The Wedding in Cape Town

 We set off on the latest adventure after work on Friday 10^th of January.  We had a monster drive to get to Cape Town, but with sharing the driving and a stopover in Colesberg it was remarkably painless.  There were amazingly straight roads through quite boring countryside and then we descended into the Cape with its beautiful green vineyards and colourful flowers.  As we neared our accommodation at Lagoon Beach just north of the city, a somewhat familiar looking car pulled out in front of us, followed by flashing lights and arms waving.  It was the soon-to-be bride and groom!!!  We chatted through the traffic and made our way to the apartments.

The first evening we caught up with (and met) family and friends over a delicious Thai meal.  It was great to finally meet Elonah’s parents after nearly a year of us being in southern Africa.  Elonah’s father, John, had been instrumental in finding me Jeepy... something I will be eternally grateful for!!

 

The week leading up to the wedding was truly fabulous.  We lazed about the accommodation, drove around the Cape, saw penguins, ascended Table Mountain (the lazy way!) and even had a professional tour around the city.  

 

The day before the wedding the family and friends that had been staying in the apartments all packed up and headed off to Stellenbosch where the festivities were set to take place.  It was an early start as we had to make a detour via one or two vineyards!  There is nothing quite like wine and cheese at 10 am!!  That evening, after a little rest(!) we had the first of the wedding events... a meal was organised for all the guests to meet each other.  It was a great opportunity to meet up with old faces along with new ones too.

The day of the wedding finally arrived.  The atmosphere was quite relaxed.  We walked into town for breakfast where we kept bumping into others guests.  After food there was the occasional emergency to attend to, most vitally Greg’s hair product had to be retrieved from under a tree... 15 minutes drive from the accommodation!  In the end all was set and we headed off to the church shortly after lunch.

It was a beautiful service, to suite a beautiful couple.  The minister presiding over the ceremony was an old family friend which gave it a tangible personal touch.  Emotions and tissues were in abundance!  After the service we all headed to the reception venue, a small vineyard outside Stellenbosch.  The afternoon and evening that followed were truly lovely.  We drank and ate, played garden games, and some even danced.  There was organised line dancing (foot treading!) as well as more free dancing.  The South Africans did seem to have the edge on the dance floor, it must be said!  Eventually the evening had to come to an end, and we headed back to our accommodation – some of the university’s halls of residence.

The following morning we packed up the car, this time with my parents’ and brother’s things.  The roof rack once again came in very handy!  We had breakfast with the newlyweds, said our goodbyes and then started our journey back to Maseru.