“We always knew our wedding would be in Grahamstown. Chris and I met in Grahamstown. We fell in love in Grahamstown, and he even proposed under the willow trees in the Grahamstown botanical gardens,” says Nicky. The couple decided they wanted to use the chapel on the university grounds, and though they we were very limited in terms of dates, everything fell into place. “We were married in the beautiful Rhodes Chapel, right next to the law department where I had studied, with the reception in a marquee on the lawns afterwards,” says Nicky.
“I loved my dress. By a happy coincidence, it was the very first dress I tried on! I tried on others afterwards, but just as I’d known that Chris was The One, so I knew that this dress was my perfect wedding dress,” gushes Nicky. The veil was a combination of talents – Nicky bought the veil from Bride and Co along with her dress, the sparkly headpiece was from China Town (which her mom sewed to a dark aliceband to keep it in place) and she and her sister sewed the veil to the aliceband to make the whole thing easy to get on and hard to fall off! “We made a second sparkly aliceband without the veil for me to wear later in the evening,” says Nicky.
“Chris and I wanted a classic yet fun wedding – if there was a particular wedding tradition that said you HAVE to have something and we didn’t want it, then we didn’t incorporate that tradition into the wedding. Some of the fun traditions like the bouquet and garter toss got to stay though, which was a good thing as one of my bridesmaids caught the bouquet, and her long-term boyfriend caught the garter!”
“Our colour was a tricky aqua, silver and white – I carried paint swatches around with me to match up the colour and to give to vendors,” explains Nicky. The couple did a lot of the décor themselves – the table numbers, name tags, seating plan and favours. Chris built and programmed an incredible photo booth – which was such a hit! “My sister designed the menus, programmes and order of events, and foreign guests even arranged to have M&M’s printed with our faces on them!” Not even a last minute disaster could spoil the couple’s special day. “My mom and sister had to do some last minute DIY work when the bouquet’s arrived – the oasis they had been standing in had stained the ribbon green! Luckily they followed the number one wedding rule – Don’t Tell the Bride! – and managed to rewrap the bouquets so expertly I didn’t even know there had been a problem!”
“I was really impressed with Chris’s involvement in the wedding planning. We had a rule, however: if I asked him his opinion on something he really didn’t care about (like the colour of the bridesmaid’s shoes) then he could say “Pass” but then if the bridesmaids rocked up on the day with bright green shoes he was not allowed to comment! It worked out pretty well – I got to make decisions on things that mattered to me and he wasn’t bothered with boring details like what shade of nail polish I should wear!”
One thing that the couple really wanted for their wedding was for it to be fun and personal. “Our minister made a wonderful speech – complete with Bob Marley quote! – we wrote our own vows, and we had each of our bridesmaids and groomsmen say a few words. We didn’t want anything too formal or forced, and the end result was a beautiful, memorable wedding,” says Nicky.
Most memorable moments
For Chris (in his own words)
- You walking down the aisle to me! Everything had been building up to the exact moment you came through the door
- Walking out the chapel with my wife and being showered with petals and cheers.
- The speeches of course – such nice words from our closest friends and family
- The dance – lots of nerves
For Nicky
- Walking down the aisle to our song (You and Me, by Lifehouse), to the man of my dreams
- Our amazing first dance, which we choreographed ourselves
- There was a little girl at the wedding – she must have been about 5 – and the look she gave me when she saw me in my dress clearly said “your dress is prettier than mine!” It made me laugh so much!
To see more of Nicky and Chris’ big-day snaps, check out the gallery below.
Service providers: Venue:Rhodes Chapel; Photography: JP Veaudry
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