Our love story started on the waters of the Durban coast on the MSC Opera cruise ship, where we met each other in the last week of January 2013. Marcell was there for a friend's 21st birthday, and I was invited to join a friend's family holiday. Not knowing each other whatsoever.

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We met on the pool deck of the ship (Marcell was shirtless and obviously got my attention) and immediately hit it off and had a great time on the ship. We ended the week with the most romantic sunrise kiss as the ship entered the port at 05:00 AM the morning of the last evening of the cruise.

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We ended up exchanging numbers that morning, and as the time went on both of our phones got stolen and we lost each other’s contact details.

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On my 18th birthday, Marcell sent me a happy birthday message on Facebook, which sparked some old feelings to come back.

2 weeks after my 18th birthday, we ran into each other at a church function (how cool?), and exchanged numbers once again. Marcell eventually built up the guts to ask me out, and as a true gentleman, he came and fetched me from my house and took me out to dinner and a movie, where we fell madly in love and have been ever since.

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Those who know us very well, would know that we have been through a lot together and have faced large obstacles in our relationship, from Marcell being in the USA for 8 months and maintaining a long-distance relationship, to me working and staying in Johannesburg part-time and only seeing Marcell over weekends. But these obstacles only strengthened our relationship and grew our love for each other.

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He asked me for my hand in marriage on the 21st of April 2019 on the beaches of “Strand” in the Western Cape surrounded by good friends after celebrating the unity of other friends in Tulbagh over the Easter weekend.

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Today, I could not be more in love and excited to marry this amazing man and spend the rest of my life with him.