Carla +Neethling’s Handmade Wedding

Happy Monday! Just one week left to enter our DIY Contest! Don’t forget to enter – the first place winner will receive $500 and second place winner a $100 gift certificate to Wendy Mink Jewelry. Participants must reuse an old item and incorporate it in a DIY project – here is entry #1 and #2 to get your creative juices flowing. Good luck!

We’re starting this week with a vintage inspired wedding with lots of handmade details, all the way from Wellington, South Africa. The bride, Carla, shares a little bit about their wedding day below…

The bride, Carla, shares a little bit about their wedding:
I bought my bridesmaids’ dresses and then put lace and ribbon on to personalize them. I also had everyone in the bridal party (parents,brothers,sisters, best men and bridesmaids) have similar colors of grey, mint green, blue and purple). A corsage was made for each of them to wear and the similar colors made the pictures beautiful!

I had a friend of my mother do the flowers. She is a professional and LOVES flowers. I went with her to the florist and together we chose colours and flowers that I liked. We collected lamp covers over the months and decorated them. Lucia (Flowers & Decor) took old books and wrapped them up with ribbon. She then placed the lamp covers on top. Different vases were placed on the tables with not one table looking the same. She placed big and small together. The extra detail was baby pictures of me and my husband in golden picture frames.

We decided on a theme that would be me and my husband together. I love vintage, but with a hint of the unique, so we had sepia styled photos made and put them in golden frames on the tables. What helped me a lot was to go to the fabric shops and buy samples of different kinds and colours of materials. That way I could see what textures and colors would work together.

We made the the napkin rings ourselves. I grew up on a farm so our neighbors made the flowers with our wedding colors and my mom and I tied them with a ribbon. For each guest we made a fabric heart as a gift that also doubled as a place card. My wonderful bridesmaids helped me put on the different kinds of ribbon and lace with a button. It was great fun and extra special because it was handmade with love. Each of our tables had a wrought iron centerpiece with a crown or a heart on top. Each table had different ribbons hanging from the centerpiece. I wanted to do the table placements a bit different, so I made a card with each guest’s name on it, together with a color ribbon, a button and a pearl pin of the table they were seated at. I made a clothesline from the one chair to the other chair. The chairs without seats resembled a question that asked “Where is my seat?” so guests could look for their names and in that order find their place inside.

We had the wedding ceremony at a church in Franschhoek. The same church where my great-grandmother, grandmother and mother got married. When the service was finished the guests had to drive about 40 minutes to the venue (www.kleinevalleij.co.za). For a little road side snack, my bridemaids and I baked heart shaped shortbread cookies and we packed them in a cellophane bag, we then had a little business card made with the story about why we got married at this specific church. Our wedding car a 1947 Chrysler was also the wedding car of my husband’s grandparents. We also put that story on the card. As the guests left the ceremony they each got a packet of cookies and a cold bottle of water. So as they were driving they could have a bite and read the story.

Wedding Vendors (Wellington, South Africa)
Venue: Kleinevallej / Caterer: Linda Marie Bruyns Heart Worx (linka@telkomsa.net) / Photographer: Lizelle Lotter / Music: Philip le Grange Life Audio (info@audiolife.co.za) / Videographer: Mandelbrot Films ) / Bridal Salon: Robyn Roberts (https://www.robynroberts.co.za/) / Hair and Makeup: Helga Bridal (https://www.helgabridal.com/) / Vintage Rentals: La Fete (https://www.lafete.co.za/)