Charl & Andrea Cockroft

Venue: Homestead & Conservatory

Guests: 105

Photographer: Andrew Howes

2010-02-21

Across the Ocean

By Andrea Cockroft

When I started high school at Crawford College, I had no idea that the Matric boy, who found me highly annoying and took great pleasure in calling me a freak, would one day become my best friend and later my husband. Our unusual friendship cemented itself and we son became best friends. After completing school, I moved to Australia to study Performing Arts and follow my dream. We managed to keep in contact over the years and on a visit back to South Africa, Charl and I met for dinner where we both revealed that we had feelings for one another. Of course, as fate would have it, I had to return to Australia. We continued our relationship across the ocean for the next year and as soon as I could, I returned to South Africa to be with Charl.

The next four years were the best of my life and in August 2009, just before I was due to start rehearsing for Cats, the musical, I arrived home to find Charl packing our bags. He flew us away for the weekend to Grahamstown, knowing that I had never been and had always wanted to go. On our second day there, he insisted that we go for a walk in the Botanical Gardens, during which we came upon a bench covered in flowers with champagne and a picnic basket. Before I knew it, Charl was down on one knee retrieving a ring from his pocket and asking me to be his wife. After much squealing and crying, the answer was, of course, yes!

I had always wanted a Summer wedding, but didn’t want to wait until the following Summer, so with the wedding date set for February 2010, that left me just under 6 months to plan the perfect wedding. The first week after our Engagement, I would rehearse for Cats during the day and spend eve4ry night scouring the internet for wedding venues knowing that we had to decide soon. With Sunday being my only day off every week, I had to be very particular with which wedding venues received our attention. That first Sunday, after making our list, we made our way to Oakfield Farm. Needless to say, it was the first and the last wedding venue we visited. Everything about it was perfect; the gardens, the forest, the Conservatory and Homestead; it fitted us like a glove.

The next few months were crazy and some of the best fun I’ve ever had. The last couple of months leading up to the wedding, I was touring with Cats in Cape Town, making it very difficult to co-ordinate the wedding. Between my mother and Oakfield, everything was covered and I had nothing to worry about.

After spending the night before the wedding with my bridesmaids, we departed for Oakfield Farm. My parents and family had spent the night prior to the wedding at the beautiful Oakfield Guesthouse, so by the time we arrived; the preparations were well under way. The bridal dressing room was the perfect environment for getting ready with its natural light flowing in and an abundance of food from the Oakfield staff. With musical theatre songs blaring to get us in the mood, the day was going perfectly.

The day was such a success, it all moved along seamlessly with never a moment of us wondering what to do next. Everything was taken care of, nothing was too small or too big a problem for Oakfield. Our wedding was more than I ever imagined it could be and it was such a fun, stress free day – all we had to do was relax and enjoy every moment of it. I still have friends talking about the food and how amazing it all was. Though the wedding day was over so quickly, Charl and I had the time of our life, the whole wedding exceeded our wildest dreams and we’re so grateful to have mode those memories at Oakfield Farm.