When Chris and Joleen Coetzee got married, there was stardust aplenty in this magical boere-chic wedding. Joleen explains how she DIY’ed the key elements of the wedding. Photography by Lindie Meyer
JOLEEN REMEMBERS
I’ve always dreamed of getting married at the house where I grew up, which is on a farm in a very small town, Calitzdorp, in the heart of the Klein Karoo. Everyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love bling and glamour. Because we were getting married on a farm, we decided to go with Boere Glam theme. My wedding colours were gold, rose gold and shades of pink. My father is an ostrich farmer, so using ostrich feathers throughout the wedding was an obvious choice.
DIY DREAM TEAM
My mother and I made all the buttonholes from white ostrich belly feathers, and just added a bit of bling. Every second table also had beige and pink ostrich feathers as centrepieces because we wanted to create height, and they looked amazing! We also used small ostrich belly feathers between the flowers on the tables.
We had a confetti bar with three different kinds of confetti. To add to the bling, I used gold and pink sequins and we decorated small cups with rhinestones to use as scoops. We also had some ribbon wands with small bells at the end, which my mother-in-law helped me to make. And naturally we had ostrich belly feathers, too. As wedding favours, we had small ostrich feather key holders made for the ladies, and for the men my mother and I made ostrich feather pens – with an added bling strip of course!
For our guestbook we had a very special family Bible that my parents bought for me four years ago. It’s beautiful and has a place for your whole family register, and it also has space for details regarding your marriage register and so on. We put up a sign that said, “Die regte verhouding bring jou nader aan God. Los asb vir ons ‘n boodskap in ons familie bybel”, and had our guests sign the bible.
I designed our monogram and also did all our stationery and designs. When I can’t find something that fits nicely with any theme I’m working with, I make it myself, and I did the same for my own wedding. We bought rose gold sequinned material and made a huge tablecloth for the main table, along with ten matching runners and another ten gold bling strip runners. We had two different table set-ups to create different height levels and to keep it interesting for the eye. We had all the candles coloured to match our palette, and did the same with the ostrich feathers used on the tables and for the favours.
My mother and I also made tall bling mosaic vases for all the tables, serviette rings, bling holders for favours, underplates, rose gold flower tins, hundreds of crystal strings we used on some of the votives and flowerpots on the tables, as well as on the oil lamps, strings of crystals hanging from the trees, white ostrich feather lampshades with hanging crystals, various votives and flowerpots for the decor, and bling around the candles on the tables. My father, father-in-law and brother built the dance floor.
LITTLE BLACK BOOK
BRIDESMAIDS’ DRESSES: Lomatrio Weddings, Events & Designs; Riana Fourie (I sourced the dresses and Riana Fourie did the adjustments and made a pearl belt for each of them.)
CAKE: Sharon’s Cake Company, 076 492 5634,
COORDINATOR/ WEDDING PLANNER, DECOR, FLOWERS, GROOMSMEN’S OUTFITS, JEWELLERY AND STATIONERY: Lomatrio Weddings, Events & Designs, 082 410 7682
DRESS: Zizou Bridal Boutique, 083 448 3570 (I won my dress at The Wedding Expo at the Ticketpro Dome in March 2015. Riana Fourie did some adjustments to my dress and took some of the bling off to use for my garter.)
FOOD: Paula and Debbie Calitz
GROOM’S OUTFIT: The Designer Warehouse, Sandton, 011 024 0992
HAIR AND MAKE-UP: Maureen de Jager from Love.It Hair Salon, George, 044 873 2545 / 073 008 5050, or find them on Facebook
PHOTOGRAPHER: Lindie Meyer
VENUE: We got married at the house where I grew up.
VIDEOGRAPHER: Loedi van Renen at Kill City Pictures, 078 019 9327
To see more of Chris and Joleen’s gorgeous wedding, pick up a copy of the Winter 2016 issue of South African Wedding Inspirations, available from leading retailers nationwide.