Your Stories
1140 Cornelius St, Weltevredenpark, Roodepoort, 1709, South Africa on the 15th of July, 2006, at 4:00pm
By Elrika S
Our wedding happened on this day at NG Kerk Weltevreden.
As my brother drove the car to the church, excitement is making me: Elrika, giddy with the knowledge that today is the start of forever and beyond. It is the day where you make the promise before God; your soulmate; family; and friends, that you will love and cherish each other.
My Dad helped me out of the car; kissed me on the forehead; told me he loved me; that I look beautiful; and will always be his princess - that was the best gift. And yeah, with all the excitement I slipped when we started walking down the aisle! Izak saw it and had started to rush up a few pews, but dad was quick to make sure I didn’t tumble and supported me for the last time.
Marrying your soulmate; best friend; lover; and support system, is the most wonderful thing you can ever do. The piece we picked for the priest was 1 Corinthians 13 to base our wedding on, as it is about LOVE and with that we have kept that alive in our marriage as well. Therefore, we included that as part of our constellation on the canvas. (Incl. a wedding photo.) Now on to how we met.
It was in June of 2002 at a social. I went to a dance school to learn Latin-American and Ballroom dancing more professionally. Izak, well he wanted to learn to dance for a wedding, as weddings do not only have Rave music. I was sitting with my friends, chatting away and, yeah, waiting for men to ask us to dance. Izak walked into the hall and caught my eye, and boy, did he leave me breathless and in awe.
He caught us ogling him whilst me and my friends were showing our moves on the dance floor. Well, needless to say because our group was lively, he decided to join us. I still don’t know how he got me to open up that night and shed my shyness. We danced, talked and even though I needed to go home, I was adamant to stay and talk with him. He had captivated me. To make sure that he was safe and not a danger to me, I went to the school’s administrator about him to make sure he could accompany me home. With only good things to say about him, I felt safe for him to take me home as I had a curfew while living with my parents. That night we were talking about everything even swapped out ghost stories and suddenly, at 02h00 in the morning, there was a light signal for him to go home. We both got very quiet and the next moment, we burst out laughing.
Then, yeah, I had to explain that it was my dad's way of telling me it was time for bed and my visitor should go home. (So to explain our home, it is build like in a u-shape and the living room has a big mirror on one wall, the opposite wall has a big window to the outside. I was sitting on the couch under the mirror and Izak was by the window. So on the other end of the u was an outside light for the courtyard. So my dad had switched the outside light on and off while we were in the midst of a ghost story.)
This was the start of an amazing friendship; dating; engagement; then our wedding and I believe there are many more years to come.
