My Indian Wedding Planner

So now that I’m getting married, I suppose I need to start planning my wedding. Like most girls, I have an idea of how my fairy tale wedding is going to pan out. That was until I found out how much weddings cost! Even a small wedding costs about as much a new car.

I’ve spent the last few months angry with the world at how much I will have to pay for a wedding. If it was up to me, I’d get registered in court and then live happily ever after. After all, it’s the wedded bliss I’m after rather than the day itself.

It was me against the world so I had to have the big fancy wedding. I’m still going to be complaining about this for a while to come. Now I know nothing about the nitty/gritty of weddings so I enlisted the help of a wedding planner, Golden Thread Events, recommended by a friend. I spoke with many people about my choice on whether to go with the planner or not and it seems most people were against the idea of throwing away money to someone when I could do it all myself.

Living in Joburg and having a wedding in Durban doesn’t afford me the opportunity to be as involved as I liked. I don’t have someone to run around for me and the quoted price for the wedding planning services was very reasonable – about the price of a few trips to Durban – and having someone do the running around for me will save me lots of trips to Durban.

I met the person behind the business, Nita Maharaj, and immediately took a liking to her. I was all wedding averse and she got me so excited about getting married! She’s really easy-going and allayed all the fears that I had.

I contacted Nita in September and I’ve already given her way too much work when I only finalised the date in December. She’s been extremely supportive and provided me with three months of guidance and assistance before I even paid her! She’s super quick and I’ve been in Durban for a week and she’s already organised meetings and viewings with various suppliers. I’m probably leaving Durban before the year ends with my venue, most of my decor, photographer, videographer and various entertainment booked. Plus there's tons of ideas that I need to go over so I can bug her again on more things to book.

Did I mention that she’s also uber creative and comes with amazing ideas limited only by the budget *sigh*. If you need an events coordinator, check her out www.goldentreadevents.co.za and tell her I say hi.

Renewing my driver’s licence in Joburg

So there I was having a lovely conversation with friends one evening until someone told us a funny story about how he was stopped by the cops and only then realised that his licence expired. I then pulled out my wallet and realised that my licence had been expired for 3 months already!

My mood quickly turned as no one wants the schlep of having to renew their driver’s licence. I procrastinated for a bit while lamenting about how the God, the universe and useless government departments all hate me. But I had to get it done as I had a long drive to Durban to prepare for. Also, driving around with an expired licence is a huge risk. I’m not worried about the cops as much as I’m worried about insurance companies refusing to pay out if I’m in an accident.

The entire process made me very miserable and to avoid you that misery, I decided to put together a list of things you need to bring with you in order to get your licence renewed.

• Time. Finding time was my biggest issue. The licencing departments are only open on weekdays until 3pm. This means trying to find the right time to leave work. I suggest taking an afternoon off or going super early in the morning but make sure that you don’t have any meetings that day – you might not make it back in time.
• ID photos. You might have heard of digital photos. Yeah they take em out during the application process and you might have taken them out the last time you applied for or renewed your licence. It’s really just for the traffic department to feel like they are technologically advanced because it does nothing for your application. You’ll still need 2 ID photos. You can get them outside the any of the licencing stations for about R50 for 4 black and white photos.
• A photocopy of your ID. Now if you call them, they won’t tell you about this bit (that’s if they answer their phones). All they say is that you need your ID. So if you don’t bring it, be prepared for a 15 minute brisk walk in the hot sun for the photocopy station very far away outside the licencing department. No one will make a copy for you during the application process, even though they should. Oh and you can’t take your car cos it’s a mission to find parking and you really don’t want to go through that twice.
• A black pen. There are no pens for you to use in this little office and if staff do have pens, they taunt you with the fact that it’s all blue.
• About R300. Of course, government does not embrace the information age. Make sure you have enough cash as they do not accept cards. R300 is enough to renew your licence and get a temporary licence.
• Good eyesight. The eye test is gruelling and tests peripheral vision which is not easy for people who wear glasses. If you have bad eyesight, get a script from your optometrist. You don’t want to waste a two and a half hour wait just to fail that eye test.
• Snacks. The whole process took two and a half hours. This doesn’t even count my earlier trip to the Midrand licencing department which was a waste of time since their system was down. Whatever you do, make sure you have something to snack on in case you find yourself passing your lunch time in that queue.
• A fully charged phone to keep you busy while you wait. Enough said.

