Traditional South-African Wedding of Ferreira & Michelle

Traditional South-African Wedding of Ferreira & Michelle . Ferreira and Michelle did not want anything over the top for their wedding day. Their wedding decor was based on simplistic styles and colours. Dusty pink, dusty blue and light grey were the basis of their color palette. From there, they created a magical atmosphere with a minimalistic look and feel, portraying a traditional South-African wedding. They followed the architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, famous phrase of 1947 – less is more. Throughout the planning of their wedding, they kept this in mind, focusing on what really matters and not being influenced by superfluous things.

At the end, this mind-set and theme worked out perfectly for Ferreira and Michelle. They enjoyed a simplistic, yet stunning wedding day with their loved ones.

Engagement story:

We had been dating for two years and were in a long-distance relationship at the time of our engagement. On 13 December 2018, a random Thursday afternoon, Ferreira paid me a surprise visit saying I should be dressed and ready for a date night. He picked me up at 18:00 and blindfolded me. I immediately had a suspicion that something was up. After a short trip in the car over a gravel road or two, and a short walk, I was finally allowed to remove my blindfold. I opened my eyes to the most romantic picnic, on a hill over looking the sunset. Ferreira was on one knee asking me to marry him.

Favorite Wedding Memory:

Michelle: I will never forget the look on my dad’s face when he turned around and saw me in my beautiful dress for the first time. It was only the second time in my life that I saw my dad cry.

Ferreira: The two most special moments was when I caught a glimpse of my bride before she walked down the aisle and when I finally got to kiss her after we said the I do’s.

Advice to couples planning their wedding:

Wedding planning is extremely stressful. It can place a lot of pressure on a relationship, especially if it’s a long-distance relationship like ours.

The best advice I could offer, is that when planning gets stressful and overwhelming remember what the day is truly all about. It’s not about the dress or the flowers or the cake. It’s about you and your husband that is celebrating the start of your marriage in the presence of God, your family and your dearest friends. All the rest is extra.

Wedding Dress:

My dress was purchased from timeless bridal couture in Pretoria. When I visited their website, they seemed to offer a large variety of dresses. I booked my first bridal consultation. Accompanied by my mom and my best friend, I set out to find my dress.

I tried on as many different dress styles as possible, but it didn’t take long to decide which style suited me best. I then tried on dresses in this style, that did not exceed my maximum budget. When I tried on my dress and walked out, I immediately noticed the look on my mom’s face – she was speechless!

The dress stood out from all the others as it made me feel as beautiful as I looked. With its long train, elegant neck line and classic lace, it made me feel like royalty. This was everything I envisioned my wedding dress to be like and more. So, without trying on any others, I said “yes to the dress!”

Honeymoon:

We went to the Maldives for honeymoon. The Maldives is a must-see and I would recommend it be added to everyone’s bucket list!

The Decor:

Our wedding colors were dusty blue, dusty pink and light grey. Most of my wedding inspiration and ideas were drawn from Pinterest. I like to keep things simple, so I kept everything about my wedding simple as well. Sometimes, less is more! Since I was going for the classic wedding look, I decided to keep decor simple, minimalistic and classic.

The Venue:

I always dreamed of an Elegant Garden wedding. Driving into Oakfield, I immediately noticed their beautiful gardens. The venue inside provided a classic elegance with draping and crystal chandeliers.

Being in Muldersdrift, the venue is close to two airports, making it central for all our family and friends to attend the wedding. Muldersdrift is also only 1 hour and 30 min away from Potchefstroom. This made me feel content that I would be able to be a hands-on bride in the organising.

Oakfield farm staff were friendly professional. They were also reasonably priced compared to some other venues in Johannesburg. We were sold from the get-go!

The Wedding Cake:

Our wedding cake was never essential to our wedding plan. From the start, we had decided that the wedding cake would be left until last, should our budget still allow a cake.

I stuck to a plain and simple look by going for a semi-naked cake, finished with roses for decor. We never wanted anything over the top. For us the most important was how the cake tasted. It was delicious! Our guests seem to think so too, as there was no cake left by the time we got back from photos.

Musical Choices:

Our first dance was to Darling by Roan Ash. We simply chose the song because we both loved it the first time. It was so unusual in comparison to all the other love songs.

My father-daughter dance was to Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle. This was one of my dad’s favorite songs from the time I can remember. He always said that one day he would like to hear this song at our wedding. So, when my wedding day finally came, there was no other song but this one for our father-daughter dance.