Warm and Moody South African Winter Wedding Inspiration

Warm and Moody South African Winter Wedding Inspiration on Vivacious Weddings. We love Winter and especially Winter weddings. There’s something very special to a warm-toned moody winter wedding. Imagine a venue with a large fireplace celebrating your wedding with friends and family enjoying a glass of red wine. Hearty food, warm desserts is just some of the elements you can be excited about.

Decor elements included warmer colour tone floral designs and decor elements. We love that they used yellow candles which brings in that extra pop of colour to this warm-toned table setup. The various elements melted in so well. Then there’s that gorgeous long sleeve wedding dress the model wore at this shoot. Gorgeous! It is the perfect dress for a lovely winter wedding.

Talented wedding and lifestyle photographer, Matty van Rensburg photographed this styled beautiful shoot. If you love winter weddings as much as we do you will enjoy the wedding inspiration below. For more amazing wedding inspiration, browse through Vivacious Weddings and be inspired.

The inspiration behind this styled shoot:

Winter weddings are a relatively new concept in South Africa with most brides still opting to hold a summer wedding. We wanted to show couples that winter weddings can be just as beautiful and possibly have even more ambience and intimacy than summer weddings.

We choose warm jewel tones and layered textures that would make any wedding feel luxurious.

Floral Designs:

We used seasonal blooms and foliage in all the moody colours and complemented this with dark juicy fruits to create a feast-like effect on the table. We wanted to create a slightly wild and natural table cascading over onto the rest of the decor. Here and there we popped the darkness with lighter blush spray roses so that the overall look wasn’t too heavy.

Decor:

When the Tablecloth Hiring Company brought out a range of beautiful velvet linens we knew we wanted to use these somehow. We used a dark charcoal striped tablecloth and tactile velvet napkins to ground the table before layering with the decor.

Terracotta, burgundy, mustard and black have been trending lately and together with rose gold give a sophisticated feel. We balanced this with dried palms & ferns, seagrass placemats and rose quartz to bring in a more natural element

We also wanted to show brides how bringing black into your wedding does not have to make it feel heavy and Gothic.

Wedding Gown Inspiration:

The long-sleeved lace wedding gown was one of the original elements used in determining the theme of the shoot. Its dreamy floaty feel will make any bride feel like a princess. Kate Middleton brought back the long sleeve and we’re here for it, especially for a winter wedding.

Our second gown features a detachable cape perfect to make a statement upon entering your ceremony and seeing your groom for the first time. Removing the cape gives way to a sleek silhouette, allowing the bride to dance the night away later at her reception.

The Location:

Located in the beautiful citrus and rose growing area of the Sundays River Valley, Avoca River Cabins presented a blank canvas for which we could set up this shoot and the character of the inside of the venue helped create the story for the moody and romantic winter feel.

Not only is there a roaring fireplace, but also exposed brick, and an entire rock face incorporated along with one of the interior walls. The venue has a wooden deck overlooking the Sunday’s River alongside the citrus orchards.

There is plenty of accommodation and entertainment for a weekend destination wedding, all set in lush and impeccably maintained gardens.

Advice to couples planning their big day:

Always choose vendors whose work has the same feel as the overall effect you’re trying to create or who are versatile with a variety of looks. They should “get” your vision in the initial meeting.

It’s important to get on with and feel at ease with your photographer. The more comfortable you feel, the more relaxed you’ll be and the better the photographs will be – these memories you will treasure forever

Don’t be afraid to go outside the box with your ideas. Most couples have loads of exciting ideas, but almost always end up reverting to same old, same old. You want your guests to walk away thinking… “That wedding was SO them.” A good wedding planner/decorator will help rein in outrageous ideas so that they are elegant and appropriate.

Don’t start planning your wedding too far in advance. Trends change and so will your ideas and this will only confuse you to make a decision.

A tip specifically for South-African brides-to-be:

For South African brides, remember that most Pinterest weddings are overseas weddings and we often don’t get the same flowers as you see in those pictures. Imported flowers are expensive.