love made me do it...

// 645

2012-02-08T07:08:00.000-08:00

So these awesome friends of ours, Bruce & Rebecca from Love Made Visible, got this flippen sexy 645 Land Camera from Bruce's granddad.
I almost peed my pants.
And if I didn't love them I would've totally stolen it from their home.
But I didn't.
Instead I have been dreaming in 645 format. And having digital nightmares.

I found this today again, and although I have seen Parker Fitzgerald's 365 Polaroid Quotes before, I still love them.

Plus he has some other embarrassingly beautiful work that makes me want to quit my day job and just jump on a train or walk through a forest and shoot film (oh-so-hipster of me!) x

Travis and I went to this exact waterfall, just outside Portland, OR, on our honeymoon road-trip around the States. Oh I still have to blog some of those pictures. Hmpf.

Man. I wish my surname was Fitzgerald. All Fitzgeralds are awesome.
Check out Fitzgerald's blog and Flickr photostream.
He will rock your knickers off.
x

// Sweet home feature

2012-02-06T03:16:00.000-08:00

So a few months back, the sweet Natalie from CLEO Magazine contacted me to check if we'd be interested in featuring our home in their magazine.
I've never read CLEO, and I suppose it's not a magazine I'd actually buy, but hey we thought, why not?
Plus, they commissioned me to take the pictures, which I wasn't going to say no to either. Ha!
So on Friday I went to buy this little magazine and dug my way though the teenager gossip and random sex-tips and enjoyed the sweet piece Natalie wrote up and put together of our home. Thanks Natalie, you're very awesome!

P.S If you bought the CLEO Magazine, check out the page before ours, it's a yummy-lick-the-page-double-spread of my Interweb-buddy's Sian Rice's recipes . I already made the Roasted Nectarine & Goat's Cheese Salad! Nom-nom!

all pictures by lovemademedoit

// hello long-lost maatjies

2012-02-06T02:32:00.000-08:00

Shoooe-weee.
It has been a while.
Hello friends :)
So as you might have noticed my whole 'blog-and-work-from-home-housewife-adventure' didn't quite happen.
We've been working really hard, the season has us busy shooting pretty much every weekend.
In between shooting, editing and meetings, I try to hang out with friends, go for swims in reservoirs, do a little yoga, make a home and be a wife.
So that leaves little time for blogging.
Nevermind being a full-time housewife.
But that's okay.
I suppose that's just how grown-up life works out.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to pop my head in quick and say hi.
And I'm sorry I haven't been around too much.
And I won't be around much any time soon.
Which I'm super bummed about, but it's just worked out this way.
And it's okay.

x

image from Cubicle Refugee

// and we have a LOaded winner!

2011-12-14T04:26:00.000-08:00

Oh my hat! What fun!
For those of you that missed it, we did a 'live' lucky draw on Twitter/Instagram for the LO give-away!
Yay for LOrien - you are LOaded!
I wish you guys could've seen my face when I pulled her name out of the hat!
I mean seriously, what are the chances of her name having the letters LO in them right?!
And I promise I didn't cheat! Otherwise I would've pulled my own name out of that hat! Duh.
Congratulations LOrien, you will receive an e-mail soon and I hope you know we're all crying tears of envy because you're gonna look damn cute on Christmas!

x

// LO give away - last day to enter!

2011-12-12T11:47:00.001-08:00

Friends! Today is the verrrrry last day that you can enter this LOvely give-away from LO and walk away in one of these sweet outfits!

You can check the competition 'rules' over here, but you pretty much just have to comment with a damn good reason why I shouldn't cheat, and draw my own name out of the hat, but give YOU that voucher!

x

all pictures by lovemademedoit

// 2012 Calender

2011-12-06T06:22:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for a beautifully designed Calender.
It's the coolest gift you can give me for Christmas.
I love a good calender.

So today I did a wee bit of interweb surfing in search for my 2012 Calender.
Oh man, bad idea.
I'll take them all, please.

x

1. Cats let nothing darken their roar 2. Snug Calender 3. Crested Shield Calender 4. Poladarium 5. Emma Dime
6. Dream Cats Calender

// mikado with love

2011-12-02T03:53:00.000-08:00

My best friend is Maaike Bakker.
Yes, we have the same name.
Plus one more a. A-okay :)

She's awesome and pretty and motherflippen talented and she's my bestest friend in the whole entire world! We've been best maatjies for more than 15 years since back when we were sharing and exchanging pretty and shiny and glitsy stickers from our sticker albums in primary school. Oooh did you guys ever have those soft fury ones? I loved those!

So today I'm showing her off:
Mikado is a sibling-collaboration - Maaike and her sweet sister Benieke Lennox (welovepictures photographed Benieke's wedding here)!
Together these two pretty sister brains come up with some seriously sweet designs to make your walls look awesome.
And now my home is the sticker album.

Mikado's website launched last week and I've been super excited to blog this one!
And guess who took the pictures :)

Mater, ich bin sooooo stolz auf dich xx

Friends, head over to their website and get your wall something for Christmas!

Okay, bye!

P.S See my sticker album home here and here.

pictures by lovemademedoit

// Bicycle Portraits - a photographic Book

2011-12-01T03:38:00.000-08:00

I met Nic Grobler a while ago and then I spent a weekend in Bettys Bay with him and some other maatjies.
He is now my maatjie too.
Which is why I pre-ordered 'Bicycle Portraits - a photographic Book'.
That and because this is one of the coolest projects of all time.

Nic, together with his other maatjie, Stan (African Salad), have been cycling through South Africa, photographing people and their bicycles, over two years.

"When they started the project, Bicycle Portraits aimed to be a study of South African commuter culture, and they wanted to find out who rides bicycles, why they ride bicycles, if and why they love their bicycles, and of course why so few South Africans choose bicycles as a transport option. But Bicycle Portraits has turned into a portrait of a nation through the bicycles that they own and ride every day - revealing all manner of social, class, historical and cultural nuances never imagined. " (www.dayonepublications.com)

Told you, coolest project of all time.

Okay now, click click click here and order your copies of Bicycle Portraits now!
No, it's not a typo... copies. Yep, three books. Three!
Oh my, I can't wait to get my hands on mine!

And please hurry friends, the kickstarter is only running for 7 more days!
Support the coolest project of all time!
love made me do it x

// Hello little Printer. You are cute. I want you.

2011-12-01T00:24:00.000-08:00

Oh man this little guy is cute.
I want him so he can print my to-do lists.
And to make me smile.

Hello Little Printer, available 2012 from BERG on Vimeo.

LOvemademedoit LOves LO

2011-11-28T22:36:00.000-08:00

Oh my oh my oh my!
I am so excited about today, friends!
I was like a little kid this morning, all giddy and buzzing. I woke up at 5h00, wondering if anyone would read my post at 5am but then I realized I kinda need my beauty sleep :)

But now today is here - hooray!
Drumroll please... and welcome to my very first 'I like you' feature!

Friends, meet my awesome and insanely talented maatjie Elzanne LOuw from LO Studio.
I am so happy to show her off today!

