LAID-BACK LOVE

There were good vibes all round when Roxy Louw married her sevens rugby hunk Sam Barton

- PIETER VAN ZYL

SUN, sea, sand and surfboards. When you’re South Africa’s original “surfer chick” where else but the beach would you choose to get married?

And it’s on the silvery sands of Still Bay in the Western Cape that model-turned-yoga instructor Roxy Louw will exchange vows with her New Zealand rugby hunk, Sam Barton (both 32), later today.

The beach is within Skulpies baai Nature Reserve, a pristine piece of paradise which today boasts a cloudless sky as backdrop. A breeze is ruffling the waves a little, keeping the temperature at a comfortable 25°C.

The 140 guests, from Cape Town, Johannesburg, New Zealand and Australia, take refuge from the sun under paper umbrellas as they wait for proceedings to begin.

Sam, dressed in white with a feather in his long hair, is barefoot and his childhood friend and best man, Lyall Grimmer, helps him drape a traditional Maori shawl over his shoulders, a nod to his late Maori father.

The wedding theme is boho-chic and the women wear colourful dresses and free-flowing hairstyles while the men are kitted out in funky printed shirts.

Sam, Lyall and the groomsmen – Roxy’s brother, Robbie (27), and Sam’s twin brothers, Josh and Ben (29) – await the bride in front of a teepee made of sticks, embroidered gauze, pampas grass and flowers.

The guests take their seats to strains of classical music and Roxy’s mom, Azille (61), arrives. “Oh wow, how beautiful my friends look!” she calls out, blowing air kisses to the guests.

The father of the bride, former Springbok Rob Louw (65), is standing on the road to the venue wearing a white shirt and sunglasses, scanning the distance. “Maybe they got lost,” he ponders aloud.

Robbie makes a call on his cellphone. “Sam, she’s run away,” he teases as the guests erupt in laughter.