We Do!
Saturday, 6th of March, 2027 | 3:00 PM
Bona Dea,
Hemel-en-Aarde valley,
South Africa
Kyla & Michael are getting Married!
Our Next Chapter is About to Begin
When
Ceremony
14:45 Please be seated
15:00 - 15:15 "I do!"
Where
The Lawn
When
Cocktails & Canapés
15:45 - 18:45 Nibbles
Where
The garden terrace
Seated Dinner & Speeches
When
Where
19:30 - 21:00
Dinner served by
The Kraal at Joostenberg in the Ballroom
Cake Cutting & Plates Breaking
When
Where
21:00
The Ballroom
Fin!
When
Where
21:00 - 02:00
The Dancefloor
02:00
Fin!
On the number of consultants required for a
Marriage
For those who don’t know the full story, this did not begin with a cinematic meet-cute. It began in Johannesburg. At a competition economics consulting firm (niche to say the least). The sort of place where conversations about corrugated container board and casino hold ratios count as small talk.
Somewhere between long days on the same team and slightly covert office interactions there was a memorably awkward under-desk toe touch. Subtle enough to be plausibly accidental, but suspicious enough that we've invited you to our wedding.
At the time, neither of us realised that a relationship built on consulting jargon and mild workplace ambiguity would eventually lead to a wedding. But there was, from the beginning, a quiet confidence that this might be something rather serious.
Around the six month mark, Kyla moved to Barcelona for studies. The night before the flight, a last-minute change of logistics required the entire suitcase situation to be repacked. Michael spent the evening methodically repacking and vacuum sealing bags of clothes well into the early hours of the morning, which in hindsight was a fairly strong early signal of commitment.
About ten months in, we tested the theory with our first trip together to Porto. Many journeys followed: Skiing in Méribel, where Michael proved unreasonably competent and relaxed on skis. Wandering through Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and Nosy Be. And a memorable three-night hike up Mnweni Pass in the Drakensberg where Michael revealed roughly four hours into the five-hour drive to the trailhead that he actually hated hiking. He pressed on regardless, in the snow.
Paris also provided an early compatibility test in the form of Kyla’s 12m² internship apartment. It came complete with a toilet down the corridor and a spiral staircase so narrow that Michael had to carry the suitcases up on his shoulders.
Michael’s true induction to Kyla’s family came shortly afterwards on a ski trip to Méribel. After meeting them only in brief bursts before, he found himself trapped in a transfer van from Geneva with eight members of the blended family and Yannis, an eccentric Yugoslav driver with a particular fondness for Saskia, Rory’s girlfriend. Rockfalls on the mountain pass turned the journey into an eleven-hour bonding exercise. Michael emerged, somewhat improbably for most people, but in typical Michael fashion, entirely unphased.
Kyla’s introduction to Michael’s family was rather different. Even with Michael’s mother already seriously ill at the time, the household remained impressively lively, warm and unrestrained. Kyla was slightly surprised to discover that, by comparison to Michael's Greek family, she was the quiet one in the room. Michael’s mother remained characteristically spirited and full of life right to the end, something that left a lasting impression.
There were also periods of long distance. When Kyla moved to Barcelona, the adjustment was not always straightforward. Having completed his master’s there a few years earlier, Michael made it a habit to send one small sight-seeing excursion each day. Somewhere to walk, something to see, a café worth visiting. Gradually the city began to feel more like home, and is where their relationship truly blossomed.
These days our household is presided over by Skollie and Tjommie, the cats who run things with quiet authority.
The proposal took place on a secluded beach in Wilderness on South Africa’s east coast, not long after Kyla had enthusiastically explained an interesting study suggesting that humans are, statistically speaking, not a very monogamous species compared to other mammals. Michael, having previously flown to Cape Town to ask Kyla’s father for his blessing, wisely decided to act before any further research could be presented.
And so, after several years, several countries, and a relationship that began somewhere between a STATA do-file and an awkward toe touch, we are so very happy to be asking you to please join us in celebrating our union.
We are so very glad that you are part of our story.