Crown the gown!
10 perfect dresses from Our Perfect Wedding season 10.
We want in-your-face-lace. Serve us a feast of delicious white meringues, and all those candy floss layers of tulle. Dazzle us with all the pearls, all the glitter, all the gems and beads and bows. Give us all the glory of bright African cloth and isicholo crowns (and then give us a tissue, because we’re going to cry like a proud parent). Our Perfect Wedding (OPW) is our fantasy time and while we’re here for the love story, we pause for the fashion. We admire. We take notes. We dream along with this incredible reality show that now has a brand-new season 11 available to stream on Showmax.
And you can play catch-up if you’ve never seen an episode – all 10 previous seasons are available right now online. And with so may episodes to stream, we’ve picked just 10 of our favourite season 10 dresses…
1 Episode 3: Anitha
This just shows how you can use accessories to take an elegantly simple gown and boost it to the moon. For day two of her ceremony, Anitha wears a white beaded collar (traditional vibes with a white wedding twist and it’s exquisite), lace gloves, silver flowers scattered through her hair like stars, and a long, trailing glittering veil. Silver is a perfect accent for her dark, cool skin tone, and it makes her look like an elf princess. Anita wanted something cutting-edge so in her words: “That I alone am the first person to wear this. Everyone else is going to copy me.”
2 Episode 46: Beverly
The perfectly skin-matched nude illusion rather than white gauze really makes the lace stand out in this ballgown-inspired dress. Watch as Beverly explains that she had to have a whole new dress made… and then look how beautiful she is in it. “It even exceeded the beauty of the dress that I initially had,” says Beverly.
3 Episode 5: Ivy
It was love at first sight for fiery Ivy, who was driving around when she spotted her Victor Raledao dress in the window and did a U-Turn to get to it! She felt drawn to the gorgeous golden gown with its dark and light panes, beading and sequins and magnificent structured shoulder piece leading into an organza cape. Gold for a white wedding on the water? Yes please.
4 Episode 40: Dikeledi
We feel almost the same way about someone choosing a bride’s dress for her as we would about someone else choosing her husband for her. But we suspect that Dikeledi is telling the truth when she claims that her husband Lesego’s choice (it was a surprise to her, which is just… wow) is better than her own design that she was working on. It’s really a lovely combination of different dark blue shweshwe fabrics and a deep blue tulle skirt, designed to accommodate her baby bump discreetly and (more importantly) comfortably, while still being flattering and elegant for her big day.
5 Episode 9: Nonhlanhla
OMW (Oh, My Wedding)! It turns out that blush pink is the perfect colour for Nonhlanhla, and when you see that scandalous full-on snog between her and her new husband Thepelo, you’ll know why. We’re sure the aunties were covering the little kids’ eyes! Her peachy-pink dress has a two-in-one surprise (watch and see). Nonhlanlha was as exacting about her colour choice as she was about the delicate feathers and sequins on her bodice.
6 Episode 8: Stella
This is a bit of a sad one, as we find out at the start of the episode that Stella passed shortly after her wedding. But with this dress, we’re all about the regal beaded shoulder and chest piece, and Stella says proudly, “I know I’m a queen today.” It’s a unique pattern, which is what drew Stella to it in the first place, and it has all that bling that she adored.
7 Episode 37: Thandi
Thandi had a nail-biting time when her seamstress had to dash off for an emergency at the last minute. So the dresses were a surprise to us. But we love this dress for the perfect placement of the lace details on her long sleeves, the way the size of the lace detailing matches the proportions of the dress, and when she walks in for the ceremony, look at how exquisitely it has been tailored.
8 Episode 52: Nobuhle
This one is all about the fit, which is perfection. Nobuhle was worried that she wouldn’t find a gown to suit her body, but designer and seamstress Bonani Molefe knows what she’s doing when it comes to dressing a full figure, including making sure that the gown allows for the proper foundation garments, with pretty, wider shoulder straps and a neckline that sits at exactly the most flattering place on Nobuhle’s chest. “My dress fits me very well,” says a proud Nobuhle.
9 Episode 42: Noni
We’re so taken with Noni’s perfect afro puffs and how playful they look with the floating yellow feathers clipped at the base. And luckily her dress is every bit as joyful. There were a lot of last-minute applique fixes needed, but this charming gown is worth all the nail biting as Noni mixes South African and her groom Lucien’s Cameroon heritage.
10 Episode 39: Mowava
So, sue us, we’re all about the lace. But with this one, we really paid close attention to how perfectly the lace pieces at the chest and shoulders have been cut out, and how well the lace lays at Mowava’s bust and shoulders against that illusion backing, which is an absolutely perfect skin-tone match. That’s skill! A delighted Mowava calls out her designer Annelize in Paarl for making a dress that’s perfectly suited to her body type. Watch it move and see those exquisite back button details as she walks down the aisle.