15 Apr Our Adventure Wedding: A Multi-Ceremony Elopement In Namibia, Southern Africa
We had this thought a little over a year ago: what if we could celebrate our wedding the best way we knew how – with travel at the heart of it? An adventure wedding elopement in the world’s oldest desert.
As seen in Green Wedding Shoes
What if we turned our marriage into a celebration of love and the great outdoors; a magical expedition which symbolised our own ten-year journey, and celebrated our love for each other, for travel, and for our beautiful planet. A wedding where we could be vulnerable, present and totally immersed in each other, and celebrate the thing that grew us into the people we are today.
A chance to have more than one ceremony to say everything we’ve ever wanted to say to each other, with multiple backdrops and one arch that travels with us from ceremony to ceremony.
Something raw, rustic, and authentic, yet well-thought-out, chic and luxurious.
Something that encapsulated our relationship of love and adventure.
Something that we hadn’t seen before.
The result was our 10-day adventure wedding road trip through Namibia.
Side note: if you want to plan your own trip, make sure to read our planning-for-a-trip-to-Namibia post, or just let us create and capture your dream adventure for you.
It was pure and utter magic – beyond anything words could ever describe, and easily the best trip we have ever taken together. It was emotional, and exhilarating, and so much fun that we didn’t want it to end. Here is a breakdown of the start of our happily ever after.
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THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE WEDDING LOCATION
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As the second least densely populated country on the planet, (with only two people per square kilometre), Namibia offers space, silence, and a remote wilderness that you can immerse yourself in. It’s harsh. It’s breathtaking. It’ll make you question your existence (and whether or not you’re still on planet Earth). It’s the absolute perfect place, in our eyes, and is why we chose to share our deepest and truest feelings for each other whilst road-tripping across it.
This was our second time visiting Namibia. The first trip was a lot shorter, but we left knowing we’d come back one day…and we are so grateful that we waited for this opportunity, because it really added to the magic.
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THE ADVENTURE WEDDING CEREMONIES
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We knew we’d want an officiant at our final ceremony (the one we’d have back home in South Africa, surrounded by all our friends and family), but we didn’t necessarily need one for the elopement ceremonies. It was about us, and our thoughts and feelings; our dreams and promises; our love for each other. But we did realise that each of our ceremonies had to have a theme. A concept. Something to guide us.
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Ceremony One
For the first ceremony, we wanted to start with a quote, and then answer a question: Why are we getting married?
Why did you (Stevo) ask me (Chanel) to marry you?
Why did I (Chanel) say yes when he (Stevo) asked?
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Ceremony Two
We wanted to recite readings that meant something special. Find and read inspiriting words that could inspire us as we head into our new life as husband and wife. Stevo outdid himself and actually wrote his own reading (which of course brought me to tears).
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Ceremony Three
This was the culmination of our adventure wedding elopement – a chance for us to read our vows to each other. What were we going to promise and vow to each other, from this day forward.
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Click here to read all of our ceremony scripts
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THE PLAN
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With the location chosen, and the ceremony themes decided, we now had to think about how this adventure wedding would come together. What could we do to make this the most magical wedding we’d ever been to (other than the fact that this was our own, LOL)? How could we make this feel even more special?
And so we came up with the idea of having ‘a traveling arch’ – a custom-built arch that we could pack away into the back of our car, and travel around Namibia with. We’d set it up at each ceremony, and even though the backdrops would change, the arch would remain as the constant.
We chose to go with a triangle – each point symbolising the three pinnacles of the past, present and future coming together as one. We even managed to find a company who would create local flora to go on the arch (opting for silk flowers, for obvious reasons). The end result was beautiful.
We also sourced a rug to place in front of the arch, and a couple props (like lanterns and umbrellas) for other shoots. We really didn’t need much since the landscapes were the focus, and the cleaner and more minimal, the better.
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For each ceremony we dressed up for the occasion. I wore a gorgeous two-piece gown from Chosen by One Day (you can join me for my wedding dress shopping experience here) and Stevo kept to the neutral colour palette. It was afro-desert-chic at its best. I recall keeping the dress a secret from Stevo – first flying to Windhoek, and then traveling through Namibia, with this giant dress bag. I had to get into the gown in the back of the car, layers of fabric helping make light of the situation, with Stevo facing the other way, and then I finally revealed it at our first ceremony. The chill of the morning wind, my own butterflies, and the look on Stevo’s face quite literally took my breath away. It was perfect.
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The last thing we needed was two talented friends who would agree to be our “witnesses” and also to capture the evidence. We called on Sage (who we’d travelled with in Thailand and became good friends with) and he brought along his friend Meg. The two of them were the best combo and they really brought our vision to life. We’re so lucky to have such amazing friends, who could help us create the most magical memories – words can’t describe how grateful we are.
