Since Anita and I started planning our wedding last year we were faced with challenges from the get go! Homophobic behaviour, trying to find an affordable wedding venue that allows outside catering and many more shit things we had to get through. This is not going to be a BITCH session though. This blog post is a CELEBRATION about amazing people and the generosity that brought me to tears.
We decided for our wedding we were going to book through the City of Cape Town and use the Alphen Hall in Constantia. We paid our deposit early in the year and all was well. It was the perfect spot for what we wanted to accomplish with our wedding. They have a beautiful outside area where we were going to have the ceremony, a beautiful stoop for drinks afterward, a lovely open park for photographs and a hall to celebrate and dance the night away as a newly married couple. However all our dreams where shattered when we received a phone call to say that they can no longer accommodate our wedding? We were also asked to refer to clause 14 where it states that The City of Cape Town can cancel your event with 48hrs notice – and no reason!
Of course I jumped on the phone to my mom and cried my heart out. I was not angry, I was so so devastated. We had booked our caterers, photographer and our decor for inside and outside with the venue specs in mind. My mother was obviously just as devastated as we were. Find a wedding venue was hard enough, to go through that process again so close to the wedding seemed almost impossible! My mom reminded me that everything happens for a reason and good would come of it. I half heartedly believed her.
When I started planning our wedding I joined a group on Facebook called “Your Wedding Second Hand”. It is a group where brides and grooms can ask advice, voice opinions, sell products and generally just receive support. I love this group and the people on it- and found it so helpful.
After the anger settled I decided to WARN brides on the group about the clause on the contracts so that no one else was caught off guard and another wedding was ruined. The whole cancellation came about when I sent an email to enquire about how much money was still owed and referred to my fiancé Anita.
I received tons of messages about brides and suppliers that were totally shocked about what had happened to me. People I don’t know from a bar of soap offered to help find new venues, offered legal advice and moral support. That in itself was overwhelming. In today’s day and age it is very difficult to find people who care who are not your friends or your family. The feed soon escalated to over 50 comments, but what happened next had me in tears in the middle of a work day. (Good tears not sad ones.)
A lady by the name of Linda who owns a company called OH SO PRETTY PLANNING (http://ohsoprettyplanning.com/) offered her wedding planning services FREE of charge. She was so upset by what had happened to us and feels strongly about weddings and it being a very sacred and special day, no matter what creed or colour. I know from planning my wedding and receiving numerous quotes that wedding planning does not come cheap. Linda from the bottom of my heart – Anita and I would like to thank you for your generous offer. You are an angel. Ladies and gents if you need help planning your special day be sure to get hold of Linda. I can tell she will make sure your special day is FLAWLESS!
My wedding photographer Leigh-Anne Oosthuizen from L.A Photography (https://www.facebook.com/laphoto.co.za?fref=ts&ref=br_tf); who does the most amazing natural photography; offered to do an engagement shoot for us FREE of charge! People where generally just so amazing! It made the whole situation with The City (Shity) of Cape Town so much more bearable.
A lady by the name of Tammy Haylock from Touche’ (https://www.facebook.com/Toucheperfection?fref=ts) kindly offered to do our makeup on the day. I was sitting at work with tears rolling down my cheek because people were just being so generous and GREAT! It has been a long time since I experienced such sincere concern and generosity from others. I felt this warm fuzzy feeling in my heart and if my heart had a face it would have a massive smile on it!
Glynne Hartzenberg was kind enough to offer me her wedding shoes (if only my fat foot could fit into a size 4). She then told her husband the story who has offered his service as a graphic designer to make our wedding invitations. His company is called Behance. (https://www.behance.net/gallery/23281275/Printed-wedding-invitations)
All you angels will never truly know how deeply you have touched our hearts. You people are single handedly responsible for restoring my faith in humanity. Thank you for accepting Anita and I for who we are – A couple so in love with each other that we cannot wait to celebrate our love for each other with our family and friends.
There may be a bunch of assholes in this world – but there are WAY more angels.
Lots of Love & Light
The Nitas
xoxoxox
Lesbehonest 