Megan and Justin are from Johannesburg. Their enchanting fairy lights wedding was a wonderland of pastel pinks, lilacs, mint green and soft yellow. It created a dreamy, romantic undertone for their winter wedding at Thornbirds conference and wedding centre, warming up the white fairy lights which draped their reception so perfectly. Open image photography captured the details and emotion of the day.

Megan created all the stationery by hand including invites, name tags, table numbers and loads of pretty, pastel origami birds which made such a statement during their ceremony! "Burgers are our favourite food so we had mini sliders made with food flags saying yum or pick me - very us! Our favourite drink is coke, so we had our centerpieces displayed on coca cola boxes." Megan is obsessed with sweets, so a candy station with all her favourite sweets was a must!

This couple and their delightful fairy lights wedding certainly made our day sparkle!

Enchanting Fairy Lights Wedding

We've known each other since we were very little. We're very similar in ways that bring us close together and different in other ways which simply makes us work better. We fell in love after my matric dance, and three years later he proposed on my 21st birthday. He took me all over town. He took me for breakfast at a cute little place with family and then whisked me off to different places including a local neighbour goods market and mini adventure golf. Finally we landed up at a farm where we had a bite to eat. He said he wanted to go for a walk around the dam. On the walk I started noticing rose petals and candles leading up to a tree decorated with Chinese lanterns, blankets and flowers. By the time I realised what was happening he was already on one knee. I can't lie and say I heard everything he said! Being in complete shock due to the fact that I hadn't caught on to his plans, combined with amazing setting and beautiful birds, I just knew to say yes! Our bridesmaids each had different coloured floor length wrap dresses to match the pastel palette, with babies breath bouquets which I made myself to suit our vintage theme. They wore their hair up in wrapped side-braid upstyles, to show off the asymmetrical sleeve details of their gowns. For my bouquet I wanted something oversized and beautiful in all the different pastel colours of the wedding. My bouquet was made from a mixture of roses, tulips, stocks, and babies breath, tied together with the perfect lace and hessian ribbon I had found. I wore an ivory dress with a mermaid cut and a sweet heart neckline. The bodice had stunning lace detailing with slight hints of gold in the lace. I loved the sparkle and pearl detailing on the sweetheart neckline. The train flared out just enough. I added a skinny belt to the bodice to create more shape and flair. I chose a waterfall braid that pulled some hair back, allowing the detailing of my head band band to pop. I wore a smokey eye with soft pink lipgloss - all very natural and soft hair to suit my personal style. My groom looked amazing in his slim-fitted navy suit with a white shirt and a matching navy tie. To me there's nothing more dashing than a man in navy suit! He wore a pastel pink boutonnière with babies breath.
The groomsmen all wore light grey suits with black. They each had a pastel rose and twine buttonhole to match the wedding flowers. I had matching hessian and lace carpets made as aisle runners and front of the chapel to completely transform the chapel. Fresh pastel flowers and some chalk board stands with cute sayings like Mr and Mrs. Love added to the ambience. The altar we kept simple with two wooden boxes of beautiful flowers that included hydrangeas . Flowers we kept somewhat minimal. Beautiful handmade white wrought iron stands held buckets of pastel flowers, alternating with hanging vases in handmade hessian and lace wraps.

Ever since I can remember all I wanted to decorate my wedding ceremony was a roof full of origami birds, and that's exactly what we had! Click To Tweet

I walked down the aisle to Ellie Goulding's 'How long will I love you'. The words suited the moment so beautifully.

Instead of a unity candle we chose to tie a unity rope, which is now hanging on our wall at home. Click To Tweet

My favourite part of our wedding reception were the fairylights. The roof was quite low so I chose to have hundreds of strings of wedding fairylights hanging along the roof. This gave it a magical fairytale feel but also gave it a warm look, considering that in may South Africa is quite chilly. The draping behind my main table was also stunning and made my dress sparkle.

Twinkling Fairy Lights Wedding Reception

For our seating chart I had an old vintage ladder made to which we tied twine. We pegged each table's seating card to the twine. The tables of our fairy lights wedding were decorated with alternating styles of centre pieces. Some were birdcages with flowers in them and others were small vintage white candelabras with pink candles. All the tables had their centre pieces on a set of coke crates with vintage books and loads of smaller flower arrangements and candles around.

I wanted a lot of flowers to tone down the brown hessian runners and the wooden coke crates, with many candles creating a warm romantic atmosphere.

I made the napkin details from hessian and lace with different pastel coloured buttons in a twine bow. To soften the hessian and add colour I punched heart confetti from left over origami bird paper. This was sprinkled on the runners throughout our fairy lights wedding.

I had a LOVE marquee sign placed in front of the main table to be in the first dance photos. Click To Tweet And I had a large one for outside as well. Wedding Planning Advice: Wedding Vendors + Suppliers:

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