If you’d like us to help you create your adventure elopement wedding, click here
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THE ITINERARY
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We knew we’d have to start in Windhoek – it’s the best place to fly into and fly from, and as the country’s capital, offers everything you might need for an adventurous itinerary: car rental companies, food shops, decor rental stores, and petrol stations.
We based ourselves at Urban Camp – a fun camping site in the middle of the city. We stayed there on our first night, the halfway mark between our trips to Sossusvlei and Etosha National Park, and finally on our last night. We were able to leave some luggage there (so we wouldn’t have to trek around the country with everything) and it offered a swimming pool, restaurant with cold beer, and some great camping and glamping options.
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For the first portion of our trip, we traveled south-west, venturing to Sossusvlei in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. It’s the home of famous landmarks like Deadvlei, Dune 45, and the world’s oldest desert. It’s where we traveled to back in 2016, and where we knew we’d want to have our first adventure wedding ceremony. We chose to camp inside the National Park so that we could explore both before sunrise and after sunset (something only people staying inside the National Park can do), and it proved to be the best move. We spent the hot days in the pool and relaxing around camp, and our early mornings and later afternoons exploring.
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We spent one night staying outside the National Park, in an oasis made of dreams. An intimate desert hideaway from the Gondwana Collection known as Desert Whisper. This wasn’t only the most unique place we’d ever stayed – it was the perfect touch of luxury to break up the dusty camp days, and also the best location for our second ceremony. The exterior of the pod can only be described as spaceship-like, and the inside is beautifully furnished, and filled with food and liquor (more than you’d ever need), and a breathtaking view over the Naukluft mountains. It sits nestled on a cliff, offering a sense of solitude and pure relaxation. A dream accommodation and one we’ll never forget.
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Heading back up to Windhoek, we chose to drive a longer way so that we could go past Solitaire. We spotted the “Car Wrecks of Solitaire” on our first visit, and knew it’d be a great place to have some lunch and take some photos. It did not disappoint.
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Post-Windhoek rest, we now followed the perfectly paved road up north-east to Etosha National Park. We spent our first night staying at Etosha Safari Lodge (another Gondwana Collection property) just outside the park, and enjoyed sunset by the pool, a spotting of the Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, and a wonderful three-course meal made for us. The next morning we went on a half-day game drive, and finally visited the famous Okaukuejo waterhole (which has been on our Wanderlist since the beginning of our How Far From Home journey). Spottings of Cheetah, Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra, Jackal and Bat-eared Fox made this a morning to remember.
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For our second night, we chose to stay inside the National Park, close to the north-east gate at a luxury accommodation known as Onguma. We booked one of their luxury Tree Top Camps (which there are only four of) and enjoyed a night of open-air wonder overlooking the private waterhole (which enticed a Cheetah the next morning while we were having breakfast). It was also the perfect location to have our third and final ceremony for this wedventure (where even Zebra showed up for the occasion – a symbol of the free and wild spirit that lives in everyone; just perfect).
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We drove through the National Park the next day, visiting the Etosha Pan Lookout to see this visible-from-space wonder, and then our last night at Etosha we once again spent just outside the National Park (since we knew the 400km drive back to Windhoek was upon us the next day), except this time we opted for somewhere fun and vibey, so we chose Etosha Safari Camp. We dined on the buffet at their shebeen-feel restaurant, and had a good night’s rest ahead of our drive.
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This truly was the most magical and memorable trip of our lives. We hope we’ve inspired you to either elope, plan to have a trip ahead of your big wedding with just the two of you as the focus (like we did), renew your vows, or finally make time to plan that anniversary or romantic just-because trip (post-COVID-19 travel bans, of course).
Kilometers travelled: 2166
Nights spent camping: 2
Nights spent glamping: 5
Nights in luxury: 2
Landmarks visited: Dune 45, Deadvlei, Namib Naukluft National Park, Car Wrecks of Solitaire, Etosha Salt Pan, Okaukuejo Waterhole
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If you’d like help creating a trip like ours, be it in Namibia, Chile, or Australia (or anywhere for that matter), or you’d like to have your own couple adventure captured, send us an email as we’d absolutely love to help. We’re branching out to offer couple adventure planning and organising, as well as photography and filmmaking for adventurous souls just like us, so if you’re inspired for an adventure in late 2020, 2021 or later, let us know and we’ll create and capture your love story for you.
The newly-weds, Chanel & Stevo
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If you enjoyed this blog post, you may want to see the rest of our Wedding Series right here on our blog, or on YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok.
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