Lita and her bridesmaids left early this morning for the Askari Game Lodge and Spa which is in Maanhaarrand, 30km south west of Skeerpoort. This four star accommodation is situated on a private game reserve which is home to a number of animals, including the “big five”, and provides the perfect venue for Matt and Lita’s wedding! All of the wedding guests will be staying here for the next two nights. Everyone started arriving around lunchtime and had a few hours to get ready before the wedding ceremony. We’ve seen quite a bit of rain over the past couple of days so we were all expecting to go with the wet weather plan. However the rain stayed away today and we had nothing but blue skies and sunshine.

At 3pm we were all driven into an area of forest within the game reserve and took our seats ready for the ceremony. Matt looked very nervous while we were all waiting for Lita to arrive! Her dress has been a very closely guarded secret but she looked amazing, as did the bridesmaids who all wore custom-made olive coloured dresses. After the introduction and vows had been said, two small bottles of sand – one from Australia and one from South Africa – were mixed to signify the two families coming together. Sarah (Matt’s sister) and Rowena (Lita’s sister) also said a few words.

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After the ceremony Matt and Lita went for their wedding photos. These include some taken with the elephants during while they both ended up getting sprayed with sand! Meanwhile the rest of us were taken on a short but very bumpy game drive around Askari. This was a very different experience to Kruger as some of the animals are more closely tracked and can therefore be easily located. We saw some vervet monkeys, lions (male and female), kudu, hippos and wildebeest. Towards the end of the drive, one of the three vehicles got a puncture right next to the hippo pool so we had to turn around and go back to rescue the other guests.

The wedding breakfast took place on a large balcony in the Askari centre overlooking the reserve. All of the food was excellent and there was a special menu for the vegetarians which included a tropical vegetable steak for the main course. It goes without saying that there was plenty of champagne and South African wine flowing. Mark (one of Matt’s groomsmen) approved viagra was our MC for the evening and we had very good speeches in between courses from Bill (Lita’s dad), Matt, Lita, Sarah (Matt’s sister), Evan (the best man) and Noz.

After dinner the new Mr and Mrs Kirkland took to the dance floor for their first dance. As is tradition, Matt retrieved and threw Lita’s garter to predict the next groom – it was caught by Francis who wore it as an armband for the rest of the evening. Noz caught Lita’s bouquet – perhaps an excuse for us all to visit Australia sometime soon? The DJ did a good job of keeping everyone dancing until 1am and the photographers provided various hats and accessories for the photo booth. The evening ended appropriately with everyone on the dance floor singing Africa by Toto!

All in all it was a really good day – mainly down to the meticulous planning that Matt and Lita have done over the last year or so. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Kirkland!