Such a beautiful country chic style wedding to share with you today, and it was all beautifully captured by wonderful S.A photographer, Kate Martens.
Our lovely couple Natalie and Tweek organised their intimate wedding on a South African farm and styled their day to perfection – with a pretty, country chic vibe.
Totally loving the distressed, Annie Sloane coffee jars used to hold the hydrangeas and how country chic the whole day looks. Natalie and Tweek make such a lovely couple!
Words by Natalie. Images by Kate Martens Photography.
We had an early wedding with a lunch time reception at The Cairn of Old Kilgobbin in the Dargle Valley, KwaZulu Natal Midlands, South Africa.
We chose this venue as it is BEAUTIFUL and just seems to reflect us as a couple. We are true country / farm people, who love the outdoors and nature.
This venue is on a beautiful farm, over-looking the Midlands and was the first and only venue we looked at… we were immediately sold and felt right at home!
We just wanted a simple yet different wedding, which our guests really enjoyed and we feel that we achieved everything we aimed for. We wanted it to reflect us as a couple and our relaxed way of life.
It was wonderful getting married so close to our hometown and out in the countryside. It was important to us to keep it small and personal too and just to enjoy a beautiful Autumn day with our friends and family and some good food… happy days!!
We picked and provided our own hydrangeas from ours and a friend’s garden – wanting to keep the flowers simple, we originally opted for white hydrangeas.
However, when the time came, there weren’t any available. So I had to basically change the colour theme of the jars I painted and the flower colour.
We absolutely loved the outcome though and I don’t think we would have been as happy with the original plan…
We collected and painted coffee jars with Annie Sloane chalk paints and then distressed them. We used these to put the hydrangeas into along the tables.
Otherwise, The Cairn basically provided all the other finishing touches! They are incredibly equipped with all sorts of décor items. Amazing!
I chose my beautiful wedding dress as I felt it was a bit different. I loved the fact that it wasn’t ‘the norm’. It’s the most comfortable wedding dress – which was very important to me, and I think that it is simply elegant.
My Father, Rae Stanley, walked me down the aisle to my brother and Rebecca playing and singing Ellie Goulding’s ‘How Long Will I Love You’.
Tweek and I are from the same hometown of Hilton – his Mum actually taught me to swim when I was about 3. Living in a small town meant knowing of, if not knowing people, and this was the case with us. We only actually properly met through friends at a dinner about 10 years ago and then didn’t cross paths again for about 3 years.
We bumped into each other again – at the local pub, as you do ;-) – and the rest is basically history! We dated for about 5 years before getting engaged and were engaged for almost a year and a half and here we are!
Tweek made a very sneaky and romantic (considering he can’t spell the word), proposal, on a deserted beach at one of our favourite holiday spots in Mozambique. During one of our early morning beach walks, he dropped down onto one knee and popped the question, I actually burst out laughing and then asked him if he was serious… about 5 times haha!
He proposed with an Ebony ring and then using his Gran’s and Mum’s diamonds, we designed a ring together. I think that having our relationship based on friendship, respect and trust stands us on good grounds to start our marriage from.
Our wedding photographer, Kate of Kate Martens Photography was lovely to work with and have on our team. She was calm and relaxed and kept things natural – no ridiculous and unnatural poses. She made us feel very comfortable! We are so chuffed with her work! What a privilege to have had her capture our magical day!
If you could impart any words of wisdom to future brides planning their wedding days, what would they be?
Don’t get wrapped up in the potential stress of it. Don’t rush your planning and just enjoy it. It truly does go by SO quickly, and it’s so sad when it’s all over. Planning a wedding is a lot of hard work, whichever route you choose, so try not to make it more ‘fussy’ and stressful than it needs to be.
It is an awesome time and just try to keep reminding yourself of the reasons why you are getting married and not so much about the make-up of your wedding itself.
Remember why you love your Fiance and remind him of those reasons – especially when you have those ‘bridezilla’ moments. Keep it real and treasure it. There are so many wonderful options of everything from venues to dresses… be as decisive as possible and stick to your gut feel on things.
What was your most memorable moment of the day?
Too many to mention… but other than getting married, the speeches were really beautiful and heartfelt.
wedding credits / photographer: kate martens photography / wedding venue: / brides dress: / brides veil: / grooms suit: / brides shoes: / grooms shoes: / bridesmaid dresses: / bridesmaid shoes: / hair & makeup: / florist: / wedding cake: / catering: / rings: / videography: / stationery
View the Gallery 
Beautiful Bride ,grat location, it must have been a perfect wedding day !
Very inspiring ! great shots !
Comments are closed.