The Journal

Straight answers about marrying on this coast

What to ask a venue before you book it, how families run a traditional ceremony and a white wedding, when the light is right for your photographs, and where your guests will sleep. Written by the people who run the place.

Planning12 September 2026

Twelve questions worth asking a wedding venue near Richards Bay

Most venue viewings cover the view and the chairs. These are the questions that actually decide whether your day runs well, and they are worth asking every venue on this coast, including us.

Read the journal

Traditions5 September 2026

Traditional and white: how families run both celebrations at one venue

Most families on this coast hold a traditional ceremony and a white wedding. Fewer venues can actually run both. What changes when one kitchen cooks for the whole thing.

Traditions28 August 2026

Umembeso at home, white wedding at the venue

The most common shape a wedding takes around Empangeni and Richards Bay, and how to plan the two halves so neither one feels like the afterthought.

Planning20 August 2026

When to marry on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, month by month

Sunset here moves by nearly two hours across the year, which changes what time you should say your vows. A month-by-month guide to light, weather and what it means for your timeline.

Planning12 August 2026

Where to hold a 300 or 500 guest wedding in Zululand

Weddings in this region are large, and most venues quietly are not. What actually has to be true of a venue before it can hold your whole family at once.

The Venue4 August 2026

In-house or outsourced: why who cooks at your venue matters

The single question that separates venues on this coast, and the one couples ask last. What actually changes when the kitchen belongs to the venue.

The Region26 July 2026

Getting married in Empangeni: the church, the drive, the reception

Most Empangeni weddings are not built around one room. They move. Planning the gap between the service in town and the celebration afterwards is what makes the day work.

Planning18 July 2026

Where your guests will sleep: accommodation for a Zululand wedding

At a wedding on this coast, a real share of the guest list is travelling. Sorting out where people sleep is not an afterthought, it is what decides how your evening ends.

Planning10 July 2026

Planning a Zululand wedding from Durban or Johannesburg

Plenty of couples marry here but do not live here. How to plan a wedding on this coast from four hours or six hundred kilometres away without moving in for a month.

Planning30 June 2026

A twelve-month plan for a KwaZulu-Natal wedding

What to do when, for a wedding on this coast, including the few things that are genuinely local and the many things that can wait longer than you think.