Good luck renewing your licence and hopefully these tips help. 

My highlights of 2013 and plans for 2014

Instead of setting New Year’s resolutions, I decided to reflect on the various things I’ve done this year and make some realistic plans on how to improve my own happiness over the next year. Here’s a few of my 2013’s highlights and plans for the next year.

To love and be loved

A culmination of things this year brought me so much closer to my boyfriend. It took a while for him to figure it out but it feels incredibly amazing to love someone wholeheartedly and to be overwhelmed by his loved in return tenfold. I spent the first half of the year playfully googling about weddings and whispering about rings. Surprisingly, my boyfriend spent the next half of the year talking wedding plans with our parents and looking at grown up houses :-).

I love our relationship’s growth over the year and all that talking and dreaming is slowly becoming a reality. We’re getting married next year!!! And although I have my reservations about weddings, I cannot wait until after the wedding when I’m actually married.

New work beginnings

I always say that a 9 – 5 job will never provide me with happiness. It’s the perks of working like getting a salary and all the things outside of work that make me happy. My move to a new job brought a salary increase, a workload increase, 6 months fully paid maternity benefits and travel opportunities. Although I’m in tears every time I find myself at OR Tambo for work, I get an opportunity to see countries I wouldn’t ordinarily visit on my own.

I love the benefits that my company has to offer and my boyfriend loves them more. He plans on having me stay put until I exhaust those maternity leave benefits. With wedding planning, I’ll be far too busy to even consider a career move next year.

Travelled to developing countries

I visited Thailand on holiday and through work I was able to see Mozambique, Tanzania and Zanzibar. All of these countries have their own beauties and natural wonders that one cannot truly appreciate without actually being there. And only once I had visited these lands, did I appreciate being born in South Africa. We have our own poverty like all these countries but we are so developed in terms of infrastructure, economy and international affairs.

I will still have to travel at least 4 times for work next year within Africa so I don’t have to look hard for these travel opportunities. Although I’m swamped with work, I will try to squeeze in as much of the local life there as I can.

Explored my backyard

When stealing some time for romantic getaways, my boyfriend and I are limited to holidaying in South Africa. This year I went to Hartbeespoort Dam and did all the touristy stuff that I missed out on the first time around. I went to Eastern Cape for the first time and fell in love with PE before exploring the Garden Route.

With saving up for a wedding, I can’t really afford little local getaways next year. I plan on being in Pietermaritzburg in April so I definitely want to explore that little town and if I have time between wedding planning, I’d love to show my boyfriend’s family around Durban.

Became a homeowner

My new job is taxing – I spent most of this year working solid from the morning until I needed to go home but the salary increase is rewarding. It’s because of this that I was finally able to buy my very first apartment. I know all about the financial advice about property and investment. And then there are the people who criticise moving jobs for money. All these people with their advice often don’t realise just how hard it is to save up for a deposit on a house. I’ve made many sacrifices for it but I’m glad that I have my own place which I intend to keep for a very long time.

I want a big house to move into after I get married but with the cost of a wedding, it looks like I’m not going to get my big house next year but I’m definitely going to be saving up whatever my wedding doesn’t steal from me.

As always my aim for the coming year is to be happy. People, circumstances and things change and we need to change along with it. That might mean changing my plans in order to achieve my ultimate goal for 2014 and the rest of my life: happiness. Wish me luck ;-).

A weekend filled with puppies at the Ark Animal Centre

My weekends are usually filled with socialising, being out and about and trying to squeeze in some rest and relaxation time. A while back, my friend invited me to her birthday braai which was celebrated a little differently this year. It was an afternoon of playing with puppies from a shelter, the Ark Animal Centre in Fourways.

My friend asked us to donate things to the shelter instead of buying her birthday present. What a cute idea! That morning we bought tons of stuff that the animals and people caring for them would need. The cost of running the shelter is about R60 000 a month – most of this is used to pay for dog food and the vet – so they rely heavily on donations to care for all their dogs.

