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I designed my dress myself with the help of an extremely talented dressmaker, Tsidi.  I never intended keeping my dress and I hope it brings elegance and happiness to someone else as it did for me.  The dress cost me R12500 and I am selling it for R10000.  It is a 2 piece, the bottom is ice blue and white organza strips which have been purposely frayed on the edges to give it that feathered look.  If you are interested, please contact me on leigh@wegotstyle.co.za.  I have many other pictures if you would like me to send to you via email.

Here are some pics from when the party started on Friday evening.  If anyone would like to book for a bachelorette party please contact info@wegotstyle.co.za.

In honour of our no sleaze bachelor and bachelorette party business, I thought I would share my story with you about our weekend parties.  I think I decided to write this blog when I had yet another dream (which I vaguely remember) but of which some parts of the dream related to Mr Style’s bachelor party and really disturbed me.  I then decided I hadn’t given closure to what happened and probably by writing about it, will put an end to it. 

My bachelorette weekend was awesome.  There is no other word to describe it.  It started on Friday and ended on Sunday.  My bridesmaids booked a photo shoot for the girls which was the most fun I have ever had in my life.  I’ll post some pics seperately.  Saturday lunch time I was taken to The Wine Cellar at Monte Casino where all the girls met for lunch, drinks and laughs which followed with a night out at Movida.  I was then taken to The Nicol Hotel in Bedfordview where a couple of us were booked in for the night.  All of this was a total surprise and the apartment was GORGEOUS!!  We had the most beautiful view of Johannesburg.

My fun was suddenly shattered when Mr Style’s sister told me that their dad was highly upset because the guys had arranged a stripper for his bachelor party.  I was in total shock.  You know that feeling when you feel someone has just punched you in the stomach?  When I tried to establish why exactly I was so shocked and angry I simply couldn’t.  Let me tell you the story and you can decide. Read the rest of this entry »

Besides our day being perfect and honestly I can say I would hardly have changed a thing, there are still lessons to be learnt once you’ve gone through it all yourself.  Here are a couple of things I’ll share with you which may help with your planning:

1. Really!  Don’t sweat the small stuff!  People don’t even notice.  I spent hours and hours painting and spray painting our centrepieces.  I didn’t want any of the twig’s colour coming through so I made sure I touched up every little spot.  No one noticed!  I spent weeks and weeks trying to come up with different centrepiece ideas, decor ideas, etc and although you don’t want a slap dash wedding you also don’t want to drain yourself by putting together 50 ideas and not being happy with one.  Don’t worry about what people will think, just do what YOU want to do and what suits YOUR style.  If it isn’t there, people don’t even know the difference.

2. Make sure you’re happy with your hair and makeup. I thought my hair and makeup trials were stunning but deep down they weren’t really what I would have gone for first time.  I ended up changing my hair and makeup on the actual day.  Just remember, you still have to be YOU.  You don’t want to look at your wedding pics and think “who on earth is that?”!

3. You don’t need alcoholic welcome drinks.  They are so expensive and a refreshing fruit punch or mint water is good enough.  We save R1500 on our welcome drinks just from excluding the alcohol. Read the rest of this entry »

Naughty, naughty me.  I’ve totally neglected my blogs but for good reason.  We’ve had a rollercoaster few weeks and I’m still holding my breath that nothing more happens (besides some good luck).  With my mom and I being in hospital, to having so many friends and family here from overseas and then my car being stolen it’s just been crazy.

I am however now officially Mrz Style and so proud to be!  We made it official on Saturday 29th August at Ingwenya Country Estate.  For some reason I was completely calm on the day, although admittedly when I saw the white chairs laid out so beautifully in the garden my stomach turned.  I pulled myself together as best I could and thought to myself “there is no point getting worked up and nervous as you don’t want to waste the day on worrying about things that you cannot fully control”.  I totally relaxed after that (with the help of Rescue Remedy and champagne which I highly recommend!) and just enjoyed getting ready and being pampered.  The hairstylist and makeup artist said I was probably the most calm bride they’d ever come across so I knew the pills (and champagne) were paying off. 

The honeymoon suite was above the ceremony so I had the advantage of watching everyone arrive and watch how nervous Mr Style was getting.  When it was time to put on my dress and get going I finally gave in to the nerves.  I literally thought I was going to hyperventilate.  I had the added worry that Baby Style, who is 3 and was walking me down the aisle, wouldn’t go through with it and would run the other way!  I however had someone very close to me in the family on standby to take over should Baby Style do this.  As my stunning bridesmaids walked ahead I waited a while, prepping Baby Style on what we had to do.  Needless to say my little boy pulled through for me.  He held my hand, even slowed down so I could walk properly and on seeing us Mr Style could not hold back his tears so I just kept looking down so I didn’t break down.

I can truly say that the minute I took Mr Style’s hand I was ok.  It all felt right and I kept telling myself that if things didn’t go 100% right on this day, would it be such a huge deal?  We were all there for the best reason ever and whatever happened, wrong or right, would give it even more character and give us lots to talk about later!  These are pics taken by our brother-in-law but I’ll be sure to post more from the photographer when we get them.

