Tips From Your Bridesmaid

When I was asked to be a bridesmaid the OCD in me kicked in and I googled all the things I would need to know in order to be the perfect bridesmaid but after the wedding I definitely think there should be more literature made available to brides as to what is expected of them from the bridesmaid's point of view.

Now...before all my married or soon to be married readers jump down my neck, yes I get that the wedding is obviously about the Bride but as a bridesmaid you just want to make the wedding the best version it can be for the bride otherwise you wouldn't have agreed to form part of her special day.  That being said, I think there are three main points you need to remember when dealing with your bridesmaids:

1. Communicate your expectations that includes what you require on the day, do you want your bridesmaids to help you get dressed or do you want your mom to help you? Do you want a bachelorette party which is raucous or do you want a simple tea party bridal shower? On the day, what photographs do you want to do? Is there dancing requirements ie the opening dance

2. Be considerate of your bridesmaids different body shapes and sizes sometimes what you envision doesn't always match up to the ladies' comfort level in your retinue. If you want the same style of dress for all the ladies then make sure everyone's at the same level of comfort. 

3. Do not think you can do everything on your own. Your bridesmaids are there to assist you, it's okay to ask for help! 

Do you have any tips for Brides to be?

x Nats x 

Wedding Vibes : OOTD (My Attempt at Fashion Blogging)

I attended a wedding this weekend and I literally wore one of my favourite outfits - EVER! 

Details: 
Custom Made Champagne Sequence Dress
Nine West Nude Sandals
Nude Pierre Cardin Clutch

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I loved this look it made me feel so pretty... anyway happy Tuesday x

Things I Do When I'm Alone {Link Up}

Have I mentioned that I hate introductory paragraphs?  It's possible that's because I have so many thoughts going through my brain that knowing there is extra pressure to entice the reader with the first few lines makes it more stressful as opposed to fun.

Now with that being over I can pretend I wrote an awesome intro and we can move along to today's topic of what I do when I'm alone...

* I love going to the movies alone. I know some people understand it but there are others that think I'm cray cray but seriously movies on my own are my favourite because then I can pick whatever I feel like watching and I can cry or laugh out loud and know no one is going to laugh at me

* I don't wear a bra or pants... I usually spend time in my JT top. 

~ Credit ~

* I don't close the doors. Whether it's doors to the bathroom or bedroom, even if I leave it open a jar, I just don't close them fully. Oh and I don't close the cupboard doors either. I'm sure there's some psychology behind it but I don't know or understand it..

* I binge watch TV  I do this all the time anyway

* I bake, in fact when I'm alone is most creative baking time!

* I talk out loud to myself.

~ Credit ~

I wish had more interesting things to share with you but I honestly can't think of anything hopefully the ladies linking up with Allie and the girls are more entertaining than I am 

Also, I'm linking up with Miche again for spreading the love and this week the love definitely goes out to my brother and his new fiance'. It's always been just my brother and I but now he's getting married and I get to have a new sibling which is kind of awesome! 

Also one of my really good friends is moving to Germany to live with her hubby (you can read about their wedding here - shameless plug) and I'll be going away before she leaves so I'm really sending her tons of love in their new life together!

That's all folks... I should be seeing all of you tomorrow for Confessions...

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A Beautiful Wedding for Lerato & Christiaan

The couple saying their I dos

This last Friday I attended a wedding of one of my friends I made at the beginning of my Undergraduate degree. While I could write an entire post on Lerato and my friendship, I don't want to distract you from the reason for my actual post being Lerato got married on Friday to Christiaan.

The Father of Bride and the Bride walking up the aisle. 

Firstly I'll state the obvious, they are clearly from two different cultures. Lerato is from an African background and Christiaan is German. The second most obvious thing is that the cultural differences and challenges are irrelevant in light of how they feel about one another.

The first dance as husband and wife

The top of the wedding cake

Lerato may have been open to love but I'm not entirely sure if she believed in it completely until Christiaan and more so until she felt how much he loved her (warts and all, figuratively speaking)  and how much she was capable of loving him.