As soon as we arrived, we brought all our donations to their offices where the cutest dogs were all running around between us. These dogs were let loose but not at all dangerous – they seemed to love seeing so many people coming in and out and enjoyed all the random pettings.

Doggies checking out their presents

Pretty soon, we were put to work by the birthday girl. She told us that we’d be giving little puppies a bath. Ark Animal Centre specialises in caring for pregnant mom doggies so they have a lot of pups. The puppies are kept in little areas according to their litter or breed or size. They keep the different puppies apart for health reasons and even when visitors come in to play or choose a puppy to adopt, they are required to sanitise before entering different puppy areas.

This dog was just received so she was all alone being slowly introduced to the other dogs

Puppies wanting attention

Check out those floppy ears!

The one on the right stole my heart

I have never had any pets so bathing them was a first for me. Some of the puppies were so tiny and scared of the water and others loved being pampered. I stole out some time to play with all the puppies – one of which stole my heart and I wished I could take him home. :-(

Me with a clean dog

Trying to escape the bath

Afterwards, we started a braai at the back and mingled with the people that care for the dogs. I have such respect for these people who give up so much of their time for these animals and they know each animal by name! They also rehabilitate dogs that may have had traumatic experiences and try to rehome them.  

Our braai

Me, the birthday girl and the angels that take care of the dogs

We found a newborn! He woke up for this pic

If you’re interested in getting a puppy, please look at adopting from a shelter. There are so many dogs out there that I cannot understand the concept of breeding dogs to sell them. Ark Animal Centre will assist with the whole adoption process.

A newly adopted pup

This cutey also got adopted later that day

If you can’t adopt, you can sponsor a pup and you can visit as much as you like – kinda like having a dog if you can’t keep one in your apartment. The Ark Animal Centre loves having visitors to give the puppies a cuddle or take the dogs for a walk so if you want to volunteer you time or have a day like ours, just give them a call.

If you want more information, check out their website: www.arkanimalcentre.co.za. Donations are much needed and if you want to contribute financially, their banking details are:
Ark Animal Centre
FNB Cheque Account
Account number: 62335841301
Branch: Broadacres
Branch code: 204809

There are so many ways to help

I left with a heavy heart knowing that I couldn’t save all those dogs but at the same time I have never felt so much love within an organisation. Somehow I just know that these dogs will be fine. And I can’t wait to organise another fun day like this where I can go back to play with them.

Whale watching in Hermanus

While planning my Garden Route Trip, The Whale Watchers kindly offered me a discounted rate on their whale trip. I have been wanting to see whales since last year when I holidayed in Cape Town in winter so I was pretty excited to go on this trip. In fact, it was probably the part of the Garden Route trip I looked forward to the most.

The briefing room

On their website, the Whale Watchers state that if you don't see any whales on a trip, they'll let you come back on another trip for free. So when we arrived at the new harbour in Hermanus for our 9am whale trip, I was a bit worried that we might not even see any whales. Our guide assured us that although it was almost the end of whale season, the bay was still filled with mother and calf pairs. 

That made me really excited and so we started on the briefing session where the guide told us all about the Southern Right whales that are popular in the bay, their anatomy and how to spot them. Pretty soon, we were on the boat jetting off to the bay. The waves were quite high but we were fine sitting in the bottom area of the boat. It took about 15 minutes to get to the bay and all the while, I was just enthralled by the stunning coastline and the amazing feeling of speeding through the ocean. When we stopped, we all went to the top of the boat to see if there were any whales nearby. Now the waves were pretty high so I tried to keep steady by sitting down.

Our guide showing us a whale's tooth during the briefing

The exciting walk to the harbour

That's our boat!

How awesome is that view!

I kept calling the mountains dirty :-). Looks quite dusty

Pretty soon, we were spotting whales and looking at them in awe. Big mommy whales were floating on the surface with baby whales nearby. We even saw some baby whales playing by jumping out of the waters closer to the shore. All the while, our guide told us more about the whales. I learnt that these whales usually mate in Hermanus and are pregnant for just over a year. During this time they migrate to the Antarctic. When they migrate back to the Hermanus area, they prepare to give birth and move to the bay where the waters are less rocky. When a mommy whale is ready to give birth, she is helped by a mid-wife whale who assists to carry the newborn calf to the surface to take his first breath of air. How cute is that! I thought we were the only animals that need birthing assistance. 

