The new life

Basically, everyone was happy about the wedding to come. We were invited to a couple of braais the days before the event, when I finally met some of Rick's close friends, including Darren, the Englishman who now speaks Afrikaans better than myself anyway, Carlene, the blonde girl around the many men, Johann (met Anel, his wife, later), Willem (he brought later his girlfriend, Altie),Marius and Charlene, the couple I knew from my last travel to South Africa and the "coloured" funny Dirk and his wife Tina.

We had the bachelor's party on a Monday night - next day was a public holiday so we made sure everyone has a good time - I went with Charlene and Tina to grab some cocktails at Primi Piatti, an Italian restaurant at Irene Village Mall - we almost got lost on the way. Crashing the boy's party was the next thing - we knew they were leaving Cafe Livingstone's for the Dropzone Club in Hatfield, a center area of Pretoria. That was a blast, a fun night to remember.

Hey, in some days I'll be Ms. Oosthuizen, I encouraged myself. The happy event was on 19th December, on a Friday night, starting at 6pm, with 17 friends and his family attending. I had to overcome the sadness of not having my folks next to me in such an important day. Once I put my short electric blue dress on my pampered body I couldn't help not to fell overjoyed. I kept smiling all the time and greeting the invites, while Charlene and her sister, who owns the magnificent Olive Mystery Wedding Venue at 30km from Pretoria, were preparing the fancy dinner table.

We had white roses everywhere - on the table and also inside the small chapel where we united our destinies in front of Jaco, the marriage officer chosen by us. The ceremony was simple, yet funny and pleasant - I know we enjoyed the mix of English and Afrikaans. The officer even laughed at the fact that my Afrikaans is not that good. I keep on trying, I really do.

The rest is history, shaped in the wedding photos everybody wanted to take. For the first time in my life I felt so nondescriptly beautiful with paparazzi fussing all over us. Ricky looked smart in a petrol suit with matching tie, while I was his princess in electric blue - I wanted a powerful colour that will be reminded afterwards. Of course, I previously assured his friends and family that we will have a large ceremony in late autumn - when my parents come to see me in the white dress and dad will walk me through the aisle and make sure that Ricky has good intentions.

Probably the best question anyone can ask me on this is how did I manage to not falling to emotional. I know that things wouldn't change radically after our marriage - we are still the best lovers and friends we would ever want. We were in fact happy and inpatient to commit to each other and of course there were moments during the ceremony when I felt more emotional than I expected to be. Plus that I had been standing for almost half an hour on high heels during the ceremony praying for the moment when we step forward to signing the papers and make it real. My feet couldn't wait that much...

Make it real - can't believe even now that I actually did it. Some months ago I was in Romania, enjoying my graduation and now I'm enjoying life as a happy married young woman who still has a lot to discover about her husband and this different life in South Africa. Ok, I wondered lots of times if this is the right choice for me and it is, if that makes me going forward, making my own choices and prepare for the big lessons to be learned in life.