Renewal of wedding vows: Wolwedans Dune Lodge, Namibia
 

As some of you know, my husband, Pete, and I are renewing our wedding vows next year when we visit Wolwedans Dune Lodge at the end of our special, two-month Southern Africa trip.

I've been giving a lot of thought to that ceremony and would value any little thoughts or ideas any of you may be able to contribute.

I'm not intending to take very dressy clothes as our luggage limitations are very light - I haven't yet worked out how we'll deal with the issue of taking enough luggage for a self drive 5 week tour in South Africa without going over the low weight limits allowed on the following 3 week fly-in itinerary. So this dictates that the ceremony not be overly formal or stuffy. Which suits us both perfectly.

I am hoping to be able to get new wedding rings commissioned in time - we both outgrew our original bands not long after we were married. By lucky coincidence I found that Pete's larger ring fit my wedding finger so we swapped and he started wearing my band on his little finger, where it fit. But it slipped off somewhere, long ago, so now we only have one original band remaining. We both agree that the bands are simply a symbol of the wedding, the actual metal of the actual bands aren't imbued with some special magic, so we're happy to buy new bands and exchange those at this renewal ceremony. I hope I can get these in time.

Other than that I haven't given a huge amount of thought.

I believe the manager of the lodge, who we met before, and the manager/ guide/ conservationist, Louise, who we met and really clicked with, have both agreed to be part of our ceremony. As it's not an actual wedding there's no legal stuff involved and we can do what we want.

What I was thinking was that we could pick a location in the reserve (not too far from the lodge) during drives the previous day. We could write a simple ceremony which the manager could officiate for us. Louise could pass us the rings and/ or take a few pics.

I can't decide whether we'd ask other guests to join us (assuming we like them!) or what else we should be thinking of.

Any thoughts?

Kavey, I would like to witness this special moment. It sounds so romantic! Don't expect too many answers today it is Thanksgiving in the US so your fodorite-friends from the US are busy eating turkey. I bet they get back to you in the end of this weekend.

As to inviting other guests, I would invite them all or none. We witnesssed something like that in Lapa Rios in Costa Rica, we were only two people not invited as we arrived that day and late afternoon but it just wasn't a very plasant situation, we did not feel comfortable and also those two couples who knew us but were invited. All or no one. Have fun planning

Pat
I absolutely agree - we don't want to make people feel uncomfortable by what we do.
The only way we might ask only some but not all guests would be if we ended up becoming friends with just one couple out of the larger group of guests(say, because they shared a day drive with us) and we might then just ask them and not the larger group.
Chances are we won't ask anyone.
But I certainly won't ask selected guests in a way that would make others feel left-out/ uncomfortable.
Thanks for the input.
Kavey
PS Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to the Americans on this site!

Kavey, I agree.

How are you able to remain so calm for so long? I don't think I would be able to wait that long. Are you taking any trips before the big one?

Kav, I think if you end up making friends with a couple on your game drive, it would be fine to only have them. Of course if it's a situation like Pat's it is very inconsiderate to only exclude one couple! But if it's a camp of several couples and you choose to only invite your drive mates, that's fine. I guess there is no way to get the rings in Africa...?
Also, something different for you to wear can weigh nothing - and it's a fun surprise for Pete. Not dressy. There's something to the ceremony of a different garb. Even African scarves bought there, draped around your shoulders. I'm sure the manager will help you. If you did it in the boma area, they could really decorate it for you with candles. But if you want to do it in the near bush, then maybe something draped from above or perhaps like an African fabric spead on the ground at your feet to define the spot. It's going to be memorable, what a wonderful idea.

Of course I remember how romantic it sounded when you described the stars in the sky at Wolwedans....that candle-lit boma idea sounds pretty classy...(You already know I hope we'll be able to extend our personal best wishes over some yummy dessert in Cape Town before this romantic event!)

Oooh yes I wonder if I could get them to decorate somewhere for me. I don't recall them having a boma but I'm hoping to hear from them via email soon so I can start asking questions on possible locations/ details.

Clothing is hard - we're travelling for 8 weeks but have to limit our luggage to 12kg each in order to be able to take the small planes between camps in Botswana and Namibia. That means taking a special outfit just for that one time takes up valuable space. I might take a smart top that I can wear just for that and some scarf, as you suggest.

Rings we'd like to order in advance as we're looking for a really unusual design in platinum... if we even have time left to get that done!

Thanks folks!

Uh-oh I just booked a B&B for Cape Town. It was a hard choice between two, email me if you want details of both.