A 1950s and ’60s Inspired Wedding In Johannesburg…

It only seemed correct in this glorious British weather we're experiencing right now to feature a sunny wedding this afternoon.

Taryn and Marc got married on the 4 of March last year at Shepstone Gardens in Johannesburg…

"We wanted our guests to feel at home and enjoy the day as much as we would but in a setting that was really memorable.

I was inspired by anything vintage and pretty, such as tea sets, lace and old books and crystal. The 1950s and 60s were my main source of inspiration…"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Kat Forsyth

"I am so inspired by the vintage styles of the 1950’s and '60’s. My Grandmother wore the most gorgeous dress on her wedding day back in the 1950’s and with that in mind, I knew my dress could not be ordinary. My sister suggested a shorter dress and then I knew I wouldn’t find my dream dress at any
bridal store so when I saw this design in one of Abigail Betz's older collections I knew I had found it.

It is a ¾ length 50’s style dress with no less than 24 layers of tulle. The bottom of the second layer is hand embroiled which added something so special to an already charming design. The top part is made of French lace and Abigail then added some buttons and a ribbon to the front of the dress to complete the look. It was more perfect than I could have dreamed…"

"I am not fussy with flowers, I just wanted white with greens. But then my planner Eve, of Splendid Affairs, suggested we add subtle pinks to create some depth. Then she suggested a bridal bouquet of King Proteas and succulents, and I loved the idea. It is, I suppose, not the most romantic looking flower and so not popular with brides and that’s exactly what I wanted, something completely out of the ordinary…"

"The table décor was unique to each table although the general look and feel was the same. Each had a glass bowl of flowers such as roses and proteas. Eve, our planner, then took all of our found objects, like a tea set, glass bottles, old books tied with ribbon and lots of beautiful little pieces and decorated each table uniquely.

The table cloths were a white damask design and we also added silver under plates to add to the mix. The day before the wedding I still did not have table numbers though. We then found a hobby craft shop and purchased little wooden boxes and hoped theycould work. I then painted numbers on them and Eve did her magic and cleverly placed all the menus inside of them on the tables and they worked perfectly…" 

"We crafted little bags of candy with thank you labels for each guest, as favours…"

"A personal baker friend made our delicious chocolate cake. We wanted something personal and something that suited us. It was lovely: simple, modest and chocolate!"

"Marc and I would be the last people to choose a typical wedding song to share our first dance to – we were terrified to end up being cheesy! So we went with a Foo Fighter’s track called Walking After You which complimented our personalities and it’s a song we both adore…."

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"I never thought I would become bridezilla. I am the last person to get caught up in all the madness of a wedding but there I was in the white dress, with the big wedding. It is so easy to get caught up in the excitement. Try to stay grounded every time you talk seriously about the wedding with your fiancé or service providers. You should never extend beyond your means, there are ways to get what you want for less if you ask around and do the research.

Don’t get lost in the mayhem, it’ll ruin your day. Speaking of, there will be things that go wrong.  Ignore them! We had several guests not even show up to our wedding but we wereot going to let it affect our exhilaration. We woke up the next morning in our honeymoon suit at Shepstone Gardens, only then realising that the staff had forgotten to dress the bed with sheets and pillow cases, fresh towels or tea, but we chose to laugh it off. Nothing at all should get you down, turn a blind eye and concentrate on how gorgeous the rest of your day is."

Thanks so much to Taryn and Marc for sharing their lovely sunny day with us all – and thanks too, to photographer Kat Forsyth for sharing these photographs.

Have a lovely, lovely sunny afternoon everyone.

Much love,

Annabel

♥

 

Photographer – Kat Forsyth
Wedding Stylist/Planner + Florist – Eve Poplett at Splendid Affairs
Venue – Shepstone Gardens in Johannesburg
Brides dress + veil – Abigail Betz Couture
Brides Shoes – Irregular Choice
Bridesmaids Dresses – Gelique
Grooms Suit – Clive Lauter for Peter Resso
Makeup Artist – Lashline
Entertainment – James Cassels