Anja and Michael decided to have a subtle Alice in Wonderland theme for their beautiful wedding nestled in the South Africa countryside.
They chose to hold their wedding ceremony in the forest and hosted their reception on a farm. Two wonderful locations that lent themselves perfectly to their day. I love the colourful bridesmaid dresses and fun Alice in Wonderland décor.
Thanks so very much to Kat Forsyth for sharing her gorgeous photographs today.
From the Bride Anja |
My idea for the wedding was to do Alice in Wonderland in a subtle way so that people who love Alice as much as I do would pick it up, without turning it into a costume party. The reason I, as the bride, picked the story about Alice is a very cheesy one! Michael has turned my life into a Wonderland, full of new and exciting things, and he has also shown me throughout this journey who I really am. We tried to mix it up with some Afrikaner flavour, mostly with our flower choices and a couple of rustic touches.
We wanted to have a fun event that our friends and family would look back on as a giant celebration of our love and not an overly stiff affair and I think we accomplished it with pops of pastels, the photo booth and a hilarious master of ceremonies (who did resemble Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in looks) amongst other things. We tried to release Chinese Lanterns into the air which turned out to be a total fiasco with the wind blowing fire into the trees and surrounding bush, which everyone thought was hilarious, so in the end even that turned out pretty well!
The ceremony was held in a little forest and conducted by Rev Wollie Grobler (The Dodo, umbrella and all), who kept things light and beautiful. The setting was so lovely that we didn’t really have to add much decor wise except a couple of colourful paper lanterns (referring to the Mad Hatter and the March Hare’s tea party). After the ceremony and photo session we were driven back to the reception in a buggy drawn by two lovely Friesian horses, where we set off the party mood by entering to Gypsy Kings’ Volare. Everyone ate and drank to their hearts content before adorning themselves with glo sticks on the dance floor. It turned into a bit of a barefoot trance party after the older guests left and many of us stayed up until way too late, making us miss the lovely breakfast the venue had arranged the next morning, but it was definitely worth it as we had the absolute time of our lives with those nearest and dearest to our hearts.
It was definitely the most amazing day of our lives thus far, and there is absolutely nothing I would’ve wanted differently! Of course, we wouldn’t have been able to pull it off without our friends and family who helped set up the day and our wonderful suppliers:
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |
Wedding Planner and decor | Susan Greyvenstein
Flowers | Rina Vermaak
Venue and catering | Florence Guest Farm
Cake | My Darlings Patisserie
Wedding Dress | Pronovias
Shoes | Forever New
Bridesmaid dresses | Infinity Dress
Make up | Ilana Reinhardt
Videography | Peachy Cinema
(link to the video: https://peachycinema.squarespace.com/peachy-blog/2014/5/27/michael-anja-get-hitched-in-a-beautiful-forest-22022104 )
Music | Eagles Disco
Photography | And of course, the wonderful Kat Forsyth who came all the way from England to capture our memories on film!
Beautiful.
Thanks so so much for sharing guys XOXO Lou