Romantic Boho Wedding by Vanilla Photography | SouthBound Bride

Romantic Boho Wedding by Vanilla Photography | SouthBound Bride

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After a month of boho goodness, it seems only appropriate to close March out with a wedding that has a beautiful boho element to it, and Marisa and Anees' is just that and so much more! From the sparkly table linens to the lush flowers and the gorgeous ceremony arch, it has romance written all over it, and then that little hint of bohemian chill in the form of a teepee breakout area and the bride's reception style. I LOVE IT. And what makes this one extra special for me is hearing the couple's incredible love story - talk about happy accidents conspiring to bring two people together! Marisa is actually a wedding photographer herself in the US, so it's no wonder that beautiful images were an important part of her South African wedding, and she put them in the very capable and talented hands of Vanilla Photography - with perfect results.

Love Story
Marisa's Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio, USA - Anees' Hometown: Cape Town, South Africa - Distance between the two cities: 11,693 km
We met a little less than two years ago in San Diego, California. Anees had been transferred from Cape Town to San Francisco for a four month work stint. After his contract ended, he and a couple of friends had planned on doing a road trip from San Francisco down the coast of California. They ended up in San Diego. Separately, Marisa had flown to Los Angeles from Cleveland. She'd been visiting with some friends and they decided to take a two hour trip down to San Diego and stay over for a night. That was the night we met.... at a bar called Barley Mash. We'd found out that both of us were going to a three-day music festival out in the Californian desert, Coachella. We hung out for three straight days, before Anees continued to Cancun, San Francisco and eventually Cape Town, and Marisa eventually flew back to Ohio. Fast forward a month and a half later, and Anees had packed his life into two suitcases and was moving to Cleveland!

The Proposal Anees had always known that Marisa had never wanted a big, public proposal. One Saturday, Marisa was giving a talk to about 100 or so women who were on a Christian retreat. The contents of her talk included how God had been working little miracles in her life over the last two years, including the chance meeting of Anees in San Diego and his willingness to move across the world to be with her. Anees was in the midst of his busiest time at work and working on Saturdays was a regular occurrence, but unbeknownst to her, he had managed to get this Saturday off work. He'd also managed to recruit one of Marisa's good photographer and videographer friends to document what was about to happen. Anees had prepared a little movie trailer and snuck into the venue to listen to Marisa's talk. As part of her presentation, Marisa had chosen a song to play after she'd finished speaking, to sum up everything she'd spoken about. Instead of a song being played, the video Anees had prepped began to play. At first Marisa was confused as to what was happening, but the jig was up when she saw Anees walking in from the back of the venue to the podium she was presenting from. Flowers in hand, he walked up to her, said a couple of words, dropped down to his knee (to the collective gasp of all women) and asked his best friend and soul mate for her hand in marriage.... She said yes. (So much for not big or public!)

You can see more from this wedding on Vanilla Photography's blog.

SERVICE PROVIDERS
Ceremony & Reception Venue and Catering: Nooitgedacht Wine Estate, Stellenbosch | Photographer: Vanilla Photography | Co-ordinator & Stationery: Event Affairs | Videographer: FJS Videography | Cake: Sweet Cakes, Cape Town - Wilna van der Westhuizen | Flowers & décor: Botanica Flowers | Bride's dress: Martina Liana Bridal | Hair & makeup: Yolande Du Toit | Groom's attire: Hugo Boss | Hiring: Event Affairs | DJ: Event Affairs

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