Josh and Ash: Forever in Franschhoek

It started as so many modern love stories do, with an Instagram follow.

Set against the vineyards and mountains of Franschhoek, South Africa, Josh and Ash’s three-day celebration brought together the people, food, wine and sense of adventure they love most, creating a destination wedding that felt unmistakably theirs.

Photography Hewitt Wright

THEODORE Mag: How and when did you meet?

Josh: We first ‘met’ on Instagram. Ash popped up on my explore page, suggested as ‘something I might like’. The algorithm knew!

I followed him, and he followed me back and… that was it for two or three years! We were living in different cities at the time, so it wasn’t until Ash moved down to Melbourne for work in 2017 that we finally messaged and met in person.

THEODORE Mag: What was the first thing you noticed about each other?

Josh: Besides how handsome he is, Ash’s strong sense of drive and appetite for adventure stood out immediately. That, and a mutual love of negronis.

Ash: Tall, dark and handsome – say less! That and his strong opinions on things, including telling me he didn’t want to be engaged until he was 30 (he was 23 at the time!)

THEODORE Mag: Tell us about the standout moment or milestone in your relationship…

Josh and Ash: One of the things we love most about our relationship is that it isn't really made up of big milestones so much as lots of little moments. If we had to choose one, though, it would be Christmas 2024, when we visited Africa together for the first time.

Ash had always said he wanted to get married in South Africa, and being there together was something we'll never forget.

It also happens to be the perfect fit for us: we're both drawn to travel that has a bit of adventure to it, and South Africa gives you that alongside some of the best food and wine in the world.

There's something about the light there, and the sheer scale of the landscape, that stays with you long after you've come home. By the end of that trip, it wasn't really a question anymore. South Africa was where our destination wedding was going to be.

THEODORE Mag: What does marriage mean to you?

Josh and Ash: To us, marriage is a promise made out loud: to love each other, to support each other, and to keep growing side by side. It's a way of honouring everything we've built. It's also a chance to gather the village that helped make us the couple we've become, to thank them and celebrate with them.

THEODORE Mag: Who proposed and how?

Josh: Our engagement was one for the books! It was the heaviest day of rain Sydney had had all year, and Ash had organised for our friends to set up a ‘decoy’ dinner party that got cancelled at the last minute. Instead, he suggested we have an impromptu date night, luring me out of the house with the promise of hot chips and a wine at the Double Bay Skiff Club.

On our way, he said he wanted to look at the harbour. I thought it was a slightly odd request but went with it.

As we rounded the front of the Woollahra Council building, I saw the most beautiful picnic set up and whispered to Ash, ‘Don’t go over there! Someone’s about to get engaged!’

That's when I realised we were the ones about to get engaged, and I yelled ‘Yes!’ at him before he had even asked.

It was the most incredibly romantic gesture, and the absolutely pelting rain only made it more special.

We decided to keep it quiet and enjoy the news together, planning to tell people the next day.

Little did I know that Ash had also organised for my family and some of our best friends to celebrate over a surprise long lunch. It was the most incredibly special weekend, and it still makes me grin replaying it.

THEODORE Mag: When and where did you get married?

Josh and Ash: Our wedding was a three-day festival of love: ‘Forever in Franschhoek’, from 31 March to 2 April 2026. Franschhoek translates to French Corner, and is a tiny village an hour from Cape Town, cradled in a valley of vineyards and dramatic mountains. The light is golden, time slows, and long lunches turn into lifetime memories.

THEODORE Mag: What was the main influence behind your wedding day?

Josh and Ash: The location, and more specifically the venue itself. La Cotte Farm dates back to 1694 and has since been turned into a beautiful boutique hotel and garden. What we love most about it is the relaxed energy of the place, which you feel from the moment you drive through the front gate.

We also loved that the interiors are the antithesis of Millennial beige. There is colour and character everywhere, and every room is a different visual feast. That became the springboard for most of our styling and planning decisions.

THEODORE Mag: What was the most important thing to you surrounding your wedding?

Josh and Ash: We wanted our wedding to be made up of the things we love most: our favourite people, delicious food and wine, and a proper globe-trotting adventure.

The people came first. One of our closest friends officiated the ceremony, which meant the words came from someone who actually knew us. There wasn't a dry eye in the garden, ours included. People talk about arriving somewhere and feeling the love in the air, and that is exactly what we experienced.