Zani, or Zani-pants, as I like to call her, makes the sweetest cLOthes.
And yes, she makes great pants.
And tops, and skirts and sweet-sweet summer dresses!

The LO Studio is based in the Woodstock Industrial Centre here in Cape Town, which is where Zani spends most of her time designing, creating, making, sewing and thinking up all these pretty little things.
I went to visit her in her studio yesterday to photograph her and her sweet studio.
Oh what a happy place - no wonder her fashion label is taking off like a motherfrikken Jet plane!
LO clothing is available from the Neighbour Goods Market in Jo'burg and from Zani's studio in Cape Town. She will also be at the You & Me & Everyone We Know Market on the 16th of December at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town. Her Summer range will also soon be available from a selection of independent shops countrywide. Ladies, keep your pretty fashion-eyes peeled for LOvely fresh coral bursts and light and fLOwey greys - summer happiness in one little outfit!

Since today's feature is the very-very first and hence a very-very special feature (the fact that I just used the word 'hence' proves just how special it is), we are sharing some LOve and handing out high-5's and a R350 LOaded voucher!

Eeeek! Yessss!
This is lovemademedoit's first give-away and man oh man I'm bouncing off the walls!
Okay, so all you guys need to do is comment with your e-mail address and a good reason why you think you deserve to be LOaded. Then you also have to drop in and say helLO over at the LO website and like their facebook page.

And then because we really want you guys to be LOaded and look awesome, we're also giving away one of those sweet brooches! I know right?! They're so cute!
One lucky lady will be walking away with a R350 LOaded voucher in her pocket and a sweet brooch on her chest and a smile as big as mine!

The LO give-away is running from today until the 14th December, which means one of you will be wearing a pretty damn cute outfit for Christmas.
Yikes, I hope this works! Otherwise Zani-pants and I will cry and get mascara all over her pretty coral-coloured tops and then she'll be broke because who wants to buy black-smudged coral tops.
Love you guys x

Oh and if you re-blog or tweet this you'll get a free entry (just make sure you let me know so I can chuck your name in the hat again)!

Good luck friends!

Okay bye!
x

all pictures by lovemademedoit

// Pretty bicycle oh how I want you!

2011-11-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

The sweet Angie from Lucky Pony together with Starling & Hero has the raddest give-away of all time running on her blog. You can win this... actually, no I will win this:

I know right?!

The Hubster and I were away for the weekend, covering a wedding in the Drakensberg when I saw Angie's tweet! I was bouncing of the walls in our little cabin in the 'berg! Oh. My. Hat!

I just came home to my sweet-sweet Interweb connection to blog the motherflippness out of this competition. You see, it gives me another entry since the draw is completely random and left completely up to chance I have to get as many entries as possible. I didn't know that. I was hoping for best comment - so I put A LOT of love into that comment, which kinda turned out to be more like a letter. I even drew a picture. Yep, I want the bike that bad.

Man oh man, I seriously hope I win.

Here's my letter to Angie, and my picture. Yes, you may all laugh (at the picture - not my letter. My letter is awesome.)

Dear Angie and sweet friends from Starling & Hero.
For my b-day this year my father gave me his vintage bicycle that he’s had since he was 8.
He knows my heart so well.
You might think that it’s a small bike, but in fact in the olden days folks would buy their kids a big bike and make them ride it forever. Makes sense. There are scratches on the centre bar from where my dad would balance a metal milk bottle between his legs on his way home from the corner cafe to the farm he grew up on. ( just a sweet story to make you go ‘aw’).
My husband and I have been saving up and we almost have enough money to bring it to Starling & Hero and let them do their magic and turn it into a shiny piece of awesome. You see, if this bike had been a tandem bicycle I wouldn’t be writing you this letter. But it’s not a tandem bicycle. Which is why I hope that I can win this bike for my husband (and blue is his favourite colour – I’ll just have to snatch the basket off and put it on mine). We will then cycle hand-in-hand with our pretty new old bikes into the sunset all the way back to our sweet home in Cape Town because we don’t have a mom/uncle/cousin who owns a courier company (oh and on the way we will also be practicing all the no-hands moves the sweet friends from Starling and Hero demonstrated in their awesome video. I am especially excited to try out the Tea one).

Thank you and all my love,
Maike McNeill

And here's my father's bicycle, which is now my bicycle, that is still living in Pretoria.
Shame, it doesn't even have a saddle.
But that's okay because we're gonna get it to the awesome guys at Starling & Hero real soon and then it'll get a pretty Brooks leather saddle and be sprayed cream and mint green. Ooooh it'll be so damn pretty.

Oh and you guys have to check out the awesome 'No-hands moves' I said we'll practice when we ride into the sunset.
So sweet.
I really can't wait to do the 'Tea' one.

"Golden Tree" by Martin Brooks from Ninian Doff on Vimeo.

So friends, you better NOT go enter that competition, because that will decrease my chances.
If you do, that's okay. Because if you win I will come steal it out of your front yard.

Oh and Angie, you are awesome. And please make sure my name goes into that hat three times! I commented, tweeted and blogged it! Plus I think I should actually get an extra entry for my awesome picture ;) xx
Eeeeek! I can't wait for the 16th of December!

Okay,
bye!

x

// I like you... and you and you and YOU!

2011-11-23T04:43:00.000-08:00

Friends!
An idea has been brewing in my mind and this morning in my in-between-state of sleep and waking (not a pretty sight), it became the gorgeous and beautiful and amazingly-epic killer idea that made me jump out of bed and grab my journal.

As most of you know, I'm working part-time from next year so I've been playing around with the idea of possibly blogging more regular stuff, like I used to do, when I was planning our wedding. Wedding Wednesday was a little tough because, as I'm sure you guys have noticed, I'm not exactly the most diligent blogger and in fact one of the biggest procrastinators on this planet. So doing the weekly thing is a definite NEIN!

The out-of-bed-jumping idea is to do monthly features of people that I like!
Yes!
It's brilliant!
And it will be called:
"I like you."
Clever hey? :)
And I already have the first special person for this feature roped in and I'm going to go photograph a pretty portrait of her and her studio space and the awesome stuff she makes that I like and yikes I hope this works!

Tuesday maatjies!
Tuesday is the day you drop in and see who the lucky lady is.
Plus, I have a liiiiiittle-biiiit of an awesome suprise for you, so see you Tuesday!

Okay bye!

// Antler love

2011-11-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

I randomly spotted these today and pinned them, but they're just so cool - I had to blog them too :)
I want antlers to put in my house too.
Not Kudu horns -- deer antlers.
Anyone?

image source: baylymoore

// Madewell indeed

2011-11-18T03:29:00.001-08:00

Cape Town has been a little lame with catching up on Summer.
But the last few days have finally been all sunshine, I just had to pretend to not notice the wind blowing up my skirt and showing my white bum off to the world.
I'm so delighted to finally be rocking shorts and sweet summer dresses!
Farewell skinny jeans and cardigans! Into the winter-suitcase you go until next year!
I thought Madewell's Summer 'Looks We Love' style-book would be a great share to get you all just as excited about the summer ahead.
I love the neutral colours especially the grey's and navy's... oh my hat I am such a sucker for grey and navy! This season's colour-craze is already irritating me and I think if I see one more green and yellow and red-striped top I might just vom :)

all images via Madewell

// Wood you be mine - pretty pretty please?

