Nicol & Barry - photography by James Carlson

People always tell you that planning a wedding is one of the most stressful times in your life, so when it came to planning my own I was determined to not stress and enjoy every moment of it … famous last words!! My hubby and I originally wanted to get married on the pristine beaches of Mauritius, this was a dream I have always had, but after realising that this was going to be WAY to stressful and not many of our friends and family would be able to attend our wedding, we settled on somewhere down the south coast, KZN. We both knew what we were looking for, relaxed, family orientated and a beach wedding. We looked at SO many places but once I set foot at Umtamvuna River Lodge I knew with all my heart this was the place. It was PERFECT!! My husband and I are both South African but had immigrated to Australia about 3 years before he proposed. Planning a wedding from abroad was one of the hardest parts for us, there was no face to face communication and I was not able to do any tastings, viewings etc. We would not have been able to get through it all without the help of Shirley… and Skype :) Shirley made everything seem so easy, she helped us plan this wedding from thousands of kilometres across the world. The wedding day was absolutely perfect, the rain that had been falling weeks before had subsided and the sun was shining!!! Friends and family were so impressed with the venue and when looking at the photographs commented that it looks like a wedding from a movie set. My wedding was by far the best day, I had so much fun and I have so many people to thank for that. The whole day was absolutely beautiful and everyone said it was the best wedding they had been to. Thank you to everyone at Umtamvuna River Lodge and especially Shirley. For all those brides out there who are feeling stressed, one word of advice, step back and enjoy every moment of this journey, in the end you are marrying your best friend and everything else is not important. - Nicol