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Isra Gown – Christine & Grant

COUPLE’S NAMES

Christine Kopsch-Mogg and Grant Kopsch-Mogg

 

Wedding Date

21 September 2019

 

LOCATION

Babylonstoren – I (Christine) had always wanted to get married in a garden. When Mogg and I got engaged he asked me what I pictured when I pictured my dream wedding. He told me he would do anything to give me anything that I wanted, he is always that way. I told him I wanted to get married at Babylonstoren, we went there for a weekend to show my parents and explore – it was perfect.

 

GUEST TOTAL

98

 

PHOTOGRAPHER

Love Made Visible – I absolutely love their style of photography and they are just the most lovely people. There are so few posed and formal pictures. They take photos of relationships and connections between people. Both Mogg and I don’t enjoy having photos taken of us and they make it so easy. Our wedding photos are absolutely perfect, it has been over a month and I spend hours looking at them, you can actually see how much I love him. The photos not only show how much we love each other but they showcase how beautiful and dear to us everyone who was at the wedding is. And what a beautiful day it was.

 

WEDDING DRESS

My dress is the ISRA gown by Bo and Luca. It was my dream dress- it’s perfect, so comfortable and lovely. I felt so beautiful.

 

BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES

The bridesmaid’s dresses are from Forever New, I actually bought the dress for myself and wore it to a family event, my mom and mother-in-law commented that it would be perfect for the bridesmaids and we decided to go back and get for everyone. My best friend Matthew (who was also a bridesmaid) wore Country Road.

 

WEDDING THEME

Our wedding didn’t have a theme. We wanted a small wedding with the people we love the most (which turned out to be a lot of people). We didn’t want a big party, we wanted a family lunch vibe, a celebration of how much we love each other and how much we love our people. We chose white flowers and decor, we wanted everything to be organic and clean, with flowers and flora from the Babylonstoren gardens. The food was all seasonal and picked from the garden. Our stationery, wedding website and the most beautiful original artwork for the wedding was done by the most wonderful Maria Magdalena Campbell, she gave us so much advice and time and put so much care into our wedding. It was so special.

 

WEDDING RINGS

My engagement ring is a diamond halo ring from Browns, in 18k yellow gold, our wedding bands are 18k yellow gold, also from Browns, with our surname ‘kopsch-mogg’ engraved in the inside of the band. I have not stopped staring at my engagement ring for a year and a half. My Mogg chose it and he nailed it.

 

WEDDING FAVOURS

We gave our guests mesh veggie bags from Reusables and Such. I absolutely love the bags, they make veggie shopping so easy – I have them in my car and handbag and everywhere around the house – I never have to use plastic bags when I’m shopping and I wanted to share them with the guests.

 

WEDDING FLOWERS

Our florist is exquisite, Pippa from Wildeflower Studio. She understood that for me the flowers were the most important part of the wedding’s aesthetic. She worked together with the team at Babylonstoren and created the most beautiful florals for us – it rained the whole day and they brought the garden inside. I love white roses and cotton plants and greenery, we had these beautiful clouds of flowers hanging over our table, and a garden path of flora and florals down the aisle. Our wedding arch was wild and beautiful and we are so grateful for how beautiful it was. Just perfect for us. My bouquet was unbelievable – it was a surprise and had the most beautiful jasmine and limes and smelled just amazing.

 

WEDDING CAKE

Our cake was by LionHeart Patisserie Studio in Cape Town. The cake was a vegan vanilla sponge cake with a whipped lemon curd filling and a lemon swiss meringue buttercream frosting. I know it was delicious because I admit I ordered like 3 practice cakes, and I am so glad I did because it was finished by the time I was finished greeting all the guests! We chose to have the cake straight after the ceremony with champagne. It was a 3 tier cake with flowers and everyone LOVED it.

 

FOOD & BEVERAGES

We started with cake and champagne and then sat down to lunch. We are both vegetarians and it was super important to us that we had a completely vegetarian meal. Babylonstoren was amazing, if you’ve eaten there you’ll understand. The food was so good, starting with salads in their yellow, green and red styles. Which were fresh and crunchy and seasonal and amazing. We specially requested the risotto, which they did with citrus-infused leek and asparagus. There were also halloumi and vegetables from the garden, as well as herbed baby potatoes. The dessert was white chocolate and bay leaf scented creme brûlée. The meal was just everything. I’ve had such lovely feedback, it was brilliant. Our wine was from Babylonstoren. My fave wines. We ate at one long table for 98 people and it was communal and lovely and so together.

 

HONEYMOON

We went to Baraza Resort and Spa in Zanzibar. We spent an entire week reading and laying together in the sun and eating these incredible salads. We were totally wrapped up in each other.

 

GIFTS REGISTRY

We didn’t have a registry, we really were just so grateful people were coming to the wedding. Of course, people are so generous and lovely – so many people gave us money that they actually covered our honeymoon costs and I even got to buy a mixer that I have wanted for at least 10 years with the leftover money. So amazing. The first thing I did was buy the online instructions on how to make the swiss meringue buttercream from LionHeart, to recreate some of the amazing cake – mine was nowhere near as good of course, but it was awesome. We are so lucky and blessed.

 

MEMORABLE MOMENT

We are so grateful. The wedding was perfect honestly. We had exactly what we wanted, my mom and stepdad, Bill, gave us everything we wanted. My amazing mother-in-law shared the flower costs with me. We are so blessed. My most memorable moment was exchanging vows and rings, I love my husband so much. So much joy. Our friends and family are so important to us and it was so perfect to spend the day with them. I would not know how to advise people getting married further, but what I had was support and that was essential. I did away with a lot of the traditional aspects of a wedding, we are not religious and my stepfather did our ceremony, it was so beautiful to have someone who loved us speak to and for us. We requested that we didn’t have formal speeches, so Mogg and I spoke together to our guests, to thank them and express our love for them and each other. It was so great. We chose the best possible venue for us and every tiny detail was taken care of by them, our vendors and my mom. I had no stress at all, I worked nights the whole week before the wedding and my mom fixed any issue. It was absolutely pouring the day of the wedding and of course, it was meant to be outside, but we knew it was going to rain a few days earlier – my mom sorted everything. It was so special.

 

I think the best thing that I could say would be if you choose to have a wedding, do exactly what you would love, don’t do things just because it’s expected or because someone else thinks you should. Be respectful of others, always. But please don’t do something you don’t want because you feel like you have to. A wedding is a physical manifestation of marriage and relationship and it should be authentic and honest. I am so happy I got to marry my Mogg, he’s my hero and the love of my life. I think marriage can be a limiting idea, but for me, it has been so freeing and it is so cool to be married to him. Also, try to stay calm and be grateful for everything, have the best time and let go of small issues.

 

VENDORS & SUPPLIERS

Venue: Babylonstoren

 

Florist: Wildeflower Studio

 

Photographer: Love Made Visible

 

Cake: LionHeart Patisserie Studio

 

Dress: Bo and Luca

 

Stationary and original artwork: Maria Magdalena

 

Makeup: Marli Makeup