Two of the top guys at Cape Grace – General Manager Nigel Pace and Operations Manager Andrew Rosettenstein – had their weddings within a couple of months of each other,  we asked them for a few tips about the man’s role in wedding preparation and how to survive it!

Pre-Wedding Tips

Nigel: Turning up on the day is a good start. I found that agreeing had positive spin offs too.

Andrew: Be decisive and help the process with encouragement. When decisions appear impossible, be assertive.

Nigel: Don’t worry if you feel completely detached from all the arrangements, just make sure that the few tasks you are allocated get done.  I only had to organise the DJ, transport and honeymoon. The first two I arranged three days before the wedding, but the honeymoon was organised much earlier– three weeks ahead if I remember correctly.

Tips for the Wedding Morning

Nigel: On the morning of my wedding I watched a bit of TV, took out the rubbish, went to supermarket to buy some cleaning materials, oh and I wrote my speech in bed. I am a big procrastinator!

Andrew: I had a grooming reservation on morning of wedding with strict instructions on how to razor my hair (even though I hardly have any hair).

Nigel: This is a tip for girls; don’t have your hair made up differently on your wedding day. You might just end up hating the wedding photos where your new hairdo gets ruined by a howling south-easter. Did I mention it was terribly windy on our wedding day?

Honeymoon Tips

Nigel:  Organise a surprise honeymoon. Sarah had no idea we were going to a tropical island in East Africa, on safari in Kenya, to Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta. Whatever I didn’t do for the wedding, I certainly redeemed myself on the honeymoon.

Andrew:  I couldn’t lie on beach and do nothing for two weeks; Renee goes brown and I go bright pink! So I organised a surprise honeymoon; beach and sports in Mauritius for a week, then on safari to some private game reserves near Kruger.  I used to manage Phinda Game Reserve but never get tired of going on every game drive.

Tips for a Romantic Proposal

Andrew: I had the ring and thought for months how to pop the question. I went for an elaborate deception to get Renee all dolled up to go out to dinner. A Bentley was parked outside and we drove to a huge house in Camps Bay where the floor strewn with rose petals and sushi and champagne in the fridge. She said, “yes”.

Nigel: None of your business! Ok, I’ll tell you….it was the first night in our new home. The fire was going and I’d prepared Sarah’s favourite dish; steak and fries. I knelt down and she thought I’d fallen off my chair. I proposed with a very unconventional ring that I’d had made. The rest is history.

Image credited to www.shannajones.com

Image credited to Melinda Borbely Photography