Tuesday 12 March 2013

The day I became Mrs D

The new Mrs D
Miss H is very into weddings and 'marrying' at the moment and poor Mr D has had to get down on one knee and propose at least 15 times over the last couple of weeks.  "Again Daddy!" she squeals "Lets do  marrying and you have to be the handsome prince".

It's all come from a combination of watching Cinderella on TV too many times (it's the current favourite movie - and thank god we've moved on from Dora!) and watching Mr D and I tied the knot.  I got our wedding DVD out for her a few weeks ago and she has been memorised by it.  I haven't watched it for a few years now and when I first put it on for her, I ended up bawling my eyes out.  "Why are you crying mummy" Miss H asked me curiously "they're just happy tears honey" I tell her.  She looked a bit confused, but thankfully accepts that and then goes on to say "Mummy, you were a real princess!!" (which of course sets me off again!!)

Planning a wedding is such a huge task and looking back through my photos I can honestly say that it was everything I wanted it to be.

Although I've lived in England for over 20 years,  both Mr D and I were born in South Africa so there was really no doubt that that was where we wanted to get married.  I had my heart set on a place called "Granny Mouse's Country House".  It is just around the corner from where my grandparent still live and I have such vivid memories of playing in the Chapel and marrying my Barbie's there when I was a little girl.

Mr D and I flew out to South Africa to hunt for the 'perfect wedding venue' but I knew all along that it would be at Granny Mouse.  Even Mr D fell in love with it with he saw it.

Granny Mouse's stunning wedding chapel nestled in the middle of the beautiful Natal Midlands countryside
A typical Midlands Sunset
My flowers were an obvious choice too as my Grandpa is a farmer and has a beautiful protea farm just around the corner from Granny Mouse.  The entire colour scheme of the wedding was based around these beautiful flowers.  It was so special knowing that my wedding bouquet were full of grandpa's flowers.

Me and my Grandpa overlooking his Protea Farm
My bouquet with three of Grandpa's stunning protea's in the middle
After  a year of careful planning and several trip back and forth to South Africa from England, our big day finally arrived.  I had told Mr D that the ONE thing I really, really didnt want on our wedding day was rain!  And boy oh boy DID IT RAIN!!!!!!!  Not just any rain, but the biggest and heaviest downpour you can possibly imagine.  The sky went as black as night, there were hailstones bigger than marbles tumbling out the sky and water was rushing down past the Chapel in small rivers.  In fact I believe the Chapel was actually leaking!!

Poor Mr D - he was so worried that I would be totally stressed out by the weather but in fact I couldn't see any of this.  I was tucked away with the my girls and a glass of bubbles - trying to squash down my nerves!!

Our ceremony was due to start at 3pm and of course that is exactly when the thunderstorm arrived!!  (Funny actually as that is the time  Master J finishes school and if its going to rain it will almost always be at 3pm!!).  So I didn't actually arrive at the Chapel until almost 4pm, when the rain disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared.  A typical African thunderstorm!  You would never have guessed that it had been the most spectacular morning of sunshine while we were all getting ready, and luckily I managed to sneak in a few of our photos before the sky turned black.


I'm really not a big fan of my 'self portrait' or 'selfie' as its called these days (I'm too self critical), but I do love this one.  My dress was hand made by a lady in Australia (way before we ever knew we would be living here) and it had to be sent all the way to England, only to be packed away and flown all the way to South Africa.

My two gorgeous flower fairy nieces.  The little one kept whispering to me "Aunty Robs, it's going to rain!  I can see the rain!!  It's coming......" LOL and how right she was!!

I was a bundle of nerves by the time I got to walk down the isle.  My dad whispered "are you ready?" and as I looked over at him to say "Yes" I saw that he had tears streaming down his face!  "OH god, not now, not now, not now"I thought - biting my tongue to stop my own tears from making my mascara run down my face like the rain!  It was one of the hundreds of 'moments' from that day which will stay with me forever.

About to walk down the isle
The ceremony it's-self will always make us laugh!!  It was comedy to the core (unintentionally I might add).  The minister that I had prepared everything with pulled out at the last minute and sent a replacement on the day (who neither of us had met before).  We only found out when he arrived that morning so there was really very little we could have done about it.  It was only the second wedding he had ever performed and he clearly didn't have a clue!  When repeating my vows (which just seemed to go on and on and on and on and on) he said "Will you promise to make Mr D his breakfast every day for the rest of his life".  SILENCE!!  I didn't answer because I thought he was trying to make some kind of joke (I could also hear my bridesmaids sniggering behind me, making it very hard for me to keep a straight face).  After what felt like a looooong silence, I realised that he actually wasn't joking!!  So one of my (many) vows was to make Mr D his breakfast every day.  Unfortunately (for Mr D) I have just not managed to keep this one - Ooops!!

He then finished off by saying "With the power invested in me, and in God and in Jacob Zuma (the South African president)  I now pronounce you husband and wife.  I kid you not!!  There were several other classic's that he threw in there too, but those stories can wait for another day.

How amazing is that window with the VIEW??

A little cheesy but we had SO much fun!
So that, in a nutshell, is how I became Mrs D.  D for de Beer and D for diamonds (a girl can dream can't she???).

