This afternoon folks we're whizzing away to warmer climes - to South Africa no less - to revel in the beachside festivities of Katie and Theoniel.

And it is beautiful, all nautical bunting and parasols and dapper groomsmen and grecian-esque maids. In fact it was really very hard trying to whittle down the images to the final selection you see here because the whole day really is utterly picturesque.

I adore the portrait shots by uber talented international photographer Jules Morgan especially those amongst the boats - a genius move if I ever saw one - and just wait until you see Katie's beautiful blue bambi eyes.

Perhaps most striking are the classic Casa Blanca lily centrepieces and bouquets which Katie chose because the flower holds a special place in both her own and Theo's hearts. So completely romantic.

Oh to be beside the seaside this afternoon. Is it ok to be dreaming of summer already?

Since we love travelling, we discovered Parternoster on a West Coast trip. We fell in love with the natural beauty of the fishermen's village. The whole concept of our West Coast wedding was to share one of our special traveling experiences with our close friends and family. We had a beach wedding the Saturday and ended the day with an amazing party with everyone who is close to us.

The look had to be appropriate and comfortable for the beach. We had to take into consideration the unpredictable weather so I kept to natural colours for my makeup. As for my hair, I had it tied up in a messy style with a Casa Blanca flower. All of the colours of our wedding, be it clothing or even nail polish, were inspired by the setting, primarily I worked with beige and greys.

Schlk van Zyl made my dress in Bloemfontein.

An inspiration for the design of the dress was the Casa Blanca Lily (a sentimental flower Theoniel always buys for me). It was to be soft and flowing. It had to be able to handle the wind, so the dress was made up of hundreds of panels of raw cut chiffon fraying on the edges.

The only jewellery I wore were earrings made of bone (from the shop Memories). I didn't want to go with jewellery that was very dainty, it still had to look appropriate on the beach, after all I wasn't getting married in a church.

My mother in law made my bridesmaids and flower girls' dresses which were all really beautiful, natural and flowing, really perfect. I had two shades of greys for the bridesmaids, inspired by the natural surroundings. Theoniel's suit was bought at Options and the best men wore beige trousers paired with a white shirt and the same sneaker shoes as Theoniel (bought from Memories).

We chose Pasternoster Lodge for our wedding venue because we fell in love with the exquisite atmosphere. We had wooden chairs on the beach with paper umbrellas for our guests leading up to a timber structure with bunting (made from the left over bridesmaid's material) under which we got married. My aunt played the accordion while I walked down the rocky path to Theoniel. After our service we had a bread table and drinks on the beach, which gave us time to mingle with our guests before going off to take our couple portraits.

I wanted our guests to experience the West Coast at its best. So all the decisions were based on that concept. The food was no exception. The starter was mussels in a creamy source, mains was grilled hake and a chip with veg. Dessert was chocolate cupcakes and chocolate balls. Our tables had red, white wine and champagne, but our favourite was the tequila on ice!

Our DIY project was lazer cutting our invitations and table name tags. Theoniel and I, with the help of our friends, made the wedding invites, table name tags and candle logs for our tables. Our invite was the most intimately designed to represent our relationship. The invite was made up of letters which with the help of a key spelt the words dream, love, wine, play, dine and travels.

My advice would be to realize that you are marring your best friend on a day where you are surrounded by your friends and family that love you. And that is amazing!

We chose Jules Morgan as our photographer, because we loved her portfolio. She has a fantastic talent in taking natural and spontaneous photos which is exactly what we wanted as we knew that they would reflect our wedding perfectly.

You can find Jules listed in our International: South Africa section of The Love Lust List. She also covers the United Kingdom.

Photography by Jules Morgan
Venue Paternoster Lodge | Shoes Aldo | Wedding Decor Bedazzled from Vredenburg.