That black spot in the water is whale!

Another whale a little closer

Awww...a mother calf pair

We were given lots of stories and info like that while we were moving between whales or just staying in one spot watching a specific whale. The rockiness of the boat got too much for my boyfriend who needed to run to the side of the boat to throw up. The guide was so sweet and kept telling him that it's fine and that it happens all the time. He even got him some water and a brown paper bag for round 2. Lesson learnt: take motion sickness pills even if you think you don't them. 

Pretty soon, the hour was up and we were making our way back to the harbour with some complimentary chips and cooldrinks. Although the excitement of the whale watching was over, the ride back was pretty amazing too with spectacular views of the ocean and the shorelines. 

A cute seal statue at the harbour

I was really happy to have seen whales in their natural habitat. If you want to experience a whale trip, check out The Whale Watchers website and contact them. The whale trips are R650 per person and it is really important to book in advance as all the whale watching companies book out fast because of the amount of tourists in the Western Cape. I would also suggest going earlier than November so you can see a lot more of these marvelous giants.

Giveaway! A free night’s stay at At The Woods

I remember searching for accommodation in Tsitsikamma while we still planning our Garden Route Trip. There weren’t many options available but of all the websites that I saw, I knew that this had to be the one.

I imagined it to be a wooden lodge in the woods - somewhere to escape into. We arrived just before a heavy downpour and it was exactly what I imagined it to be. From the outside it looked like a wooden lodge with trees everywhere. The wooden feel carried through to the inside creating a warm inviting feeling. I loved the African theme throughout the guesthouse with little animal figurines and African art that complemented the woods theme very well.

I am so fussy about hotel rooms – I automatically think they are dirty before I even step into the room. This room was clean and neat and as soon as I stepped, I expressed my sadness about only spending one night here. Little did I know how true that was because I hated the guesthouse we spent the next two nights in.

Big showers are a must for me and this bathroom was big with a very modern open kinda shower so you don’t feel too enclosed as with normal shower doors. We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the place and watching the rain from the balcony – a relaxing end to a busy day travelling from PE.

The lodge does not serve supper but the owner told us about the various restaurants just a few minutes away where we could get supper. Because there wasn’t a restaurant on the premises, I appreciated the well-stocked bar fridge in the room. There are also two lounge areas next to the wine cabinets if that’s how’d prefer to spend your evening.

Breakfast is served out on the balcony overlooking the Tsitsikamma mountain which is apparently the same height as Table Mountain but doesn’t look it since we were so far up sea level in comparison to being in Cape Town. It was a standard fruits and yogurt and English breakfast and I loved the fresh croissants that were served to us. Most of all, I loved the view of the mountain, the “woods” and the greenery within the premises as my breakfast view. I like embracing nature from afar and not actually being in nature so this was perfect.

The owner gave us tons of information about the area when we checked in and also chatted to us during breakfast. When we were checking out, he told us all about where to go in and around the area so even if you rock up unplanned (like me) there’s someone there to make sure you check out the must see places in the area.

I was so in love with this guesthouse the night I stayed there and then I spent the next two nights dreaming about this place so I was so excited when the owner offered a night’s stay to give away to one of my readers. It’s amazing to have enjoyed my stay so much and to be able to share it with others.

The one night’s stay for two people sharing with breakfast at At The Woods is only valid from 1 May – 31 July 2014 and no flights or other extras are included. I'll be running the giveaway until the end of the year. Enter using Rafflecopter by doing any one of the following:

• Tweet “I want to win a free night’s stay at At The Woods with @SandiSplash. Enter here to win http://sandisplash.blogspot.com/2013/12/giveaway-free-nights-stay-at-at-woods.html”
• Share this post on Facebook
• Comment on this post by telling me what you would get up to in Tsitsikamma if you win
• Like my Facebook page

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclaimer: At The Woods is providing the free guesthouse stay to the winner of this giveaway. I fully paid for the At The Woods stay detailed in this post.