“I’ll meet you at the altar. I’ll be the one in white!” Stephanie Meyer

My daughter is getting married (yay) in South Africa (double yay from a travel blogger) at a safari camp (triple yay- great photos) The boy is good too. And we like the parents and family. (yay yay yay yay)

Everything is going smoothly. Everyone is on the same page. We are all very polite, nice and funny. Will we all suddenly turn into the in-laws from Hell? Is there a moment where they will turn into bridezilla and groomzilla? Don’t those people start out normal as well? Is it some hormonal thing that happens with the most important day of your life?

It is easy for an American to legally get married in South Africa – especially if you are marrying into a South African family. Hopefully they will remember to do all the paperwork beforehand. You have to check the laws carefully when marrying in a foreign country to make sure it is legal in both countries.

Getting married on a game reserve is the ultimate destination wedding. Asking close friends and family to travel for 24 hours and take shots and malaria pills to come to your wedding is definitely different. Not asking close friends and family because the safari camp is very small is another problem. Having friends and family who are used to traveling internationally and the fact that many of the guests are South African made it a possible destination.

The decorations and flowers will be easy – lions, elephants and jungle foliage. I love a theme. Khaki or leopard print table cloths? Or is a jungle theme in the jungle too much? Is mosquito repellent a good wedding favor? What about the hairdresser, makeup artist, photographer and musicians? Will they be staying in tents? So many important decisions.

Luckily, there are a lot of new South African relatives who can help with logistics, local recommendations and information.

What could go wrong? Flying on a small plane to the site might cause a few panic attacks. Is this one of the countries that have tsetse flies or no? They don’t have Ebola right? Perhaps a few too many cocktails and you wander off and end up as lion dinner. Remember animals have much better night vision than you do.

I’m thinking wardrobe – Out of Africa meets LA hipsters. The photos will be spectacular.
I’ll keep you posted.

Fly safe,

JAZ