Inside: A Dazzling Wedding in Cape Town's Surrounding Vineyards

Chloe Wallace, Head of Marketing & Communications at the fitness brand ROWBOTS and Michael Summers who works in finance and Chloe met at a bar in London nearly 6 years ago. Chloe actually approached Mike first and after chatting all evening went on their first proper date 2 days later, and never looked back! We take a look inside their Dazzling Wedding in Cape Town’s Surrounding Vineyards…

The best part of our day was….

Walking into our beautiful dinner setting and seeing the space for the first time. The amazing floral ceiling installation by Heike Hayward was absolutely breathtaking and we were so happy with how it all came together. It was our fairytale wedding! The dinner itself by Annalize Catering was outstanding – most especially the calamari and burrata starters. Seeing all our loved ones in one space, having an amazing time, just made our wedding dinner experience so special and we felt so much love and happiness.

We choose to get married at…

MolenVliet Vineyards in Cape Town. Mike is from Cape Town originally and we wanted to introduce our friends and family (mainly from my side!) to what is now our second home. The venue itself offers the most amazing mountain views and we wanted to showcase this special place to all our loved ones.

I knew I found ‘The One’ when….

My dress process was not the smoothest. I originally chose a dress by Milla Nova, but was having sleepless nights over the decision, and felt deep down it wasn’t ‘The One’. I decided to go dress shopping by myself (I would highly recommend this to any bride!), and came across the beautiful Angelica Bridal boutique in Angel. I walked into the store and was instantly drawn to the Helena Kolan collection. My dress was the first dress I put on, and I didn’t take it off! I knew straight away it was ‘The One’. I was very lucky in that I got the deposit back from the first dress (the team at The Wedding Club were amazing and so understanding), so could go ahead and get the Helena Kolan Kaila gown. When my custom fit dress arrived from the designer several months later, it was unfortunately too small with limited seam allowance (despite my measurements being the same – a slightly stressful situation for any bride!). However, with the amazing help of Angelica Bridal and Exclusive Alterations, and a quick material delivery from Helena Kolan, my dress was transformed to fit me perfectly. I added the straps on which I customed designed with the tailors. I can’t thank Exclusive Alterations enough for turning my dress into my dream dress. Thank you so much Richard, Sarah and Ziggy!

The most enjoyable moments of planning were…

Menu tasting with Chef Ollie at Annalize Catering in Cape Town and my hair and makeup trial with the lovely Algria and Jeanette (the BEST team!). I also loved researching and choosing all of our amazing suppliers (photographers Ayeh Khalatbari and Gavin Casey who are both so talented, White Lines our videographer, Heike our florist and our DJ and musicians to name a few!). And of course, working with the beautiful Jess Thiart at Mon Amour, our incredibly talented wedding planner.

The hardest part of planning was…

Jess took on all the stressful and admin heavy duties involved in the planning, I just had to stay on top of my inbox! We couldn’t have done the day without her. She helped co-ordinate the Friday evening rehearsal dinner as well as the day itself. She was absolutely outstanding and I’d highly recommend anyone getting married in Cape Town to get in touch with Jess to ensure you have the smoothest wedding planning journey. The only ‘hard’ task for us was the seating plan, trying to co-ordinate parents and partners from both sides to ensure everyone has the best time took some careful consideration!

The best accounts to follow on Instagram for big-day inspo are…

@fleurlecordeur, @ayeh.kphotography, @theweddingedition_ (of course!), @gigiandolive_, @mon_amourevents, @brides

My top three tips for any couple would be…

1. Enjoy the process and love every second, it’s over too quickly!

2. Take a moment every few hours on the day itself to remind each other to take everything in

3. Make sure you have a coordinator there for you on the day so you can both relax and enjoy it!

If I was able to do it all over again, the one thing I would change is…

We wish we had hosted a Sunday ‘recovery’ party, rather than a post-wedding drinks event the following Tuesday (3 days after the wedding). Many of our VIP guests couldn’t make the drinks party, and on the Sunday we were feeling rather delicate and very emotional saying goodbye to everyone! We would have loved to spend that day with everyone.