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My Eco Wedding in Africa

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Real Weddings






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.

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.



Melissa and Charles’ Eco Wedding

Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.


I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid at Melissa and Charles’ eco wedding.  They live on a farm in Plettenberg Bay and had their wedding ceremony and reception there.  The ceremony was held in a valley on the farm, which resonated like a natural amphitheatre.  She wore a beautiful green strapless dress and the rest of the bridesmaids wore beige and green.  We were able to use our own dresses but had to stick to the colour scheme of beige and green.  Melissa came down the hill on her favourite horse and the bridesmaids were lead by a man playing a flute.  A Buddhist ceremony and a pagan ceremony where performed and a joyous “tying of the knot” was witnessed by family and friends. 

The reception was held in a draped tent, that had been hired for the occasion and barn tables with benches were adorned with daisies and Blue Felicia’s (an indigenous daisy like flower, found in the Eastern Cape).  Melissa borrowed vases and jugs from family and friends.  A feast of organic salads and breads were followed by steak and chicken and chocolate cupcakes. 

The conversation flowed as did the wine and the food that just kept coming.  It was fabulous and unashamedly eco. 

Some pictures from Melissa and Charles’ wedding




Schoone Oordt  - Swellendam, Western Cape


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We've also been VERY anxiously awaiting Julie & Matt's wedding pictures... Aren't they beautiful? They were taken by Jules Morgan. Those of you that remember our family picture that's displayed in the conservatory - same photographer - have a look at her site...www.julesmorganweddings.com


Julie & Matt got married on the 3rd January this year under a white canopy on our lush green grass. I say, lush, because we spent weeks before the wedding tending to it daily! It became my pet project. They invited 20 of their closest friends and family to spend the day and evening with them here. All of the guests kicked their shoes off to merrily feast out of country-style picnic baskets sitting on beautifully crafted quilts made by Julie's mom. Actually Oscar, our dog, joined them quite happily and found a quilt all of his own... It was an exquisite wedding, one I will always remember and I can honestly say that Julie & Matt have become fast friends.



They had these amazing words to say about us... “Quite simply Schoone Oordt is beautiful. The attention to detail is amazing. The rooms are stunning, elegant and calm. Every detail is just perfect. Prepare yourself for the most amazing breakfast, beautifully prepared fresh food with real thought behind it (I don't think that you will find a better one anywhere). This has been achieved with love, enthusiasm, passion and pure talent from Alison and Richard. These lovely people have created the perfect Guest House. They are true professionals when it comes to hospitality and events. We cannot recommend Schoone Oordt highly enough. Whether you visit for just one night or book this beautiful house and grounds for an event, you won't be disappointed.”





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