There is so much that I learnt from planning my own wedding and now actually having been through it.  I will dedicate that though to a seperate blog as I’d love this one to just be about the big day.

I was hoping to blog alot more in the weeks leading up to our wedding but a whirlwind of things have happened and sometimes I feel there are hidden cameras around and we’re on a reality show!  After my unexpected operation last Wednesday I suffered internal bleeding and had to be rushed back to theatre Thursday morning.  Luckily all was ok after that and I left hospital the same evening.  I’m recovering well but need a couple more days of rest so the swelling goes down.  My mom also took a turn for the worst in hospital after breaking her hip in a fall last Monday and ended up in ICU yesterday with blood clots on her lungs.  She is alot better today and all she is worried about is getting walking so she can get into her shoes that she hunted down for ages for the wedding!

I’m now left with alot of loose ends to tie up before the big day. Read the rest of this entry »

Seeing that I haven’t been great with my diet and am now regretting it, I thought I’d look up some beauty tips for all of us to try out whether it’s too late or not:

Source www.excitingweddingfavors.com

Hydrate – We all should do this all the time anyway… during the last week before the wedding be sure to drink a full sixty four (64) ounces of water per day. That is just over three twenty ounce water bottles. Yes, that is a lot of water, but our bodies need that water to a) Give your skin that soft, healthy glow, and b) Flush your bodies of excess salt and impurities. This allows our bodies to work their best and look their trimmest and healthiest.

Food Choices – Just as the old adage says, ‘garbage in, garbage out.’ What we put into our bodies has a direct impact on how our body looks on our wedding day. During the last weeks prior to the wedding celebration, if we concentrate on eating lean proteins, and fresh fruits and vegetables as the bulk of our diet, we will give our bodies the opportunity to tone up as much as the time frame allows.

Salt – Salt is an essential component to life. But too much of a good thing is not a good thing, and most of us get too much. More to the point, as we approach our wedding day and want to look as slender and healthy as possible, we are well advised to limit our total daily intake of salt by avoiding salty food entirely and only using the salt sparingly. Why? Because the more salt we have in our system, the more we will retain water instead of allowing the water to flush our system of impurities as it is designed to do.

Makeup – Makeup is arguably a bride’s best friend on her wedding day. It helps her look fresh… and it can also help to give her the appearance of having lost weight in time for her wedding regardless of whether she did or not. How? Simply by the use of highlighting techniques in the area of the cheekbone. Put in the most basic terms this beauty tip involves using a lighter shade on the top of the cheekbones and a darker shade underneath to create the illusion of sunken cheeks. To pull this off a bride should:

Read the rest of this entry »

So, our wedding month has finally arrived. We seriously cannot believe it. And when they say there is stress leading up to the Big Day they weren’t kidding! We’ve had family arriving from the UK, Mr Style’s sister and two kids which are staying with us. We’ve soon realised that a house full of children (including Baby Style) just isn’t the way to go before the wedding so they’re moving to their cousin from Sunday. We love them to death and love having them around but realistically the less hectic our surroundings right now, the better the nerves will be for the wedding. Although so much has been taken care of, we’ve had a few unexpected surprises.

The biggest one being a 7cm cist found on my ovaries this week. I’ll explain how this came about. It’s not something I see discussed at all on wedding websites but is a reality and a very real problem for most brides-to-be. My first problem was that my ‘monthly visitor’ started becoming irregular and moved out to the end of the month. Disastrous as we’re getting married the 29th of August AND going on our 2nd honeymoon on the 28th of October. As most of us know, getting into a gynaecologist is ridiculous as their books are full 6 months in advance. I phoned my GP who happily checked me out but couldn’t understand the other issues I’ve been having at ‘that time of the month’. Besides the irregularity, there have been a couple of other issues which I won’t go into detail about.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am absolutely not a fan of the bouquet and garter throwing traditions so I have been searching high and low for alternatives and have come across some very cute ideas.  My favourite is the longest married bouquet toss, but if you want to give your bouquet to your mom then you can award a stunning bottle of wine to the longest married.  Here are the ideas found on http://ezinearticles.com/?Six-Alternative-Bridal-Bouquet-Toss-Ideas&id=122526:

So as you can see, our big day is getting closer by the minute.  It’s quite unbelievable how time has flown by and the nerves are setting in.  I’ve never understood why, if we have everything sorted and planned, the nerves hit brides-to-be – but now I’m understanding it.  I’m also not so sure it’s nerves as much as anticipation (and of course hope that all goes off without a hitch).  So far I have (almost) everything under control.  Almost half of the guest list has RSVP’d on our wedding webiste which saved us rushing around getting official invites out.  What’s left is the bridesmaids dress fittings, my final fittings,  paying the decor company, hair and makeup trials, finalizing the suits …. and then the bachelor and bachelorette parties which will take place the weekend before our wedding.  Oh, I must also mention the stunning ostrich feather confetti we’re ordering and the suppliers who give great service.  The are in the Klein Karoo but delivery is effected within 4 days.  I got their details from the florist we are using and she swears by them.

www.kleinkaroo.com/showroom

I will however fill you in on a problem with the venue which is persisting and that I am very concerned about. Read the rest of this entry »