My cousin’s wedding in Gansbaai and 35th birthday waffles

Remember I shared last week’s blog post a whole day early? That’s because we were out of town on Friday – as a double-whammy 35th birthday and family destination wedding getaway…

Thursday, 14 February 2019: Valentine’s Day hot dogs and shakes at Rocomama’s 

I’d taken a day’s leave on Valentine’s Day, so that I’d be well into the holiday spirit for our weekend away. See my lovely lunchtime treat at Rocomama’s with my parents – that’s a double BCG hot dog (topped with bacon, cheese and guacamole), as well as a Nutella-banana waffle and various cold drinks.

Friday, 15 February 2019: My 35th birthday – Hermanus waffles and dinner in Gansbaai

Happy birthday to me! Imagine balloons and such. We were both obviously on leave so we slept in until after the weekday alarm usually goes off, then decided on a New Cafe breakfast as we needed an early start for the first leg of our road trip up to Hermanus.

Lunchtime! After a good few hours on the road, we met my parents at Belgian Waffles, Burgers and Beers in Hermanus. See some of the beers sampled, as well as my Speculaas waffle and ginger-white chocolate cappuccino. Happy happy!

Husband and Dad off to dip their toes in the sea at Grotto Bay – it was quite a low tide so they didn’t venture in beyond their ankles.

Benguela Lodge in De Kelders was our home base for the weekend. Lots of blue skies and the sound of water everywhere made for some happy Aquarians (and Leo parents).

A spot of birthday cave exploring? Why not! It was so hot, we were happy to dip our feet in the sea again…

Love how Husband captured Mum capturing this snap – the only ‘birthday hat’ photo we took. 🙂

We decided on birthday dins at the Blue Goose, just up the road in Gansbaai.

Scenes from my birthday dinner at Blue Goose restaurant in De Kelders. See the sunny dining area, bottle of Hermanuspieterfontein red, my chicken dish and the linefish, both with crispy baby potatoes.

Beautiful sunset over Gansbaai on our way back to De Kelders that evening.

Saturday, 16 February 2019: My cousin Shelley’s wedding at Panorama Farm in Franskraal

T’was a cold, drizzly Saturday morning so we decided to pop in at the wedding venue for a quick recce. See the pretty pruned trees, main castle building and various dogs and horses we befriended.

Next stop, we drove up to see where the shark cage-diving happens in Gansbaai. There were so many folk in wet suits! Not us, of course…

By then we needed a treat so stopped at Giuseppe’s Pizza in Gansbaai for cocktails – their special is ‘buy any two beers, pay for both’. Lol! See my toffee-nut shake; Dad’s enormous Long Island Ice Tea, with a thick lemon wedge separating the white spirits from the sugarless Cola; Mum’s bloody Mary; and Husband’s orange Sex on the Beach. All were yum!

Sights we saw at Panorama Farm in Franskraal, at Shelley and Richard’s wedding.

Panorama Farm has a lovely forest ceremony area, which is where we witnessed the vows. See Shelley walking down the aisle with her brother and dad.

Aww. Such a special moment, snapped between my cousin Darryl (brother of the bride) and his son, Dylan.

Introducing Mr and Mrs Lothian! The joy and love was all around us.

Wedding bubbles! See the sweet individual bubble blowers we used at the ceremony, with rose petals, as well as the enormous bubbles we created when it was time for ‘snacks and lawn games’. Also see Dad and Husband doing the same the next morning, at the post-wedding breakfast.

Beautiful platters adorned the wedding reception tables.

Sunflowers were clearly the theme, adding a sunny touch to the tables, with Shelley’s hair featuring daisies.

See the individual cheese, cracker and spread platters that were waiting on the tables, as well as the dessert table, including the cake and cinnamon cookies Shelley baked herself. Yes, those are Groot and Deadpool cake-toppers! 🙂

Teehee, happy faces at our table at the wedding reception at Panorama Farm.

Various family dance floor shots – the newly married couple opening the floor to ‘Love to see you smile’ by Homer and Marge Simpson, posing with the rest of us, and the family on the dance floor.

The sunset from the ‘Love’-lit pond was so beautiful.

Sunday, 17 February 2019: Post-wedding breakfast at Panorama Farm

We missed our doglets very much but made friends with Benguela Lodge’s sweet African bush cat, Oscar.

After a speedy check-out, we started our Sunday with a brief explore of the walkway down to the deck overlooking the sea at De Kelders. It was just beautiful.

Champagne sparkles on the glossy blue sea.

Next stop, our third visit at beautiful Panorama Farm, where we all met up for a quick farewell ‘foodtruck’ brekkie, featuring coffee and bacon-egg rolls. Just the thing after all the dancing of the night before.

We had worked up quite an appetite from our morning walk, so the bacon-and-egg buns and cups of coffee in the sunshine went down a treat.

That’s all, folks. Here’s to a relaxing weekend ahead! 🙂