Getting Ready with Ilse & Daniel Kallenbach

 Tell us a little about yourselves- how did you and your partner meet?

We met online during COVID lockdown, and bonded over talks about yoga, psychology, misty mountain towns, a chocolate cafe we both loved, our (eerily similar) relationship histories and shared vision for life and love. Despite multiple attempts to align on a date, obstacles kept popping up, so it took us some time to finally align and meet in person. On our first date, we drank green juice, ate popcorn, chatted for hours, and secretly both had a sense that something magical was brewing - which excited and terrified us both. So, after playing cat and mouse for another month or so, we finally met again for our second date - a beautiful cosy picnic in the park that Dan had put together. It was on our second date, while feasting on yummy snacks and secret COVID wine, that we had to start to surrender and admit to ourselves that our lives were about take on a surprising and beautiful new direction. So, we went on a third date - a nature walk - where we started learning to take one small step at a time, together. Since then, our life together has felt like an absolute whirlwind. In just three years, we've shared some amazing adventures, faced some of life's biggest losses and grief, moved to Cape Town, bought a home, made some career shifts, stood in awe of the most incredible rainbows and dreamy sunsets. And we've kept holding hands as the world keeps spinning.

 

Spill the details on your proposal story...

Dan surprised me with a weekend away in the Cederberg mountains. He picked a really romantic gem of a place - so private, peaceful, more stars at night than I've ever seen before. On the Saturday morning, we decided to go on a hike to see if we could find a secret little beach that we had heard about. While Dan was packing our picnic bags, I could tell something was up- he seemed scattered and distracted. I suspected it might happen, but I didn't want to get my hopes up and be disappointed, so I tried to ignore the signs and just be present. We spent the whole hike chatting about our relationship, our shared future vision (this seems to be a theme), and how much we value each other. We finally found the secret little beach (which honestly took my breath away!) and setup our picnic, on the same blanket we used on our second date. We kept chatting for a bit, and suddenly Dan stood up held out his hand and asked me to join him as he wanted to show me something special. As he pulled me up, he dropped down to one knee and popped the question. I was so overwhelmed with emotion I can't even remember hearing what he had said, but I will never forget the look on his face and how I felt at that moment. To celebrate with a toast, Dan poured us a glass of green juice, reminiscent of our very first date.

Tell us about the vision you had for your special day, was there a specific theme/style and aspects that were important to you? 

In the same spirit of our relationship thus far, our wedding planning process was also a total whirlwind - we ended up putting everything together in only 3 weeks!! I'm super grateful to have found Kim from Lune Events - she was incredible and pulled of everything we wanted, despite many obstacles and the short time frame. We wanted to celebrate our wedding day in an intimate, romantic, setting with only our closest family and friends, and in a way that really felt authentic to us, without paying too much attention to traditional customs and expectations. We found a beautiful beach villa on a pretty private stretch of beach that just perfectly aligned with the look and feel we both wanted - misty mountains, the sound of the waves, bohemian picnic decor for the beach reception, and lots of stars to dance under. Our families & best friends flew in from across the globe and we all spent the weekend together - this was the first time our parents had the chance to meet, so we all had loads to catch up on. The most important elements for us were the way the ceremony was structured - it needed to be super relaxed and personal, and then for the reception we just wanted to create a cosy, warm atmosphere that recreated our many outdoor picnic dates, but with elevated decor and an incredible menu catered for by a private chef. Having a tiny guest list and spending the whole weekend with our guests really helped us to be able to stay present with each other on the day and create many moments alone together to pause and take it all in.

 

How did you spend the morning of your wedding? How did you cope with the pre-wedding nerves? 

While I loved spending time with the families at the beach villa, I left on the Saturday afternoon to spend the night away at another villa on the mountain, just a few minutes' drive away. My best friend flew in from Toronto to meet me and we had a blast catching up and spending some much-needed girl time together. On the Sunday, while Dan got ready at the beach villa and kept an eye on the decor setup, all the ladies came over to my place and we spent the day chatting and drinking mimosas while getting our hair and makeup done. There were quite a few mishaps and stresses on the day: no electricity for us to use hairstyling tools, the event coordinator's assistant got injured while delivering a generator for us, we had to do an unexpected beach clean-up after high tide, the tide heavily delayed our ceremony, and our photographer's husband got severely ill on the day, causing to have to leave early, etc! Despite all the obstacles and potential nerves around it all, I just decided that I was going to focus on the important elements of the day and trust that things will fall into place. I'm so grateful for my two girlfriends for managing all the tasks I gave them without any hesitation so that I could stay calm and soak in all the happy moments. Dan and I both wrote letters to each other with little gifts that we opened just before the ceremony. This created such a special moment of connection, while we reflected on our story, and prepared to meet on the beach for our wedding ceremony. It all just felt so surreal and totally magical.

 

What drew you to Top Drawer Collection for your getting ready outfits?

I decided on the silky robes - the fabric is so luxurious! The bohemian style with the bell sleeve design was exactly aligned with what I had envisioned and created a sense of effortless style in our photos. The way the fabric drapes and moves is just dreamy!

What advice would you give future brides?

No matter what obstacles you have to face, stay true to you and remember what matters most - for both of you. It's not about the decor, the dress, or any of the other elements you will likely agonize about. Your wedding will be a very short, fleeting moment in time - pay attention to each other. Remember his face and the words you both said, be present with each other and let everything else fade away. Find ways to keep yourself grounded, lean on your girlfriends for support with unexpected tasks, and just let go and allow yourself to relax and be happy. You don't have to buy into all the fluff that makes up so many wedding celebrations & you don't have to please anyone but yourselves. Take on the elements you actually like and leave the rest.