Real Wedding: Roxy + Dale

We designed their Save the Dates. We designed their wedding invitations. And now, finally, we can feature their GORGEOUS wedding! We have always read Roxy's blog, CityGirl Searching for ages, and so we knew about her and Dale's engagement after reading it on there. So when she asked us to design her wedding stationery, it would be an understatement to say that we were absolutely thrilled. Not only was it so much fun working with a fellow blogger, but after meeting Roxy for the first time, we were so smitten with the style she wanted for her wedding. Their wedding in September last year was just perfect, and the lovely Jacki Bruniquel, a local Durban photographer, was there to capture it all. We are so proud to show you incredibly pretty wedding of Roxy and Dale - be inspired! 

THE BASICS: 
Full names of the bride and groom:
Dale Hutton & Roxy Pearce 
Date and year of your wedding: 23rd September 2012 
Venue: Bedford Farm, Creighton 
Colour and/or Theme: Country Vintage/Farmstyle Chic 
THE DETAILS:
So what’s your love story?
You can read the full story here (from our last interview with Ruby & the Swallow) but below is the short and sweet version:

I’m a CityGirl, having lived in big cities all my life…Dale is a Farmboy, from a small town called Creighton in Kwazulu-Natal. We met at University, and the rest they say is history! From living and teaching English in South Korea, to exploring secret beaches in Philippines and the ruins of Cambodia, our story has been one of adventure. That’s not to say that things are always easy. Sometimes I’d rather be window shopping in Sandton, when Dale would prefer to be backpacking down the coast of some unpronounceable small town in Africa. But that’s what makes a relationship exciting, when two seemingly different people decide to commit their lives to one another, despite their differences. 

How did he propose?
I am so fortunate to have an incredibly romantic man as my hubby. Again, you can read the
 full story here of how he proposed!

Dale and I had discussed marriage before, we both felt ready and we knew that we were meant to spend the rest of our lives together. It was just a matter of timing. Dale had recently found a job in Hillcrest, and was about to leave for a 2 week trip to Sierra Leone and I was miserable that he would be away for such a long time. The weekend before he left, Dale took me out for dinner to a really lovely restaurant. For some reason, I thought perhaps, this is it. I mean, it was a nice restaurant, but I thought, hmm, maybe it would be a little cheesy. So the whole way through dinner, I was hoping this would be it. No. And neither was it the next day when Dale took me Meandering (again I had this niggling feeling that it was going to happen). So by the time Sunday came, I had given up hoping that we would be engaged before he headed off into deep dark Africa, when Dale arrived at my door armed with fishing rods (of course mine is pink!) and told me to get in and put a beanie over my eyes, and an iPod in my ears. He drove me around in circles first to disorient me, and finally, with a tap on my knee, told me to remove my blindfold. We had arrived at 5 star Spa, the biggest in Africa, for a day of pampering! By now I didn't even have the sneakiest suspicion as I thought Dale was wanting to do something special because he would be away for such a long time. 

After a morning of pampering treatments Dale took me on a game drive which ended in a walk to a gorgeous waterfall. The path was long and windy, and not to mention hot! I can’t say I wasn't a little grumpy to have been taken away from my relax at the spa to walk in the midday heat. But, as I turned around to see where Dale had disappeared to, came face to face with him, book in hand. As I began to turn the pages, each one filled with a photograph of our relationship, my heat started to beat harder and harder. As I reached the final page, blank, with the words

“No it’s time for a self portrait” I looked up to see Dale down on one knee, ring in hand, asking me if I would marry him!And with that I heard a click, and he had managed to get the whole thing on camera! I was ecstatic  all thoughts of being hot and sweaty gone instead replaced with joy and happiness.

I was too happy for tears, until Dale said he had one last surprise. While in South Korea, he had made me a little Teddy Bear which had the following written in his tag:

“I've have love In my heart and secrets in my head”

At the time I hadn't paid much attention to the tag, but now Dale told me to unstitch him. As I slowly began to pick at the stitches, a little note fell out which read:

“Roxy Pearce, will you marry me?”

I had had that little bear for the past year and a half! And I had no idea that Dale knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me since then! And that’s when the tears came… 


What was the best lesson you learnt through planning your wedding?
To take in the little things, from the cups of tea drunk while going through the finer details with my mom-in-law to be, to the thoughtful messages of friends and family leading up to the big day.

Any tips for brides to be?
Here are 5 things I learned looking back on the wedding:

1. The details
For my wedding, my hubby and I wanted detail, detail and more detail. When choosing to get married on a farm we wanted to keep the natural beauty of the Shed and the Barn in tact, so this meant there was still a lot of room to play with details. I'm not sure if our guests even had enough time to notice the antique lace braided through the family pony's hair, or the fact that each and every little message to our guests on the table was handwritten, or the fact that there was a personalized sticker on each of the 160 coffee cups. Where I'm going with all of this is that I got so caught up on each and every detail being perfect for the day, that I didn't have time to just take a step back and admire all the hard work that had already gone into the venue. Your guest won't even notice if some tables have different shaped spoons or glasses to the others, just have fun and enjoy the time leading up to the wedding, don't get caught up on the little things. 

