Saronsberg Wedding Flowers, Tulbagh

Their story

A Saronsberg wedding in Tulbagh, by the bride's mother

Fabulous Flowers & Gifts, the Cape Town wedding florist, did the flowers for Skye and Scott's Saronsberg wedding in Tulbagh on Saturday, 7 March 2020, about 90 minutes' drive from Cape Town. Skye is the daughter of Josie van Aswegen, who founded Fabulous Flowers in 1999, and Josie did the wedding flowers herself: a white and green flower installation in the form of a circle for the ceremony, flowers in the trees, and white flowers spilling from long tables beneath a canopy of fairy lights.

Skye and Scott's wedding at Saronsberg was a formal celebration for 120 guests, who sat down to a homestyle feast at five long tables, with dancing on the lawn planned until one in the morning. The palette was white and green, with duck egg blue and grey in the décor, and the Fabulous Flowers team travelled with it: a truck of flowers from our Claremont florist studio, a house in Tulbagh, and the flower circle, towed in a trailer by Josie van Aswegen. If you are weighing up the best venues around Cape Town, this is the wedding we point to.

I · April 2019

A Winelands wedding, planned around the flowers

The first thing Skye told the décor company, in April 2019, was about her mother. "My mom is a florist and so there is going to be a huge focus on flowers." The wedding was eleven months away. She was not exaggerating.

Skye and Scott had chosen Saronsberg, a wine farm in Tulbagh about 90 minutes' drive from Cape Town, with sixteen vineyard cottages on the property. The couple would stay in Cottage 1, Josie in Cottage 2. It is a long way to carry a wedding, and Skye knew exactly who would be carrying it.

Those early notes were full of ideas. Flower installations. A flower wall threaded with lights. Emerald green statement couches. Some would change shape over the months, but the instinct never moved: this would be a wedding where you noticed the flowers first.

In May, Josie did something only a florist planning ten months ahead would think to do. She booked a house in Tulbagh for, in her words, "my fabulous staff who will working hard making all the flowers". The studio was going to Tulbagh.

Twenty years after Josie founded Fabulous Flowers in 1999, she was planning her own daughter's flowers. Every bride who comes to us is somebody's daughter. This time, the somebody was us.

“My mom is a florist and so there is going to be a huge focus on flowers.”
Skye, April 2019

II · August to December 2019

A flower installation for a Saronsberg wedding

By August the ideas had a shape. "I am really wanting to create a wow floral experience in the venue," Skye wrote, and she sent pictures of hanging structures: one for the entrance and one for the centre of the hall, flowers suspended overhead.

Marguerite Volpato, who runs events at Saronsberg, replied with the kind of enthusiasm you hope for from a venue: "OMW those arrangements and the idea looks amazing!" Then came the practical question every event flower installation meets. Three days later the owner answered: no new hooks in the ceiling. There were existing hooks, roughly a metre apart on both sides, and the design would have to work with those.

This is the part of installation work nobody photographs. A beautiful idea meets a beautiful building, and the building has its own rules. You find the plan the room will allow.

In late October, Irusha at Baie Goeters, the décor hire company, drew up a grid for what she called a "free flowing Garden idea with the fairy lights in between". When Skye saw it in December she wrote that "the fairy lights are BEAUTIFUL", and then described exactly what she could see in her head: "the flowers will drop down through the lights. I think this is going to look truly magical."

That same week the colours settled. Skye moved away from pink toward a "duck egg blue/grey colour incorporated with the green" for the lounges and décor, with duck egg serviettes and white floor-length tablecloths. The flowers would be white and green, cool and clean against the grey.

In November, sending the stationery details to Kim at eProfile Cape, Josie added a line that had nothing to do with print. "We are so excited for this wedding. It's such a happy time for our family."

“It's such a happy time for our family.”
Josie, November 2019

III · January to February 2020

Hanging flowers at a wedding, and what they weigh

In January the dream went onto a scale. Josie wrote to Irusha with the numbers: "I am planning to hanging three per table and the weight of them without the greenery is 30kgs in total."

Thirty kilograms, before a single trail of greenery. Irusha's honest reply: the wire would need doubling, and "30KG is very heavy tho." Hanging flowers look weightless in photographs because somebody, weeks earlier, worried about exactly this. It is the unglamorous side of luxury flower arrangements.

Around the same time the ceremony plan changed. The décor company had a circle arch on its list, and it came off, because, as Skye put it, "we are going to bring my moms up from Cape Town". Josie had her own flower circle. It would make the trip.

On 3 February, Josie booked a truck to collect "flowers, stands and other items" from the studio early on Thursday 5 March. One thing would not go on the truck. "I will transport the flower circle myself in a trailer," she wrote. Some things you do not hand over.

