While we can’t leave our homes right now, there’s no harm in dreaming right? We expect outdoor weddings will be majorly popular in 2021 once the coronavirus pandemic has wound down and people can once again enjoy the beauty of the outside world.
Lovers of the outdoors will be right at home in a forest setting. With this kind of location, there really isn’t that much you have to do in terms of decor. A few twinkly fairy lights, candles (safely monitored) and draping will go a long way in transforming the space into a romantic venue.
If you’re planning a wedding, now is the perfect time to do your research. Here is some dreamy decor to inspire you:
Amid the conoravirus pandemic, celebrations of any kind have been altered. As a result, people have had to get creative to show their love and appreciation for one another in a safe way. This family did just that when they threw a street parade to honour the 75th wedding anniversary of their matriatch and patriarch.
Laura, 93, and Billie Mays, 94, have been married for over seven decades. Since this is a pretty momentous occasion, it deserves a celebration. However, quarantine stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic meant that they couldn’t physically be with their family during this time. So, their family brought the party to them.
As Laura and Billie sat on their lawn, 33 family members and close friends drove their cars slowly drove past and and waved homemade signs expressing their love. They also gathered in a wide circle around the couples to sing them an anniversary song.
“The thing we’re most proud of is our family. We love them all so much,” said Laura.
Of their secret to a long, happy marriage, Billie said, “Living a clean life. Christian life. And staying busy.”
With lockdown in full effect, no one is able to do much recreational shopping. Just because the shops are closed, however, doesn’t mean you can skip out on an anniversary gift!
If you’re celebrating an anniversary under lockdown, now is the time to get creative. Receiving an apple might not be your partner’s ideal anniversary gift. Instead, why not show them how much you care by making them something?
Hardware stores are now open under new lockdown regulations, and stores like Game still sell paint and other craft supplies. Now, all you need is a good idea. Here are a few that will make your partner fall in love you all over again:
A care package:
Put together a care package with a few of your partner’s favourite things. A good mix of things is key. Some snacks like dark chocolate and biscuits paired with bubble bath, bath bombs, essential oils and a good magazine work perfectly together. You can easily DIY you own bath bombs and bubble bath, making this gift even better because you can customise it to fit your partner’s favourite smells.
A photo album:
Let’s be honest, millennials don’t own photo albums. However, how sweet is it to page through a physical album full of memories? It’s definitely more romantic than scrolling through an Instagram feed. Grab a scrapbook and get busy! All you need is a printer, some glue, and scissors. To make this gift even more sentimental, write down little paragraphs explaining why each picture is special to you.
A ‘love box’:
Over the course of your relationship, you’ve probably amassed a lot of meaningful items. Why not give them a special place to live? To make a memory box for your relationship, take a simple box and decorate it with pictures and inside joke references special to your couple. Fill it with items that mean something to you and your relationship. It can be anything like ticket stubs from your date nights at the movies, love letters you used to write to each other, or an old t-shirt you would always borrow when you first started dating.
On your anniversary, spend time going through each individual item and talking about that point in your relationship. We guarantee you’ll be feeling all the love.
A scavenger hunt:
Another gift idea that also helps fill your time in lockdown is a scavenger hunt. Using memories from your relationship, create riddles that your partner has to figure out to move to the next station and eventually the end of the hunt. At the end, have a sweet dinner all laid out to end the evening. Set up a homemade-teepee and hang fairy lights from trees and bushes in your garden for an extra-romantic feel.
Get crafty:
if you’re blessed with artistic skills, this makes gift giving so much easier. Drawor paint a picture of your partner or a special memory that they can hang in your home. You could also write a personal song or poem, and even design an item of clothing for them.
If you’re not that artistic but still want to get your creative juices flowing, here are some DIY tutorials to inspire you:
These days, soon-to-be married couples are desperate to find a way around social distancing in order to still safely have their weddings. These nurses got creative by filling pews with pictures of their loved ones.
Louisiana couple, Clare Seghers and Mel Keefer, ensured that their wedding would go on and that they would feel the love from all the people they hold near and dear.
