From the bride Phillipa:
Richard’s family home in Llandudno, South Africa is so beautiful and steeped in family history that we knew there would be no other location that could compare. We had both limited space (70 people maximum) and limited budget, but that suited us fine. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money and I really wanted only our nearest and dearest – the people that were part of our history and that we wanted to be part of our future. We have a little boy and it was also important that we were married in an environment that he knew.
We didn’t really think about the design of the wedding or colours or anything like that – we wanted to keep it as simple as possible and let people enjoy the setting. We kept coming back to good food, plenty of booze and great music. Rich is South African and I’m English, so we had a braai (bbq) and drank Pimm’s and G&T. We were keen to use local suppliers where we could and knew an amazing gin distiller in Cape Town, called Hope on Hopkins. The had little bottles with ‘hope’ printed across them that made me smile every time I saw them.
I struggled to find a dress that I liked, but nothing I saw was quite right. Eventually I ordered a dress from The Reformation and found the most wonderful designer in South Africa who agreed to embroider and alter the dress for me. I wish that someone had told me from the start find something that you like (rather than love) and then get someone to alter it or change it to really suit you.
So many of our friends and family were involved in the day. Our friend Sam agreed to do the service for us. So many things were created by our wonderful friends. The days leading up to the wedding were chaos – we had friends and family from overseas and so much to organize. Even on the morning of the wedding I was making coloured tissue paper pompoms to brighten up the garage doors! Thankfully my friend and make-up artist dragged me away to give me a couple of hours to relax, pause and get dressed.
There were many things that didn’t go according to plan, but then not much in life does! Nothing is perfect. But when I look back on that day, all that mattered was having our friends and family together with us, celebrating and honoring the relationship we have and the family we’ve made.
