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In Celebs

Inside Demi-Leigh and Tim Tebow’s pre-wedding weekend

January 20, 2020 No Comments

The pre-wedding festivities have been thriving this past week for former Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters and Tim Tebow. The couple gathered their closest friends and family for a weekend of celebrations in Cape Town.

Their weekend started with a ‘Welcome to Africa’ cocktail dinner in the winelands to introduce Tebow to South African culture. Nel-Peters wore a stunning white dress by Gert Johan-Coetzee featuring a criss-cross neckline and cut-out detail, while Tebow wore a blush-toned suit.

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The following day, the couple held a stunning rehearsal dinner. The couple went for a sophisticated colour scheme, opting for rich purples, reds and black. Nel-Peters stunned in a strapless wine-coloured dress with beading by Anel Botha. The couple’s weekend events are all planned by celebrity planner Zavion Khotze.

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The way these events have gone, we cannot wait to see the wedding! It is sure to be a spectacular day.

Feature image: Instagram / Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters

In Advice

Alternative hair removal options to try

January 17, 2020 No Comments

Removing all or some of your body hair is a personal choice, and we’re firm believers in doing whatever works for you. Many men and women do choose to wax, though, especially before the big day and long-awaited honeymoon. However, it’s not a very pleasant thought when making that waxing appointment. Often accompanied by pain, discomfort and even skin conditions like rashes or in-grown hair have made many skeptical of this procedure.

We take a look at the other options out there, which may just make things slightly easier and prevent you from getting in a sticky situation.

Sugaring

This method makes use of a sugar mixture which is applied at body temperature. That already means there is no chance of burning as is sometimes the case with wax. The sugar paste does not stick to live skin cells, only to hair and dead cells – giving the best exfoliation and leaving your skin smooth when the dry paste is removed. Although not completely painless, sugaring is considerably less painful than waxing.

Laser

Laser treatment’s biggest perk is the fact that it leads to permanent hairlessness over a long time if that’s what your goal is. However, it is quite expensive and you might still have to go for up to six treatments per year, depending on your hair growth and other factors like the quality of the laser machinery. Also, not completely pain-free, but most women say that it is definitely less painful than waxing.

Electrolysis

Different to laser treatments but working on the same basic principle, a probe emitting shortwave radio frequencies is applied to hair follicles to stop new hair from growing. This damages your hair follicles to prevent growth. Unlike laser technology, electrolysis is able to treat even blonde, white and grey hair.

Dry shave

It’s not groundbreaking, but it has proven to be an effective -and cheaper- alternative. Easy to do at home, a waterless electric shaver is quick and easy, with the bonus that it won’t cause in-grown hair like shaving does.

Image: Pexels

In Accessories

9 Websites for compiling your dream wedding registry

January 17, 2020 No Comments

If there’s any time at which you need the ease and conveniences of the internet the most, it’s during your engagement. Planning the big day is stressful enough so it only makes sense that when putting together your gift registry, you’d want to get the job done in the least laborious and time-consuming manner possible. These nine sites offer you the convenience of picking out wedding gifts without having to leave home.

1 Bespoke Wedding Registry

Launched by a Londoner, Bespoke Wedding Registry aims to fill the gap in the South African market for customised gifting. With a selection of homeware and kitchenware sourced from prestigious brands, including the namesake collection of world-renowned chef Jamie Oliver and local ranges Ardmore and Kikoi, you’re bound to find unique pieces that speak to your style. Plus, they offer a service where a group of guests can club together to purchase larger items such as furniture. You also score two free deliveries if you live in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban.

Contact +27 21 448 7155, [email protected], bespokeregistry.co.za

2 Wrapistry

Featuring products from a whopping 90 brands, Wrapistry’s offering include items to stock in your home as well as experiences. A variety of memory-making activities from a couple’s cooking class to wine tasting tours is available to add to your wishlist. If you ever feel like changing your mind, that’s no problem – you can do so as often as you like. To save you from the task of guessing who gave you a gift (and which one!), Wrapistry also mails you a list of guests and their purchases. Now, all you need to do is grab that mouse and start picking your favourites.

Contact +27 10 500 7503, [email protected], wrapistry.co.za

3 Banks Kitchen Boutique

What began as a lively shop in a close-knit community has now expanded to two boutiques and an online store. Apart from displaying their cutting-edge goods, the online store allows you to access their blog where you can discover recipes and browse product reviews. Once your guests have bought your presents, Banks Kitchen Boutique will happily wrap the goods, add a note from the gift-giver and deliver it to your door – all on the house. Customers have raved about this convenient outlet and we’re sure you’ll love it too.