Ten days later Skye asked for the wire grid to come off the ceiling, because of the fairy lights, and said simply that "we've made another plan". Irusha signed off with the kind of line you only get at the end of a long planning thread: "Joh! That took long! Love you guys and good luck."

Hanging greenery and white flowers suspended over the long reception tables at Saronsberg in Tulbagh, with chandeliers and fairy lights beyond — Greenery hung overhead, from the hooks already there

IV · 22 February 2020

A flower crown workshop for the bride-to-be

Two weeks before the wedding, Skye's kitchen tea was held on Saturday 22 February at our Claremont studio, under the title "Our Blossoming Bride", and it was built around a flower crown workshop.

A flower crown workshop is a happy kind of chaos: buckets on the benches, wire passed from hand to hand, the people who love the bride trying their crowns on each other. No two ever come out the same, which is the point.

If you would like to try it yourself, we have written about how to create a flower crown step by step, and our ready-made flower crowns are made the same way, one stem at a time.

Skye's messages to her bridal party in those weeks open with a greeting that tells you who was in it: "Hello my beautiful girls (and my beautiful Nick)". Her brother Nick, today the managing director of Fabulous Flowers, stood in her bridal party. For once, the family business was simply family.

On 24 February she sent the message every bride writes in some form: "Less than 2 weeks!!!!!!! Eeeeekkkkk". Count the exclamation marks. That is what twelve days to go feels like.

“Hello my beautiful girls (and my beautiful Nick)”
Skye, to her bridal party

V · 3 to 6 March 2020

Getting flowers to a Tulbagh wedding venue

Josie and Skye arrived in Tulbagh on Tuesday 3 March. Saronsberg usually lets décor in on the Friday only. Josie asked to start on the Thursday, and the answer was two words long: "No problem."

Early on Thursday 5 March the truck left our studio loaded with flowers, stands and everything else the week would need. The flower circle travelled separately, in its trailer, with Josie. The team moved into the house she had booked in May, and the event flowers began to come together 90 minutes from home.

Other guests stayed at Vindoux, Raptors Rise and the Tulbagh Hotel, and a shuttle was arranged, because, as the guest notes cheerfully pointed out, "Uber is not very popular in Tulbagh".

Friday was planned for the bridal party: nails, cricket on the lawn, then a rib and chicken braai at the Lapa that night. Josie organised paper plates and bamboo cutlery, and Skye volunteered the decorating: "my mom and I can decorate". Even on the night off, the two of them planned to dress a table together.

Over those two days of set-up the hall slowly filled with flowers, so the day itself could look as if it simply happened.

The reception hall at Saronsberg in Tulbagh, with long tables, white flowers and a canopy of fairy lights overhead — The hall at Saronsberg under its canopy of fairy lights

Bride and groom kissing inside a flower circle of white roses and eucalyptus at their Saronsberg wedding ceremony, Tulbagh — Inside the flower circle

VI · Saturday 7 March 2020

Wedding arch flowers: a flower circle beneath the mountains

The day was planned to begin with a bridal breakfast at Makers Mark. The hour had been set in the old formal phrasing: "Seated at four o'clock in the afternoon".

Guests found wooden benches beneath the oak trees, and the plan included a sign asking them to go "Unplugged": phones away, eyes up. Flowers look their best to people who are actually looking at them.

At the front stood the flower circle, the one Josie had towed up from Cape Town, dressed in white roses, cream garden roses and white daisy chrysanthemums, with eucalyptus trailing through it, green amaranthus hanging from the table beside it and the mountains behind. Skye and Scott made their vows inside it. Her bridesmaids stood nearby in grey and sage, the colours of the décor carried into their dresses.

A circle is an old shape for a wedding, with no beginning and no end, and it frames two people in a way a straight arch never quite manages. If you are planning wedding arch flowers and want something softer than an arbour, this is the idea we would show you first. We write more about what flowers carry on the day in the symbolism of wedding flowers.

Skye's bouquet was white, with white roses at its heart and eucalyptus around them. In one photograph Scott kisses her forehead in front of the circle, the bouquet held low between them. In another they stand in golden grass with the mountains at their backs, in light no florist could arrange.

Josie has built that space for many families over the years. On 7 March, the circle she had towed up from Cape Town framed her own daughter.

VII · The evening, and after

Table flowers and fairy lights for a Winelands wedding reception

Canapés were set for a quarter to five, and the homestyle feast was planned for the tables by half past seven: five long ones dressed in white floor-length cloths, with benches alongside, and above them the canopy of fairy lights Skye had loved since December.

