Jamie + Laurent

How did you meet?

I met Laurent almost 7 years ago at a birthday party from a mutual friend. He had a hangover from the night before, I was running late for the party because of work.
When I got in, I immediately saw him standing in the back. A very cute, tall and a bit arrogant man. One look was enough for me, and surprisingly he felt the same. He saw me walking in with a white blazer, which stood out in a dark room. It seems stereotypical, but for both of us it was love at first sight
All night long I talked to all of his friends, but not to him, although I secretly looked around to see where he was. At 4am he finally had the confidence to walk up to me with a magazine in his hand and asked me what my horoscope was. The both of us are scorpios, so he told me what would happen to us that week. It was very cute and the day after I wondered where he got that magazine from?!

When did you know they were the one?

Laurent is a DJ, so sometimes he would play abroad as well. He spend the week in France, doing one gig after the other in several après ski bars.
All week long I was feeling really nervous & didn’t sleep well. When I heard him coming home and rushed myself to the door, I saw the look on his face. He was dead tired, but he looked at me with a face full of happiness. He took me in his arms and I immediately felt so calm, so secure. I knew at that moment that he was the one.

What are your three favourite attributes of your partner?

Laurent never stops developing. He always tries to do better. I saw him change from someone who was very modest, to someone who asks questions and wants to create depth. I saw him struggle with traumas from his past to open up about those problems and talk about it. I noticed that he became a bit ‘softer’ and shows his emotions more often.

He goes all the way for everyone he loves. For his friends, his family or my family: he has so much love to give. From mental support to picking up stuff around, he does it anyway. He wants to make sure that the people around him are as happy as he is.

The last thing I absolutely love about him, is his smile. I can’t express how much I love his smile. If he smiles at me, I have to smile back. It makes me happy to see his face light up when he’s happy. If I could wish for one thing in the world; it would be to see him smile until the end of days.

Who proposed and how?

I always told him that he could not ask it without having a photographer around haha!

So we went on vacation, to our favourite country: South Africa. I’ve done my internship around Cape Town when I was 21 & we had already been there on vacation, so we have had a special connection with this place. One week before we went home again, he said that he had a surprise for me. A photoshoot for the both of us! But, he told me sternly, it was only going to be a photo shoot. Nothing more, nothing less. Fine be me, because we literally have no professional pictures together.
So we did this shoot and after an hour he asked me if ‘the light was okay?’. Not yet I told him – because South African light is pretty harsh during the summer & golden hour is beautiful then. So he waited some more, till the light was perfect. I thought the end of the photoshoot was coming so I started to walk away. But when he then said “wait a minute,” I knew right away. He was going to ask me to marry him. I looked in his eyes, he went on one knee and he indeed asked me then to marry him. He said more lovely things, but we both can’t remember what because of all the emotions haha! It was a beautiful moment & I can enjoy those mandatory pictures the rest of my life!

Because of the proposal in South Africa, we also started to think about doing our wedding there. We thought about it for a few days and then took the plunge: we were also getting married in South Africa, with a small group of close relatives and best friends instead of a big party in Belgium.

Where did you fall in love with your dress and why?

I fell in love when I saw Archie on Pinterest. This dress has magic around it. I didn’t know if it would fit me, but being a wedding photographer myself I got in touch with your reseller in Belgium during a styled shoot. I absolutely love Linda, the owner of Rebel At Heart. I told her, that if Laurent would ever ask me to marry him, I would buy my dress from her. And it would be a MWL-dress!

It was the first dress I put on. I saw myself in the mirror & loved what I saw. Most of the time I don’t really like the way my hips look most of the time (typical hourglass figure) but WOW – I loved myself and felt sooooo confident in it! I also saw how Laurent would look at me when he would see me walk the aisle, so that was it. Archie, you’re coming home with me! It was the perfect dress for our venue as well. Edgy, classy and very comfortable.

What was the best moment for you at your wedding?

Our couple shoot was our moment, together with our lovely photographer Lotte. It was an hour filled with a lot of laughs.. No stress, just a lot of fun with the three of us haha!

We choose this mountain view background in Franschhoek & we’re so happy with the results.

The second moment we loved, was the DJ set we did together during our party! I can’t DJ, but he made it look like I can haha! The dance floor was filled with our 40 guests, so this was amazing.

What were your favourite details?

My earrings from Jade Oi (New York). I saw them passing by and I LOVED the classic vibe of my earrings. I will definitely wear them again and again.

What advice would you tell other brides?

Get yourself a planner! I didn’t have the time to plan it myself, because the wedding scene in Belgium/Europe blew up in 2022. It was so hectic! But Anneke, our lovely South African wedding planner, took control and made everything as good as it could be. Your wedding day will never be perfect (for example: we dropped our champagne tower oops!) but that’s okay. We’re only human. If you try to make it seem perfect, it will never be as good as you want it to be.

Any standout vendors?

Anneke Roux (AnnaH styling) – our wedding planner. She’s an amazing, kind and strong woman & she made us feel so relaxed. If we wouldn’t have her, we never could have planned this destination wedding on the other side of the world.

Lotte – the most amazing photographer. Our wedding was the last one she did (for now maybe?) and she did a kick ass job – we LOVE our pictures!