Karin Hagg and Marlon Dale: Thula Thula Wildlife Preserve
Photographer:
Larissa Cleveland
Phone: 408.306.2080
Basic Wedding Info:
Couples' Names: Karin Haag & Marlon Dale
Hometown: New York, NY Wedding
Date: October 25, 2008 Wedding
Location: Thula Thula Private Game Reserve, Zululand, South Africa
Wedding Theme and Colors: Theme was elegant spring safari. Colors where white and grass green
Eco-Elements of the wedding:
The couple gave fever-tree seedlings for guest favors. Marlon's sister Simone works for Indigenous Trees for Life, a charity group that helps local children grow and sell trees. This not only helps the environment, but also the local community. More info about the organization below...
Indigenous Trees For Life
Indigenous Trees For Life is a livelihoods programme that helps poor and vulnerable members of our township and rural communities to grow a future for themselves. Wildlands Conservation Trust facilitators teach individuals in these communities how to grow indigenous trees from seed and care for the plants until they reach a certain height. These individuals are referred to as ‘tree-preneurs’. The trees are then traded back to Wildlands for food, clothes, bicycles, agricultural goods and tools, school and university fees. The trees are then either planted back into the communities or planted out in Wildlands’ forest restoration projects. The programme was started in 2004 in KwaJobe in northern Zululand with just 300 tree-preneurs. There are currently over 2 500 tree-preneurs, spread across 20 communities in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Gauteng, who grow around 300 000 indigenous trees per annum.
More information: http://www.wildlands.co.za/Programmes_TreesForLife_Map.aspx#overview
Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb2c82gx_WY&feature=player_embedded
Planning Details:
Bride's Attire (designer/label): Monique Lhuillier
Groom's Attire (designer/label): Armani suit, Vilebrequin linen shirt
Flowers: Althea Higham & Jane Whitby of Dream Themes
Entertainment: Richard Anderson
Photographer: Larissa Cleveland
Invitations: Lisa Frey, Bella Carta Studio
Honeymoon Plans: Nicci Young-Wiese, Young Safaris
Wedding Details:
How did you choose your wedding location?
Although we live in the US, Marlon is South African. We met when I was on safari 5 years earlier. He was one of the game rangers. The bush is where we met and fell in love, so it seemed the perfect setting for our wedding. We wanted a venue that had a real "bushveld" feel, was malaria free for guests with young children, and had amazing food. Thula Thula fit the bill perfectly!
How many attendees did you have? 40
Best idea you had in planning your destination wedding?
The best idea in terms of logistics was the game drive after the ceremony. I wanted to attend the cocktail hour, but was not sure how to occupy the guests while we took photos after the ceremony. Marlon suggested sending them on a game drive. It was perfect! We even sent them out with individual bottles of champagne!
Flowers:
My bouquet was white flowers (roses, lilies & lisianthus) along with a sprinkling of green herbs (rosemary and dill)- a tribute to my love of gardening and cooking.
Ceremony Site:
We chose to have the ceremony on the edge of the bush at the game reserve. The setting was so stunning that I could not imagine trying to compete with the natural beauty with arranged flowers. We lined the aisle with a deep pile of white rose petals. After the ceremony the spectacular
florists and staff from Thula Thula picked up all the petals and scattered them between the lumieria to ring the reception site.
Reception Site:
We had one long dinner table under a group of trees. The table was set with white phalaenopsis orchids in clear glass pots, grasses, balls of pale green flowers and individual pale green orchids on the menus at each place setting. We also had enormous white pearlized helium filled balloons floating over the table and in the swimming pool. On the cocktail tables the florists made stunning garlands of white flowers that matched my bouquet. The flowers were amazing. They were everything I dreamed of and the florists had to drive over 6 miles of very bumpy unpaved roads with a car full of glass hurricanes and assorted vases to get to the game reserve.
Food:
Thula Thula is run by a South African man and his French wife. She oversees the kitchen staff and they are known for their wonderful food. We wanted an elegant meal with a South African flair. We served a five course dinner that lasted for hours! In the South African tradition, speeches were give between the courses by the father of the groom, sister of the bride (Standing in for the father of the bride), best man and groom. The master of ceremonies also read out emails from overseas guests who were not able to attend.
Menu: Chilled Fresh Tomato and Basil Soup with Avocado Sorbet Ratatouille and Polenta Crumble Seafood Creole Vol au Vent
Rare Venison Medallions on Sweet Potato Cake, Served with Red Wine and Bacon Reduction
or Three Cheese and Pesto Feuillete Mini Mud Cakes with Chocolate Ganache Filling and Fudge Icing
Favors:
As favors we gave out local fever trees. They were small seedlings that we bought from Wildlands Conservation Trust, a local charity that Simone, the grooms sister, works for. A description of the program is below. The trees were in small terra cotta pots stamped with the same "KM" monogram we used on our wedding invitations. The pots were commissioned through a local potter.
Indigenous Trees For Life
The objective of Indigenous Trees for Life is to establish a sustainable livelihoods programme that significantly contributes to the restoration of the regions forest eco-systems and the sequestration of CO2. Indigenous Trees for Life is centred around a network of ‘tree-preneurs’, usually orphaned and vulnerable children, who grow indigenous trees to support their livelihoods. The children then barter the trees for food, clothes, bicycles and other necessities the Trust secures through corporate donations. The trees are then planted out in urban greening projects or forest restoration carbon sinks.
The initiation of these pilot carbon sink initiatives heralds a new era for the programme as these carbon sinks may not only provide for the long term sustainability of the programme, but also underwrite the programmes contribution to biodiversity conservation and the mitigation of climate change.
There are currently around 1400 tree-preneurs in 18 communities around the KwaZulu-Natal who will grow more than 200 000 trees in the next season.