Contact +27 21 461 3190, bankskitchenboutique.co.za

4 Yuppiechef

Voted South Africa’s best online store, you can rest assured their registry service is effortless. Not sure where to start? Navigate to the ‘Starter Collection’ tab to get an idea of what you’ll need to fill your first nest. Given our demanding, modern lifestyles, we could all spare a few bucks here and there, and Yuppiechef gives you the option of sending discount vouchers to three loved ones. However, if you do spot a pricey item you love, you can make it yours by swapping a few less expensive pieces for it.

Contact +27 861 702 4969, [email protected], yuppiechef.com

5 Carrol Boyes

Named after its internationally esteemed owner, this lifestyle brand specialises in premium homeware products. When creating your registry with Carrol Boyes, you have the option of selecting your goods online or enjoying a personal consultation with an assistant in a brick-and-mortar store. Once you’ve done so, your choices will be listed and placed online for your guests to seamlessly purchase what they please. If you want to return any duplicates, be sure to check that they are in the original packaging and in tip-top condition.

Contact +27 21 424 8263, carrolboyes.com

6 Granny Goose

With your mattress covered in fluffy pillows and duvets from Granny Goose, a producer of top-quality bed linen, you can luxuriate in deep, peaceful slumbers night after night. Apart from their bedding products, you can find Le Creuset cookware and Riedel Glassware items at their stores. To easily inform your guests about your registry, Granny Goose will provide you with little cards to insert into your wedding invitations. If anything wasn’t bought, you can get it at 10% off. What’s more, they’ll hand you a special thank-you gift for choosing them as your vendor.

Contact +27 860 388387, [email protected], grannygoose.com

7 @home

As South Africa’s prime shopping location for sophisticated homeware, you simply can’t afford not to enlist the registry service of @home. Head to the ‘Customer Favourites’ page to make sure you don’t forget to add any must-buys. In addition to a selection of top-notch products, you’ll receive a gift card worth 10% of the value of all your guests’ purchases. To keep this value updated and to record the buyer of each present in-store, remind your guests to notify the @home sales assistant that they are purchasing an item for your registry.

Contact +27 860 576 576, [email protected], home.co.za

8 Boardmans

Couple’s who have an Edcon Group Thank U loyalty card will enjoy all the benefits of the programme when they create a registry at Boardmans as you’ll gain 10 times the amount of Thank U points for all the gifts bought at the store. Given that there;s no limit on how many items are added, you could gain an enormous amount of points! These points can then be used to buy anything from Boardmans, or to shop at Edgars, Red Square, Jet, Legit and CNA. Talk about a shopping spree!

Contact +27 860 236 289, [email protected], boardmans.co.za

9 MRP Home

For home decor that’s uber stylish and pocket-friendly, there couldn’t be a better place to shop than MRP Home.Scroll through their ‘Inspiration’ section to view a variety of themes for your home along with a list of products to fit each theme. Although MRP Home offers online and in-store registries, they aren’t interchangeable so let your guest know which kind it is as guests wanting to purchase online for an in-store registry will not be able to do so and vice versa.

Contact +27 800 212 535, mrphome.com

Photography Crew/Unsplash

In Fashion

Dresses we love: Corset bodice

January 17, 2020 No Comments

Back in the 1500s, European women would not be caught dead without wearing a corset as an undergarment.

According to Champagnecorsets.com, the garments gradually began to incorporate the use of a “busk,” a long, flat piece of whalebone or wood sewn into a casing on the corset in order to maintain its stiff shape. This gave wearers a tighter, smaller waistline. The front of the corset was typically covered by a “stomacher,” a stiff, V-shaped structure that was worn on the abdomen for decorative purposes.

Today, many formal dresses still make use of corsets for alignment and shape. Corset bodices can be very flattering, creating a curvy look with well-accentuated features. We love these corset-incorporating gowns:

Image: Unsplash

In Advice

Pre-wedding bridal skincare tips

January 17, 2020 No Comments

On your wedding day, you want to look and feel your best. However, getting here requires work that often starts months before your big day. Here are some tips to make sure you are looking and feeling your best come wedding day.

Develop a consistent skincare routine and STICK TO IT!

Hopefully you already have one in place, but it is important to have a skincare routine designed for your particular skin. Maybe you have oily skin, dry skin, or sensitive skin. Maybe you have discolouration, rosacea or fine lines. Regardless, there are many products created to cater for a multitude of skin types and concerns. Now, developing a skincare routine is not easy. It’s mainly just trial-and-error.

