Suhaifa and Jacques got married at the beautiful vineyard, Nantes Estate, Paarl, in South Africa.
And oh my how green and lush and beautiful this place is! Like heaven on Earth!
Because both are of different cultures, they created a modern nikah, the Muslim wedding ceremony. They set up a stage for them and the Imam. Here, Suhaifa and Jacques could be married in front of their friends and family in an intimate and special way.
Suhaifa also became DIY queen by creating so many of the detail elements of the wedding that made it rustic, chic, and elegant. Do-it-yourself table runners, a fudge stand (with fudge!) and more. DIY Queen we hail you!
And now of course what you’ve all been waiting for, our interview with the bride.
Tell us about the wedding!
Our wedding was a cultural fusion of Indian and Western. I am Indian, and Jacques is white so we tried to incorporate as much as we could from our cultures. The wedding celebrations actually started on a Thursday which saw a large number of our families come together for a dinner and watch me having my mehndi done.
On the night before the wedding we had a traditional hurdee ceremony. It involved the guests coming up to the bride and groom (individually) and began with them placing a piece of mithai into our mouth. The guests then smeared a mixture of different pastes over our faces, hands and feet. This symbolizes a cleansing ritual and prepares the bride and groom for their new journey in life. It was incredibly fun and symbolic at the same time. It was quite a special experience for Jacques and his family as it was the first time they had experience Indian cultural celebrations.
The wedding took place on Saturday afternoon, on a beautiful vineyard in the Cape Winelands. We had a Muslim wedding and tried to make it as familiar as possible for Jacques’ family. The Nikah, which would traditionally be in a mosque, was held at the venue for all guests to see. It started off with me walking down the aisle accompanied by my dad to a staged platform in front of all guests. Jacques and I were seated with the Imam who married us in front of everyone. It was a very modern spin on a Muslim wedding.
Following the Nikah was our pre-drinks which allowed guests time to mingle and eat whilst we took our pictures. The weather didn’t play nice on our wedding day, but we were blessed with showers of rain. The pictures however still managed to look incredible.
The reception was simply perfect. Once all guests were seated, we made our grand entrance into the venue. I had then changed into a princess style white wedding dress which I felt was a perfect cross over from the traditional Indian lengha I wore for the Nikah.
For the reception we had speeches from our friends, cutting of the cake, throwing of the garter and bouquet as well as a first dance. This is something not common for Indian weddings. Fusing both our traditions together meant the world to us and made our day simply perfect.
What was the inspiration for your weddings?
We made sure our personality and style was reflected in everything we did especially with the décor. I love vintage and classy décor but also wanted to incorporated colour and gold bringing in my Indian culture. We ended up soft vintage flowers and table runners with gold candelabras and table decor.
We also used lots of wooden and raw finishes which was something I grew up with. The table runners was raw burlap with lace and the cake stand was a log of wood.
I spent months of wedding blogs and sites like Pinterest looking for ideas to inspire me. But most of all, it was my own style that inspired me the most.
What was the hardest part about wedding planning?
I honestly didn’t find anything difficult other than deciding who was going to be invited or not. Indian weddings are usually very big and white weddings are very small. We had 150 guests, and had to exclude a large portion of my family. That was very difficult.
Did you do any DIY (do it yourself) at the wedding?
Yes! I made the following things for the wedding. These are just few diy items, there were so much more!
- Table runners – Made from burlap and lace. It was really hard work, but so worth it.
- Paper Cones for confetti toss – We used paper doilies for the confetti cones and attached a ribbon to it. Then we tied the cones to the chairs.
- Wedding program booklets – The wedding booklets were my favourite. We made stunning booklets which had tons of information about us as a couple, wedding information, marriage advice from family.
- Tears of happiness tissues – Guests were given little pocket tissues for their tears of happiness only.
- Kids bags – We had a small number of kids at the wedding and they each got a bag with things to keep them busy.
- Cake and Fudge stand – I made a cake stand using a wooden log for the cake and pieces of fudge.
- Table Numbers – Wooden table numbers from wooden logs.
- Pen Holders – Wooden pen holders from wooden logs.
What was your favorite part of the wedding?
I took a moment towards the end of the reception to look at all the people, laughing, mingling, dancing and having a good time and at that very moment, I felt so incredibly grateful for the people in our lives. Their love for us just made the day so special and our love for each other was the reason they were all there. Everyone was there to celebrate the love Jacques and I had for each other. It touched my heart.
What three words of advice do you have for future brides-to-be?
- Just have fun and enjoy every single moment of the wedding.
- Don’t stress about anything, only you know how things are supposed to look on the day. If something goes wrong your guests will never know.
- Try your best to speak to all the guests at the wedding.
Thank you for sharing your wedding! We wish you both lots of happiness and giggles. And we also think you’re super brave to sport a white wedding dress on a muddy road!
{Wedding Suppliers}
Thank you to all the fabulous service providers whom helped make this such a special day!
Photographer : Daniela Zondagh
Flowers & Decor : Fleur Le Cordeur
Cake : Izza Du Plessis
Venue : Nantes Estate, Paarl
Hair & Make-up : Marli Basson
Groom’s Suit : Moi Styling
Videographer: Vision on Fire
Brides White dress : Maggie Sottero
Brides Indian Dress : Paaneri, Mumbai, India
