1K Shares

Eco-Friendly Green Garden Wedding

Karoo, South Africa

♥ ♥ ♥

Elze and Corne dreamt of having a garden wedding, home-style! The couple celebrated their nuptials in their family garden, where they spent many beautiful summer evenings eating and laughing, which is exactly the atmosphere they wanted for their own wedding.

They went for a real Karoo South African garden wedding by sourcing everything locally, walking the small town streets of Graaff Reinet and dancing beneath the twinkling stars! Lindy Truter had a ball capturing every detail of their homemade garden wedding affair. Take a look!

Karoo Style Garden Wedding Look

Garden Wedding Bridal Gown: Blushing bride, Elze looked effortlessly radiant in a wedding gown designed by Lunar, whom we featured in our free Digital Wedding Magazine, The Vintage Edition. Her designer empire line wedding gown showed off elegant details such as lace, buttons and a pretty ribbon sash.

(Above) Garden Wedding Bridal Hairstyle: Elze wore a half-up half-down flowing hairstyle with loose curls and mini braids. View our collection of 25 Swoonworthy Braided Wedding Hairstyles {Trendy Tuesday} for more pretty plaits and beautiful braids.

Eco-Friendly Bridal Bouquets: Pennygum and roses were used for the bouquets.

Garden Wedding Bridesmaids Style: All of Elze’s bridesmaids chose and bought their own dresses, which was inspired by the hues of the colourful bunting fabric. It turned out beautifully! The dresses represented each of their individual styles and personality and they also felt comfortable!

Garden Wedding Groomsmen Style: The groom wore a Country Road suit with a quirky little badge. As Corne’s family are all in the fishing industry and he loves fishing, Elze made the groom and each of his groomsmen a red enameled copper fish brooch with ribbon.

Karoo Style Garden Wedding Ceremony

As the church where they got married was two houses down from their house where they had their reception, so they took a walk back and forth. A friend of Elze’s dad, who plays the accordion, accompanied them with all their guests in tow, back to the house for the reception. “That was a really special memory,” says Elze.

Corne and Elze’s Love Story

Elze shares the sweet lil’ story of how they met: We met whilst both studying in Stellenbosch. A friend of mine organized Corne as a blind date for one of my res dances. From the first time I met him, I knew he’d be the last guy I ever dated. One year of dating in Stellenbosch saw us enjoy late evening walks down Dorp street, beautiful mountain runs at Coetzenberg and early morning coffee flask dates in Jonkershoek. Then we spent one year of long distance dating when he moved to work in Swakopmund, Namibia. And at the end of that year spent apart, we got married in Graaff-Reinet!

The Tale Of Their Proposal

Elze reveals how Corne surprised her with a picnic proposal: While we were dating long distance, Corne surprised me with an unexpected visit. He took me to visit Kirstenbosch Gardens for a crisp early morning winter picnic, which is one of our favourite things to do together. Because we often went on picnics, I didn’t expect anything, but he really wasn’t himself that morning! We had our picnic on a deck overlooking the gardens and the next thing I knew, he was kneeling down while holding the most beautiful ring. Tears and tears and more tears of joy!

(Above) The groomsmen wore chinos, white shirts and hats that were a special request by the groom and a gift to each of them. They also wore the cute quirky little badges created by Elze.

Karoo Style Garden Wedding Reception

The couple’s garden wedding reception at home was a fun and festive affair! They skipped having a bridal table and instead, sat at long tables with all of their loved ones. It created a very relaxed atmosphere and allowed guests to move around freely.

Eco-Friendly Garden Wedding Decor: The couple used very little decor as the garden was so beautiful! They did however use plenty of hanging decor to dress up the outdoor area. Lanterns were suspended from trees, candles were placed along walkways, bunting and fairy lighting created a magical ambiance.

Eco-Friendly Wedding Table Decor: (Above Left) Elze’s friend brought boxes of cherries from Ceres which they used on the tables as decor – and to eat!!! | (Above Right) Small glass jars filled with a succulent stem and adorned with a stylish ribbon were used as eco-friendly table decor.

Eco-Friendly Garden Wedding Flowers: The flowers, a mix of desert roses picked from their garden, Pennygum flowers and more were all from a local farm garden.

Real Bride, Elze’s, Tips For Bride’s-To-Be

If you know you are very busy and won’t get round to all of the little details, enlist someone you trust – your mom, sister or a wedding planner. I couldn’t have done it on my own, the year was just too busy. My mom was amazing as she was like my personal wedding planner.
Keep it simple. Stay away from a million little DIY projects unless you have the time.
Try do the flowers yourselves. If you are creative or have friends who are creative, try to do the flowers yourselves.
Have a garden wedding at home. Having the wedding in my parent’s garden saved us a lot of money and was so comfortable and easy to organise.

We adore this secret garden wedding at home filled with meaningful handmade touches and memorable moments beneath the starry sky! For more floral-inspired wedding inspiration, check out this heartwarming Protea and Rustic Fynbos Inspired Wedding, Langverwagt ablaze with plenty of pastel pinks, soft greens and a pop of colour inspired by the King Protea.

Vendors