Of course, it would be tremendously irresponsible to have a church wedding with guests filling up the pews. As nurses who are both fighting on the frontlines of the pandemic, the couple knew this. Instead, they set up a live stream (as many other couples have done in recent times) and to make it even more special they asked their loved ones to send them photographs of themselves.
Before the ceremony started, the couple printed each photo and placed them on the pews in the church, where they would have sat.
Seghers made her way down the aisle, with only ceremonious music playing in the background, seeing the smiling faces of her loved ones in the pews. They said their vows, and carried out the ceremony as normal. However, they had no idea that a surprise was in store when the left the venue and entered the parking lot.
As they exited the church, all their guests sat safely in their cars and hooted in congratulations! A welcome surprise that they surely will never forget!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_HCniTB3IE/
Congrats to the happy couple!
Picture: Screenshot from video / Scottie Hunter WAFB
With the coronavirus pandemic, weddings as we know them are put on hold. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t tie the knot.
Creative couples across the globe have decided the downsize their weddings, opting to say their I do’s from the comfort of their homes. If you’re still keen on getting married, you’ll need a dress.
While South Africa is currently under lockdown, there are many clothing retailers that are still allowing people to order and will deliver once the lockdown ends. Online shopping is the best solution at the moment, so get clicking away to find your perfect fit.
Here are some casual options for your paired-down big day:
Almost everyone dreams of having their favourite musician peform at their wedding. However, the chances of this are usually extremely slim. Now more than ever, a celebrity appearance at a wedding is one of the least expected things that could happen.
This lucky couple, however, were one in a million. Hayley Pitman, a NHS nurse, and Harvey Skelton were forced to postpone their wedding like many others across the world. They decided they would hold their ceremony on Zoom, a very popular trend these days.
Their online wedding organisers, For Better For Worse, organised a little surprise for them. A performance by Ellie Goulding was on the cards and the couple had no idea.
Tammy Madge from For Better For Worse said to Metro UK: “It was really difficult to see so many couples having to postpone their weddings after spending months or even years saving and planning for their special day.”
“To help bring a smile back to a special couple’s face, we took it upon ourselves to organise a virtual wedding. With such close ties to the NHS, Hayley and Harvey were the perfect choice for us, and of course Ellie Goulding surprising the couple made it so much more special and beautifully emotional even if we were all sat behind our screens! We hope that people will get on-board by donating to our fundraiser page, to show how appreciated our amazing NHS is, especially during this unprecedented time,” she added.
After the ceremony and the kiss, Ellie Goulding appeared on screen and said “Congratulations Harvey and Hayley, you’re both heroes and we all love you.”
They had their first dance to an acoustic version of the pop star’s hit ‘Love Me Like You Do’.
Amid all the confusion the coronavirus pandemic has caused, many weddings have fallen victim. Turns out not even the royals are above the pandemic, as it was recently announced that Princess Beatrice and her Edoardo, who were all set to get married 29 May, have cancelled their wedding completely.
A representative for the pair told People magazine: “There are no plans to switch venues or hold a bigger wedding. They aren’t even thinking about their wedding at this time. There will come a time to rearrange, but that’s not yet.”
Beatrice and Edoardo were due to marry at St. James’s Palace in London, with a reception to follow at her grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s gardens at Buckingham Palace.
The two seem to be in love as ever though and are sure to get married in the far future when things return to normal.
Beatrice’s mother Sarah Ferguson recently said: “[Beatrice is] the happiest I have ever seen her in my life. She and Edo have a great love for each other and passion for life. For them to be getting married fills my heart with joy.”
Vanessa Bryant is remembering her late husband Kobe, a few months after his tragic passing. Bryant took to Instagram to write a tribute to her late husband on their 19th wedding anniversary.
“My king, my heart, my best friend. Happy 19th wedding anniversary baby. I miss you so much. I wish you were here to hold me in your arms. I love you. ❤️” she wrote.