While Koreans are famed for their 12-step routines, many dermatologists recommend a simpler skincare routine with three key steps: cleanse, tone, moisturise. Another thing dermatologists agree on is that SPF is the most important skincare product everyone should be using. Sunscreen protects your skin from the harmful UV rays of the sun. Many skincare and makeup products contain SPF, which makes it that much easier and leaves you with no excuse not to use it.

Facials:

Treat your skin to a facial with your regular aesthetician every month in the lead up to your wedding. When meeting your aesthetician, highlight what you want to focus on with the facials. It’s also important to speak up about your skin type. If you’ve got sensitive skin, your aesthetician has to be very careful about the types of products they use, and it’s the same for dry and oily skin.

Importantly, make sure not to get a new facial the day before your wedding. Your skin might react weirdly and leave you with a nasty pimple on your big day. Leave yourself a couple of days for your skin to calm down and really reflect the benefits.

Exfoliate:

Get rid of those pesky dried skin cells with a weekly exfoliant that will leave your skin silky smooth. Exfoliants help your skin appear brighter and glowing, which is always a good thing. Be careful when choosing your exfoliant, as some can be too harsh on your skin.

Importantly, over-exfoliating can leave your skin dry, flaky and irritated, so best avoid using this product more than three times a week. Usage will change depending on the strength of your exfoliator.

Manage your stress

I know it’s hard, but this one’s important. With all the wedding planning and small moving parts to keep track of, your skin and body is likely to show your internal stress. You need to keep stress at bay so that it doesn’t show up in your skin through a breakout. A host of other conditions like exzema and psoriasis can be worsened through stress.

Consider sharing the load and delegating jobs to your bridal party to help out so that you don’t carry all the stress of event planning. If you have an event planner, that’s even better! It’s also a great idea to participate in some stress-relieving activities like yoga, painting or reading.

Feature image: Pexels

In Advice

Games to play at your bridal shower

January 17, 2020 No Comments

Bridal showers are a way for all the women in the bride’s life to come together, get to know each other, and celebrate the bride-to-be. Games at a bridal party keeps things light and ensure that there are no awkward silences.

Another reason to offer games at a bridal shower is to prevent the occasion from centering around gift-receiving. A common problem, however, is that the old-school, traditional bridal shower games are a bit played out.

Here are five fun bridal shower games we know you’ll want to try:

1. The Gossip Game

The bride and the host team up to write a light-hearted, gossipy question about each attendee on little pieces of paper, fold them up, and put them in a bowl. Questions can include things like “who was Sarah’s first kiss?” or “When last has the bride’s mom bought lingerie?”.

As the guests come in, have them take a question out of the bowl. They then have to play detective, and in the process mingle and get to know each other to find out the answer to the question.

The rules are that they are not allowed to ask the question directly and there should be a set time limit of about 30 minutes to investigate.

2. Achieve the Look

This one is simple and it’s relevant. The bride probably knows exactly what she wants her bridal make-up to look like. But it’s always good to have some options… right?

Print out multiple copies of a photo of the bride with no makeup. Each player should receive a copy of the photo and a cheap set of makeup. Have them fill in the brides makeup on the photo.

For an added twist, you could blindfold the players too. This is sure to have you cry-laughing at the end results.

3. Creating Cocktails

Provide guests with various cocktail ingredients, set a time limit, and have them create a signature drink for the bride. Let the bride be the judge of the competition.

This one is sure to have everyone feeling merry, and the bride will have her own signature mixture to remember her bridal party by!

4. Dream Date

Each guest should write down her dream celebrity date. On the other side of the page, they should write their nightmare date.

The bride should draw each one, one at a time, and as a group the guests should try to figure out which card belongs to who. To make it trickier, have the guests guess which side is the dream date and which is the nightmare.

5. Cold feet

Fill a bucket with ice and place toy rings at the bottom. Each player needs to retrieve as many rings as possible in 1 minute…with their toes!

Also read: Top 10 summer bridal shower ideas

Image: Pexels

In Weddings

Tying the knot: The origin of the phrase

January 17, 2020 No Comments

You’ve surely heard the phrase “tie the knot” many times in reference to marriage. The saying is quite common globally. In fact, “tie the knot” is so common a phrase that nobody really questions what knots really have to do with marriage at all.

Many claim that the expression’s etymology is unknown and that the theories that do exist are not rooted in facts. That being said, there is one theory that stands out and is very commonly cited as the true genesis of the saying.

The theory suggests that the phrase “tying the knot” comes from a centuries old wedding tradition called the “handfasting ceremony”. Handfasting is an ancient Celtic practice that can be traced back to the medieval era (the 5th to the 15th century).

Essentially, a couple who was to be engaged would have their hands tied together with cloth effectively binding them together and making them one. The handfasting’s purpose was to strengthen the bond between the couple before the official wedding. The ceremony would take place “a year and a day” before the official marriage, where a second handfasting would take place.

