Deon and Symone

Deon and Symone on their wedding day 16/06/2018.

How did you meet your groom?

Deon and I met in 2009. He was my brother’s friend (lol). I broke the cardinal rule of not dating your brother’s friends. It was a friendship that grew into love. We started dating in 2010. Deon proposed to me in Thailand at James Bond island in 2016.

” It was a friendship that grew into love.”

Tell us what planning your big day was like.

We only started planning the wedding in 2017. In the beginning, I wanted a small intimate celebration but Deon and I are both last born children; and we come from a huge family so that idea quickly became not viable. I have an amazing relationship with my in-laws , so I didn’t want to ruin that relationship over one day in my life.

The only things I knew I wanted was not to wear red, have a temple wedding and to pick my photographer. I was a seriously chilled bride, all my energy was on our house which we were renovating at the same time( for future brides – not a good idea lol).

We had a 600 person big fat Indian wedding at Umgeni road temple. It was the wedding I never knew I wanted but enjoyed. My heart was so full. We opted not to do a reception but rather a verinda with our closest family afterwards.

“It was the wedding I never knew I wanted but enjoyed. My heart was so full.”

Deon and Symone during their wedding ceremony.

Share with us some of your favourite memories from your big day

So two funny stories, the first, on the wedding day my husband decided to fetch our wedding cake despite me allocating someone to do it (I think he was bored). And the cake fell and got smashed on a whole side despite Deon’s best efforts to save it! Thankfully for us, his family member was a pastry chef at The Oyster Box and she recovered the cake. Truth be told it looked better than when we got it.

The second story is on our wedding day in the evening at the verinda. Before we could get there after doing all the religious events, we had load shedding!!! We managed to get a whole lot of candles which created a relaxed atmosphere. Many of our guests said that it was much needed downtown time, good conversation and a pleasant ambience.

Some advice you’d like to share with brides and grooms to be

Don’t sweat the little things. Years from now nobody is going to remember what your center pieces look like. Enjoy every moment, it goes so fast! My whole wedding experience was such a wonderful experience from the wedding shopping, venue picking, the Nelengu and the actual day.

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