2011-11-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

Friends, do you remember my obsession with all things yellow a few months back?
Wood is the new black, erm, yellow.

image sources via my wood you be mine pinboard

// Studio sweet studio

2011-11-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

I'm in between editing a wedding and a shoot but I thought I'd do a quick post of the welovepictures Studio. Thanks so much for all the lovely comments and advice from yesterday's post - sooo much to think about! Ooooh - yeay!!! You are all so sweet friends :)

For now, I'm just sharing some Instagram pictures that I've taken over the last few months of our Studio space and the awesome city it is in - lovely Cape Town!

P.S Those of you that follow us on Twitter and Instagram - boo for you :) x

We've started a bit of a tradition of hanging out on the roof on Friday afternoons to kick off the weekend :)
This is what we see when we're up there.
Blessed.

Wall Art

2011-10-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

We have this one intimidatingly and extremely embarrassingly white wall in our welovepictures Studio.
It is so white.
And. Big.
I've been trying to figure out what to do with it, without just painting it a different colour (bleh) and without financially ruining us (yes, it's that big).
What do you guys think I should do?
I love all this wall art, but none of it is actually cheap (except maybe the first one - baha - love it) and would make sense in our studio.
Any ideas?

image sources: http://pinterest.com/welovepictures/welovepictures-studio-inspiration/

love made me re-brand it...

2011-10-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I thought it's time for a bit of a change.
I'm still playing around with it all and figuring out exactly what I want and how I want it...
This is what I've come up with so far.
What do you think?

x

Yes I'm still alive.

2011-10-05T01:14:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Oh my, what a crazy few weeks it has been! We've been back from the States for not even 3 weeks and I already feel like I need a holiday... ;)

We've been busy-busy-buzzzzzzy with welovepictures, the SARIE Bruid has work streaming in for us. Blessed.

My bff also came to visit for a week and then I pretty much dropped her at the airport and picked my mum up. All in all, it's been pretty mental. Lovely and awesome, but mental.
I literally just came back from the airport to send my mum off and now I'm sitting in the silence that is my living room, soaking up the sun and finally finding the time to update my blog.
There is a mini tornado in my head of all the things that I want to share and say... I don't even know where to start!

I think I'll start with the most exciting news :)
From November I will be working part-time! Hooray! My awesome husband has decided that he'll happily carry the weight of our business so that I can get a few days off to be a happy house-wife. Since we got married last year, I'll honestly say that it has been all my heart wants. This means that I'll also be able to spend more time on my blog again and oh my, I have so many exciting ideas and changes I want to make! Plus I think a blog make-over is way overdue.
I've also been toying with the idea of adding a little online shop and perhaps selling a few once-off items as well as adding a DIY section of all my little home-projects. BUT... I still have to figure it all out, and with the Wedding-Season starting here, I know it'll be a slow process.
Exciting nonetheless! :)

I am also now officially part of the iGang and you can now follow me on twitter and instagram (unfortunately you have to be part of the iGang to follow me on instagram) :)
I'm still somewhat slow on the tweets but I'm totally loving instagram and the easiness of being able to share my life through pictures (I know, I know, that's super corny, I've been trying to think of a better way to phrase it for almost ten minutes and I can't come up with anything :P)
I thought I'd share a few pictures I've been instagraming for all my friends that are not part of the iGang or on twitter. For everyone else, follow me :)

Okay, bye! :)

// SARIE Bruid - and guess who's on the cover?

2011-08-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Friends! Do you remember my happy-dances back in March when I heard that our wedding would be featured in the new issue of the SARIE Bruid?
Now imagine the happy dances we were doing in our tiny Motel room in Portland, Oregon three weeks ago when the editor mailed us this!
We are on the cover! Eeeeeeeek!!!
We are so blessed!
The yearly issue of the SARIE Bruid has hit the shelves in SA and is available at most Exclusive Books, CNA's and major book stores! Plus it features four weddings we shot in the last year, so exciting :) Be sure to get a issue - it's a lovely mag!

But we are already away from it all...

2011-08-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

I just don't want to return to it all.

via bippityboppityboo

// just a quick 'ello 'ello!

2011-08-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!
I don't have too much time to post anything special, so for now I'm just posting a little peak of the honeymooners living it up in America.
We found this sweet forest with beautiful light and since we can't do the corny tourist picture of us sticking our heads together and holding the camera in front of us, we ended up just photographing each other :)
We just returned from our 14-day road-trip around the American West Coast and we're still sifting through all of the images, but I promise to post some more pictures soon-soon!
Pinkie-promise! x

Love!

// Honeymoon Part II = Mauritius

2011-07-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't follow us on twitter and instagram :)
Mauritius was awesome!

We stayed in a resort called 'The Sands' in Flic en Flac and we woke up to this every morning.
One word: blessed.

On the second day we did a bit of a bike-ride and the husband was behaving like a 5-year old, ringing his bell and huge smiles all the way. He hasn't been on a bike in like 10 years.
Too much fun! :)

Phoenix Beer and Margaritas! Oh yeah!

We photographed Jacqui and Mo's wedding on Wednesday - what a joy!!!
These guys are made of the sweetest, loveliest and awesomest stuff ever!

Be sure to check the welovepictures blog for a Sneak Peek of their wedding coming soooooon!

x

Mauritius, here we come!

2011-07-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

We're off to Mauritius tomorrow to shoot Jacqui & Mo's sweet wedding - so excited!
Eeeeeek!
So blessed!

Love x

image from Etsy 'Belle Hibou'.

// home in the village

2011-07-05T09:29:00.001-07:00

This weekend's beautiful light and my neat and tidy house inspired me to finally take some proper pictures of our new home in the beautiful little village of Obs :) We love living here! When we moved to Cape Town we heard all sorts of weird and dodgy things about Observatory, but when we found this little gem of a home, we couldn't resist it! And the village life is awesome!

I've only taken a few pictures of mainly our bedroom, the lounge and our kitchen/dining room. There's loads still to photograph, including our sweet garden and front porch with all my bunting and wedding signage :) But this will have to do for now, friends x

We're off to Mauritius and Canada/USA to shoot some weddings and for Honeymoon Part II and III so I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to blog again. But I'll definitely try post a few in-between-Sneak-Peeks of our trip and all the fun we're having! Yay!

Love!

P.S huge thanks to Dan from Saks Corner for doing a great job on fixing & re-upholstering our lovely turquoise chair! Friends, be sure to check out his shop - what a joy! x

Oh, and I thought I'd also post the two latest additions to my Salt & Pepper family. The left is probably one of my greatest finds EVER from Milnerton Market (R30!!!! I know right?!?) and the right is a present from dear friends and available from My China Ceramics.

Deep Dark Africa is a lovely place.