There is not a single thing I would change about our wedding day, making it truly perfect.  It wasn't just the day that was perfect but the people that came too!  I can honestly say that our wedding party were AMAZING and I will be eternally grateful to them all (especially my mum and my girls).

To top it all off we were featured in the UK Magazine "Wedding Flowers" under their real life wedding feature.


What do you remember most about your wedding day??

29 comments:

  1. What a beautiful wedding! I have never heard of that traditional breakfast vow, and I'm glad our minister skipped it - my husband likes to get up at the crack of dawn and there is no way I would get up to make his brekky! Rain on a wedding day is lucky, it rained on mine and I am still happily married 23 years later.
    xx

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    1. Oh that's good to know! The rain we had was certainly a talking point amongst all the guests and it did make things a little more exciting!! 23 years - thats amazing, congratulations!! xx

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  2. Oh Robyn I had a wee tear in my eye reading and seeing this. It looks like such a fabulous day. I have never had so much fun as I did on my wedding day, it was fabulous, I felt like a princess and the thing I remember most is my dad's speech, it was amazing. Thanks for sharing! Emily

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    1. Thanks Emily, dad's speeches are the best (did you manage to stay dry eyed??) If only we could re-live our wedding day every year - how cool would that be?? x

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  3. Stunning! Love the protea's in your bouquet.

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  4. The whole thing looks stunning! My Nanna says its goodluck to rain on your wedding day :)

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    1. Thanks Annaleis! I hope the rain is lucky - So far so good (an Nana's are usually right)!

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  5. Oh that is THE MOST AMAZING CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!! Beautiful.. simply beautiful! I wanted to get married at this Church in the south island NZ, overlooking a big lake.. it was where my great granddad preached.. but we ended up with a Perth wedding on a hill overlooking the city.. it was a beautiful day (1 year anniversary March 24th!)

    Your photos are beautiful.. you look AMAZING!!! :) What a beautiful wedding!!

    #teamIBOT :)

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    1. Thanks Yvette!! Yours sounds magical too - I bet you can't believe how quickly the first year has flown by?? Enjoy your first anniversary x

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  6. You were such a stunning bride and the photos are spectacular.
    (ps I got married in a warehouse)

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    1. Oh you are too kind - thank you! My one day of feeling like a princess. I'd love to hear about your warehouse wedding - sounds wonderful x

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  7. Oh it looks like the most perfect fairy tale wedding!
    I loved your dress, and cheesy wedding photos are both necessary and awesome! :)

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    1. Thanks Jess! I didnt realise just how traditional fairytale it was until looking back, but I loved it. And there were plenty of cheesy shots to keep us chuckling!! x

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  8. That looks just marvellous, how gorgeous is that venue and all the flower story too. And lovely to share it with us at the time you are sharing with your daughter.

    We have never quite got it together to get married! We got together and our first son came along rapidly and unexpectedly and when he was three months old we moved to Pakistan and... and... with 4 kids, we are so very married. But my daughter is appalled... and these days I'd quite like to get married more for her and I than anyone else!!

    Are you going to DPCon next week??

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  9. Hey Seana, sounds like you guys have had some awesome adventures!!! My son was 18 months old when we got married and my daughter thinks it's SO unfair that he got to go and she didn't (not that he remembers a thing anyway). I really good friend of mine who has three kids got married at the top of Long Reef headland a year ago in a really small and simple ceremony and it was spectacular!!

    Whats the DPCon??

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  10. What beautiful pictures!! Looks like it was an amazing day. I loved my wedding day too :-) Monique via Blogs & PR #TUST xx

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  11. Stunning photos of what looks like a beautiful day. You look lovely! :)
    Visiting from Blogs and Pr TUST

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    1. Thanks Di, only wish we could do it every year!! x

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  12. Gorgeous! I love weddings and yours looked beautiful. Love the pink BM dresses! xx

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  13. HI there!

    I found you through Friday Flash Blog. I just had to click onto your page because I am also a Mrs. Dy - literally! My new last name is pronounced Dee :). What a beautiful wedding you had! I loved the picture perfect moments!

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    1. Hi Mrs Dy - so nice to know I have a name buddy out there. Thanks so much for stopping by xx

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  15. I LOVE your blog, I'm a massive fan, love the way you write so personally I feel like you're a friend. How did you and Mr D first meet? Would love to see a post on that - esp as I'm 32 and still waiting to meet mine haha. Lori x

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    1. You have seriously just made my day with this comment!! I love to write and still can never believe that people actually read it!! Anyway thank you so much and a story of how we met will have to make it's way on here one day soon! It's was kinda a blind date would you believe!!! I hope you meet your Mr D soon too xx

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    2. Excellent look forward to it! Keep writing, L xx

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  16. What a gorgeous wedding day! You looked stunning! I remember the night before our wedding their was a terrible wind storm and I was so worried that there would be trees down where we were having our outdoor ceremony. Thankfully the venue was ok, however my husband was out helping chainsaw a giant gum tree that fell and just missed his parents place at 11 o'clock at night!

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  17. Gorgeous Robyn, really stunning (apart from the rain but it all adds to the story!) Your bouquet is lovely and I love how the flowers came from your grandfather's property xx

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Thanks so much for your comment. I LOVE hearing from you all and will do my best to reply xxx