Cara: We met when we were still in school, at a camp that took place in the mountains of Wemmershoek. Over the course of the weekend Dirk introduced himself to me and heard that I was an avid violinist, at which point he invited me to join the regular Sunday night band at church with him, where he played the bass guitar. From there, he proceeded to slowly work his way into my MXit contact list and then also my June holiday plans. He invited me to escort him to his high school dance, after which he made the curious choice to take me for McDonald's ice cream on a cold winter's night. I suspected something was up, but didn't know what was going to happen until his face dropped and he told me three words which I found terrifying at the time... "I like you".
We have been together since June 2009. When Dirk popped The Question we had been together for 5 and a half years.
Cara: Dirk is quite social; he never says no to any invitation, whether it is for a braai or even running a 42 km marathon with his friend. And yet both of us are quite nerdy, which is just proven by the fact that we are studying mathematical degrees.
Cara: I did not see it coming. It was the 1st of February and Dirk was away for academics in Spain and (according to me) his flight back was only in three days. I was drinking wine with a friend of mine at Kleine Zalze in Stellenbosch, when a friend handed me an iPad and earphones and told me to watch a video. I started crying almost immediately - the video consisted of friends saying words of encouragement and love and at the end of the video, they all said the same thing: "Dirk has something to ask you". I was then led down a path on the wine farm, where Dirk was waiting on a bench with a little box in his hand.
Cara: Dirk bought the engagement shoot for me as a 6-year anniversary present. Can I just say - best present ever!
Cara & Dirk: The engagement shoot was done in two locations in Stellenbosch. The first location was in the surrounding area outside Minerva and Majuba (both Stellenbosch University hostels) where we each lived until the end of 2013. After that, we went to a forest in Paradyskloof, which is placed on the outskirts of Stellenbosch on the Somerset West side. Both of us grew up in Durbanville, but our love blossomed between the oak trees of Stellenbosch, and that's why we chose those spots to commemorate our engagement.
Cara & Dirk: We wanted everything of the shoot to be a contrast to our wedding day, so seeing as our wedding will be in the summer, we did a winter engagement shoot.
Cara: The amazing thing is that Dirk had the ring made especially for me! But luckily for him we did look at rings a few times, so he did have an idea of what I liked.
Cara: I really love planning events and I am good with administrative things like emails and planning. Sometimes I plan too much. But I think for the wedding day I will need to ask someone to take the reins that Dirk and I can both enjoy the day stress-free.
Cara & Dirk: Our wedding will be in the beautiful town of Riebeeck Kasteel in January 2016. Currently we are busy 3D-printing place card holders for our guests. It is a chess-piece knight (Because Cara loves playing chess) with a little groove at the back of its head for the place card to fit into. Dirk designed the code for the 3-D printing with his computer science skills, to Cara's admiration and amazement. Cara: "Sjoe, brains can be sexy."
Riaan West is a Cape Town based international fine art wedding photographer who travels for local and International weddings.