2011-06-24T08:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I hate wanting the stuff I can't have. Especially since the things I want are usually just out of reach... meaning they're on the other side of the big pond. Luckily the Internet somewhat helps to overcome this problem, but with South Africa's shocking postal services and South Africans in general being somewhat skeptical about the whole Interweb Shopping experience (never mind the instant satisfaction of walking into a shop), I always find myself grumpily surfing UO and Etsy, ending the session with a frustrated and depressed sigh.

Luckily I have visited my German land a few times which always allowed me to stock up on some great items from ZARA and IKEA and the likes. I have a few lovely vintage finds that I dug up in a 2nd Hand Shop in Berlin that I doubt will ever leave my closet.
With our trip to Canada and the USofA (yay!) only a few weeks away my frustrated sighs have turned into 'coooooooeees' and 'aaaaaah's of delight and excitement.
I. am. so. frikken. excited.

But today I stumbled on this.
Deep Dark Africa.
It made me realise that many of things that we want are often right in front of our noses.
It was so awesome to have a virtual experience of this shop (plus it made me wonder how many people from the other side are desperately wanting what we have in this deep, dark and lovely place called Afrika). It's pretty awesome I think.
Check it out.

Grace.

2011-06-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

oh so true.

2011-05-30T02:53:00.000-07:00

I've been delaying taking proper pictures of our new home because it's just not there yet.
I think I have to chew on this a little...
And then I'm going home to take some pictures of my awesome home.
x

// this post is way overdue...

2011-05-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. Hat! I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged! Actually, I lie, I can believe it. My guilty conscience has been trying to eat me alive for almost two months. But horray! I have finally found a quiet 5 minutes to sit down and blog.

Sooo much has happened since my last post! And it all explains and kind of justifies my absence in the blog world :) The biggest and most exciting things that have changed in the little life of the Mc Neills are a brand-spanking-new-awesome Studio and a gorgeous-new-and-pretty home!
It was heart-breaking to leave the beautiful house in Woodstock behind, but luckily our new home is just as lovely. And it has a garden! Oh joy! Our brakkies are happy too!

Our new Studio means that for the first time since we've been on this wonderful little adventure that is welovepictures, and this awesome journey that is marriage, we get to separate home from work! Which is something that really was even more overdue than this post... unfortunately being a working-welovepictures-team and being husband-wifey-team don't always go hand-in-hand. It may in fact be one of the biggest challenges we've faced since we got married... and it's the one thing no pre-marriage-counseling or gentle-mother-advice could've prepared us for!

So, with today's, (yes, I'll say it again and again) way overdue post, I'm sharing a few sneak peeks of our new home and Studio. Unfortunatly both spaces are still rough-cut diamonds but we are in the process of polishing them both down to perfection... so patience friends! more pictures coming soon! I promise!

love!

p.s be sure to follow us on Instagram - the hubby is always iPhotographing :)

And the Studio...

More coming soon!

// I heart Yellow!

2011-03-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

I think my husband may be getting sick of me saying "let's paint it yellow!"
But isn't it lovely?

all image-sources can be found via my pinboard on pinterest!

P.S last image is from the lovely eatery in Woodstock!
If you live in Cape Town, go have a cheese on toast at Superette!
nom-nom!

x

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2011-03-20T00:24:00.000-07:00

all images via pinterest

Style Me Pretty indeed.

2011-03-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

Happy dance again!
Style Me Pretty featured our wedding on their blog today!
Oh yay!
Huge thanks and love to Otto Schulze!
weloveyou!
x

All images by Otto Schulze.

// happiness

2011-03-17T02:38:00.000-07:00

The awesome Lindi from Sarie Bruid contacted us recently and told us that our wedding will be featured in the next issue. Happy dances all day long! We didn't think anything could top making the cover-image of the last issue, but having our very own wedding featured is pretty special.
We're super excited :)

These lovely heart and moustache Rosettes were a joint venture between my favouritest 'mate of honour' Maaike Bakker and my awesome brides-maid Elzanne Louw. All the grooms men and all my girls, plus all the moms and dads and grans got to wear one.

// oh I am a proud wife

2011-03-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Meet Werner and CF // A Skyline on Fire.
This is their brand-new video shot by none other than my awesome and insanely-talented husband :)
My cheeks are glowing with pride right now :)

Check out their blog here for gig dates and loads of other cool stuff!

x

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2011-03-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

via we heart it

// worst blogger award

2011-03-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

This is my fourth blog post of the year.

"and... (drumroll please!) the worst-blogger award goes to Maike McNeill!"

:P

So I've been in an ever-changing state of mind that could be described as a mixture of guilt, a little bit of despair and a lot of frustration. In the last few weeks I on numerous occasions considered deleting my blog, I have even made it as far as the "Are you sure you want to delete 'love made me do it' blog" button... but I can't seem to do it.

My biggest frustration is the fact that there just don't seem to be enough hours in my day anymore. Where are the days when all I could think about was blogging about the oh-so-pretty doily bunting flags? When my hours were filled with drooling over pages after pages of inspirational blogs?

I think this is what it feels like to be grown up.

But this week I got an e-mail from the awesome Meg from Apartment Therapy.
She has an awesome new project coming up and for the first time in a long time I had the urge to blog.
I unfortunately can't say too much - I'm not sure how much I can say actually. Mhm.
But for now let's just say it gave me the long-needed and much-appreciated push to start something like a 'project' - oh fun! And thanks Meg :)

So, today's post - which is insanely overdue - celebrates studio spaces.
welovepictures is moving into a brand-new and super-awesome and our very FIRST studio space at the end of this month! HAPPINESS! Today I'm sharing a few of my ideas, dreams and hopes for this awesome space...

More updates to follow soon-soon!

x

all images via pinterest

itching for ink (soo lame... but I had to :P )

2011-02-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

My husband is going for another tattoo tomorrow.
I'm itching too...

via fuck yeah, girly tattoos

// sweet wedding

2011-02-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

We shot this wedding a few weeks ago and these two dreamy and soft pictures just totally brightened up my day today.
Check out more of Pieter & Ingrid's beach wedding on our blog.

// home is by the sea

2011-01-27T10:39:00.000-08:00

As promised... here are a few pictures from our new home by the sea :)
Meet our two naughty brakkies the Beard and Noodle. They are absolutely loving the beach life! :)

how sweet is the 'HOME' mat? I found it at a random Garden Centre in Cape Town for a silly cheapie price!

I love our yellow door... It was black when we moved in and depressed us both so we painted it yellow! :)
And our '17 Maison McNeill' vinyl sticker was a home-warming present by none other than my awesome bff (check her stuff out here!). Lucky me!

This sweet card is by one of my favouritest local superstars Heather Moore // skinny laminx

How sweet is this vase my oulik husband got for me 'and he loved her...'
I think he really does x

I hope you enjoyed my mini tour - unfortunately there's still loads to do!

Be back soon with more :)

Happy weekend!

// home

2011-01-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

Oh my, I think I just died. Oulikness-overload.

Check out the original version by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes here.

// just because I heart it

2011-01-27T07:58:00.000-08:00

from etsy.com

// hello friends! and sneak peek of our new huisie x

2011-01-13T01:52:00.000-08:00

Oh wow - and it's a new year!

