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    They say that when you know, you know. This young couple are making headlines after getting hitched a mere two weeks after meeting.

    According to Twitter user Yeyethu Baballo, two unnamed first-year students from Rhodes University in Grahamstown tied the knot on March 4, 2020, after being in a relationship for only two weeks. The pair tied the knot at the local Home Affairs office.

    Love at first sight must be real, after all!

    Naturally, South Africans had quite a bit to say about this quick dash down the aisle. Here are a few of our favourite social media responses:

    Feature image: Twitter

     

    Shevon Cupido and Carmelete Mentoor have been best friends for almost 30 years, and have supported each other each step of the way. Proving that she is a true ride-or-die friend, Shevon, along with their other lifelong friend Jolene Muller, threw her best friend Carmelete a surprise wedding.

    Carmelete met her future fiancé Shawn at a party in 2006. They exchanged numbers and soon became official. In 2012, the pair became engaged at the Cape Company Gardens. However, due to financial reasons, Carmelete and Shawn struggled to set an official wedding date.

    Image: supplied

    Shevon decided to step in and give her best friend a day she’ll never forget.

    “They were planning on eventually having a small ceremony and getting a member of their church to marry them at their house, just the two of them. I knew that wasn’t what she really wanted in her heart so I knew I had to do something as every wedding deserves a celebration,” Shevon explains.

    Sunflowers are the bride’s favourite flower, so Shevon decided to base the decor on this plant and everything fell in place.

    Image: supplied

    Of course, planning a surprise wedding comes with even more difficulties than planning your own. Shevon experienced much stress, particularly over whether they would have enough finances to make the perfect day.

    To keep the surprise alive, Shevon came up with a diversion.

    “My plan was to take her and her now husband out on the Saturday as her 40th birthday was the Thursday before. This gave me an excuse to have them ready for the day and luckily they did not suspect anything until we reached the wedding destination, which was my in-laws home. Before entering the home, I then told them that they are actually there to celebrate their wedding day and was met with shocked but happy faces and lots of happy tears.”

    Image: supplied

    Luckily the bridal couple was over the moon at this surprise.

    “I was shocked and burst into tears when Shevon told us,” says Carmelete. “I then ended up crying the entire day with happiness and gratefulness. I just couldn’t believe that today is the day that I will be getting married. Finally.”

    “My favourite part was seeing everyone that I keep close to my heart. My day was overwhelmed by love, happiness and most of all a thankful heart.”

    Image: supplied

    All images taken by Tred Magill.

    Featured image: supplied

     

    As the first joint task of the newlyweds, cutting the wedding cake takes on a much more symbolic meaning. For a royal couple, however, this is amplified even further.

    Royal cakes often have to be large enough to serve 2 000 pieces for the wedding guests as well as charitable organisations. For this reason, they’re often larger than life. Let’s take a look back at what the British monarchy feasted on for their big days.

    Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – 1840

    As the first marriage of a reigning English Queen for 300 years, this wedding was one to take note of. In fact, their cake set a new standard for wedding cake design. The three-tier English plum cake weighed in at a whopping 300 pounds (136 kg) and was decorated with Roman-style sculptures of Britannia, busts of the couple and a model of the Queen’s favourite dog.

     

    Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh (1948)

    This 9-foot (2.7 metre), 500 (226 kg) pound fruitcake featured four tiers and produced 2 000 slices that went to the wedding guests as well as nearby charities and organisations. As the wedding took place shortly after WWII, rationing was still in place. As a result, many ingredients had to be flown in, earning this treat the nickname, “the 10 000 mile cake”.

    The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer (1981)

    Although the royal couple actually had 27 cakes at their reception, this 5ft (1.5 metre) tall, 255 pound (115kg) creation was the official one. The fruitcake featured five tiers and was decorated with the family coat of arms, the couple’s initials, and flowers.

    Prince William and Catherine Middleton – 2011

    Made by Fiona Cairns, Prince William and Kate Middleton enjoyed an 8-tiered, 3 foot (0.9 metre) traditional fruit cake decorated with cream and white icing in the Joseph Lambeth technique where rows and rows of intricate piped details and garlands are created. It took Carins and her 50-person team five weeks to construct the 900 delicate sugar-paste flowers that adorned each tier.

    Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (2018)

    Designed by Clare Ptak, the lemon-flavoured cake was soaked in an elderflower syrup made at The Queen’s residence in Sandringham from the estate’s own elderflower trees. The cake was covered with buttercream and decorated with 150 fresh flowers.

    Feature image: Twitter / Kensington Palace

    A realtor, Daniel John, proposed to his girlfriend, Megan Cheng, during a community ice-skating event on Family Day in Richmond, Canada. The proposal had been well thought out and planned, being six months in the making.

    The real estate company (Sutton Group Seafair Realty) that John works for have rented out an ice-rink for Family Day for the last three years. As they sat down to plan this year’s event, he devised a plan to propose to Cheng.

    “I wanted to do something original for her…So about six months ago, I brought up the idea. And (the Sutton team) all said it was a great idea and I was kind of on the fence,” said John to Richmond News.

    “But that’s what got it going. And then a really good reason (for it) was that all of our family and friends usually come out (to the skate)…which I know is important to her,” he added.

    John noted that one of the other reasons he pushed on with this plan was that he could get some good footage and photographs, as his colleagues could hide in plain sight. Most members of the team lent a hand, ensuring that there was music, stopping the Zamboni from ruining the proposal, and convincing Cheng that she needed to be on the bench.

    When the time came for the big question, John said he had never been more nervous in his life. He performed an ice-skating dance routine in his tux, then glided over to fetch Cheng from the bench. Finally, he got down on one knee and asked…and she said yes!

    “She was very surprised…She was like, ‘Oh, you never lie to me, I can’t believe you pulled this off,'” said John.

    The happy couple, who have been together for just over three years, have not yet set a date for the wedding.

    Watch the proposal unfold here: 

    Image: Youtube / Richmond News 

    Remember that silly old promise you made your family member or friend in jest when you were younger? If your answer is no, we wouldn’t be surprised. This brother, however, never forgot his vow to mess with his sister on her big day by bringing a llama to her wedding.

    Mendl Weinstock made a rather strange promise to his sister Riva five years before she got married.

    “My sister was talking about her wedding as if it were tomorrow, when she wasn’t even dating anyone at the time,” Weinstock told Insider. “Just to make her mad and get a reaction, I told her if she makes me come to the wedding, I am bringing a llama with me. After a few minutes of arguing, she tried to use reverse psychology on me and said, ‘OK, the llama is invited to the wedding.'”

    Mendl never let it go, constantly reminding his sister of his promise.

    “He has been torturing me with this, in good fun, and has been reminding me of this probably twice a week for the last five years,” Riva said. “I have tried striking so many deals, I have tried doing literally everything possible to make sure it didn’t happen, and lo and behold, there was a llama at my wedding.”

    “Literally, I called him to tell him I was engaged and his response was, ‘Great, I’m calling the llama farm now.’ Probably not even an hour later, I got a text that said his llama rental was confirmed.”

    True to his word, come Riva’s wedding day this past weekend, Mendl showed up llama in tow. Of course, the llama had his own custom-made tuxedo on. It is a wedding, after all.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B9PS7ATl-gs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Since sharing the image to Reddit, Mendl has received over 154,000 upvotes and counting.

    Feature image: Unsplash

    For Naeem Khan, there is no such thing as a plain white wedding dress. While they may take on the shape of a traditional gown, there is nothing expected about his designs. Rich and ornate, the Naeem Khan bridal Spring 2020 Collection is for the bold bride not afraid to make a statement.

    Born and raised in Mumbai, Khan grew up in a world surrounded by culture, architecture, art, history and design. He soon moved to the United States, where he immersed himself in the ethos of modern restraint and learned the craft of draping and cutting fabric to create a clean, elegant and timeless silhouette. The Naeem Khan design aesthetic merges these influences together.

    The Spring 2020 bridal collection is a daring journey into texture, inspired by true romance. Beaded embellishments, feathered overlays, intricate detail and fringe adorn each gown. Take a look:

    Credit: Instagram / Naeem Khan Bridal
    Credit: Instagram / Naeem Khan Bridal
    Credit: Instagram / Naeem Khan Bridal
    Credit: Instagram / Naeem Khan Bridal
    Credit: Instagram / Naeem Khan Bridal
    Credit: Instagram / Naeem Khan Bridal

    Feature image: Instagram / Naeem Khan Bridal

    As we all know, Hollywood relationships have a reputation of being rocky. While some may be true stories of everlasting love, many have proven to be quite the opposite.

