Thirteen years after meeting – and hating – one another, Bronwen and Gary Dowman declared their love for one another in a beautiful ceremony set in Elgin Valley.
THE MEET
Gary and I first met at Advertising College in 2003. It’s actually quite a funny story as we both despised one another! Once the course finished and everyone went their separate ways, we met up again two years later through a mutual friend. The rest, as they say, is history.
THE PROPOSAL
We went for supper at a restaurant at the V&A Waterfront. After dinner, we walked to one of the benches that overlook the swing bridge – an infamous seat where we ironed out our differences when we first started dating eight years ago! We started reminiscing and mocking our former selves, and the next thing I knew, he went down on one knee and asked me to marry him. He looked rather confused as I didn’t immediately say yes – I was too busy giggling (a thing I do when I get really nervous)! We both got teary-eyed when I eventually stopped giggling and said yes!
THE PLANNING
I’m not going to lie, weekend weddings are definitely more complex to plan but it was a lot a lot of fun. I never used a wedding planner and we’re quite creative, but we also brainstormed with our bridal party and family members to come up with ideas. We opted for a venue that offers exclusivity along with a variety of indoor and outdoor activities for adults and children.
THE DRESS
My first dress was a white multi-layered flare mermaid lace gown with a sweetheart neckline from the Meyleabridal online wedding dress store. While the service is provided online, the founder Leandra Meyer is based in Cape Town, so brides can consult with her face-to-face and do fittings as well. This gave me peace of mind and the selection process right to the final fitting was a total breeze.
My second outfit was a tulle skirt, handmade by dressmaker Beverley Cloete in Bellville, who also made my bridesmaids’ blush tutu dresses. I bought the encrusted bodice at A-List in Kloof Street, Cape Town and my shoes were from Nine West.
THE SUIT
Gary’s wedding suit was from Zara Man. He wore a navy blue suit, a tie, pocket square and dark brown shoes. The groomsmen all wore tan or beige suits, which we had hired.
THE WEDDING WEEKEND
Most of the guests who stayed over at the wedding venue, the Old Mac Daddy Luxury Trailer Park in Elgin, arrived on Friday evening and were greeted with welcome drinks and live music at the private beach area. A great start to the weekend indeed! The night ended with pizza and drinks. We also prepared a welcome bag for each guest filled with mini champagne, a nougat bar, nuts and Lindt balls. Most of the guests stayed over in quirky, themed airstream trailers while some stayed at the Glen Stuart White Cottages.
THE WEDDING DAY
The bridal party, Gary and I also stayed over at Old Mac Daddy. On Saturday morning, my mom, the bridesmaids and I headed over to South Hill to get ready in the Honeymoon Suite at The Pumphouse. My stunning makeup look was done by Cape Town-based makeup artist, Carmen Thorne. The ceremony started at 4 pm, followed by canapes and drinks before the reception at 7 pm.
The bouquet…
My bouquet was prepared by 4EveryEvent with roses and hints of pastel accents.
The ceremony…
4EveryEvent also saw to the look and feel of our ceremony and reception. We took the ‘less is more’ route and they really brought our vision of an all-white ceremony to life. They brought in pops of colour by laying roses on either side of the white carpet as well as in the confetti.
The cake…
We love sweet treats and couldn’t decide whether we wanted a desserts table or not, but then Gary suggested we do a cake table instead. We eventually ended up with a coffee, tea and cake station, which served our guests well once the initial dessert (chocolate brownies and ice cream) and all the formalities were done. The cakes were made by Sabena Faria, the owner of Fairycakes in Durbanville, Cape Town. The flavours ranged from red velvet and buttercream with chocolate ganache to vanilla and chocolate cake. Hints of rose gold were also incorporated into the toppings and we added a quirky touch by adding a gold apple and pear to the tops of two of the cakes.
The reception…
The reception was held in the big designer barn, a communal area at Old Mac Daddy. It has such a warm yet minimalistic feel to it and is what Gary and I first fell in love with when we narrowed Old Mac Daddy down as our wedding venue. We had the option to bring in more lighting but preferred the natural light as well as the quirky bucket lights hanging from the ceiling. This also ensured an intimate, warm and romantic atmosphere. Our menus and thank-you gifts all had hints of ivory and rose gold in them to accent the minimal backdrop. Gary and I both have a love of vinyl records (more he than I) so our wedding invitations were actual mini vinyl records in eco paper covers prepared by Secret Diary designs. We also used actual vinyl records as table numbers.
The reception kicked off with a bang when the bridal party, Gary and I entered the barn dancing to the sounds of Black Coffee! This was followed by the opening prayer, speeches by our parents, members of the bridal party, our MC and ourselves.
We then cut the cake before I changed into my second dress to open the dance floor to one of our all-time favourite songs, Frank Sinatra’s ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ (performed live by Cape Town band Blackcurrant) – our love for old tunes is real!
Our guests then danced the night away to the band along with our amazing DJs from Sound Solutions. We had so much fun and as the night drew to a close, our guests formed an arch to bid us goodnight before returning to the dancefloor (or so we were told). Gary and I spent the night at The Pumphouse and joined the rest of our guests at Old Mac Daddy the following morning for breakfast.
I’m really grateful that we were able to extend our wedding day to an entire weekend because we got to spend a lot of time with our guests. It was a memorable weekend filled with love and so much laughter. It’s also a time where you realise just how special you truly are to people and we are so grateful to have been blessed with our amazing bridal party, who went over and above for us, our loving parents and all our family and friends.
Service providers: Venue: Old Mac Daddy Luxury Trailer Park; Photography: Sibling Photography
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