Meet the bride of our Rhebokskloof Wedding of the Month, Micaela Pym-Maeyer! Micaela Pym was looking for wedding venues in the Cape Winelands that offered beautiful views and interiors that would perfectly match their wedding theme. Their wedding was filled with beautiful green and earthy pastels that reflected Rhebokskloof’s soft coloured landscapes in Autumn.

Micaela and Brett exchanged vows on 23^rd April 2022 on a balmy Autumn afternoon before 90 guests at our popular outdoor wedding reception spot overlooking the lake. Bride Micaela aimed to keep her wedding as close to her and groom Brett’s most authentic selves. This made their nuptial celebration unique as they incorporated elements that reflected their personal tastes.

“We really wanted to get married somewhere that had a stunning view and we instantly fell in love with Rhebokskloof!”

Let’s start with a bit about who you and Brett are as a couple, your love story and how did you meet?

Brett and I met through mutual friends one night at the ‘Toad on the Road’ pub and restaurant in the Cape Southern Suburbs.

Although Brett and I studied at the same university at the same time, I only met him when I went on to do my second degree. Brett had already graduated and was working, while I was still a Law student. I was sceptical at first as I didn’t want anything distracting me from my studies. However, I ended up falling in love with Brett and found it difficult to focus on anything else!

What and how did you decide to choose Rhebokskloof out of all the wedding venues in the Cape Winelands?

We really wanted to get married somewhere that had a stunning view and we instantly fell in love with Rhebokskloof. The beautiful, lush green lawns and view of the lake were just breathtaking! We were even more blown away by the reception area. We loved how natural it looked with the in-laid rock features on the side.

Your wedding was full of beautiful light pastels of white, greens and shades of teal, what made you choose these colours?

My favourite colour for as long as I can remember has been a pastel teal/mint green. Therefore, this colour had to be incorporated into our wedding. I went for a dusty sage green, as it is a beautiful soft and earthy colour. We had the dusty green incorporated into the bridesmaids’ dresses and bouquets that were made up of eucalyptus, white roses and Baby’s Breath to compliment the colour scheme.

Did you have a specific theme for your wedding day? Did it reflect you and Brett as a couple in any way?

We didn’t have a particular theme, but we decided to rather incorporate elements of our personality that made us unique as a couple into our wedding.

Brett and I are big animal lovers and while we would have loved to have our pets attend our big day, we knew that would be unrealistic. Instead, we set out pet favours to honour them instead.

As Brett is a software engineer and loves solving puzzles, we decided to add some ‘games’ into the wedding too. First was the “complicated” seating chart. The irony, however, was that it was actually designed to be easier to find your name and table number than a normal seating chart. You simply had to find your name alphabetically and just ‘follow the string’. Whereas, with usual seating charts you have to search high and low for your name under every listed table number.

It certainly did entertain the guests as some struggled to read the chart.

Our wedding favours on our table also consisted of tic tac toe in the form of hearts that represented hugs and kisses (XOXO), which was another play on games.

How did you decide on your flower/decor choices? Did you do it yourself or did you get the help of a wedding décor company/florist? What was the brief?

Our decorator was Christine from ‘A Touch of Eleganz’ (LINK). Her brief was to set up the lighting in the venue, table decor, bouquets and flower arrangements at the altar.

As mentioned above, I loved the combination of eucalyptus and Baby’s Breath with white roses as our colour scheme. Our decorator really brought our vision to life. We also wanted an earthy/natural and raw, but elegant feel in the reception.

Christine has a natural talent for creating beautiful arrangements and we were blown away on the day!

My father also did all our signage for the wedding. He is a graphic designer and runs his own business, Coastline Graphix (0827013476) and it was amazing that he could also add those personal touches for us.

We see you had a classic car deliver the bride to the altar! Discuss this choice a bit more please.

I absolutely love antique cars and we managed to hire a Bentley 1956 model for my dad and I to drive into the wedding venue. We also loved it that Brett and I could take some pics with the car at one of the most beautiful wedding venues in the Cape Winelands.

