Laura and Steve

My boyfriend, Steve, and I met 4 years ago at varsity when the fund raising organisation we were both involved with had an orientation weekend in Nyanga. There was an immediate attraction but we only got together a few months later. He has been by boyfriend and my best friend ever since.The engagement story...We had planned to go home to my parents’ farm after work on Friday and stay 2 hours from Cape Town and so get to the farm a bit earlier on Saturday. Steve and I discussed accommodation spots for the Friday and debated where to stay, what time he could leave work etc. and eventually decided on a place that he said he would book as a little surprise for us.On Friday, after leaving work early, getting my tyres pumped up, putting petrol in and packing all the padkos I had bought, we left. We drove along the N2 and after a while I said “isn’t this the wrong highway?” Steve replied that we were taking a route that someone from work recommended because of the bad traffic on the N1.We looked for the turn and I said “oh that must be it” but then we had missed it (typical of Steve, whose direction sense is a bit fuzzy). He said he would just turn around in the airport. But when we got to the airport he said he had organised a surprise, we were going to fly somewhere in South Africa, but our flight was only later so we needed to go to my flat first so that I could pack some smart clothes! So off we went (Steve had now put in a CD he had made me of special songs) and then later we were dropped off at the airport.

I still didn’t know where we were going and only found out when we checked in that we were flying to Jo’burg; Steve said it was only a stopover. We spent the night at our hotel and then in the morning Steve asked if I would like to go to Sandton City (he knew that I would!). So of course we went to Sandton City and he said he had one more surprise- if I saw anything I liked he would buy it for me! So we did a whirlwind shop because I wasn’t turning down that opportunity! We made our way out of Jo’burg to our mystery destination which turned out to be a game lodge near Sun City (Kwa Maritane). Steve said he had made lunch reservations near the Palace. A Palace concierge lead us up to the 9th floor and I thought, “Oh, I haven’t been to this restaurant before!” The lift stopped and we went up two flights of stairs before coming out at a single table overlooking the entire area, set for the two of us, complete with 3 waiters. We went up the spiral staircase to see the view from the top of the Kings Tower and I was busy taking photos of the view when Steve started saying something, and then he got down on one knee and proposed, and gave me a beautiful ring! We then had our private lunch consisting of selections that Steve had specially chosen for each of us. We spent two nights at Kwa Maritane, went on a game drive and ended it off magically with a hot air balloon ride over the Pilansberg Game reserve (something we had always wanted to do) followed by champagne and breakfast. We then flew to Port Elizabeth and hired a car to drive to my parents’ farm for two nights as Steve had thought that I would like to see my parents to celebrate the good news with them.Steve had organised every tiny detail with such care that every moment was a surprise. I was touched by how thoughtful he was- he knew I would love to go shopping at Sandton City, that I would appreciate a private engagement, that I would love to see my parents afterwards and that it would be incredibly special to do the hot air balloon ride we had always spoken of.A friend of mine said “this is the storybook engagement that everyone dreams about”, for me it certainly was!