2. The people you least expect
It will be the people the people you least expect who will be the most help just before your special day. Friends and family will surprise you with their wonderful idea's and practicality...let them! Everyone wants to feel helpful even if it's only in a small way, so make sure to delegate things that you really need to be done! And everyone will feel useful! 


3. Memories of the day
The day went by so fast, I can remember very little about it. I don't remember any of the yummy cupcakes we had, the food we spent so many hours discussing, the lace wrapped around each honey jar...This is so sad as 6 months went into planning and organizing! We are so thankful we chose the photographer that we did (Jacki Bruniquel...she was incredible!) and that we had someone make us a video. Our video isn't quite ready for us yet, but when it is I'm sure we are going to be so grateful to be able to 're-live' the day!

4. What is most important
When planning your wedding, its very easy to get caught up in the glitz and glam of the actual day and become neglectful of your soon to be hubby! Dale often said to me that he couldn't wait for it all to be over so that we could talk about anything other than the wedding! It's so important to fit in some 'couple' time when the two of you can focus on each other and the reasons you're choosing to spend forever together. Trust me, your relationship post wedding will be that much better! 


5. The before photographs
Throughout the whole process of converting the farm into our dream wedding venue I have taken loads and loads of photograph (mainly so that I can blog about the process!) but also so that I can look back and remember all of the hard work that went into making our dream a reality. This included photo's of family and friends helping hand bunting, cut hearts, saw tables, clean vases. And I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have these special memories now that the actual wedding day is behind us. Get yourself a big scrap book, print out the best photo's, and stick them in (along with Wedding cards, Kitchen Tea cards and any other special mementos you may have the day and the time leading up to the day!).

How did you decide on the colour or theme of your wedding?
Getting married on a farm, we really wanted to keep the country feel to the wedding, and what better way to complement that than with touches of vintage pieces. My favourite colour is coral (Dale hates the colour orange) so we were able to finally settle on a soft pastel apricot.

How involved was your husband or family in the wedding planning?
This was the by far the most amazing part of the whole time leading up to the wedding. The fact that all our family was so eager to help and get involved where they could, made our lives so much easier! Dale and his Dad hand made all 19 ten-seater tables, my Mom painstakingly cut the lace table clothes using the tiniest pair of embroidery scissors, friends arrived from far and wide to wash glass bottles (and peel those nasty sticky labels off of them) and then there was the actual washing out and cleaning up of the actual venue! 

What would you change about your wedding day if you could?
Dale and I both feel that the day went by so fast, we didn't even get a chance to really enjoy the food or see and thank each and every guest for making the trip to our wedding. But this is part and parcel of the wedding! Looking back I probably would have spent a little less time with the photographer, and a little more time catching up with our guests. But, photographs last a life time…and we have lots and lots of them to remind us of the day!

Were there any elements of your wedding that you did yourself?
Gosh where to even begin…the programmes, the honey jar favours, the handwritten thank you cards for each guest, the photograph wooden door frames…Dale and I were personally involved in each and every element of the wedding, which is what made it so very special. 


What was your wedding song?
We had two very special songs; Priscilla Ann ‘Dream’ was the song I walked down the aisle to, and Kip McGraf “Hey Pretty Girl” was the song we had our first dance to. 

What was the flavour of your cake? 
Red-velvet of course!
Where did you go on honeymoon?
We went to on the most magical honeymoon to the Greek Islands…I was one spoilt young lady! 


SERVICE PROVIDERS:
Venue: Bedford Farm, Creighton 


Coordinator: Myself

Photographer: Jacki Bruniquel
Decor: Cutlery & vintage plates from A Vintage Affair in Joburg
Tiffany Chairs from Exclusive Hire in Durban

Stationery: Lovely ladies of Ruby & the Swallow
Dress (including bridesmaids dresses): Cathy Hutton in Pietermaritzburg (082 826 0056)
Hair & Make-up: I had Makeup Your Mind do my hair and makeup, as well as my bridesmaids. They were fantastic.
Flowers: I was very lucky to have two fantastic local ladies do all my flowers for me, including my bouquet, Gail and Renae, you are fantastic! If any brides out there plan on getting married in the Creighton/Underberg area, you wont find any one better than these two lovely ladies! Flowers were from Midlands Flower Hub Catherine who runs the florist was absolutely fantastic, and made all my dreams of a pastel coloured bouquet come true, even when pastel coloured flowers are so hard to come by in September.

Catering: For Dale and myself, this was probably one of the most important things for our wedding (apart from having a fantastic photographer that is!) after spending hours on the Internet searching for ’boutique caterers’ in Durban, I was referred to Sarah Harris (074 183 8745) from Harris and Homes catering. All I can say is that Dale and I stuffed our faces silly and had the best food we have ever seen or eaten at a function…ever! And, Sarah was wonderful to deal with the entire time! We had canapé starters, a never ending buffet table, and a candy bar/dessert station that would make Willy Wonka’s mouth drool.

Cake: Red velvet cupcakes and cake done by Harris & Homes (above)


All photographs taken by Jacki Bruniquel and are not subject to being used without permission.

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