Chirese and Jannie had a fully DIY wedding at a game lodge in the heart of the Waterberg Mountains in South Africa. Their theme was bohemian and creative with a hit of geekiness thrown in for good measure.
“We chose to do a lot of the planning ourselves, by calling upon our family and friends to help out where needed”, began the bride. “Pinterest and blogs were a saving grace for us as we would easily share ideas with everyone involved. We got married at Shumba’s Rest Game Lodge in the lakeside chapel overlooking the sunset of the African bushveld. Our reception was at the main thatch roof hall at the lodge.”
“The aim was never to break away from the traditional wedding in the formal sense of the word”, she continued. “We just chose to combine the things we love as a couple and as individuals, such as his love of all things geeky and my love of all things funky! We both love Game of Thrones and Vikings and movies like Avengers so these were the inspiration for both of our hair styles!”
“There was a really funny moment in our ceremony”, Chirese said. “We had the coolest Pastor and right before he did the ‘You may now kiss the bride’ part he said, ‘Do you want to take a selfie?’ and we got our mobile phone out and took a selfie for Facebook. Nobody expected that and it was really funny!”
“Most of our wedding was DIY”, she explained. “All the décor, the photo booth, the cake and candy buffet, the dream catchers, the flowers, seating in the chapel, the ceremony backdrop… In the end doing a lot of the things ourselves was not just to try save on costs, but really because it made everything so much more special.”
“There is nothing we’d change about our wedding”, she concluded. “The hardest parts were the arguments about money but in the end the day was perfect. I would tell other brides to listen to everyone’s opinions but keep with your own! It’s your wedding and enjoy the journey, even when it comes to times where you feel it’s too much, just push through it. In the end you will look back and see how much fun it was.”