Friends --- H-U-G-E apologies for being a non-existent blogger in the last month. I've missed it so! And thank you for all the comments and worried 'are you coming back's :) It reminded me that there is life beyond my own. Our new life since the move has been exciting and new and frustrating and sweet! A bit like a scary rollercoaster ride - exhilirating and fun, but at the same time you want it to stop so you can get off :)

Married life has been especially interesting. Travis and I have ticked off quite a few points on the 'hard things you'll encounter in your marriage' list. Moving in the craziest time of the year, shooting through our first busy and fully booked season, often doing two weddings in a row in different parts of the country, unpacking boxes, fighting about where the sofa should go, living through ten days with the mum-in-law, making new X-mas traditions, crying through final good-bye's to best friends, and then still making time for each other and coming together to go to HIM. It's been very interesting.

I've had an incredible and surprising interest in our new house, including the awesome guys from Design*Sponge, which we're super excited about! Unfortunately it is a real slow-go since we're absolutely swamped with work :( The two rooms that are to be the welovepictures studios are still crammed full of unpacked boxes. I finally unpacked my last summer dress yesterday. I still haven't found my Juicer...But I decided to at least give you all a quick sneak peek of what we've been up to. Luckily Travis has been obsessed with his new iPhone which means loads of pictures from the last month - lucky me! :)

I promise to do a proper tour in the next few weeks - with proper pictures. We're photographers, not iPhotographers :)

much love!

yes, let's!

2010-11-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

image from everyeskimo

// hi - bye

2010-11-23T08:29:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one - oh I love these pictures!

Ooooh and we found a new housie!
I'll blog about it soon-soon... promise!
We're shooting weddings every weekend and moving first week of December! Eeek!

x

all images via pinterest

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2010-11-14T00:23:00.001-08:00

image via pinterest

// I heart SA

2010-11-09T02:10:00.001-08:00

So I've been dying to do this post, but between all the house hunting and work, I haven't found a gap until now.

A few Sundays back a few of us went to the awesome Kamersvol Geskenke.
Oh. my. hat.

I was completely blown away by the beauty and love that went into the conceptualizing of this event. It was an absolute feast for the eye and my heart was bouncing up and down with joy and delight! Where ever you looked - just prettiness! EVERYWHERE! This was one event that made me so damn 'proudly South African' (excuse the wee bit of corniness), I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for a few days after.

Julie Lim, a Wedding Photographer, who came all the way from America to photograph talented Christine Meintjies's wedding, captured the spirit of Kamersvol Geskenke in her unique and awesomely delightful way... oh my, so pretty!

Be sure to check out Julie's blog as well as The Pretty Blog for more treats!

All pictures by Julie Lim Photography.

// house hunting sucks

2010-11-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

I'm not too sure what I expected from the rental market in Cape Town, but I definitely didn't expect this. When Travis and I decided to move down to Cape Town more than a year ago (just after he proposed), I started dreaming about walking down small coastal streets with my new husband, excitedly looking for our 'huisie by die see', having our pick from the plenitude of beautiful homes available in the Cape ranging from gorgeous 19th Century Edwardian homes to cute Cape Cod style cottages. Oh no. Silly. Romantic. Me.

In the last two weeks three estate agents have made me cry numerous times by showing us 'cute and cosy' cottages that turn out to be horribly tiled and ugly townhouses. And if they show us a beauty (only three so far) ,they either get let right underneath our noses, or the owner actually rather wants to sell, or Travis almost ends up having to arm-wrestle a fellow potential tenant. These are the things my nightmares are now made of. Oh do I miss my beautiful house in sunny ol' Sunnyside now. Sniff.

So today I decided to post beautiful pictures of other people's homes. They make me so sad and so jealous, but they also make me smile. Because I know our awesome Father will bless us and I know I will soon have a beautiful house to nest in and to make HOME.

image from decor8 blog

image from Design*Sponge

image from the design files

image from French By Design

image from desire to inspire

Oh wow. I absolutely fell in love with these kitchens!

image from i want that kitchen

image from my home ideas

And this just made me smile. As long as I have my husband it doesn't matter where we stay. x

image from etsy

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2010-11-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

via pinterest

// my best friend's jakkals

2010-11-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

I have the bestest best friend. She's funny and beautiful and awesome. And she can draw. Score.

Check out her blog for a real treat.

// thank you

2010-10-29T00:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think I'm back.

Wow. I think I've been on quite a journey. I've become so used to blogging about everything and everyone that moves me, but the weeks after the wedding put me into a different space. Not a bad space at all, just a more contemplative space, a little private and intimate space, a space where I almost needed a time off from my blog. Weird, never thought I'd say that.

So, today I'm sharing our beautiful Thank-You cards with you, which was the last thing I did for our wedding. Which means that this part of my life is now officially over. And I say this not in a sad or depressed way, but in an overjoyed and excited way, because the best days are yet to come!

Thanks again for Gerhard van Wyk from This Pencil for being the best illustrator we know and for capturing our love for proteas and bunting and all things darling in his awesome illustrations! He also did our invites, check them out here. And again all praise goes to our super talented friend Otto Schulze for the beautiful pictures, he is the best wedding photographer, check him out!

// blogger block

2010-10-12T04:44:00.000-07:00

Wow. I think I am having a blogger block.

// the future is a wonderful place

2010-10-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

I thought I was spoilt & ungrateful until my friend Casey told me she also suffered from post-wedding-depression (term proudly coined by my brides mate Mari). It made me feel normal again. And it made me realize that as much as I loved the hype around the wedding day - it is just one day. And marriage celebrates life together. For. Ever. x

image from positive posters

// Beeld interview. Oh yay!

2010-10-01T04:28:00.000-07:00

Our good friend Riette van der Wat did an interview with me a few weeks back and today it was published in the Beeld (an Afrikaans Lifestyle Newspaper). Yay!

For those of you that don't understand Afrikaans, I've added the interview in English below. Although it is probably too low res for anyone to make out anyway :) But note how I'm referred to as Maike Mc Neill! Oh my hat! How cool is that?!

1. First off, please tell me a bit about yourself. Who are you, what did you study, what do you do from day to day and how did you end up doing all things pretty?

Hi, I’m Maike Backeberg, soon to be Mrs Maike McNeill, since I’m getting married in three weeks :) Yay!

I studied at TUT and I have my degree in Visual Communication/Photography.
My fiance and I do a little job we like to call wedding photography - we are welovepictures - two people mad with excitement at what this beautiful world of ours has to offer. When we started welovepictures we boldly stated that wedding photography will never be the same. We have tried hard to show people that it can be awesomely fun, excitingly quirky and deliciously fresh... not the usual boring tree-hugging, sepia corniness.

However, after Travis proposed, I found myself for the first time, on the other side of the veil :) Suddenly I got to plan my own wedding - a thing I honestly hadn’t really thought about. I had frantically been focusing on other bride’s prettiness to ensure lovely pictures of her awesome day that I honestly never once looked up and tried to imagine my own wedding. So many people assumed that I had my wedding all planned out - but I honestly didn’t have a clue where to start! I started looking at blogs like Once Wed and Style me Pretty and drooled over all the pretty things and lovely ideas.

