Casa Blanca manor in Pretoria wedding photographer JC Crafford-GN

March 14, 2014

Casa Blanca Manor Wedding Photography

Another stunning well organised wedding at Casa Blanca Manor just outside Pretoria. Kobus, Lynn and their team just don’t set a foot wrong…ever! I’ve been their numerous times now as a wedding photographer, and every time is a very special event. Kobus & Lynn…you get a big thumbs up from all of us at JC Crafford Photography & Videography. Any brides reading this and still undecided about your wedding, you can’t go wrong by choosing Casa Blanca Manor.

Gys and Niki. What a wonderful wonderful couple to have spend the day with, always smiling, always friendly, making you feel welcome and wanted all the time.

Your wedding was really a VERY special event, full of VERY special people, what a privilege it was to be your wedding photographer and videographers.

The wedding day had it’s (like always) fair share of little dramas. The father of the groom’s pants zip stripped at the last moment and he had to run around to find another pair of pants. But everybody was all smiles when Niki came walking smiling down the isle on the arm of her dad.

We JUST made the photo shoot before it started raining, and we had a LOT of fun on the shoot.

I asked Niki a couple of questions about her wedding:

How did you meet?

Gys and I met on a blind date. Our friends had decided that we were both single and needed to be introduced 🙂 Our first meeting lasted most of the day! After the initial coffee, we went to dinner, then drinks. The restaurant was closing by the time we realized we needed to end our date. We haven’t been apart much since then

Tell us about the proposal

Gys took us on a lovely week long holiday in Mauritius. Little did I know that he had sneaked an amazing engagement ring through customs (even though I had looked at the baggage scanner every time)! On the balcony of our hotel room he got down on one knee – which woman can say no to that amazing proposal?

Describe your wedding day

Our wedding day was perfect! There were no stressful moments and the rain stayed away until most of the photographs were taken. It was the relaxing day that I had dreamed about since I was a little girl. It was the type of wedding that our friends and family will talk about for a very long time 🙂

The dress

My dress was rented from Eurobride in Pretoria. It was my second dress because like a typical stressing bride – I had changed my mind.

The Flowers

Kobus from Casablanca Manor made our flowers. I gave him free range except for one detail. I wanted yellow and white flowers as both our mothers had yellow flowers at their weddings 30 and 38 years ago

Highlight of the wedding

Gys’s speech!!! DJ Deon had tweaked the microphone so that Gys sounded like he had inhaled a bunch of helium! At first he didn’t realize that it was the microphone and thought his voice went AWOL! Our other highlight was that first kiss as husband and wife – wow that’s a once in a lifetime happy moment

Was there any drama

I didn’t know this until we were having dinner but on the way to the wedding, a brick hit the windscreen of the car that Gys was driving. It hit the lower part of the windscreen but the shattered glass could be felt by his Grandmother in the back seat. Luckily nobody was hurt but if I had known this before the wedding I would’ve completely freaked out

The Honeymoon

We went on a week long cruise to the Portuguese Islands and Inhambane in Mozambique. The islands and beaches were postcard quality! We rested and ate way too much! We would recommend this honeymoon to any couple!

Tell us about your photographer and favorite photo

We found JC from JC Crafford Photography with aid of trusty Google. We met JC one evening and loved all the photos that he had shown us. We knew at that first meeting that we have found our photographer. Our favorite favorite photo at the wedding was one that he took of us looking at each other through a lavender bush. The moments he captured shows how happy we are and will be forever

Who did your makeup and hair?

Janell Donders did such an amazing job with my makeup!! I felt so pretty on the day it mattered most.

Her contact details are: 082 292 3083 donders@worldonline.co.za www.wedding-makeup.co.za

Adam Adams did my hair as well as my moms and sisters. He is a family friend and we imported him from Secunda for the wedding. His contact number is 082 624 4865

Anything else you want us to mention on your blog post?

Love comes to those who wait patiently. The right partner for you will come along – keep faith and patience. Gys and I were brought together by fate. We would not have been the couple we are today if we had met earlier.

JC Crafford Photography and Videography

If you want somebody that will capture all the special and unforgettable moments of your wedding you can contact us. We are a family owned business, JC is the wedding photographer and Surika and Timothy does the videography side. You can read more about our wedding photography here and our wedding videography here.

We are based in Pretoria but travel all over Gauteng and South Africa to photograph and film weddings.

You can view the highlights of Gys and Niki’s wedding video here.