Let’s discuss that three-tiered wedding cake!

I had a semi-naked tier cake in mind for a long time, as I loved the rustic look of it. I am a lover of chocolate, so naturally I had to have a chocolate cake. We went with a three-tiered chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling. It was amazing! The cake was made by Justine of Cake Couture.

Your reception looked like so much fun. Dancing was evidently the order of the evening. Your first dance as a married couple looked special. Did you prepare for that special moment?

It was amazing to see our guests dancing until the very end of the wedding! It really was such a blast. Yes, we had lessons with Jacques Carstens Dance Studio (LINK). We did not tell anyone about our dance and so we totally surprised our guests and family members!

From the canapes to the mains, what were your food and wine choices?

The canapes comprised of a Brioche sesame bun with Crispy bacon and herb,  Danish feta tartlet and Smoked Franschhoek trout mousse. For the mains, guests had a choice between lamb or chicken and for desserts we opted for the mini lemon tart brulee and the dark chocolate tart.

We had a variety of drinks available during the pre-drinks. For the reception, we celebrated with the Flatrock Range – Red, White and Sparkle – as well as the Rhebokskloof Chenin Blanc.

In your experience what is the most important part of wedding planning?

The most important part of wedding planning is not losing sight of your true selves.

I think it’s natural that brides have a particular vision in mind, but it is important to remember your partner. Try to think of how you can incorporate their interests into the wedding too and get them involved.

I’d suggest you do a few DIY things like creating a crazy seating chart or adding in personal touches that reflects the both of you as a couple into the wedding. Be creative and enjoy the planning! Don’t let stress take over, it isn’t worth it.

A few guests told me during and after the wedding how beautiful and natural our wedding felt. We chose to write our vows on pieces of paper to convey how authentic and natural our love was.  Thinking back, it really made me appreciate how important it was to stay true to ourselves during this whole experience.

Describe any special moment/s you loved and will cherish about your wedding day at Rhebokskloof that you’d like to share with other brides out there.

I’ll never forget our photographer telling us before the wedding that the day will fly by.  It was when were doing the couple shoot that we actually had some time to take it all in. We took that time to just reflect, appreciate one another and everything that has led up to this day!

I also prepared myself mentally by remembering that nothing will ever go as planned. It is therefore important to just accept what happens on the day and appreciate every moment. It is so important to JUST ENJOY YOURSELVES!!!

Don’t worry about the little things, your guests aren’t there to judge you. They are there to celebrate the two of you and to enjoy your company.

TIPS FROM THE MAKE-UP ARTIST: MATCHING THE COLOUR SCHEME WHILE LOOKING NATURAL

We spoke to Ansulette Bekker, professional bridal makeup artist who created Micaela’s understated yet elegant natural look for her wedding day.

“Micaela is not someone who wears a lot of makeup, so she was very scared to look too “done up”. I therefore kept everything very light and natural, and just emphasised her natural features.
I kept the skin glowing and dewy, so that it looked like her natural skin on the photos (i.e minimal powder). I used cool-toned brown shades on her eyes to compliment her eye colour and the sage green colour scheme of the wedding. For the lips she wanted a shade to represent her natural lip colour – but better!
Overall, I think we really accomplished an effortless, natural bridal makeup look!”

Her advice for brides out there: “Decide on a look that would make you feel the MOST confident and sexy! It will help you radiate confidence in your pictures!”

For more on bridal make-up and to contact Ansulette, please visit her website HERE.

We want to thank Micaela Pym-Maeyer for allowing us to share her special day and wedding journey with us and our readers.

Have you set the date yet for your big day? Do you know someone looking for the perfect wine estate in Paarl with wedding venues indoors and outdoors? Contact us today by filling in the form below or contact our banqueting manager at banqueting@rhebokskloof.co.za.

Purchase from our range of superb wines from our ONLINE SHOP today.