THREE Nelson Mandela Bay brothers have decided to take the plunge and marry their fiancés - on the same day

The three brothers, Carl, Chris and Martin van Huyssteen will all marry their brides at a private ceremony in Despatch tomorrow, the Herald newspaper reports.

Chris van Huyssteen says the idea came about after their father jokingly suggested that they have the ceremonies for all the couples on one day.

Oldest brother Carl met his fiancé, Madelein Erasmus, through a cousin about five years ago. They started dating almost immediately.

Chris van Huyssteen will marry his fiancé Debbie Norwal, after about two years of dating.

The youngest brother, Martin, met his fiancé, Natasha Pieterse, about 11 years ago and they will also tie the knot alongside Martin's brothers.

"We were all at my dad's house and we were just talking about the engagements and he laughingly said that we should do it all together," van Huyssteen says.

The couples started weighing up their options and decided that it would make more financial sense to get married in one big ceremony.

"The cost of paying for a wedding is really high and since we are all engaged we could get married for less," he says.

The planning of the wedding for the couples kicked off in earnest last year.

Chris says the plans for the wedding took a while and the couples started drawing up ideas as far back as February last year.

The couples met regularly to discuss the ceremony.

"Before we got so close to the wedding, we would meet about once a week ... but the closer the day got, the more we had to meet," says Chris.

Mariska Coetzer, who is the wedding photographer, says she has never seen three weddings all at once.

To be able to get enough pictures of the day, Coetzer has had to enlist the help of another photographer.

"It is absolutely rare to see three brothers getting married all at once. I have never covered anything like that and I will have help to get all the shots", Coetzer says.

Source: The Herald