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Karoo Street Wedding

By ORGANICTALESWedding2 Comments

A Karoo Street Wedding that will tickle your emotions.
As a farm girl, I have grown to love the vast horizons of the Karoo. The absolute quiet of nights with a big blanket of stars stretched over the skies.
When I first met Pieter & Clarise to talk about their wedding, I knew that our paths didn’t just cross briefly. Instead I was convinced that it was the start of a journey of friendship and laughter.

I traveled through the vast Karoo landscapes, from Cape Town to the little town called Hanover. The hospitality and welcoming nature of the family and friends will forever stay engraved in my memories. I asked Clarise & Pieter to tell me a little more about the big day and how they experienced it from their point of view. Here follows their story:

A Karoo Inspired Celebration!

Our dream was to have something out of the ordinary that displays the spirit of the Karoo. The street venue also extends the symbolism of the path that we have been walking together.

Our #DarlingstraatTroue was inspired by the song “Sonneblom uit Bethlehem” by Laurika Rauch

We wanted to display the beauty and sincerity of the Karoo. Jan Sauer from Hanover Boutique Guest House proposed that we make use of his guest house across the church for the reception, it was however, too small and when we came up with the street wedding idea, our possibilities were endless. With the church and the guest house as backdrops, our street wedding was a dream! Alfred form Melikhaya Event Concepts beautifully decorated the street reception. We could only rely on each others’ imaginations and the reality was wonderful! As never seen before!

How did we meet? The moment two paths crossed.

It was a romantic day on Facebook while it was raining outside. An invite lead to a coffee date and a coffee date lead to a wedding date. We share a love for people and laughter.

The Proposal!

Extremely illegal, we climbed over the very high fence surrounding the water reservoir at Heuwelsig in Bloemfontein on my birthday. On top of the reservoir, we overlooked the city and Pieter said he wanted to pray for me. I put my ear against his chest and noticed that his heart was beating very fast. I assumed he suffered from a sudden fear of hights. But it was when he said “amen” and got down onto one knee when I also contracted a sudden fear of heights!

Check out the Engagement Photo’s Here!

Action on the Bowling Field!

Since the majority of guests had to travel from across the country, most of them arrived the day before the big celebration. To make sure the weekend went down in the books of history, guests were invited to show off their wrist flicks on the local Bowling Fields. Everyone had fun and even Pieter showed his friends who was the real man of the match!

Suddenly I understood my grandparent’s deep obsession with this sport. A sport usually associated with today’s elderly – I can openly admit that there was nothing old fashioned about the day’s activity! The tension and laughter rang high!

A Wooden Ring From Prague!

Clarise’s ring was designed by Pieter and it fit her taste and character perfectly.
Pieter’s ring was a gift bought by Clarise in Prague. He loved it so much that he decided to wear it as a wedding ring.

The Wooden Ring was a key element to the wooden theme of Pieter’s attire. With a leather tie, wooden watch and light brown leather shoes, Pieter was a fitting picture of a Karoo Groom.

Pieter got dressed and prepped at his house in Hanover. Surrounded by his brothers and other key members of the family, Clarise could rest assure that her groom would not arrive ungroomed at the ceremony.

Family And Friends as Wedding Planners

Although we did not have a wedding planner, we had great service providers and family and friends who helped make the day a great success. Our wedding planner was our dreams!
The Karoo and it’s small towns have endless possibilities when it comes to finding inspiration and beauty.

The day most certainly fit the description of events you would read about in magazines. Beautifully depicted with Karoo beauty, it felt like stepping in to a Novel from the shelf of a book lover.

A Dress from Moda

My dress was a sale piece from Moda who imports dresses. It was much too big, but I fell in love with its lace. When my mom said that the dress displays myself I knew that this was it. It was altered in size and style, we replaced a lace-up back with small buttons, a straight neckline was turned into a sweetheart neckline and a white ribbon was replaced with a sparkling belt. A few pieces of lace were removed from the bottom of the dress to create a beautiful upper piece.

Clarise’s mom and younger sister were the two chosen ladies to spend the last precious moments together during the final preparation. It was a moment adorned with emotions and excitement when the veil got dropped and mother and daughter looked at each other tenderly. Goosebumps!

The Miracle of Prayer. An Emotional Moment to Cherish.

The most memorable moment of our day was the start to the end! Our favourite moment was when I walked down the aisle towards Pieter. Pieter was overwhelmed with emotion and I knew this was the best walk of my life. My dad was in a serious accident 14 months before our wedding, he was in a wheelchair when we got engaged. Ever since he had undergone various operations and he started practicing walking so that he could walk me down the aisle. What a privilege!
The cherry on top was also that he officiated the wedding and led a beautiful service. What an amazing privilege to hear God’s word spoken through the voice of a father to his daughter and new son.

Something had to give!

If there was one thing we could change?

The weather conditions were not the best since it was extremely windy. The caterers wanted to move the wedding to the city hall, however, we are thankful that we insisted on the open air street wedding and the wind only added character.

A Fearless Photographer

Organictales was not only our photographer, she became a lifetime friend! Landi went through trouble to join our wedding party early and with her friendliness she got on with our guests in a comfortable manner. She even went the extra mile and took honeymoon pictures of us when we met up for a cocktail in Mosselbay a few days after! Photography is a priority for us and Landi professionally photographed every aspect of our wedding and beyond that, made our dreams came true when she captured heart warming moments.

A Creative Videographer!

Videography was done by Carl Viloria from The Spiffy Chap. A daring videographer who makes 200% sure he has the shot.
We Enjoyed Every Moment being part of Carl Jan’s creative Process! Being able to relive every moment in motion is such a special gift.

A Menu with flavours from the vast corners of the landscapes.

Hanover Boutique Guesthouse made sure our guests and service providers had their taste buds satisfied.

On the Menu:
Starters: Canapés served by waiters on platters among the guests: vegetables and dips, biltong & droëwors, fruit skewers, cold meat selection.
Main: Sheep spit, chicken spit, beetroot and bacon salad, greek salad, meat and apricot skewers, pumpkin pie, roosterkoek.
Pudding: Warm chocolate pudding served with custard and ice cream. (We saved money by not having a wedding cake)

Dance Dance Dance!

DJ Brakkies all the way from De Aar made sure the celebration stayed on fire! With a fantastic variety of upbeat music, guests soon forgot about the Karoo Evening Chills from the lurking wind, and instead kept their feet warm on the dance floor.

Advice to other couples still planning their dream celebration

It is great to have your soon-to-be husband involved in the process, ask his opinion and make use of his ideas – you may be surprised! Don’t conform to traditions, add your own value and meaning to the wedding. Think outside the box, it is your one special day. Don’t waste money on things that are not of importance to you.

A Honeymoon never to forget!

What an enriching experience of traveling our beautiful country and meeting amazing people! We started with a one-street town Klaarstroom where we met Koos Roets (famous afrikaans director), went on to Boggomsbaai (near Mosselbay to a beach house we received as a gift for a few days from Hanover friends) and met up for cocktails with our awesome photographer which turned into a honeymoon shoot ? We then went to Waenhuiskrans and met amazing fishermen in Cassiesbaai. Then we went to Strand (also a gift from a Hanover friend) and explored the Cape, next we went to Paternoster a lovely West Coast town. Next we explored the Namakwaland with a sleepover on a Kamieskroon farm in a kliphuisie. Before we got there we nearly ran out of petrol and we met a farmer in Nuwerus who gave us a litre of petrol to get to Bitterfontein! Next up was Augrabies falls!

What a great adventure that we got to experience together!