Constance and Ferdi tied the knot at the spectacular Allee Bleue estate, just outside Franschoek, on the most perfect of spring days. Those not so new to the blog might recall their engagement shoot from a few weeks back — shot at the same awesome location. As part of my prep for that shoot I scouted a couple of locations before Constance and Ferdi arrived and found some loooooovely orchards (and man-eating, killer squirrels, but that’s a different story altogether). I also found the smallest of hints of what was to come… just one small little white flower. The trees were just about to bloom, or so I figured, not being a botanist of any great acclaim! Nevertheless I made a wild, completely unscientific estimate of blooming times for unspecified trees with white blossoms and decided that we would have perfect white blossoms everywhere, just in time for the big day – and then marked the spot with a big mental X in the back of my mind!

The weeks flew by and on rolled the wedding. My Secret Orchard was somewhat secluded – about 3 days on horseback from the main venue… Bear Grills would no doubt have needed to drink his own urine on the way over there… But apart from simply being “far”, the distance also meant that I wasn’t going to get there and check it out before our couple shoot, so I had no way of knowing whether my botanical stab in the dark had been even remotely close to the mark. Only thing to do was hope for the best and then take Constance and Ferdi on a roundabout trip of shooting locations, each one slightly further into the woods and edging ever so slightly closer to where I hoped to discover the awesomeness of an entire orchard dressed in white… either that, or a witch’s house made entirely of candy! As it turned out, the sun was just about to set behind the mountains and we were nearing the end of the shoot. We had walked about as far one could ask of a bride in full bridal attire – which doesn’t include hiking boots – when I caught a glimpse of the orchard around the next bend. IN! FULL! BLOOM!

I nearly pee’d my pants!

anyhoo… was my first shoot with white blossoms, OK! so I was just a little excited – gimme a break! But the excitement didn’t stop me from noticing that Constance looked an absolute vision and Ferdi was as relaxed and fun as he was when we did their engagement shoot… so it all made for a great day — Great couple (cause I always have the best couples! touch wood!), great weather, yummy food, stunning venue, guests who had a BALL on the dance floor and those awesome white blossoms. YAY!

Thanks to Natelee Koen for assisting me and Jaypee Malherbe for doing such top notch make-up work! Nice one!