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Mark Whitaker and I met on a hot January 7th night in 2007 at Cool Runnings (now Cape to Cuba) on Long Street, Cape Town.
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I was there with a friend who was in the throes of making sure that she owned the dance floor while I sat near the bar “people watching”. During my scan of the crowd I spotted Mark and his friend Kam, having a beer and laughing at just about everything that seemed to come out of Mark’s mouth, I was very intrigued and decided I could do with a good laugh too, and made my way over to the two of them, the plan was to be in their line of sight… give a friendly smile and see if there was an opening
On my way over, I stopped at the bar to get a drink and as I turned around Mark was right behind me, was I that transparent??
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Nope, Mark was just thirsty, anyway, the smile came, the hands extended and introductions were made.
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Mark and his friends were over from the UK on holiday and were leaving the next day, we laughed and joked till 5am when the doors closed and we were eventually kicked out.
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Before that Mark and I exchanged details as I was planning on doing a working visa in the UK and thought it would be good to catch up once I was over there.
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The boys left, life continued as normal, we stayed in touch with a couple of joke text messages every now and again but not much more. In March 2007 I found out that I wouldn’t be able to go over to the UK, so I texted Mark to let him know and we exchanged e-mail addresses.
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One night in April ’07 I signed onto my MSN Messenger service to catch up with a friend of mine and saw that Mark was online, we started chatting and didn’t stop for a few hours, we made a time to catch again the next day… and so it continued, everyday we would sign on and chat for hours, eventually making use of Skype calls and video chats.
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Our relationship developed from there, we had met, knew that we liked each other but chatting gave us the opportunity to get to know each other without all the physical stuff getting in the way.
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In November 2007, Mark came down to Cape Town for another holiday, this time one with only me, we made time for him to meet my parents and family (first guy I brought home that my Dad liked immediately – a sign? I think so) and then made plans for me to go over to him in July ’08 to meet his family.
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On the last day of my holiday with Mark, he called me to his bedroom and looked quite serious, and very matter-of-factly stated, “I think you and I are good together. I want to marry you”.
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Needless to say I was quite taken aback, but only for a second because I knew exactly what he meant and wanted to marry him too. Mark hadn’t really thought it all through so there was no ring… yet.
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We met up with his parents later on and told them the good news; Mark’s parents were ecstatic. They love South Africa and were quite glad to hear that they would soon have reason to visit more often.
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Mark decided that he wanted to live here in South Africa and I couldn’t have been happier.
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Mark moved here in November 2008 and we set about planning our wedding and starting our lives together, but not before a certain formality had been finalised…
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The day Mark arrived, he had a surprise planned, my Mother and Sister had strict instructions not to tell me anything, and before I knew it, Mark and I were being dropped off at the Table Bay Hotel, along with a suitcase that had already been packed for me – Yep, he booked us into a Hotel.
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That night, after a beautiful dinner, watching a Cape Town sunset like no other we were sitting on the deck of our room and Mark dropped down to his knee, presented me with a ring and said, “Will you be my wife?” I said yes all over again.
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We married on November 14th 2009 at our church and then had our beautiful reception at Steenberg Golf Club under some light sprinkles of late rain, surrounded by family and friends from near and far, we had a magical night, full of laughter and special moments to be treasured forever.
Click here for more bride galleries
Have you tied the knot recently?
Click here for more bride galleries
Have you tied the knot recently? Send in your wedding pics here or email us at chatback@women24.com
Click here for more bride galleries
Have you tied the knot recently? Send in your wedding pics here or email us at chatback@women24.com
Click here for more bride galleries
Have you tied the knot recently? Send in your wedding pics here or email us at chatback@women24.com
Click here for more bride galleries
Have you tied the knot recently? Send in your wedding pics here or email us at chatback@women24.com

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