A wedding dress made of a recycled crochet tablecloth, custom buttons for every member of the wedding party and flowers grown by the couple themselves… there’s just so much to love about Angie and Lionel’s thrifty, farm wedding! Married in Chrissiesmeer, South Africa on 28th April this year, this couple really did plan the wedding they truly wanted.
“Our theme was ‘recycled'”, wrote the bride. “We love the earth and decided to make it our mission for our wedding to have all our décor made out of recycled items. This also made our wedding more personal as we made most of the décor ourselves and recycled everything ourselves.”
“Our entire wedding told our love story. Every table had a different name and a different centrepiece that told the story of us. The wedding table was the wishes we had for our future together. My wedding dress was made from recycled crochet tablecloths that we didn’t pay for! Instead I asked around at church and an old lady gave them to me. I didn’t want a white wedding dress so we added the dyed flowers to give the extra colour. We don’t really define it as a ‘DIY wedding’, rather ‘lets save the planet wedding’. I’m not a hippy but I love arty things and I think our wedding was a piece of art.”
“My husband and I wanted to do everything ourselves, we wanted to be involved and it took so many hours but it was all worth it”, she continued. “We live on a farm ourselves so Florence Guest Farm made for the perfect venue for us. On the farm there were a few old trees that fell down, my husband took those trees and made charger plates with them. We gave them as a wedding presents to people. Everything had our personal stamp on.”
“Our one big expense was our photographers”, she explained. “I met Carolien and Ben at a wedding expo. After that day I didn’t want to talk to any other photographers or see their work because nothing could compare to their talent. You have the memories of your special day but they paint you the picture of your love story with their cameras. They are amazing people.”
“Stop stressing and just have fun”, Angie advised future couples in conclusion. “My dress got dirty and full of leaves and stuff and I just didn’t care. I felt like REAL flower child. Have fun and take everything in it goes by way too fast.”
