DESIGNED BY DAD

He made all the outfits for his own wedding 28 years ago – now Gideon has done it again for his son’s big day. And he baked the cake too!

- ROXANNE MOONEYS

THEY looked like they’d stepped straight out of the pages of a fairytale when they got married 28 years ago: he in his white jacket with gold trim and medieval breeches and she in a white gown with a dazzling 10-metre train.

But what really made the Johannes burg couple’s big day so remarkable was that all the clothes worn by the wedding party had been made by the groom, Gideon van der Westhuizen (then 23) – including the gown worn by his bride, Collette Rossouw (then 22), and the outfits of their five groomsmen and bridesmaids.

“The bride was stunning, but the groom was the one who had everyone talking,” YOU wrote in an article that appeared in our 14 October 1993 issue, which showcased Gideon’s handiwork.

And recently when the couple’s only son, Trevennon (25), married his fiancée, Chantall Strydom (23), Gideon’s sewing machine went into overdrive to ensure it was a day to remember.

“When I was a kid I saw pictures of my parents’ fairytale wedding,” recalls Trevennon, who works in the hotel industry in Johannesburg. “Chantall and I decided we wanted to have the same one day.”

And Gideon (now 50) was happy to oblige. Not only did he conjure up a dream wedding gown for his daughterin-law, but with the help of his mother, Poppie (84), he also created six waistcoats for the groomsmen as well as six bridesmaids’ dresses.

And on top of all this, he also made the seven-tiered wedding cake. It was a marathon undertaking, but he’d happily do it all over again.

“Chantall decided what she wanted for a wedding gown and we sat down and planned it together,” Gideon tells YOU shortly after the big day at the Makiti wedding venue near Muldersdrift, Gauteng.