Lookbook- Legal Wedding Ceremony

If you follow me on on Instagram, then you would have seen that recently Steve and I decided to do a little mini-mony in Cape Town and elope, while we wait to have the big wedding celebration with our friends in family in 2021. It was a very special day, and I am so glad that we did it, and so glad that I decided to wear a special outfit, add the special touches, and make a day out of it. This was part 1 of our wedding trilogy after all, and it was an amazing time and an amazing trip so I wanted to share some beautiful images and details with you. I hope that this inspires some COVID-19 brides to follow the same route, because we honestly loved doing this so much.

All photos are by Tegan Smith Photography.

Make-Up and Hair

This was such a last minute decision the day before, as I was just planning on doing my own hair and make-up. However, the day before I was walking past Partners Hair Design at the V&A Waterfront and decided to stop and make a quick appointment. I did not even know what hairstyle I was going to go with, as in Cape Town, weather is so unpredictable! On the day, it turned out to be sunny and warm, so I just decided to go for a beachy wave blow out, and I really liked how it looked.

For make-up, I booked Raine Tauber, and she was just amazing! I was so, so happy with my make-up and I imagine that I am not the easiest client. Because I work in the beauty industry, I am a bit judgy of what make-up artists have in their kits, and what they use on my face since I know the products back to front. There were three things that I was not willing to compromise on- my foundation, mascara and setting spray and asked Raine to use my own for those three. Everything else was up to her, and I LOVED the soft rose gold eye look with a smudged liner, the pink lipstick and the glowing complexion that she did on me. I highly recommend her for any special events that you have.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I am a very superstitious person (most Russians are ;)) so I wanted to include these four elements for good luck on the day. In addition, it gave me the chance to find some cool goodies for this, as for Wedding Day Part 2 next year, I have different jewelry, perfume and shoes planned 🙂 My something blue were of course my Manolo Blahnik Hangisi heels. I have been waiting an actual year to wear them, aren’t they gorgeous!?

My something new was my wedding scent, which is one of my ultimate favorites, Si by Giorgio Armani. The white bottle was a special gift from my friend (as it was a limited edition) and it was the perfect scent for the day. My something old were pearl earrings that belonged to Steve’s grandmother. My engagement ring has a center stone that belonged to Steve’s maternal grandmother, so I wanted a way to honor his fraternal grandmother with these special earrings. The something borrowed was a beautiful hair clip that I borrowed from my bridesmaid on the day, and used it to hold my veil.

The outfit

Inspired by Carrie Bradshaw and Bianca Jagger, I wore a gorgeous white tuxedo suit that I got at Zara. I love a clean structured look and because I already have 2 wedding dresses for 2 more wedding that we are having (the South African One and the Ukrainian one) I didn’t want another dress.

I really loved how it looked with the Manolos, and I just got a simple white bodysuit (from Zara) to wear with it. If you are also doing a mini-mony before having the big wedding next year, I recommend getting a special little outfit for it. It does not have to be expensive (this suit was around R1500) and places like Lulus and ASOS have the CUTEST bridal section at a steal of a price. Lulus has such cute jumpsuits as well, ASOS has beautiful gowns, and you can always wear this item again as the after-party outfit for your big wedding. However if you just love your wedding dress, then wear it twice! Wear it on your elopement day and your wedding day because you love it, you bought and it cost a lot of money, so you might as well 🙂

Other special touches

Two small things that I also added to my look was a short veil and a wedding bouquet. The bouquet was actually a surprise gift from a friend, she knew I was going to the flower shop at V&A to pick out my bouquet, and when I arrived at the shop and the lady there asked for my name (I did think it was super random at the time ha-ha:)) I was handed a card from her that said that the bouquet was covered- it was really special! Lastly, I added a short veil that I bought at Bride and Co for my wedding look, because it looked so pretty and came out lovely in the pics.