Me with the Bride

I've only met Christiaan on a handful of occasions and on each one I've watched how enchanted he is by Lerato. 

One of the Center pieces

Their wedding was incredibly beautiful, despite the overcast Johannesburg weather. It was lovely but the reception was where things were even more sentimental. While the Bride and Groom could barely step away from one another, it was their respective fathers and siblings which gave the wedding an extra special feeling.

A Panoramic view of the reception

The Bride's brother (and MC) said a poem which related back to a younger Lerato and her youthful insistence that she would not marry although he knew she would. The Bride's sister then went on to give a touching and appropriately funny speech about how she always wanted to be like her big sister and that her recent fears of losing her sister have been replaced by comfort in her gaining a brother in Christiaan.

The Groom's siblings did the most adorable and corny (which I LOVED) musical performance of "Ob La Di" but with new lyrics telling the love story of Lerato and Christiaan.

The thing I take away from their wedding is, Love is truly beautiful, you just have to be open to it. I wish Lerato and Christiaan all the happiness in the world in their new life together!!!!

My party people for the evening, Shavon, Kris, myself and Lloyd

I have used a combination of photos which I took as well as one of my friends (Thanks Kris!!!) 

Wedding outfits which push your out of your comfort zone

WHAT? A second post in one day?!Another update on the wedding I attended, it was seriously fun to dress up.

On Thursday, to the Hurdee, which is an indian ritual where certain ladies rub tumeric on the bride as an act of clensing her, I wore this purple, black and grey sari and when I say I "wore"the sari I am exaggerating. The tying of the sari was so complicated and was just NOT working for me. I promise this trial run was a horrible experience BUT it actually looked ok in the pics...

On Friday I decided to add some colour to my hair.. can you see it?

Also it was my first time in full indian ware. This is the finised product, not bad, I might add?!

Then on Saturday, after some drama at the Hairsalon, we managed to finally get to the reception and it was a really gooooooood party. I wish I would have taken more pics of the food and the decor but the truth is I was enjoying myself so much that the thougt of having to stop and take in the details was too much effort.

After the reception, we didn't want the party to stop so we went a club and I must be honest it's been a while for me.. either way, we eventually left the club after 4am and after a mid night/ early morning snack we got to bed around 05h20 Sunday morning.

The ride home was slightly rough but oh so worth it!

It was a good weeked and I wish the Bridal couple all the best for the future. More pictures from my beautiful country will be coming up soon!

What's your favourite thing about weddings?

A cultural experience... Mendhi is not just for henna tattoos

So as I have been saying in my previous posts I went on a road trip this past weekend.  The road trip was for a childhood friend's wedding but I must say that it was most definitely a cultural experience for me as I can count the amount of Hindu weddings I have attended.

As promised in my twitter post, here is more details about the Mendhi. On Wednesday evening the bride had her Mendhi night but I missed it so my cousin, Charne, and I went and got ours done at a salon in Springfield Park. I wasn't really sure what pattern I wanted but we discussed it and eventually we came up with this...

This is the progressive pictures:

And then Charne had her turn:

This is how the Mendhi looked when she was done and then we had to sit and wait for it to dry and take to our hands.

When we rinsed it off, this is what it looked like and I must be honest I forgot that the Mendhi gets darker the next day.

This is Day Two:

This is Day Three:

We were applying Eucalyptys oil and Vaseline to get it darker more quickly. Now it's days later and the Mendhi is starting to fade but a lot of people at work have noticed it.

FYI: Mendhi aka Henna is used for the bride and the groom but apparently the
popular beliefs that are associated with this tradition:

• The darkness of the mehendi colour on a bride’s hand represents the deep love between the would-be-couple.
• The mehendi colour also shows the love and understanding between the bride and her mother-in-law.
• The longer the mehendi retains its colour, the more auspicious it is for the newlyweds.
• Mehendi is also deemed to be a symbolic representation of fertility. 

Have you ever applied Mendhi? Would you ever apply it?