Marry on safari with this ultra-stylish South African wedding inspiraiton

Ultra-Stylish Wedding Inspiration From The South African Bush – Nina Wernicke 43

If your dream is to marry on safari (ahem, if we could do it all over again…) then you need to see this ultra-stylish South African wedding inspiration from Nina Wernicke.

Setting up in Mangwa Valley Game Lodge outside of Pretoria, this talented team of South African wedding vendors proves that you can absolutely achieve a wedding look that is as both wild, natural & free as it is high-fashion & editorial far out in the bush.

From a breezy cotton ceremony dress – that is absolutely safari wedding-worthy – to a glimmering gold reception gown, this editorial celebrates the versatility of South African design. Taking advantage of the colorful world of African accessories, the team styled our runway-ready bride with traditional, elegant jewels by Cape Town designer Pichulik, whose pieces have long been on my ‘wish list’ since our own South African honeymoon.

Incorporating iconic accessories, appropriate fashions for gliding through wild grasses, found-objects like horns, cotton and local florals (& and real-life giraffes!) this wedding scene has us dreaming lustfully for South Africa.

Ultra-Stylish Wedding Inspiration From The South African Bush – Nina Wernicke 13

Photo by Nina Wernicke via Bridal Musings

Ultra-Stylish Wedding Inspiration From The South African Bush – Nina Wernicke 5

From Nina Wernicke

The inspiration for this shoot was a modern take on ‘Out of Africa’. I have recently moved to South Africa from London (and now split my year between Africa and Europe), so wanted to take advantage of my new surroundings. We were looking for a venue in the bush, wild and unmanicured.

We really wanted to use African colours and textures for all aspect of the shoot: the stationery, the favours, the flowers, the jewellery and the cake. We incorporated dried flowers and cotton, porcupine spikes, leather, and antelope horns to really make sure the shoot was true to Africa.

The shoot was centered around three separate parts of the day: the pre-wedding look (a mix between boudoir and getting ready), the ‘ceremony’ and the ‘reception’.

For the first part, the model was wearing a sheer lace gown. For the ceremony, we had her wear a very simple and flowy dress – we went out into the bush for this part (spot the giraffes in the background), so we wanted her to wear something that fits the bush: simple, cool, flowy, easy to move in. The aim of the third look was for it to look very elegant and editorial, so she was wearing a bespoke golden gown for this. Burnt orange was the colour that tied all three looks together.

The models were Dineo and her real-life boyfriend Philip. It is still rare to see couples from different cultural backgrounds in South Africa today, sadly, which is what made these two even more special in our eyes.