This eventually led me to start my own blog, ‘love made me do it’, which mainly served as a outlet of built-up prettiness and loveliness from looking at too many pretty blogs. But soon it turned into a daily addiction - oh my, do I love blogging! :)

2. You seem to have an eye for lovely things – when does this talent come from?

I’m not sure if I would describe it as a talent. I think its more something that my heart yearns for and my entire being craves.

If I have a jug with beautiful yellow freesias standing on my dining room table, I will be sure to go into the room at least twenty times that day just to look at them. They will make me happy and my heart will pump harder with joy for their beauty.

I have often tried to explain this awesome feeling and I believe that our awesome Father has put some kind of chemical into my brain that makes me appreciate and love all things lovely. And I believe he did this only to dazzle me. Because he knows me so well :) By loving all things pretty, I am loving Him and praising Him.

3. How would you define “pretty”? What does “pretty”/ “beautiful”/ “lovely” mean to you?

Lovely can be anything that speaks to my heart.
Anything that makes me want to show it to the whole world (i.e blog about it x)
Anything that makes me smile.

4. Do pretty things have to be expensive, or can it also be priceless… and do you think “pretty” is a fashion trend or something timeless?

Unfortunately there are pretty expensive things. I wish there weren’t. Only every now and then I’ll treat myself to one of those. But most of the time you can find lovely prettiness for dirt cheap or for free. I don’t want to bore you with my life beliefs, but I believe consumerism has made us forget to see prettiness and beauty in the simple things. It’s all there, we have just forgotten how to see.

5. Are there specific “pretty” trends you’ve noticed recently what design/ clothing/ art etc. is concerned?

I’ve noticed a renewed love and appreciation for anything handmade. I think the last time handmade was ‘in’ must’ve been at least two decades ago. I have pictures of myself as a 3 year old, where my mum dressed me up into little hand-sewn dresses, lacy hand-crocheted shoes and topped it all of with a hand-plaited flower coronal. Three years ago I would’ve given a small embarrassed smile about this picture and quickly turned the page. Today I proudly produce it to anyone who cares to listen about the amazing skill my mother had in producing those delicate crocheted stitches.

6. What type of blogs and shops do you visit and what type of images/ pics/ pretty things draw your attention (and why)?

I am obviously currently drawn to anything wedding-related and I love to visit blogs like Once Wed, Style Me Pretty and 100 Layer Cake for inspiration.

Other than that I need my daily dosage of ‘Pinterest’, ‘ffffound’ and ‘Oh, hello friend’ to insure a healthy and smiling Maike.

Pinterest is a awesome new bookmarking community, which allows you to ‘pin’ pictures on to a virtual ‘moodboard / storyboard’ with a link to the original website. The Pinterest home page is any lovely-lovers heaven, with pinned pictures ranging from pretty homes to DIY to fashion lookbooks to crafty ideas. Absolute bliss.

7. Would you consider your blog to be part of an emerging “pretty”-community on the web – blogs and websites specifically dedicated to all things lovely and feminine? (I know this is a broad question… but just say whatever you think!)

My blog is a place where I share all things lovely that have in any way moved my heart. Usually these things are pretty and feminine and the people that enjoy and follow my blog are mostly feminine with a similar heart and a similar blog and a similar love to all things lovely. Yes, I believe we are all definitely part of a bigger lovely-loving community.

8. Why do you think this community of (mostly) women on the web are so vocal about their love for beautiful things?

I think it’s purely coincidental and completely related to the day and age we live in. I think the term ‘vocal’ is only appropriate since it is on the internet and accessible to anyone. But think of the scrap-booking craze and you realize that those house-wives are doing the exact same thing. My blog is a ‘virtual scrap-book’ (oh but I hate that word :) if you will, and the way other people look at it, is the same a house-wife shows her scrap-book off to her house-wife friends.

9. Any specific “pretty” trends you’ve noticed at weddings recently and any “pretty” inspiration from your own wedding you would like to mention?

I love how the day has been claimed back by the brides and how they love to organize and plan it all themselves. It is insanely stressful but it’s sooo worth it. Every wedding we’ve ever photographed has been an awesome representation of the bride (and her side kick) and completely unique to them. As for myself, I have too many ideas to narrow it down and put it into words. You’re just going to have to follow my blog and watch how it all unfolds :)

// we love

2010-09-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

Just something that developed while I was playing around with our 'thank you' cards.
Once again, all praise goes to Otto Schulze, for doing such an awesome job with the pictures x

// love day

2010-09-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

Oh my. Otto Schulze just absolutely blows me away! This guy knows his stuff. Not only is he my husbands best friend, but he is also one of the best photographers I am so honored to know. Wow. Awesomeness abounds. He documented our day in his awesomely quiet & gentle way, even though he is a 6 foot, blond haired, blue-eyed giant. Our friend stays far away in Denver, Colorado, with his awesome wife Lindsey and their beautiful daughter Sammy. Otto flew all the way over here to be the best man/photographer and we miss him very much already. Luckily we will be visiting them next year for our 'official' honeymoon, when we will be road-tripping through the USA! We can't wait - we love these guys so much!

”HAPPY HAPPY you two lovies! oh boo. i SO wish we could be there to sob with you all (especially that hubby of mine, he’s gonna be a mess, poor thing!) wow. it’s gonna be the most beautiful wedding EVER i think. truly. i wish i could glow over every little detail of every little thing that makes up this glorious vision of today, the embodiment of the creativity, spark, inspiration, beauty, and the love of you two…most eminently…which is altogether now a most radiant extension of HIM! you are HIS! just HIS! and it’s ALL TO KNOW HIM, period. and now you enter together in a most sacred idea of His..becoming one. it’s love some days and it’s definitely war some days! but it’s above and beyond and the best part and absolutely the most essential part is, it’s Him! this is his union and he will nurture it, perfectly. enjoy abundantly this celebration today, drink your fill! and know that we are thrilled for you, proud of you, and praising father with you! he did good, he did so good…” - Lindsey Schulze

Please be sure to check out Otto's blog as well quickly pop by Colorado Wedding & Style to vote for Otto - he is most definitely Colorado's best Wedding Photographer! He is actually just a few votes short, so please head over there and click 'vote favourite' underneath Otto Schulze Photographers. Love made me do it.

Awesome. Now I get to share one of the most exciting things of our love day - all my hard work and sweat, blood and tears - the decorations. Yay! Thank you so much for doing a great job Otto - we love you so much!

Be sure to check back for more awesome love pictures from the welovepictures wedding!

x

// Introducing the McNeills! Yay!!!

2010-09-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Helllooooooo friends! Oh wow, have I missed my blog! Especially since I haven't blogged in almost a month!!!
And my last blog post was two weeks before the wedding! Insane!

We literally returned from honeymoon about two hours ago, and even though there are clothes to be washed, e-mails to be answered and dinner to be made for my... wait for it... HUSBAND! (Oh wow!) I just couldn't wait anymore to share a few pictures! Yay!!! Yay yay yay for Otto Schulze and our awesome friends Gareth and Kate for documenting our day and for making us the happiest newly wed couple ever! weloveyouguys! So so much!