The flowers on those tables did not sit politely in the middle. White blooms and greenery spilled over the edges and fell toward the floor, catching the light on the way down, and more flowers were tucked up in the trees. It was the wow floral experience Skye had asked for in August, arrived at by a different route from the one first drawn up. We share more ideas for wedding table flowers in our journal.

Around the edges sat lounges in grey and light green: day beds, raw couches, Malawian chairs. Then the dancing. The plan had lights in the trees, the lawn in front of the main hall as the dance floor and music until one in the morning, with a midnight snack to keep everyone going. In the planning notes Skye had put it plainly: "Everyone LOVES to dance."

On the Monday a client wrote to us: "She looked absolutely beautiful and the flowers were stunning." It is the kind of message a florist keeps.

By May the country was in lockdown and nobody was dancing anywhere. Grace Charlotte, the photographer, went back to the wedding and re-edited the flower photographs for free. "I want to be as much help as I can in these times and to couple who are truly special," she wrote. Skye shared them: "I put the pics up on Facebook and Insta last night and the response was so wonderful." Grace's answer is the one we would like to end on: "you guys are such wonderful humans".

The flowers from that weekend lasted a few days, as flowers do. What Grace's photographs kept was something else: a hall full of white flowers under fairy lights, a few weeks before the world closed its doors, and a mother's flowers around her daughter.

White flowers and greenery cascading off a reception table under fairy lights at a Saronsberg wedding in Tulbagh — White flowers falling from the tables

“you guys are such wonderful humans”
Grace Charlotte, May 2020

Skye and Scott with their bridal party at Saronsberg in Tulbagh, bridesmaids in grey and sage holding white bouquets, the mountains rising behind — The bridal party, in grey and sage

Eucalyptus garland with pink roses and small blue flowers wound around an oak tree trunk at the Saronsberg wedding in Tulbagh

Low garland of white roses, white daisies and greenery behind a menu card, white pillar candles and sage napkins on a Saronsberg wedding table

Semi-naked wedding cake dressed with white roses and soft blush and lilac flowers at Skye and Scott’s Saronsberg wedding in Tulbagh

Groom kissing the bride's forehead in front of a white flower circle, white rose bridal bouquet in her hands, Saronsberg, Tulbagh

The flowers

Skye and Scott's wedding flowers, piece by piece

Flower circle: Josie's own circle, towed up from Cape Town in a trailer and dressed in white roses, cream garden roses and white daisy chrysanthemums, with eucalyptus. The couple married inside it, with the mountains behind.
Bridal bouquet: White roses and eucalyptus, in a soft round shape.
Bridesmaids and buttonholes: Posies of white roses for the bridesmaids.
Hanging flowers: Planned at three per table for the hall, about 30 kilograms in total before greenery.
Table flowers: White flowers and greenery cascading off the long tables under the fairy-light canopy, built in the same loose spirit as our flower arrangements.
Flowers in the trees: Flowers placed up among the branches, as the photographs show.
Kitchen tea flower crowns: Made at a flower crown workshop at Skye's kitchen tea, held at our Claremont studio two weeks before the wedding.

Bridal whiteLeaf greenSage greyDuck eggGolden field

In the mix

Flower circle: white roses, cream garden roses, white daisy chrysanthemums and eucalyptus. Bouquet: white roses and eucalyptus. Bridesmaids: posies of white roses. Tables: white roses, white, pale blue and antique green hydrangea, white chrysanthemums, white snapdragons, white alstroemeria, Queen Anne's lace, globe thistle, gypsophila, eucalyptus and hanging green amaranthus.

Wooden ceremony benches set beneath oak trees at the Saronsberg wedding venue in Tulbagh

The place

The Saronsberg wedding venue, Tulbagh

Saronsberg is a wine cellar and farm at the foot of the Saronsberg mountain in Tulbagh, in the Upper Breede River Valley, about 90 minutes' drive from Cape Town. Ceremonies are held under the oak trees on the front lawn, with a double-volume tasting room and an art gallery for indoor ceremonies, and the farm's sixteen vineyard cottages sleep 51 guests. Among Tulbagh wedding venues it lets a couple keep many of their people on the farm for the weekend, and lets a florist's team stay close by.

The hall is the place to ask questions early. When we planned Skye and Scott's hanging flower installation, the owner preferred no new hooks, so the design had to use the existing ones, about a metre apart on both sides.

Travel needs its own plan: a truck from Claremont on the Thursday, the circle in a trailer, and an extra day of set-up that Saronsberg kindly agreed to. A four o'clock ceremony under the oaks keeps guests in the shade.

For more places to marry within reach of the city, read our guide to wedding venues in and around Cape Town. Our Cape Town wedding florists work across the Cape Winelands as well as the city.

