This is part two of sharing our wedding story! My husband joined me for both parts, where we talked all about how we planned our wedding and all the things we did. Listen right till the end to hear our regrets and what we would’ve done differently.
Click here to listen to Part One.
Episode breakdown
Outfits / hair and makeup
Glen’s suit, shirt and accessories: a beige suit (fitted, skinny) with a white and maroon shirt and textured white tie.
My dress: not actually a wedding dress! I tried on loads of wedding dresses and they all had way too much fabric and layering and I just felt too poofy. So when we were looking for bridesmaids dresses, I came across the perfect dress in Forever New (not even a wedding dress shop). It was a very light blush pink, with lace on top and an A-line silhouette. I got a friend to add some detail to the bottom of the dress, she also made my champagne coloured veil. I had a lace cover-up for later in the day and I re-wore shoes I’d worn to another wedding. I also wore a gold leaf headpiece and gold leaf bracelet.
One of my bridesmaids was a makeup artist and she did my makeup as a gift.
Another friend was a hairstylist and did my hair as a gift.
Wedding party: got them to buy their own outfits and went for a mix and match vibe.
Groomsmen wore shades of brown, tan and beige – we gifted them ties in different shades of brown.
Bridesmaids wore their own dresses in shades of blush pink with nude/beige heels – we gifted them gold leaf earrings. All did their own hair and makeup and the photos of them helping each other are so cute!
Entertainment / timeline / food
We had our epic cake table, because we wanted all our wedding ceremony guests to feel like they were part of the celebration. Our grans and my uncles also couldn’t attend the reception so we wanted this to be special for them too.
Confetti – little cards as people left, with words like ‘love’, ‘joy’, ‘happiness’, ‘peace’ and guests could speak them over us as a blessing as we walked through the tunnel.
When guests got to the reception, they were led to the ‘secret garden’ where they had something to drink and could enjoy the amazing views of Table Mountain. During this time, we had some wedding party photos and couple’s portraits.
Our MCs were Glen’s sister and my brother – so so special.
Speeches: we each did one, our parents did speeches (my dad sang a song), and a best man speech.
Food:
Starter – soup or salad
Main – chicken, steak or risotto
Dessert – chocolate torte
Also had a coffee bar afterwards because Glen is obsessed with coffee.
DJ – a friend of ours, Atic Mobile DJs – he was also a groomsman and did a really great job.
Song choices:
Aisle – ‘Overwhelmed’ by Tim McMorris
Ceremony item – ‘Ever Be’ by Bethel, during communion
Ceremony item – ‘Silhouette’ by Glen Hartmann
Ceremony exit – ‘On top of the world’ by Imagine Dragons
Reception entrance – Friends theme song (without lyrics in the first bit)
First ‘song’ – ‘No matter where you are’ by Us The Duo (which we sang together)
Reception exit – ‘Get lucky’ by Daft Punk
We were also really specific about the first few songs after we opened the dance floor, so we had our favourites like ‘Shake it off’ by Taylor Swift and ‘Happy’ by Pharrell.
Wedding hacks and tips
- Communicate and share your expectations.
- Use one thing for multiple purposes (like the forest trees were centrepieces and wedding favours)
- Plan your wedding together and make decisions together
- Get your friends and family to help – we had our wedding party package up invitations together, we got them over to spray paint animal figurines and cut pieces of hessian material, etc.
Things we’d change
- Glen would have flowers if we were to have another wedding or vow renewal.
- I’d pay more attention to our ceremony content because that felt quite rushed – the ceremony is the whole point of the wedding, so I’d give that more attention.
- I’d prep my speech way earlier, I rambled.
