Today on the blog we have a stunning wedding to share, it is Christiaan & Nadia's Allesverloren Wedding. The special day of this couple was captured by the awesome photographers from Lilac Photography. Christiaan and Nadia got married at Allesverloren in the Western Cape and had their ceremony at the NG Church Riebeeck Kasteel. The dress was made by Ilse Roux Bridal Wear and the Make up was done by Erane Hobbs. Have a look at this special wedding and we hope that you will be inspired.

How we met:

There are two different stories on how the two of us met, my (Nadia) version (which is the truth) and then Christiaan's version. It was the first Sunday evening at Stellenbosch University after Rag and we first years were finally free from the HK. My friends and I had a misunderstanding on where to meet each other to go to church, so I ended up going to church with one of my good friends from my home town. He was in Majuba and me in Irene, just 2 resses away from each other. His new friend in Majuba, Christiaan, also went to church with us. I remember thinking, "this looks like a nice guy and he's quite good looking". After that I saw this guy, Christiaan, once again on campus and remembered it was Danie's friend from Majuba.

About two years have passed and Irene and Majuba got to together as rag partners. At our first "skakeling" where the two resses got together, I again saw Christiaan that evening and remember telling my friends "oh, there's that guy I met the one evening, Danie's friend".

Later that evening I was talking to another guy I knew. Christiaan came over to us just as his friend asked my friend to dance. Christiaan didn't know this and also asked my friend to dance. As she was already asked, he danced with me. And that's where it all began. We had a great evening with some back and forth flirting. Then during rag we spend some time together and fell in love.

What I didn't mention, is that in our first year at University, I had short hair. Christiaan still claims to this day that he never met me before the evening of the "skakeling". I've decided I can't hold it against him that he doesn't remember our actual first meeting, because I looked a bit different then.

Memorable experience:

Memorable doesn't necessarily have to be good right? I remember about five weeks before the wedding, I had the most terrible week ever with so much doubt and I was so scared. I phoned my parents bursting out in tears, because I was not sure if we were making the right decision getting married with so many divorses and unhappy marraiges in the world. We we're so happy just being together and I was scared marriage would change that. Christiaan came over to me that evening, and I felt so bad. Here is this amazing guy who loves me so much, and I'm so scared of marrying him and hurting him if it doesn't work out. That evening Christiaan, for the first time, told me that he is also scared, it's such a big step that we're taking. I felt so much better after we talked, knowing that he is also a bit scared and unsure. I never though I would get cold feet, but I guess you don't know how big marriage is until you're the one getting married.

A unique event:

A unique event: Majuba men is known to be the gentleman on campus and they have this one song "Mooie meisie" that they usually sing for the girl resses. I must say, and I think all the girls who ever had a boyfriend in Majuba will agree, it feels very special, when Majuba comes to your res and even though all the guys bow down on one knee and sings to all the girls, when your boyfriend finds you in between all of them, bow down before you, lock your eyes with his and then sings this song especially for you. I loved that! So on the evening of our wedding, when our Master of Ceremonies, who was with Christiaan in Majuba, called all the Majuba friends to the front for a little surprise they had for me, and all of them bowed down on their one knee, with Christiaan in front, and sang to me "mooie meisie", it touched my heart! It was so special and brought back all the wonderful Stellenbosch memories we shard together.

What happened behind the scenes:

Ever since we started to plan the wedding, our only hope was that all of our guests will have a fabulous evening with us celebrating our love and enjoy the night together with us. We honestly had the best day of our lifes and as far as we knew, everyone had a great night as well.... Only about a month and a half later, we found out that there was some "family drama" that went down on the night of our wedding, that we had absolutely no idea about. Now I know that every wedding comes with its own bit of family drama, but I don't think every wedding has an uncle that is so upset with his wife, because she believes her sister is flirting with her him, that he gets into his car at 11pm and drive all the way back to Hermanus, from Riebeeck Wes, and not telling anyone. Only when the rest of the family got to the guesthouse that night did they realise he didn't just go back to the guesthouse, he went back to Hermanus!

Wedding advice:

I want to share two pieces of advice with all the future brides: One piece of advice I can't even remember where I got it form, but it stuck with me and I remembered it every step of the way as I was planning the wedding and deciding on the décor and my dress and hair and make-up. It's to be the most beautiful version of yourself. Don't do or wear anything that isn't really you. The second piece of advice is my own, wear comfortable shoes. In my case, I wore flat shoes, plumps, and I still believe it was the best decision I ever made regarding the wedding, except for marrying my gorgeous husband of course Remember, what's more important, having beautiful wedding shoes that only about two people might notice, or having the best day of your life with lots of dancing and no sore feet.