FamilyA family wedding: Skye is the daughter of our founder, Josie van Aswegen, and her brother Nick, our managing director, was in her bridal party.

FloralsFabulous Flowers & Gifts, Claremont (Josie van Aswegen, since 1999)

VenueSaronsberg, Tulbagh (events: Marguerite Volpato)

Décor and furniture hireBaie Goeters

CateringAnnalize and Oliver Swart

PhotographyGrace Charlotte

Stationery printingKim at eProfile Cape

InvitationsSecret Diary

WaitersStrictly Staffing

Extra tablesUrban Tonic

Planning notes

Planning Saronsberg wedding flowers: what this wedding taught us

Weigh it, then tell your décor team
Three hanging arrangements per table came to about 30 kilograms before greenery. Share the real weight with whoever is rigging, so they can double the wire or rethink the structure.
Decide whether lights or flowers lead
Skye's wire grid came down because of the fairy lights, weeks before the wedding. Settle early which of the two leads the ceiling, and design the other around it.
Give a country wedding an extra day
With a 90-minute drive, we asked to start on the Thursday rather than the usual Friday, and Saronsberg agreed. A house nearby for the team meant the flowers could be made close to the venue.
Move the hero piece yourself
The truck took the flowers and stands, but Josie towed the flower circle in her own trailer. Whatever the centrepiece of your day is, give it its own transport and its own careful hands.

Gallery

Skye and Scott kissing in a golden field with a white bridal bouquet and mountains behind, Saronsberg, Tulbagh

Saronsberg top table with a long garland of white flowers and greenery trailing to the floor, in front of a curtain of fairy lights and two chandeliers

Skye holding a white rose bridal bouquet beside Scott and a guest in pale grey on the lawn at Saronsberg, Tulbagh

Good to know

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Cape Town florist do the flowers for a Saronsberg wedding in Tulbagh?

Yes, Fabulous Flowers did the flowers for Skye and Scott's Saronsberg wedding in Tulbagh on 7 March 2020. Skye is the daughter of our founder, Josie van Aswegen. Saronsberg is about 90 minutes' drive from Cape Town, so a truck took the flowers and stands up from our Claremont studio on 5 March, the team stayed in a house nearby, and set-up started that Thursday. Our wedding florists plan travel and set-up with the venue well ahead of the date.

How far is the Saronsberg wedding venue from Cape Town, and where do guests stay?

Saronsberg in Tulbagh is about 90 minutes' drive from Cape Town. The farm has 16 vineyard cottages that sleep 51 guests, and for Skye and Scott's wedding on 7 March 2020 other guests stayed at Vindoux, Raptors Rise and the Tulbagh Hotel. A guest shuttle helped, since ride-hailing is hard to find in Tulbagh.

How many guests can a Saronsberg wedding hold?

A Saronsberg wedding can hold up to 120 guests, with the ceremony under the oaks on the front lawn and the reception in the main hall. Skye and Scott's wedding on 7 March 2020 was a formal celebration for 120 guests at five long tables, and Fabulous Flowers dressed the hall with white flowers spilling from the tables beneath fairy lights.

Can you hang flowers from the ceiling at a wedding venue?

Yes, hanging flowers are possible at a wedding venue when the ceiling has fixings that can carry the weight. At Saronsberg in Tulbagh, the design for Skye and Scott's wedding in March 2020 had to work with existing hooks about a metre apart, and Josie van Aswegen planned three hanging arrangements per table weighing around 30 kilograms in total before greenery. Ask the venue about fixings first, then plan your hanging flowers around them.

What is a flower circle, and how is it different from a wedding arch?

A flower circle is a round frame dressed with flowers that a couple stands inside rather than beneath, and it frames two people beautifully against a view. Skye and Scott married inside one at Saronsberg on 7 March 2020, dressed in white roses, white daisy chrysanthemums and eucalyptus, with the Tulbagh mountains behind them. Josie van Aswegen brought it up from Cape Town in a trailer. Like an arch, a flower circle can be planned in your own colours.

Has Fabulous Flowers hosted a flower crown workshop for a kitchen tea?

Yes, Fabulous Flowers hosted a flower crown workshop for Skye's kitchen tea, "Our Blossoming Bride", at our Claremont studio on Saturday 22 February 2020, two weeks before her Saronsberg wedding. It was a family occasion rather than a service we list, because Skye is the daughter of our founder, Josie van Aswegen. If you would like something similar, ask us whether we can do one for your date and group.

Your wedding

Tell us about your day

If you are planning a Winelands wedding and dream of flowers overhead, or a circle of your own to marry in, tell us about your day. Josie would love to hear it.

Request a quote See all real weddings

More real weddings