undeveloped land on the banks of the Thamalakane river in Maun.   We had to literally set up a small village in the middle of the bush, cleared the area of all cow dung and fallen palm branches and brought in generators, tents, water tanks, flush loos and the works.   It was a big job and Matt still made some errands to the hardware store on the morning of the wedding for some last minute arrangements.

The Dress & Accessories… The dress is a Cindy Bam design, the earrings I borrowed from a friend and the hair comb and lace umbrella was from a UK based wedding accessory website.

Finding the Dress… We don’t have any wedding dress stores where we live and the only time we were in South Africa when I could do fittings was in December when most of the stores were closed for the holidays.   I was able to go for a few fittings but with the limited time we had in the city, it was not working out, so I looked at buying online.   My search brought me to a website where one can buy previously worn wedding dresses from women who were selling their wedding dresses.   I wasn’t specifically looking for a previously worn dress but as soon as I saw it I knew I had found the one and best of all, it was my size, just the right length and designed by a Cape Town based designer, Cindy Bam, who’s dresses I’ve always loved.

Groom’s Attire… Trousers and shirt from Polo, hat from a party decor shop and braces from a tie shop.   Being the bush man that Matt is I was surprised to see him wear shoes!

The Readings & Music… We are lucky to have a bush pilot in Maun, Simon Shaw,  who is also a talented musician.  He sang while playing his guitar before and after the ceremony and during dinner, deservedly getting standing ovations from our guests.   We had no electricity at the ceremony spot (which was some distance from where the generator was) so my walk-down-the-aisle song was “I would have found you” from the August Rush soundtrack, beautifully sung by Simon on his acoustic guitar.   Matt put together a playlist for the dance floor and had a local DJ manage the playlist.  We had the coolest pastor, he was funny, gave an insightful reading and message and suggested the symbolic union of each of us pouring sand into one vase – very appropriate for the Kalahari we live in!

Beautiful Bridesmaid… My gorgeous friend Lili who came out to Botswana all the way from the UK.

The Flowers… With the day being in the range of 30 degrees Celsius in May, I needed flowers that wouldn’t wilt.   I chose Baby’s Breath for their hardiness in the heat as well as their simplicity.  An explosion of Baby’s Breath was imported to Maun for the wedding.   The florist in Maun did a wonderful job arranging my cascading bouquet of white roses and the altar flowers.

The Cake… The 3 tier cake (chocolate, coconut and strawberry vanilla) was made by a friend, Cathy Kays who makes the best cakes we’ve ever had.

Your Photographer… The absolutely brilliant Juliet from Juliet Lemon Photography. We flew Juliet over from the UK to Maun because, with Matt being a safari guide and really into wildlife photography, the photography of our wedding was very important.  We had initially looked at photographers in South Africa but after making many enquiries it was clear that none of them had a complete understanding of how things were over in Botswana which got us looking further a field.  We’d known Juliet from when she used to work in Botswana in the safari world and have always loved her photography work so were over the moon that Juliet was available for our dates.  We had an epic photo shoot that lasted 9 days!  We had her out a week before the wedding and in addition to the wedding she captured the hen do, the pre wedding safari with family and the Rock the Frock shoot a few days after the wedding.   She was just perfect for us and our day and our guests loved her too.  We have so many wonderful images that we can relive our day through but the problem is with so many great photos we’re finding it hard to choose which to put in the album!!

The Details & Decor… I loved choosing the details.   In keeping with the vintage safari theme, I asked our guests to dress in whites, creams, beiges or khaki colours which I knew would work well in blending in so that the natural surroundings could stand out.   The only bright colour were my burgundy red nails and dark pink Bougainvillea petals as confetti.   The weather in May in Botswana is hot in the day and cold at night so this played a role on some details.  E.g.  for the day we gave cream coloured trilby hats to the men and fans to the ladies.  The fans also doubled up as a ceremony programme.   We had a shaded outdoor lounge near the ceremony where guests mingled while we had our photos taken.  It was decorated with old suitcases, sofas, Moroccan rugs and wheelbarrows filled with ice and cold beer.   The ladies also received cream and white pashminas for the evening and everyone had a handful of long length sparklers for lighting up the dance floor.   We love the fun that a photo booth brings and had one made in Maun from scratch.

I could not have done without Pride of Africa who took care of all the equipment hire and setup and a friend, Yvonne Kohler, who has a flair with party planning and took care of all the DIY decor bits and bobs.

The Honeymoon… We boarded a plane for Male.  Know where that is?  Neither did I!  I only found out 30 minutes before we landed that Male is the capital of the Maldives.  Secret well kept.   We spent 10 nights on Niyama resort which was heaven.   We made the right decision to go on honeymoon straight after the wedding, we needed the rest after a very busy week.

Memorable Moments… Before I stepped onto the aisle, Matt walked towards me, took my hand and together we walked down the aisle.  That will always stick with me as a beautiful gesture that we were already a team.

Having our friends and family there meant the world to us and made our wedding memorable, especially those who came from South Africa and Europe and those who left their kids at home to leave the country to come to our wedding.

My ride to the ceremony was a last minute arrangement!  I had always planned on arriving at the ceremony area by boat, but the day before we realised the river water levels were still too low.  When that happens the day before your wedding, you are ready to just walk to the ceremony!  Luckily friends of ours made a call and sourced a vintage maroon-brown Peugeot which came all the way  from a neighbouring town.  The first time I saw it was when I was dressed and ready to leave for the ceremony.  It fit in so well, it was made for our wedding.

At one point in the night a stray donkey wandered onto the dance floor, either that or someone rode it onto the dance floor, we could never remember which.

Advice for Other Couples… Invest in a wedding planner to help everything go smoothly.   Otherwise, delegate jobs to willing friends and have a go-to person that suppliers can contact from the week before the wedding.   Look at other weddings online to develop a clear idea of what you want, you will be inundated with choices and it can be overwhelming.  Having a clear mental image of the mood or look you want to create helps you make decisions fast and to keeping them.
Gentlemen, don’t underestimate the support your input makes.   It is your wedding as much as hers and though she doesn’t want you to choose the centrepieces, asking her what you can do to help will earn you major brownie points!

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Dress:  Cindy Bam  (South Africa) www.cindybam.co.za Bridesmaid dress:  John Lewis Hair:  Hair Studio (Maun) Make-up:  Jessica Orchard (South Africa) Rings:  Adrian Dandridge www.adriandandridge.com Venues:  Khwai Concession;  Shorobe; an open field next to the Thamalakane river in Maun. Catering:  Chaplins Decor:  Yvonne Kohler Set up and operations:  Pride of Africa DJ:  DJ Big Pun Photographer:  Juliet Lemon www.JulietLemon.com Cake:  Cathy Kays Tent hire:  MC Equipment Hire Equipment hire:  Leduo + So Where To Events Musician:   Simon Shaw Flowers:  Bows & Bouquets Photo Booth Maker:  Ryan Edwards

Rock the Frock location (with the elephant):  Sango Safari Camp http://sangosafaricamp.com

 

I just love the moment that Matt collected his bride at the top of the aisle. Thanks so much to Liezl and Matt for sharing their gorgeous wedding with us today XOXO Lou