Food is one of the biggest ways we show love, so it was never going to be an afterthought. Thankfully, we had Johnny. We are not exaggerating when we say it was love at first sight. He is a wildly creative chef and, more importantly, a genuinely lovely person. We flew to Cape Town the November before to do our tasting, and getting to know him and his fiancé became one of the nicest parts of the planning process. On the wine side, we were lucky enough to enlist Armand, the reigning Best Sommelier of South Africa, and between us we tasted well over a hundred wines to get the final list of 20 right. Not the worst way to spend a week.

The adventure looked after itself, because it doesn't get much more adventurous than asking 80 people to fly to Africa for a wedding. They came from all over the world, and the most gratifying part was watching so many of them see South Africa for the first time and hearing them say they finally understood why we love this part of the world so much.

THEODORE Mag: Did you incorporate any family sentiments or traditions?

Josh and Ash: There were a few moments over the three days that reflected traditions we have created as a couple, from serving steak frites for the wedding dinner (our favourite meal) to choreographing a disco-inspired routine for our first dance (we both love an old-school boogie).

THEODORE Mag: Where did you find the bulk of your inspiration?

Josh and Ash: We’ve been to more than twenty weddings together, which turns out to be the best research there is! You collect little ideas from every one of them, and you get a very clear sense of what feels like you. Beyond that, we got a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and Instagram, and our number one tip there is to save everything into a folder you share with your partner, so you're not scratching your head trying to remember where you saw that incredible tablescape you now can't find!

THEODORE Mag: How did you choose your suppliers?

Josh and Ash: It all started with our amazing planner, Anna. From our very first Zoom call we felt a spark. She understood the vision immediately and then went about bringing it to life.

Once we signed with her, most of our other suppliers came through her recommendations, including the inimitable Johnny at John Joseph Avant Garde Catering, Hewitt and Anna Wright on photography, and Heike at Fleur le Cordeur on florals (though calling it florals feels like an undersell, Heike is an artist!).

A few we found ourselves through some determined Instagram sleuthing, including the brilliant Tyler from Sage Media, who filmed the weekend for us, and Werner, the mastermind behind the music and entertainment. Anna knows everyone on the ground, so she was able to confirm they were as good as they looked.

It mattered to us to have a real relationship with our suppliers before the day itself, and we were lucky enough to meet everyone on our scoping trips. This made everything so much more relaxed, and it felt like a bit of a reunion come the wedding day itself!

THEODORE Mag: What was the most difficult thing about planning your wedding?

Josh and Ash: Probably the trickiest thing for us was managing timings. This part of South Africa has a defined wedding season that runs from spring through to early autumn, and it gets BUSY. It also means a lot of vendors work on a just in time basis, so with us only arriving a week before the wedding, there were still a few things moving around when we got there. And then a war broke out, which disrupted a number of guests' travel plans and meant our numbers were changing right up until the last day.

That said, we had a team of absolute professionals around us, and the whole thing went off seamlessly.

THEODORE Mag: Where did you spend your honeymoon?

Josh and Ash: We started by having a buddymoon, which needs to become more of a thing! This involved a four-night safari at Madikwe Safari Lodge on the border of South Africa and Botswana, with around 25 of our friends. It was the best possible way to keep the festival of love going.

After that, the two of us carried on for an incredible ten days around Namibia, which included motorbiking, hot air ballooning, four-wheel driving and horse riding. Add it to your holiday list ASAP!

THEODORE Mag: Any advice for other couples planning their day and finding it difficult to navigate the journey?

Josh and Ash: Start with the basics. The to-do list can feel daunting, but as long as you have good food, good drinks and good music, people will have a fabulous time.

And you have to do it for yourselves. Make decisions based on what will make the two of you happiest, not on what you think everyone else wants. The best piece of advice we got from other married friends was to take fifteen minutes alone immediately after the ceremony; just the two of us and a quiet glass of champagne. We also spent the entire day together, which means we now have the same memories of it.

Oh, and it goes without saying, but make peace early with the fact that you will go over budget!

Josh and Ash’s Team

Wedding Planner Anna Guardascione

Venue La Cotte Farm

Catering John Joseph Catering Avant Garde

Photography Hewitt Wright

Videography Tyler Sage

Music Werner Denner

Flowers Heike Hayward

Sommelier Armand Ridgard

Cellist Carol Thorns

Violinist Renate Riedemann

Hair and Makeup Amori Birch

Content Film & Fig

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