What started as a mutual friend “casually” chatting us up to each other over WhatsApp for weeks turned out to be a full-blown setup. In January 2023, he invited us both to a braai, which we assumed would be a big gathering… only to arrive and discover it was just the two of us, our friend, his wife, and their three kids. No pressure at all. Things kicked off a little awkwardly (okay, very awkwardly), especially when our dear friend tried to break the ice by asking us deeply important compatibility questions—like whether we both have medical aid. Despite the slightly unconventional matchmaking tactics, something clearly worked. A few weeks later, we met for a coffee during a lunch break and decided to take things slow and just get to know each other. Then on April 6th, the Thursday before Easter, we went to Old Town Italy after work—and somewhere between the good food and even better conversation, hours flew by and the restaurant was closing before we even noticed. We can’t pinpoint the exact moment it all changed—it just did. From then on, we spent as much time together as we could, and somewhere along the way, “just getting to know each other” turned into knowing we had found something really special. We’re similar in many ways, completely different in others, and somehow it just works. We bring out the best in each other, spend most of our time laughing, and have perfected the art of car karaoke. We also have an ongoing (very serious) debate about whose head is bigger—which has now lasted over a year and a half. For the record… the evidence may or may not be in her favour.

In true “us” fashion, the proposal didn’t start with a grand, obvious moment—it started with a casual comment. One day, on the way home from a family lunch, he simply said, “I think we should get married next year,” to which she very calmly responded with something along the lines of, “Good idea.” A few weeks later, conversations with family about a 2026 wedding were already underway… completely unaware that a real proposal was quietly being planned behind the scenes. Fast forward to April 2026, after two very strange days, a suspicious amount of secrecy, and a hidden group chat involving her mom, sister-in-law, and one of her closest friends (which she was this close to uncovering), he finally popped the question on the 3rd of April. Despite her best efforts to investigate what was going on—and his growing nerves because of it—she was completely surprised in the end. It was thoughtful, sweet, and absolutely perfect.