Synonymous with celebrations and a must at every wedding, everyone enjoys a glass of bubbly on the odd occasion. Feminine, sophisticated and classy, Prosecco is popular not only in South Africa where sales are up 24%. Globally 325 million bottles of this premium Italian sparkling wine are sold per year: that’s a lot more than the ‘odd occasion’. So why is Prosecco so popular? And where does Sparkling Wine fit in?
Here are some pointers from Rowan Leibbrandt, founding owner of Cape Town-based premium drinks company, Truman & Orange:
Prosecco is crisper, slightly sweeter and more delicate than Méthode Cap Classique (MCC) and both have a subtler fizz and softer bubble than sparkling wine.
While MCC, Champagne and Prosecco are all double-fermented to produce their unique fizziness, Prosecco’s second fermentation is according to the “Italian Charmant” method and involves fermenting in tanks, resulting in a crisp taste.
Prosecco is made to be drunk fresh and derives its delicate floral and lively fruity notes from the Glera grapes used to produce it, characteristic of the rolling hills they’re grown on in Northern Italy, in a relatively small area protected by the surrounding Alps, called Prosecco DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata).
Recommendation: Try Mionetto Prosecco – as the world’s best-selling international Prosecco, its R200 a bottle price tag answers the call for a premium, exceptionally-made, genuine Italian Prosecco fit for any occasion. Its affordability makes it possible to enjoy an imported glass of bubbly as an everyday luxury and is certainly a great option for a wedding celebration.
Sparkling wine is created by carbonating wine, resulting in a large, even bubble and a distinctly different – and perhaps even more celebratory – drinking experience. While MCC and Prosecco offer more refined effervescence, many people enjoy the more exciting fizz of sparkling wines and the sweetness created when bubbles pop on the palate.
Recommendation: Using grapes chosen for their balance of sweetness and acidity and harvested at night to maintain their freshness, Grace du Roi sparkling wines offer a lively bubble, and a refreshing green apple and pear character, while the Rose variants offer a hint of raspberry and cream. Naturally cold-fermented, the clean, delicate character of the Grace du Roi sparkling wines is gently fruity as a result of their Chenin Blanc base and the use of the cuvee (first press) of the grapes. The wines in the blend are kept separate to allow flavour to develop first before marrying achieving a ‘state of Grace’: lighter, more delicate flavours. Retailing at only R95 a bottle, we’d recommend having each of the 3 variants – White Gold, Rose Gold and White Sapphire – on offer at your wedding. That way you have something to suit every palate!
Still battling to decide which to choose? This might help: a glass of Prosecco contains only about 80 calories, while a glass of MCC or Champagne contains around 130 calories and a glass of sparkling wine can contain up to 200 calories!
There’s a lot of debate about custom wedding dresses versus off-the-rack dresses. Many claim that a custom dress takes much more time and effort. Since we’re in a nationwide lockdown, perhaps now is the perfect time to consider a bespoke gown.
With a custom gown, there are many advantages. Your imput is the most important thing, whereas with off-the-rack gows, you might have to settle for what’s available. The world is your oyster with a tailor-made gown, you can let your imagination run free to come up with exactly what your dream dress looks like. Not only that, you won’t have to spend hours in stores trying on dress after dress.
Since you have two weeks (possibly more) left at home you can get to thinking. Start by searching Instagram and Pinterest to gather some inspiration. From there, you can note which styles are your favourites, what fabrics and colours you like, and other small touches to make your wedding dress truly unique.
You could even spend some time chatting to dressmakers, offering them your ideas to see if they’re able to create something that you’d like. With the technology we have these days, you could have your entire first appointment online, as long as you can take your own measurements.
Of course, with a custom dress you may have to spend a bit more money and have a few more fittings. However, these problems are easily turned into non-issues if you try hard enough.
You may be saving money in other areas of your wedding expenses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. For example, if your guest list is slightly trimmed to ensure that you have a smaller gathering (since we may still have some restrictions after the lockdown ends) then you’ll save money by getting a smaller venue, or by catering for less people. You’ll also save on printing and sending invitations. These savings could be used for your dress, if you’d like.
A bespoke dress ensures a perfect fit, no style limitations and many more up sides, so it’s worth considering. After all, who knows you better than you!
