It all started with a very small square of a coral animal print design… And the rest is history.

When I started thinking of putting together our vow renewal celebration, I had always dreamed of working with Wendy from Indigo & Ivory Designs and Joelene and Rowena from Oh Happy Day. I have known these ladies both online and in real life for years, we often keep in touch and I have always admired their beautiful work and magical way of bringing the most beautiful events to life – and they are the most incredible women too.

Stationery

Wends and I have been online friends for years and I am always blown away by her creative talent (and her shoe collection!) When I got in touch with her for our starting point – our invitation, she just got me, from the get go. I sent her the smallest animal print design and she worked her magic and brought our bush celebration stationery to life. I sent a list of simple items we were looking for to help our guests navigate the few days and make the already amazing bush setting pop with colour – and we were blown away with all our beautiful stationery.

Wendy produced the most beautiful digital and printed invitations, order of ceremony lollipops, personalised notecards, table place names, menus, ceremony sign, game vehicle sign, bar and food signs, sanitising stickers and bottles. Simple, elegant and so beautiful.

Wendy is the most remarkable woman to work with – she worked quickly and efficiently, presented three different options for each design and made the minimal changes we needed so quickly. She just knew exactly which designs and styles suited us as a couple, so perfectly. It is one thing to see our beautiful designs in digital format but to see it in print is next level… Not only does Wendy work on all the designs and print but she makes up wooden and perspex items too. And she surprised us with the most beautiful sanitising station too.

I love how our coral animal print has become our new signature print, and we had the most amazing desktop print collab for the month of November.

Decor, Flowers and Set up

Funny story – Joelene was at our wedding ten years. She was dating one of MC’s school friends and it was very special having her be a part of our ten year celebration too. Jo and I have met up a few times to chat all things creative. and we have worked together on smaller events before. We have joked for years that one day when it was our ten years, we would work together again. And what a blessing that we got to make it happen…

Jo and I met for coffee, I mentioned a few ideas and a small budget – and she made this magic happen. That is quite literally how it went. I trust Jo’s creativity and style with my whole being, and along with our custom animal print, she brought everything else to life. I loved that we got to use the natural colours in the bush but with a pop of my favourite coral, and that we got to use the Everlast dried flowers that are all the rage – I love the dried look, perfect for the bush and allowed us to pop in some colour too.

Our original plan/dream was to have a bush ceremony and dinner out under the african skies but unfortunately, the heavens opened a few days before we arrived and it rained for a solid week. But that didn’t stop anything but one or two game drives. We were fortunate that the lodge had the space and a beautiful setting to accommodate our ceremony outside but undercover and a beautiful dinner in the lodge. I love how the lodge furniture and decor were the perfect backdrop, and added to the little pockets of decor we had added.

In and amongst the torrential downpour, “Jo and Ro” took the reigns and made all the decisions, worked with the lodge and did absolutely everything – whilst I was blissfully unaware and enjoying the intimate moments with friends and family. These two ladies organised and set up everything, made it all happen and look out of this world without any stress or pressure to me or our guests. I am so grateful for all that they did, all that they are to me and the blessing they are to everyone they meet and work with. You two are a powerful duo!

One of my love languages is gifts and one of my greatest strengths is giving. There was no way I was going to let the celebrations go by without gifting our special friends and family with a few goodies and spoils. We organised a little welcome box in everyone’s rooms with a touch of the bush and our special day. Included in the box were:

Personalised enamel bush mugs (filled with mocha-choca-rula – coffee, hot chocolate and Amarula – Phinda’s favourite morning drink on game drives): Derek – Remember Promo

Personalised key ring tags: Cassandra – Tags by Elysian

Personalised name biscuits: Gen – Artful Biscuit Co

Animal print and black masks: Robynne – Mask It

Hand sanitiser: Clean Hands Sanitiser

Biltong snacks: Shane – Afrika’s Sushi

Personalised notecard: Wendy – Indigo & Ivory Designs

Boxes: Pack Now

Ribbon: Ribbon King

Suppliers

Stationery: Indigo & Ivory Designs

Decor, flowers and set up: Oh Happy Day

Photography: Vanilla Photography

Venue: Phinda Mountain Lodge

Ribbon: Ribbon King

Cake topper: Hello Cool Designs

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