Our African Wedding
Traveling through Africa had always been our dream and once this became our reality, we fell in love!
We felt the heartbeat of Africa as we traveled through South Africa pushing every one of my senses to unimaginable heights. The warmth of the South African people, the jaw-dropping landscapes, the calls of the wild and the culinary delights took us on a unique journey. All those senses left an imprint of Africa on my heart.
We entertained the thought of getting married in Africa and weren't too sure how that would work. We consulted our travel agent and it was that easy. Before we knew it, our African wedding was happening! We designed our own e-invites, got the dress and were ready to head to Africa!
As part of our invite, we provided pre & post-wedding packages for our guests, giving them the option to travel with us. This was easy because we were a small group in any case. We all arrived in Cape Town, South Africa's "Mother City" and as this was our first trip, we opted for a guided touring experience. A gentleman with a big smile met us holding a board with our names on it for easy identification. He loaded all our bags into his minivan and off we went to our hotel. The day was clear with blue skies which seemed to energize everybody as we dropped our bags and headed to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Mall and later walked to the Commodore Hotel for a traditional Cape Malay dinner (you know, when in Cape Town, do as the Capetonians do).
We spent three days in Cape Town taking in the sights with our driver guide whom we fell in love with. He was so knowledgeable and professional with a great sense of humor! We spend time on the Cape Peninsular and in the Winelands too, tasting yummy Cape wines and buying a bottle or two.
It was getting closer to our wedding date and we felt absolutely relaxed. The wedding planner kept us up to speed all the way on the arrangements and all we had to do was take in the sights and be on holiday. We headed to Durban, where we finally were able to meet our wedding planner. Before we knew it, we were off to the game lodge for our three-night wedding safari experience.
On arrival at the lodge, the rooms were prepared for all our guests arriving for the wedding. Not everyone could make the Cape Town trip but were all there for our wedding. We had exclusive use of the lodge and really enjoyed our time under the African sky which was dotted with the brightest stars we could ever imagine. Finally, our big day had come. Our nature-inspired dream wedding had come true. Great weather, stunning deco, divine food and groovy music had all created the perfect African Wedding.
Our first day as Mr&Mrs was a day to remember as the lodge transformed from wedding to safari again, which symbolized our new married journey. Even the animals seemed celebratory of our union.
We were ready for our next destination - 3 days at Victoria Falls! We shared this time with guests who wanted to extend their African Experience with us. You may find this odd that we were spending our honeymoon with others, but the hotel we stayed in made our time as a new honeymoon couple extra special - all this whilst still keeping our costs low because we were considered a small group. The Victoria Falls was awe-inspiring as the sprays from the Mosi-oa-Tunya cleansed our souls (deep stuff). We also treated everybody to a traditional dinner at The Boma, with dancing and a sangoma who read our fortunes. After a real activity-filled time, we departed Zimbabwe, said our goodbyes to everybody and headed to Kasane Airport for our four-night honeymoon in the Okavango Delta. If there was ever a time we connected, it was in the Delta. The remoteness, the luxury and the safari experience ended our perfect wedding destination on the highest of high notes.
Never could we even have imagined such a trip possible!!! It was seamless, efficient and exceeded our every expectation.
And it all began with one phone call...