Forgive me for gushing and gushing, but Sue just attended the best wedding of her life in February. And it was her own!
Yes, John and I finally managed to make it down the isle and this time round it was even more fabulous than the last. (Remember that? 15 June 2007, which means that we’ve been married for almost FOUR years. And during some moments of this past experience I was just about ready to call a halt to all the madness and go back to just being married already. But I digress.)
How do you get a PR-poppie such as myself to go mentally wonky? You tell her to plan her own perfect-princess wedding, of course! The brief? Seventy guests from around the world in a setting so perfect, so remote and so beautiful that it will impress the socks off everyone and leave a lasting impression that is indicative of the interesting and (somewhat) quirky couple getting married in said setting. And all of it on a tight budget.
Of course.
Months of planning, hours of Skype calls to Mamma M in Namibia and a couple of teary breakdowns later, our perfect wedding week arrived! We started on Tuesday the 15th of February with dinner at Joe’s Beerhouse in Windhoek, the best steakhouse in the world, according to me (and many others). The next morning at 9am, a bus with 45 guests departed Windhoek for two days safari at the gorgeous Erindi Game Lodge. Suffice to say that we had two game drives a day, that all food and ALL BOOZE was included and that we were staying at a fantastic 5-star lodge where afternoon tea outshines the buffet dinner, which outshines the buffet breakfast, which aims to be as good as the buffet lunch – to answer your question, yes, the dress did fit a little tighter than it did before safari!
On the Friday the 18th – coincidentally also Sue’s birthday (so old, so old, so old) – the bus departed the game lodge and made its (hot and sweaty – Mr A/C decided not to play along for this part of the journey) way to the coastal town of Swakopmund. A quaint German settlement in the middle of nowhere with the most breathtaking sanddunes you can imagine. We had a very small celebration that evening as Sue was beyond tired and feeling a little cranky about everything. (As brides do. Do they?)
Saturday the 19th was a frenzy of friends, rushing around for the last couple of plans and then a manicure, eyebrow wax (I know…) and then off to where we were getting dressed where my friend and the world’s-most-fabulous-designer Kobus Dippenaar worked his magic on my hair and make-up. The world’s-most-fabulous-photographer Susan Nel (great name, btw) arrived at 3pm to start capturing every moment and succeeded way beyond my wildest expectations!
The bride and her entourage, made up of best friends and sisters, left for the ceremony on the beach and as we got into the car Mama M called, saying: “Just wanted to let you know that the guests are all here and ready for you…and, darling, it’s windy.” “No problem, Mom”, I quipped back. (Nothing was going to ruin my day.) “No,” she said, “you don’t understand…it’s really, reaaally windy.” Oh boy.
Upon arrival I quickly got what she meant…My veil was blowing in the wind in a not-so-romantic way and chair covers (and chairs) had been blown into the air. The dune sand was quickly covering up the red carpet and my guests all looked a little, uhm, windswept. But in a way it was perfect. No one could be uptight after surviving that wind! And my hair had so much Elnett in it that no wind was going to move a lock!
We had a quick ceremony on the beach and then our guests were moved to the secret location while we went off to take some photos. Drinks on the beach? Not so much!
I love this photo of my 80-year old gran...Love.
After taking photos on the beach and on the jetty, we made our way into the dunes where we had another stop before starting to search for our secret spot amongst the dunes.
Now, in all the months of planning. In all the many emails and phone calls. In all my many ‘to do’ lists and delegated tasks. In all those things, the ONLY aspect of this wedding I didn’t plan was printing out the instructions to getting to our secret location, or making sure that someone knew exactly where we were going. Picture the scene…The bride, her groom and her maid of honour along with our ‘driver’ – a dear friend of Mama M who graciously offered his services and remained patient throughout – following the photographers in their small Yaris, heading into every possible turnoff amongst the dunes and back out again. We could not find this effing tent. My lip grew longer and longer as I pictured myself, all dressed up and newly ‘ringed’, having dinner at the local ‘Brauhaus’ in Swakopmund. After all that planning we were not going to get to celebrate our wedding day with our guests! Ugh.
And, just before I ruined my make-up with a big cry, we found it! Halleluja! Only 45 minutes late and still in time for sundowners. Hooray!
From there on the evening was a blur of perfection. The world’s-best-event-planners Sharmine and Colin Livingstone of Desert Catering had gone beyond our wildest expectations in putting together a party like no other.
For one night, Sue was a princess. And this, dear reader, is my happy ever after!
Please vote for us in the Sarie Bride of the Year competition by leaving a comment and ‘liking’ our entry on Facebook!
Just because I love them and would hugely recommend their services to anyone – here’s Sue’s Little Black Book for planning a wedding in Namibia:
