What a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in, why it's almost like being in love... Even though our cheeks eventually began to hurt, we continued smiling anyway - we couldn't help it! It's just been such a wonderful day.
I sat on the deck outside our room watching the landscape turn pink in the sunrise while waiting for my hair to dry in the light breeze. As it was the morning of our wedding, I didn't want to wake Kev too early again and have him be sleep deprived on the most important day of our lives. A small klipspringer darted into the rocks that hide our room from the rest, startled by the approaching staff member who delivers a flask of hot water to each room in the morning. I woke kevin with a hot cup of coffee, a kiss, and a suggestion that he look up at the view through the mosquito net of our tent. His response was 'wow' - three little letters that say so much more than all my writing ever could.
After their long journey, my entourage wanted to sleep late too, so I waited until Nicole arrived to let me know that my gran was ready to start on my hair. The Sidler tent was still silent, with only Janice up photographing bugs. Kevin kicked the rest of his family out of bed when he came down a few minutes later to photograph my gran putting curlers in my hair and nicole doing my makeup. My dad, the last to rise, only showed up when breakfast was served. But unlike the other vehicles where everyone takes turns driving, Tammy's spent the trip down reading, so my dad's been left to play chauffer. I can imagine that he's a bit worn out.
No matter how exhausted, though, breakfast was not a meal anyone planned on missing. They served warm bread and hot tea at the table and spread out a small buffet of yoghurt, cereals, pastries, cold meats, cheeses, and (my favourite) fruit salad. Most brides don't find the time to eat until their evening reception, and even then they are too busy socializing to eat much, but I enjoyed a light breakfast and delicious lunch with dessert in the early afternoon.
During the rest of the morning, Kevin and his parents went off with my dad and gran to scout for the best spots to take photos, while Tammy gave me a pedicure and painted my toenails in the french style with white tips. It didn't take long, though, for me to start scuffing them, so we got Janice to take photos of my toes before I destroyed all Tammy's hard work. Before our lunch of bringel and tomato stacks and vanilla mousse with fruit for dessert, I jumped onto the open gamedrive vehicle with the scouting team to help choose a spot for the ceremony. My gran covered my curlers with a shower cap, but it still felt as though my hair would blow away, so I hung onto it tight. We went to look at a few potential sites, but finally settled on Hard Rock Cafe. It would be the most practical for my grandmother, who couldn't really scramble around with all that titanium in her back, and it also showed off two of the landscape features that make this area so unique: the wide, open veld, and the clusters of boulders.
Surprisingly, my curls came out remarkably well despite the windy blow drying - better than any of the trials we've done so far, in fact. Luckily, my dress still fit, even though we've been eating so much since leaving South Africa, and Kevin (who hadn't seen it yet) was taken aback by how beautiful I looked - a nice feeling. :)
Our wedding has been anything but conventional. Many brides don't even see their husbands until the ceremony, and even fewer are actually photographed by their grooms. As Kevin set up the self-timer for a family photo, Wolwedans provided us with our first surprise. The owner, Stephan, arrived with his camera to ensure that the ceremony went ahead without a hitch. A keen photographer himself, he took over from Kevin, saying 'well, this is a first...' Apparently, it's a first in many respects. For one, it's the biggest wedding they've ever hosted. Normally, they're only visited by the bride and groom - maybe two witnesses. Our guide, John, said that this was also the first white wedding here, where everyone dressed up and the bride wore a wedding dress that had a train. They've never had a wedding out at Boulders either, so I'm feeling very unique right now.
Stephan's enthusiasm was very motivating. While our wedding party may have been a bit overwhelmed and reserved thus far, excitement built quickly as we headed off to the dunes. The staff had beautifully decorated the gamedrive vehicle with gold ribbons and bouquets of grass. Cameras clicked away as we took additional shots in the veld and among the rock formations. Being quite familiar with the landscape and having an artistic eye, Stephan took over the shoot. I've seen one so far and it's stunning. But I'm sure there'll be many more!
