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Real Wedding: Marc + Kerry

The lovely photographer of this wedding, Saysha Baker, suggested to us that we feature Kerry and Marc's Big Day as the 'shabby chic' theme was right up our alley. And us girls here at Ruby & the Swallow definitely agree! This wedding was filled with gorgeous colours and textures, and it was so evident how in love the couple really are. It was held at an old barn at Cathkin Farm in the Drakensberg, which was transformed into a vintage wonderland with chandeliers, sparkling glassware and silverware, hanging teacups, a bookshelf of quirky items like a typewriter, old camera and pearls.Visually, this wedding was a delight! Go to Saysha's blog to see her post on this wedding, but here in her own words:

"I have had a growing conviction that, either by fate or divine intervention, its all the super nice people that find me to take their photographs. It was certainly true of this lovely couple who I first met months ago when they booked me for their wedding day. It started with an introductory big bear hug that took me by happy surprise, and since then their warmth and sincerity, their openness and spontaneous affection has endeared these two special people to me. I hoped to capture all that loveliness in one hourâs worth of photos. Given the beautiful surroundings and awesome light paired with a couple very much in love I could not have asked for more. As always, let the pictures speak for themselves..."

Full names of the bride and groom: Marc & Kerry-Leigh Jury (nee Balson)
Date and year of your wedding: 22/09/2012
Venue: Cathkin Farm, Central Drakensberg
Colour and/or Theme: Shabby Chic in Champagne & Pink So whatâs your love story? (Marcâs version)
We were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend of ours back in 2008. Not generally being a firm believer in blind dates, but secretly desperate to meet a lovely lass, I agreed... 2 weeks later and the date was set. The scene: Espressoâs in Parkhurst...

We decided to meet early evening for drinks as opposed to dinner (which gave space for an easy getaway if things didnât go according to plan). My 6 digs mates put in their 2 cents worth on my attire and so with my best Mr Price yellow chequered shirt I was on my way, pondering whether it was acceptable to kiss a blind date hello or rather go with shaking her hand?

Arriving early I was made to wait a while and started getting nervous that I was going to be stood up. Never fear, as a few moments later in walked this gorgeous looking lass! What an evening it turned out to be: 3 bottles of wine to wash down dinner (yes, things were going that well that we decided to eat) accompanied by much laughter as we ended up being the last to leave the restaurant...

Since then, Kerry and I have been inseparable and it was only a matter of time until I popped the question! How did he propose? (again Marcâs version)
We were supposedly going to join mates for a weekend up at Sabi, but Kerry started to ask questions as to why we were flying up to the Kruger on Friday morning, with everyone else only driving up later that day...

Questions aside, it was all going according to plan until someone from work called whilst we were on our way to the airport and I happened to blurt out that we were going to spend the weekend in Victoria Falls.... much to Kerryâs excitement (aaarrrgh!).

The Royal Livingstone was the exact destination and it exceeded all expectations.... a pre-arranged dinner on the banks of the Zambezi, under the Monkey Tree, played out a fabulous setting to ask Kerry to become Mrs Jury.

Nervous and with sweaty palms at the thought of receiving ânoâ as an answer, I waited until after the main course to get the show underway! With Dabrovski (our Zambian waiter with Russian ancestors) watching from behind the bushes I got down on one knee and proceeded to pop the question in amongst a few romantic lines from Keats and co...

Thankfully Kerry gave it the thumbs up, which made for the highlight of the most incredible couple of days together. We learnt the value of budgeting up front and using that as a reference at every step along the way. Otherwise costs can quickly spiral out of control.

We soon realised that the planning and preparation is part of the fun and helps build the excitement in the lead up to the day. Despite being time consuming and hard work it really is nice to do as much of the planning as you can yourselves... It taught us to compromise and work together and made us appreciative of every little detail on the day. A reliable, efficient wedding co-ordinator is a must have. In the days leading up to and on the day of the wedding we didnât have to worry about a thing. Shevaun Mc Creedy was great... because of her hard work, attention to detail and enthusiasm all we had to focus on was having as much fun as possible!

Donât sweat the small things! Not everything will be perfect on the day... This is a given! There is no point in letting little insignificant details spoil your day. People are there to share in your joy and excitement and they wonât know any better if the flowers are a darker shade of pink than the ones you had ordered! A happy relaxed couple sets the tone for an enjoyable day. Cathkin Farm is a fully functional cattle farm set in the beautiful Champagne Valley. We decided on a shabby chic theme to fit in with this relaxed country atmosphere. I am also a real fan of all things old & vintage and thus tried to incorporate this into the decor.

As for the colours, this decision was more difficult than anticipated as Marc (aka Groomzilla) had his own ideas as to what the colours should be. So after much deliberation, we eventually agreed on the champagne and pink combination. My husband was very involved... So much so that he soon obtained the nickname Groomzilla! Jokes aside, it really was great to have a husband who wanted to be involved and who eagerly helped with every step of the planning. It taught us to work as a team and it was very rewarding for both of us to see how all of our hard work came together on the day. Nothing! It was the happiest and best day of both of our lives! We only wish that we could have it all over again! We put together the favours, which involved lots of tying of bows & packing of sweets. Marc wrote all of the table name stories and I sourced a lot of the decor items. We were pretty much involved in every step and element of the planning.

A few of our very close friends have a tradition of singing at each othersâ weddings. Dubbed âJohnny Mac and the Whalersâ they managed to recruit a few new additions without our knowledge and tailored the words to Kenny Rogersâ âThe Gambler.â The performance was incredible and received a standing ovation from all the guests â it also underlined the laughter and fun everyone had on the day... (check out Johhny Mac and the Whalers on Youtube!) Bryan Adams â âHere I amâ

This was an easy choice... Red velvet! Marcâs absolute favourite! The cake had a solid top tier and the rest of the cake was made up of red velvet cup cakes. It was delicious!

Where did you go on honeymoon?
The Maldives. It was amazing and such a welcome break after all of the time and effort put into planning the wedding. Coordinator: Shevaun McCreedy of Chocolate Turquoise (0824153893)
Photographer: Saysha Baker
Decor: Chocolate Turquoise
Stationery: Chocolate Turquoise
Dress (including bridesmaids dresses): Maggie Sottero gown, Olivelli Houghton or Chantal on 0836020822
Hair: Ronel of Silver scissors, Winterton. 0364882137
Flowers: Prairie Roses, Winterton. 0364881565
Catering: CHC Catering
Cake & Sweetie table: Valley Bakery, Champagne Valley.Valleybakery.com

All photographs copyrighted to Saysha Baker Photography and are not for replication or reuse.

Labels: Cathkin Farm, CHC Catering., Chocolate Turquoise, DIY, Drakensberg, photography, realweddings, Saysha Baker, Shevaun McCreedy, Valley Bakery