14 August 2008

Dee Purdy and Andrew Hoskin met on just another chilly Thursday evening in London. They both found themselves on the deck of a boat. Andrew was the colder one and Dee happened to have a spare jumper to lend him. In exchange for her jumper, Andrew made available his roof terrace at his home for summer braais…well, over a mutual love of homemade cocktails a relationship quickly developed. After they got together, Dee had to then convince her family that meeting Australians could indeed result in some friction on the sports field - but could lead to wonderful intimate moments around the dinner table.

After escaping London in 2004, Dee and Andrew went exploring. The couple visited many different places including temples in India, rice paddies in Vietnam, lakes in Australia, shopping malls in China and margarita recipes in San Francisco. But it was on a trip to Paris that Andrew was inspired to propose to Dee. After a surprisingly long search for champagne that involved Picasso, frozen peas, cold milk, plastic cups and vigilant French police, Andrew proposed and Dee accepted.

The planning for the wedding was such an important part of the whole event. Dee and Andrew were determined that their wedding would not feel like just another “conveyor-belt number”. It should rather be relaxed, fun, meaningful and all about celebrating with family and friends. The family vibe extended to the creativity that pervaded the event - crochet trimmed napkins were stitched by the bride’s mother, the bride’s sister sourced much of the décor from Hong Kong, her brother trawled markets in Africa, friends carried glass carafes from overseas and a brother-in-law even crafted the gorgeous reclaimed wooden dinner tables.

These beautiful décor elements all made their way to Morgansvlei Farm in Tulbagh where the wedding was held. The couple decided to spoil their guests to a magical weekend away experiencing the Cape. The ceremony was under the tall trees near the boma and guests were seated on wrapped bales of hay. An A Capella Group introduced the beautiful bride and her vintage inspired bridesmaids to the tune of All you need is love.

A fun, interactive area complete with a Polaroid camera and various props was set-up for usage during pre-dinner drinks for everyone to take photos and leave a special message for the newly-weds. Many hours were spent there with lots of laughs while mojitos and bubbly flowed freely. A Marimba Band enhanced the celebratory vibe in the background and continued late into the afternoon. The bride emerged in a new outfit during the afternoon complemented perfectly by a very special handmade head piece. She looked very relaxed and gorgeous.

The reception on the patio of the Manor House at Morgansvlei began with starter platters of whole sides of hot smoked Norwegian salmon with lemony dill hollandaise, platters of grilled asparagus and blanched artichokes with shavings of Regianno, cracked pepper and Maldon salt, bowls of rocket, watercress, slivered avocado, peppered feta and toasted pine nuts and loaves of sourdough bread with extra virgin olive oil and Turkish fig balsamic. Before main course large barrels of red wine were made available for guests to fill their special imported glass carafes while delicious platters were placed on the tables for main course. The tasty foods making up the course included French trimmed Karoo lamb cutlets with rosemary, rolled Spanish chicken thighs wrapped in red and yellow capsicum seared on the fire and then sliced into rounds, seared sirloin and red onion espetadas with a fiery marinade, Nicola potatoes coated with chewy, sweet and sour caramelized red onion, roast butternut, red capsicum, watercress and spring onions salad with toasted cashews and rocket and watercress salad with goats cheese, avocado, pine nuts and slivered mango.

A sleek white dance floor invited guests down onto the lawn below the Manor House to get the party started. Dee and Andrew opened the dance floor to Is this love? by Bob Marley while adult fantasy platters roamed the after party area. Guests alternated between dancing and feasting on the delicious giant chocolate marbled meringue wedding cake served with cream and strawberries, mini koeksisters, chocolate fudge brownies, nutty nougat, chocolate coated honeycomb, chocolate ganache cupcakes, Turkish delight, buttery shortbread hearts and sugared roses. The rest of the evening was spent lounging on comfortable couches underneath twinkling stars.

“Having worked so closely with Aleit and Yolanda on all aspects of the wedding, including securing amazing service providers who completely ‘got’ our desires for something surprising, relaxed, fun and as far from pink and white almonds as possible… we were completely able to immerse ourselves in the day and not think about any aspect of the organization. I loved that! That’s completely what it is about, you don’t want to be thinking about missing bread knives when you should be thinking about sipping champagne and soaking up the moment. And they managed to completely blow our friends away with the attention to detail. No wonder they are rated as the leaders in the industry!”