Okay, I'll share loads more soon-soon, but right now my hubby's tummy is grumbling for my attention! :)
For now I leave you with this: Love made us do it! x

// some last minute wedding inspiration

2010-08-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Oh my. Only 2 weeks and 2 days to go!!!

image via ffffound

image from Paris Hotel Boutique

image from Sacramento Street

image from Style Me Pretty

x

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2010-08-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

image via pinterest

// Home is Reitz Street

2010-08-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

We are not only counting down the days until our wedding, but we are also counting the days until we move to Cape Town, which is only a few weeks after the wedding. Pssst... we are almost a bit more excited about that :)

But this sadly means that we have to leave our beautiful little home in sunny Sunnyside behind. Which is breaking my heart. So I've decided to do a little project called 'Home is 385 Reitz Street'. I've blogged about our home before, but today I decided to document our beautiful home until the day we leave. This will include all sorts of prettiness from lovely home-styling pictures to pictures of our every-day life we lead here at Reitz Street. I feel like I need to capture our homes strong but gentle embrace around us in these last few months.

Today I will share my two favourite rooms with you and give you a little virtual tour :)

My kitchen is most definitely my favouritest room in the entire house. And I don't necessarily like to cook or bake. I just love it's beautiful yellow tops, it's vintage taps, the awesome cupboards and the most beautiful big window that views onto our little back garden. I love wiping the yellow surfaces every day. I love sitting at the window and watch our brakies play outside. It is my happy place.

The lounge is the biggest space in the house and has been a problem child for decorating from day one. Since it is a 1940's house, the layout of the lounge is with focus on the fireplace. We had a real problem finding a wall big enough for our television. But then we just gave the telly away and now it is the most airy beautiful room! It has a awesome huge bay window that I love to decorate with cute bunting and gorgeous Oregon floors which make any furniture look awesome. We bought most of the furniture second hand, although I claimed a few great Germany-imported pieces from my great grandmother. It is such a lovely room.

Be sure to check back next week for a virtual tour of the welovepictures Studio and our bedroom! ... x

// oh in such good company

2010-08-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

I blogged about In Good Company a while back, but I just have to share it again today. It is the coolest place. Ever. How awesome is that Ring holder?! Be sure to head over there and order some striped straws and floral paper cups for your first summer party! x

// This is what I'm going to do today

2010-08-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

image via pinterest

// saturday morning picture love

2010-08-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

I randomly stumbled on this via ffffound this morning and I fell in love with every single picture on this site. I wish everything in life could always be this beautiful. x

// ONE MONTH - the count down begins!

2010-08-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

I've been waking up with butterflies in my tummy every morning now...
Not sure if I'm a little freaked out by everything that still needs to get done or whether I'm excited. I think it's probably a little of both... but I'm definitely more excited!!! Yay! I can't wait anymore!

I thought this morning I'd just share a few pictures that have been giving me inspiration over the last few months. I absolutely love these!

all images via pinterest

// God is good

2010-08-10T22:56:00.000-07:00

I'm off to fetch my gran from the airport. She flew in this morning from Germany and is going to visit with us the entire month leading up to the wedding (oh my - today in ONE month - yay!). I'm so excited to see her and it made me want to share this with you this morning! Hope you all have a great day! And tell your grannies you love them! x

image via pinterest

// geflochtene zoepfe

2010-08-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have childhood memories of sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen, while my mum braids my hair. I was really blonde when I was a kid and I had long thick hair. My mum would do these exact braids before we go to church. I love the idea of my mum braiding my hair on my wedding day. Oh yes, definitely. x

// the future McNeill's

2010-08-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

We took this picture the other day to test a lens. I was pretty sick and not in the mood for a picture. Travis loves just shoving a camera into my face at the most random times. Considering how I sick and gross I felt at that time, I do actually really love this picture. It has such a dreamy feel to it and I love how we kinda blur into 'one-ness'. A bit corny, I know :) Romantical-shmorantical me x

// as promised - wedding invites

2010-08-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

I literally photographed these guys in my pajamas this morning!

Thank you again to amazing Gerhard van Wyk from This Pencil - you are too flippen talented Gerrie! Be sure to check out more of his work! It's a real treat - I promise!

37 days to go! Oh my! Yay!!!

This is the finished invite as it went out to our friends and family. My mate of honour Maaike (danke bekiiii) and my awesome friend Angelica screen printed all 120 of them and then they were sewed closed by Angelica (thanks friendship! x). They really slaved hard. I then typed out all the names with this amazing typewriter I bought at a jumble sale. Yep, it still works and it's gorgeous! It will also be used as the guestbook on the love day.

We got these rad envelopes from our awesome client-friends Jo & De Wet. I used a heart-shaped punch and typed out 'you're invited' a 120 times :) It was fun, I promise!

The actual invites are three double-sided Post Card sized prints, printed by the awesome guys at Wet Ink. All the design and illustration was done by Gerhard van Wyk.
Yay!

// the love invites

2010-08-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaaaaaaand another wednesday is almost over and AGAIN I didn't do a wedding post.
BUT I am going to share a quick sneak peek of our invites, by awesome Gerhard van Wyk from This Pencil and tomorrow I'll share the rest - promise! x

// oh my. it's august.

2010-08-02T00:02:00.000-07:00

Wow. Now I can actually start counting the days to our wedding. 41 days! Yay!
I thought I should share a bit more of my wedding inspiration x

image from Once Wed

image from Green Wedding Shoes

// diy saves the day!

2010-07-30T04:12:00.000-07:00

I found these really awesome tutorials today. This ruffle necklace is super cute - only I already have a necklace from Skermunkil. But cute idea for the brides mates maybe? Check out Ruffles and Stuff for the full instructions!

Then I also found these awesome diy chiffon flowers tutorial on Creature Comforts! Definitely will be using this to make some awesome brooches and rosettes! Get the full tutorial here! x

// a must-have!

2010-07-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

by awesome Rob Ryan via Home Shopping Spy

// oooh wedding dress

2010-07-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

I went for the final pattern fitting for my wedding dress today. Terese from Nooi is designing it using my oma's wedding dress (sentimental me), some hand-crochet lace from my other oma (I can't leave the one out!) and a beautiful soft silk which we bought today! I am so excited - I can't flippen wait to put it on! I thought since I won't be able to share any pictures of the actual dress, I'd share some of my inspiration for now x

all images via Green Wedding Shoes

// wedding signage

2010-07-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our friends Migi and Wendy came over and we painted... the entire day. We finished almost all of the signage for the wedding (or the event of the year - like my bff Maaike has been calling it). This is a tricky post because I don't want to give too much away :) So I'll just share a few pictures I took - it was such a cool day. This is what wedding planning should be like! x

// oh I can't wait for spring!

