Weddingbee Blog

We chose our beautiful venue after my parents lunched at Pure, a refurbished restaurant in Hout Bay, one summer’s day back in February (the hottest month of the year here). They had been talking about it ever since it was featured in a local leisure magazine and were therefore convinced it would be the best place for our future nuptials. In fact, they were so settled on the venue that I think they would have booked it there and then. To ease their excitement we visited Pure, the restaurant of Hout Bay Manor, that weekend, in hopes of ending our fruitless venue search (Cape Town is known for its vineyard wedding destinations and as a result, it’s a little overdone and also a little hard to find something unique).

I had big dreams of a black and yellow cocktail reception and knew this would throw a spanner in the works if I chose it (see picture of ornately decorated restaurant), but sometimes a little compromise is in order… and that’s exactly what we did.

When we eventually visited Pure, we discovered it was even lovelier than its picture. While the restaurant itself is serene and opulent, the rest of the hotel is a magical and modern African adventure, covered in carefully collected artifacts and artwork.

It seems that you really shouldn’t settle on ANYTHING until you find a venue. It can change everything, right down to your flowers and stationery. It is in this situation I had found myself.

The venue is an ocean of muted grays and whites with ornate shell chandeliers and driftwood screens. I am not one for anything beachy, but the venue doesn’t really appear this way at all. Perhaps it is the mirrored ceiling and modern grand chandelier that makes it so chic.

Anyway, while I had hoped my beloved yellow would make an appearance, I was concerned it would make everything too wishy washy, particularly since our wedding is an evening affair.

The venue was set for lunch the day we visited, and was not devoid of colour. On each table, an assortment of purple and white coral filled the centre. Once again, I would like to point out that they appeared more sculptural than “by the sea”.

The purple got me and the fiance thinking. It is actually my favourite colour after black, and I have a lovely collection of purple clothing and ornaments that I adore. But I wasn’t about to get my heart set on a colour just yet. I’d learned my lesson already.

My purple vision, however, could be summed up by possibly the most beautiful dress I have ever seen. And would you believe it, its actually a wedding dress… by the legendary Vera Wang.

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Did you find that your venue didn’t lend itself to your favorite color scheme? What did you do to work your venue’s colors into your own?