    From Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries to Jennifer Lopez and Chris Judd, here are some of the shortest celebrity marriages.

    Britney Spears and Jason Alexander

    In 2004, the songstress wed her childhood friend after a wild night out in Las Vegas. As they say, ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’, because the pair had their nuptials annulled only 55 hours later.

    Credit: Facebook / NerdWire

    Cher and Greg Allman

    In 1975, Cher married the rock star, Allman. The two made it official in Las Vegas only a few days after Cher finalised her divorce from previous husband, Sonny Bono. After spending 9 days as a married couple, Cher and Allman called it quits. Apparently, Cher is the one who filed for divorce; during the nine days she discovered some of Allman’s drug and drinking issues which she decided were too much for her to handle.

    Credit: Facebook / Groovy History

    Mario Lopez and Ali Landry

    This marriage lasted only two weeks, and the bachelor party was the cause of the split. After they wed on April 24, 2004, Landry found some compromising photos of Lopez at his bachelor party. On making this discovery, she immediately filed for an annulment. Lopez admitted that he was unfaithful only a few days before the wedding at his bachelor party in Mexico. The pair split on May 8, 2004.

    Credit: Facebook /My Publicist

    Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries 

    This is one of the most infamous short-lived marriages of all time. The popular reality TV star married Humphries, a basketball player, in 2011. The wedding was an extravagant affair, costing the couple over ten million dollars; they even aired a two-day reality TV special titled “Kim’s Fairytale Wedding”. Unfortunately, the couple called it quits only 72 days later.

    Credit: Facebook /Cosmopolitan Hungary

    Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock

    While the two may seem like a great fit, unfortunately their marriage didn’t last. Anderson and Kid Rock got married in July 2006. Their wedding was exactly what you’d expect from the pair – on a yacht wearing swimsuits. In November 2006, the couple filed for divorce. The marriage lasted only 122 days.

    Credit: Facebook / iDiva

    Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd

    The Latina superstar married dancer, Cris Judd, in September 2001. They met after J-Lo hired him to appear in her “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” video. Just as quickly as they wedded, they called it off getting divorced in June 2002. This marriage lasted 218 days.

    Credit: Facebook / Yahoo Canada

    Image: Facebook / My Publicist

    Bridesmaids, bride tribe, best friends. Your bridesmaids have been by your side through thick and thin, and there’s no one else you’d want next to you when you marry your person. Your wedding day can go by in the blink of an eye, and its important to take pictures to preserve all the special memories.

    While getting ready and throughout the day, there are so may amazing photo opportunities that will have you and your girls looking fun, powerful and strong. Cement those memories with these amazing group photo ideas:

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    Feature image: Pexels

    Couples value experiences over material items. Gone are the days of over-the-top, grandiose weddings that are more about the pomp and flash than the couple. As we become more aware of our impact on the environment, couples are making responsible choices when tying the knot.

    A wedding is about love and commitment. What better way to celebrate your love and the environment than in nature itself? One South African establishment, Monate Game Lodge, offers it all. Located in Modimolle in the Waterberg district of Limpopo, Monate is a 4-star luxury bushveld accommodation, conference and wedding venue where you can truly live out your African dream.

    Monate allows couples to fall in love with each other and their surroundings, without the distraction of excess. Whether your wedding is big or small, the team at this 3000 hectare private game reserve will strive to add that personal touch, tailoring each event to every unique pair. Couples can say their ‘I do’s’ underneath their Rock Fig, a majestic Marula tree in a natural cave or in the unique bush boma. If you like traditional, the chapel is at your disposal too.

    Credit: supplied

    The main lodge offers 38 spacious and comfortable modern double rooms and two luxury villas. For extra privacy, the exclusive Shingwedzi and Skukuza Lodges offer a deluxe upgrade.

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    Credit: supplied

    Naturally, a trip to a game reserve is not complete without a game drive! Unwind after your big day with a guided journey through the bushveld area, taking in the sights of buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, zebra, a large variety of antelope, and close to 50% of the bird species found in South Africa.

    Credit: supplied

    Experience a dream bushveld wedding come true at Monate Game Lodge. A venue where love falls in love again! For their wedding packages, contact 014 718 7000 or [email protected]

    Also read: Now trending: Bushveld weddings

    Image: supplied