Some have understood the practice as a betrothal or an engagement ceremony while others have conceptualised it as a “trial period”. Those who prefer the “trial period” version argue that the second handfasting would only take place if the couple got along in the “year and a day” since their first handfasting.

While the Celtics of Scotland are often touted as the originators of the practice, the ancient Mayans and the Hindu Vedic community have also been linked to similar ceremonies.

In fact, tied knots are symbolic of marriages and love in many cultures and places. In the Roman times, a bride would wear a belt tied in a “Hercules knot”. The knot was said to indicate the binding character of the marriage oath.

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In England, France and Denmark, the “True-love’s knot” represents love and fidelity. Ribbons tied in a true-love’s knot were distributed as party favours at weddings or, in France specifically, were tied around the arm.

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In the Philipines, a rope is placed on the shoulders of the couple to show fidelity and in Hindi weddings a part of the bride’s outfit is tied to her groom’s scarf to represent an everlasting bond.

The handfasting ceremony has not disappeared over time. According to BBC, “before 1939 handfastings which took place in lieu of a church wedding were legally recognised as weddings resulting in marriage”. Today, in Scotland, handfastings are purely ceremonial but they may take place on the same day, or even at the same time as the official nuptials.

The practice is by no-means limited to people of Scottish descent, anyone is free to have a handfasting ceremony. So if you’re looking for something interesting and unusual to incorporate into your special day, why not consider a symbolic handfasting ceremony? You could even hold on to the resulting knot as a keepsake from your wedding day!

Here are some examples of handfasting today:

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Image: Unsplash

In Fashion

Bright suits for gorgeous gentlemen

January 17, 2020 No Comments

Grooms these days have endless options when it comes to wedding attire. Even the most extra groom can voice his wildest dream-suit, we bet it’s out there. Depending on hubby-to-be’s personality, the dress code and the theme and colour scheme of the wedding, colourful suits can be stunning and shine bright to make your wedding day extra memorable.

Remember, certain patterns pair well with certain colours and we recommend wearing a plain tie with a printed suit, and vice versa.

Let’s take a look at what’s hot.

Feature image: Instagram/Weddingsonpoint

In Advice

Wedding dresses with stunning statement shoulders

January 16, 2020 No Comments

The bold bride does not shy away from a statement look. Go big with dramatic shoulder detail that commands attention. Modern brides are taking more risks with their fashion, and it pays off.

We’ve seen celebrities like Hilary Duff, Princess Eugenie and Caroline Kennedy bring the attention upwards with stunning shoulder detail, so you’ll be following in some iconic footsteps with this trend. With so many ways to add flair to bridal fashion, you’ll be overwhelmed with choice. Here are a few ideas to inspire you:

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Feature image: Instagram / @retoucher_marc

In Advice

Get the look: Step by step to ‘au naturel’ makeup

January 16, 2020 No Comments

The turn of the century has seen some exciting new trends emerge, with one of the biggest in bridal makeup being the “barely there” makeup look. But trust us, as simple as it looks, it’s not so easy to get it just right. The most important thing to remember is that less is more and you want to look radiant, not weighed down by make-up. Let your natural beauty shine through with a ‘no makeup’ makeup look.

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That Glow!! ? @monaantz Makeup by me Shot by @kleoniki.visuals Agency: @fashioncult_models . . #emmanouelamakeupartist #athensmakeupartist #makeupexpert #makeupgreece #athensmakeup #eyeliner #eyelashes #bridalmakeup #weddingmakeup #bridal #makeupartistgreece #promakeupartist #makeupartist #santorinimakeupartist #mykonosmakeupartist #flawless #makeupgoals #lovemakeup #glossy #naturalmakeup #flawlesssdolls #flawlessbeauty #gorgeous #lancomegreece #macgreece #beautiful #greecemakeupartist @100daysofmakeup @wakeupandmakeup

A post shared by ΕMMANOUELA MAKEUP ARTIST (@emmanouela_make_up_artist) on Jan 16, 2020 at 12:06am PST

If you’re doing your own makeup for the big day, or even just want to keep this look going on your honeymoon, we’re here to help. Choose neutral colours that are right for your skin tone and avoid over-application. The aim is not to see the makeup, rather the effect thereof.

Check out these step by step tutorials on how to nail this airy look.

-For darker skin tones:

-For lighter skin tones:

Remember, these are just guidelines and each bride might feel comfortable with something different. Play around with makeup to see what makes you feel the most beautiful. And most importantly, have fun!

Picture: Instagram/emmanouela_make_up_artist