Rustic Luxe Forest Wedding With Pretty Pastels & Rose Gold: Mauro & Katie

It’s real wedding time again here on Want That Wedding and this one is a real stunner! Mauro & Katie had a rustic luxe, forest inspired wedding with pretty pastel detail and touches of rose gold.

We are loving everything about this elegant day from the sublime decor and flowers to Katie’s classy dress…

Words by Katie. Images by Yolande Marx Photography.

I saw the design for my wedding dress on the Pronovias website. It was just absolutely striking, elegant and different compared to all the tight lace dresses that were featured everywhere.

The dress was bold and sophisticated and I knew it was ‘me’. I loved the simplicity of the dress, the boldness of the colour and style, the touch of pleats around my waist, the little bit of cleavage with a semi low back and of course the pockets!

The most important thing is that the dress was super comfortable and I did not have to tuck or pull at it at all during the entire day.

The bridesmaids wore their own dresses as well as shoes. I gave them each a sample of the colour shade I wanted them to stick to, and even though each of them bought their dress completely separately from each other, they all matched perfectly on the day.

The shirts and pants were the same for the groomsmen as well as the groom. We purchased suspenders and shoes 3 days before the wedding… as only boys can do without breaking a sweat!

I certainly ensured that I was part of their fittings and purchases, as the colour code and overall look of the pictures was important to me – and guys don’t really think or care about that!

My brother ‘gave me away’ as my dad passed away when I was only 6 years old and my mother never remarried as he was the love of her life!

I walked down the aisle to ‘All of me’ by John Legend. Mauro and I have always loved this song and the day he proposed to me he was playing this song so it has great sentimental value to us.

I cannot choose my favourite moment as the entire day as a whole was such a blessing and I wish I could relive it over and over! The 2 things that were memorable though are: 

Firstly, I asked Mauro to come to where I was staying at 7am, we sat on the porch overlooking the natural beauty and I gifted him my father’s’ Bible. This was a very emotional and sentimental moment and I love the fact that it was so private with no photos and no people, just us connecting and sharing our hearts. 

The second memorable moment was as my brother and I were walking down the aisle a bright green grasshopper came to sit right in between my eyes… on the inside of my veil. I squinted to see what it was, then turned to my brother and told him and we had such a laugh because what could we do… stopping was no option and digging in under my veil would have been really awkward with the bouquet and all !!!

It made for really nice photos though as we are laughing and having a ball! Great story to tell the kids one day and when I told my friends they found it most entertaining as they had seen me squinting with a dot on my forehead as I walked past them! My husband thought I had put a bindi on my forehead before he realized it was a grasshopper!

My inspiration for the flowers came from the picture of Blake Lively’s wedding bouquet. I wanted the forest to be the main feature and for all decor to compliment the surroundings, not overshadow them.

By adding lots of greenery to the flowers we were able to carry the forest theme and feel through to the reception in the barn as well. I wanted the colours to be soft and pastel, as it gave a romantic feel and added just a splash of colour to the green, white and brown back drop.

I was more concerned with the colour of the flowers rather than the type so my florist had free range. There were a few flowers that wilted quickly during our mock set up a week before which we then did not use on the day.

Rustic elegance was an underlying theme. I wanted the flowers to almost feel like they were picked from the forest and casually displayed on the tables.

Yolande our wedding photographer is a bubbly and fun person and she is extremely good at what she does! She also did an amazingly tasteful boudoir shoot for me before I put on the dress. 

Her main focus is on the couple photo’s but whenever I asked her for specific photo’s that I thought would be nice i.e. a different setting or more with my bridesmaids she happily took them! I would recommend her to anyone!

Nature and the tranquil setting of the forest inspired me when it came to the design of our wedding. I grew up on a farm and have been living in Dubai for 9 years so we really miss greenery and nature! I wanted the wedding to be elegant but still natural so decided on pastel colours that would enhance the natural greenery and wood of the forest and stone barn venue. 

Our wedding was sentimental, unique, surprising, fun, honest, light hearted and most of all God-centered. I have always liked to be a bit different and unlike the norm or trend that is going on but rather true to what I like and want. So that is why I did not make a seating plan, instead, people could sit where they wanted with who they felt most comfortable. I also had a bouquet dedication to my mother and Mauro’s mother for each raising us alone and just being amazing, strong and pure examples for us, instead of throwing the bouquet. 

Rose gold cutlery was chosen because in March it was still not a big thing and I absolutely love rose gold, so I thought man this is different and awesome!! The same with the champagne tower we had… I saw it on a pinterest post and thought man even though it is a French tradition, who says I can’t have it because I love it… it was really fun and I’m sure some of the older folk were slightly puzzled ;-)

If I could impart any words of wisdom, I would say… 

Firstly do what you want to do and don’t worry about ‘traditions’ such as paper invitations, seating plans, a specific order of events etc. Let your personality shine through. This is your day and it is the best day of your life so do everything you want and don’t let anyone rush you on the day… there is always enough time for everything! 

Do keep the speeches short or to a minimum and make sure the food is really good. Don’t get too upset about the little details that don’t work… your guests will not notice and don’t remember those.

Inspired by rustic and rose gold – browse our archives for more inspiration!

credits / photographer: yolande marx photography / decor & flowers: the ivy league / catering: herman and phillipus  / make-up and hair: lisa brown / dress: alana van heerden / dj: the wedding djs’ dj west / videographer: mustard seed weddings / wedding website: riley and grey / venue: elandskloof farm / cake: tossie from caledon (private)

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