The wedding of Anele-a Senior Programme Coordinator at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science- and her new bride, has been dubbed another victory for the LGBTI community in South Africa.

Anele:

We met on Instagram when we started following each other because we had mutual friends.

When Seipati approached me she basically commented on one of my pics whilst enquiring why she wasn’t invited for lunch. I told her if she works near where I work she could come through anytime.

When Seipati asked me to lunch, I told myself to live a little. What’s the worst that can happen? I didn’t have too many expectations but I didn’t mind having lunch with the hotness that she is.

Seipati admitted after we got engaged that she was actually looking for more of a fling because I was sexy.

Our wedding day, (8 May 2016) was our two-year anniversary.

Seipati proposed after three months of us dating and we decided to push back our wedding date for a bit so we could settle into our relationship and engagement.

On our first date I said to Seipati, if after this lunch you don’t see a future for us please don’t call me again.

After the proposal I knew Seipati was serious about us having a future together. We met each other and so much was going on in our lives but we managed to be there for each other and take care of one another.

I can’t pin point a moment but there was a point where we both were like “I’m happy here, my heart is taken care of and this is home”.

The Proposal

Seipati cooked dinner at home one night when I got back from work. We’d spoken about marriage but I don’t think you ever expect someone popping the big question. After we ate she took my hand and told me how much she loves me and wants to spend the rest of her life with me. I cried. I am so glad she didn’t propose in public because I cried like a baby.

Something important in a relationship is understanding the importance of communication and that we have different ‘love languages’ in a relationship. We’ve learnt that we’re still two individuals, who express emotions, values and certain things differently.

We’ve learnt to express how we feel at the time in a respectful manner and we don’t walk away without resolving our issues. We also try by all means to be patient with one another which is easier said than done.

We remind each other every day is that we love each other and are building towards the same goal which is a happy life together, forever.

The Wedding

It was stressful having to juggle work, school and planning a wedding. Also due to the fact that we were also paying our own fees, wedding costs weren’t helping matters, but in the end we pulled it all off.

We had family and friends that weren’t very supportive of our union. The reaction by some was to ask why did we not simply continue living together because if we got married what would people say? It’s been an emotional journey and it hurt at times to have people you love, love you conditionally.

It took us time to get to a point where we say you know what it’s okay, we are not doing this for anybody else but us. We knew we wanted this, we love each other and even if it’s just the two of us on the day, we will still be the happiest couple because we are entering into a marriage together.

You can’t change how people feel, but you can work on how you react to them.

The Future

Hopefully complete our studies and graduate next year, buy our home and babies…Lots and lots of babies, Seipati will kill me because she’s not sold on this football team of kids.

One of our best decisions was hiring a wedding planner (Bradlee Holcomb). This helped us focus and start the process such as looking for venues, figuring out a theme and budget etc.

Our wedding was held at the Victorian Manor, Cullinan. The theme was black and white with a touch of royal blue. We had 60 guests.

My gown was bought and delivered last year December (2015) so that wasn’t too stressful. My second outfit and both of Seipati’s suits were made by Lerato owner of Ethnik Republik.

The photography was done by Lebo from lebzskywalker and the hair and make-up was done by Queen, the owner of House of Queen.