Maxine
Our beautiful modern beach bride Maxine got married at the end of 2021 in the stunning Cape St Francis. We got heart palpitations from her stunning wedding photos by Sharyn Hodges and just had to catch up with her to find out more about her wedding planning journey.
How did you meet your husband and how did you get engaged?
We met at a trail race in Cape Town, and he proposed 4 years later just after we had run another trail race (yes, we are those people). We were in a remote part of the Southern Drakensberg, and we had decided to take a walk to a beautiful river right where we were staying. I was admiring the landscape, and when I turned around he was down on one knee (a very difficult thing to do after a big ultra trail). After he had proposed, I helped him get back up 😂
Where did you get married and why did you choose that venue and time of year for your wedding?
We got married at Steve’s parents home in St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape. We always knew we wanted to keep it small, and given the uncertainty with the Covid 4th wave, it made sense. It also happens to be one of the most beautiful settings I’ve ever seen. It is our happy place. Our wedding date was 17 December 2021. We chose the date because we love the time of year, everyone is in holiday mode, and we all do the great migration from Johannesburg to the Eastern Cape in December so it made sense. We also didn’t want to wait too long to get married. So it was just over 7 months after we got engaged that we had our wedding.
What was the vibe of your wedding?
Our wedding was an intimate, summer, garden wedding. I would describe our style as “accidental vogue”. We knew the sun would be bright at the wedding, so naturally brought our sunnies along, which really sealed off that vogue, high-fashion style.
How did you hear about The Wedding Collective?
What made you choose your wedding dress?
I had something else in mind, which was a more layered tulle, flowy dress. And then tried on a number of options, and fell in love with the classic Ally.
How was your wedding dress experience from fittings to the final product?
I always felt like “anything was possible” in terms of my ideas, and was in control of the process the entire way. It was a great experience, regardless of Covid restrictions! Mari was on the ball with my timeline and had my fitting scheduled with plenty of time to spare. I also changed my mind on my chosen dress after a month, and Mari was more than accommodating.
Do you have any advice or tips for new brides-to-be looking for their perfect wedding dress?
I had one idea of what my ideal dress would look like, and when I tried that dress on, realised it was not my style. I would highly recommend trying on a host of different styles just to see which one gives you that “feeling”. Something else to keep in mind is when you start the fitting/alteration process, is to move around as much as possible in it. Walk around the room, breathe deeply in and out, just to see how comfortable you are. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to feel like your dress is ill-fitting – it should not even be a thought. The focus is your husband and taking in every moment!
VERY IMPORTANT: Once you have chosen your dress, unfollow all inspo pages on social media! You will have doubts otherwise (unless you’re a super decisive person).
Who was your wedding photographer?
The INCREDIBLE Sharyn Hodges
Any other vendors you would like to recommend to new brides-to-be?
If you are getting married in the Eastern Cape (closer to PE, Jbay, St Francis), I highly recommend every single one of my vendors:
MUA & hair: Mel Backlund (@hairbymelx)
MUA: Debbie Atkinson (@debbieatkinson_makeupartist)
Floral: Kim (@delphi_flora)
Food & cake: infood (@infood_bakery_deli)
Equipment hire: The Function Warehouse (@thefunctionwarehouse)
And then of course, our photographer, Sharyn (@sharynhodgesphotography)
What was your most memorable part of your wedding day?
Because our wedding was so small, my husband and I were able to steal many moments together to just reflect, look at each other all dressed up, admire our wedding bands on each other’s hands, and laugh, dance and celebrate with all our favourite people.
Do you have any advice regarding the overall planning of a wedding?
Again, due to the size of the wedding, we didn’t see the need to hire a planner or coordinator. It was stressful towards the wedding date, we had a couple of Covid scares, we had to sort out a lot of small details. But one thing I kept reminding myself, which I think many people would benefit from thinking about, is that there will ALWAYS be something that doesn’t go according to plan. Prepare yourself now for that reality, and you will be the happiest bride. If you are the kind of person who doesn’t deal with that kind of pressure well, then rather hire a planner to absorb that pressure for you.
Spend money on your photographer/videographer.
Don’t spend money on things you know your guests won’t care about. We didn’t have “thank you” gifts, but we rather had sweetie jars filled with mini chocolates, which were demolished at the after after party 😉 Know your guests and tailor tradition around that.
The day goes so quickly, so try and create time for yourself. We did our couple shoot before the ceremony, as an example, so we could spend more time with our guests after the ceremony.
Ooooh, and Woolies have these stain removal wipes, I recommend you get some for the day if you have a stark white wedding dress like I had. It worked like a charm.