2010-07-19T23:56:00.000-07:00

I think this must be the longest winter ever. I am very much over it now and I can't wait for spring anymore. Our garden is amazing in Spring and it always makes me so nostalgic coz Travis and I met in Spring and we moved into our home together in Spring. And now we'll also be getting married in Spring. Only 6 more weeks to go. Yay! x

image from little blue deer

// welovepictures make-over

2010-07-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Head over to our welovepictures blog to check out our re-branding! x

// good advice

2010-07-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

via pinterest

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2010-07-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

via etsy

via flickr

via this isn't happiness

// i'm back!

2010-07-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! It's only been a week of blog-less-ness and I started feeling all sad and gloomy.

I'm sooo happy to be back, I can't remember the last time I went without internet for a week! Ha! Kind of scary actually...

Anyway, we had a super fun week in Cape Town, although the weather was mostly miserable and I was sick in bed for two days. And the wedding went really well although it was pouring and Joe and Marzaan are really awesome people. Sneak Peak coming soon soon! Also, check out Top Billing this Thursday or next to see us busting our photography moves in front of the camera! Pretty awesome! welovepictures is stepping up in the world :)

For now, I leave you with just a few beautiful pictures that make me smile x

all images via pinterest

//Wedding Wednesday: Sneak Peek of our invites

2010-07-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

My mate of honour and my awesome friend and housemate Angelica have been slaving and screen printing all weekend to get our invites ready. This is only a sneak peek - so it won't make too much sense :)
I'll blog bout them as soon they've all been sent out!

P.S We're off to Cape Town tomorrow for a wedding so will not be blogging for a week - back next week Thursday xxx

// love makes me package it #3

2010-07-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

We finished this wedding today. Friedl and Mareesa got married almost a year ago, but like us, they are super busy guys and always on the go. We only got their selection from them a couple weeks back (I would've struggled with the selection too though, to be fair) and then they went to NY (I know right?) and then we were stampeded with deadlines... BUT finally! Their pictures are finished x
Thanks for your patience guys xxx

I forgot how beautiful this wedding was, so although we've already featured it on our welovepictures blog, I thought I should blog about it again. It was just that beautiful. And Mareesa and Friedl are also just the coolest people. Oh and how pretty is her dress?!

We also did one of our first love booths at their wedding. It was too much fun x

// wedding wednesday (*a day late)

2010-06-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Wedding Wednesday and I didn't get a chance to blog. So I decided to at least do a wedding-related post today.

I've been making little presents for my bridesmates and my mate of honour (note: we changed maid to mate since they're not meant to be slaves... although I'll make sure they work for my friendship x) and I've been itching to blog about this one. I gave it to my best-mate-side-kick-for-the-last-10-years-bff yesterday so now I can finally share it! x

Isn't her dress lovely?
They all have the same one but in deifferent colours. And the fabric is very similar to the fabric of my dress. Oh I can't wait to see them all dressed up!
I've been collecting old wooden hangers and then I just personalized them with a bit of washi tape and some scrabble. And on the back of the hanger I scribbled a love letter xxx

// exactly.

2010-06-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

via tumblr
x

// we've been pinned!

2010-06-27T23:56:00.001-07:00

Monday morning, I'm still waking up. Sipping my coffee and browsing pinterest. And suddenly I'm wide awake - we've been pinned! Yay! It's not as awesome as beeing ffffound, but pretty cool nonetheless. And the best part is that it's been pinned into a style-file with the header ' I want that bow in my hair!' Our awesome friend Terese from Nooi will be stoked to hear that :) x

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2010-06-27T04:21:00.000-07:00

via ffffound

// love is the new black xxx

2010-06-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

via designismine

from Le Love: we are each other

from Le Love: we are each other

// wedding wednesday

2010-06-23T03:05:00.000-07:00

I thought I should do regular wedding-related posts, and since Wednesday is the day that Travis and I do everything wedding-related, I thought's it is only fitting. Today I'll only share a few pretty pretty pictures that I have saved in my wedding-data-base since Travis and I got engaged almost a year ago. But I hope to do more subject-related posts in the next few weeks (only 10 more weeks!).

I absolutely love this Forget Me Not Wedding Gown by Sarah Seven.

I've been collecting suitcases, since we have a bit of a traveling theme with us moving to Cape Town after the wedding. And they are just beautiful. And since we are starting our new journey as husband and wife. I'm planning on filling them with blooming plants and stacking them on top of each other.
(image via pinterest)

Since we'll be getting married in a field, I hope the atmosphere in the evening will be similar to this.
(image via Oh Happy Day!)

I love how they used doilies here...

(image via oncewed)

x

// words to live by

2010-06-23T00:36:00.000-07:00

via tumblr

// super cute love shoot

2010-06-22T03:05:00.000-07:00

We photographed these super cute guys the other day because they needed some pictures for their wedding invite. To see more, visit our welovepictures blog x

// oh my did I need a change!

2010-06-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'm the kind of girl that buys a pair of shoes and wears them for a week and then they gather dust in my cupboard until I decide to throw them out.
I change my image on my desktop once a week.
I get my tattoos where I can't see them because I know I'll get bored with them.
I re-arrange our home once a week.
I think the only thing I don't get sick of is Travis.
Uh... maybe I should say he's the only thing I wouldn't want to exchange for a better one :)

But don't worry, you didn't mess up your bookmarks and this is still the love made me do it blog - just the prettier, better and more good-looking version...

or at least until I get bored again x

via flickr.

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2010-06-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

via twig & thistle x

// save the date

2010-06-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

I never got the chance to blog about our 'save the date', since I only started blogging after they had already been sent out. Travis did a quick post about it on our welovepictures blog, but I thought I'd share it again, just because I love it. x

// too cute.

2010-06-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

I stumbled on this on pinterest today. It made me smile. Although I would never do that, and I think Travis would also rather tattoo my name on his bum :) But I thought it's quite cute even though it's a tiny bit corny. And I'm always suprised at how many photographer-teams there are out there. Just the perfect fit I suppose :P

I think I actually like the guys' tattoo more though. I also like his thought process behind it. Check it out here. x

// the ideal world...

2010-06-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

via tumblr

// wedding invites

2010-06-13T23:41:00.000-07:00

Oh I love Rifle Paper Co. She just has the coolest and freshest style ever. Every time I see her work, I smile.

Our friend, Gerhard, is making our invites and I can't flippen wait to see what he comes up with. I'm sure it's gonna be absolute happiness! Will definitely blog about it, once they've been sent out (we're posting them all, hope they all make it.) Check out his blog for now! x

// wow (words of wisdom) sunday

2010-06-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

via pinterest

// studio violet

2010-06-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

I just absolutely love these! I want every single plate! And they have the cutest stamps too! oh my.

// tea please

2010-06-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

I think this must be the cutest tea set I have ever seen. I want one! x

// oh my

2010-06-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

I literally cooed out loud when I saw this.

the hair. the dress. wow.

image via coco&kelly

// too pretty

2010-06-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

via twig & thistle

// oh i love bunting

2010-06-07T08:31:00.001-07:00

I am absolutely in love with anything bunting... I think it must be the little girl in me that just wants to play house-house in a tepee and drink imaginary tea out of tiny baby porcelain cups and lie in a field of flowers and make up cloud animals x

all via pinterest