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A humble boy from Gqeberha, a beauty queen from the Netherlands, the Tinder dating app and the Covid-19 lockdown.
Together it might sound like an odd combination, but it helped set a real-life love story in motion that will culminate in a fairytale wedding at The Plantation, in Lovemore Park, on Saturday.
It is the love story of Grant Nel, 35, of Newton Park, who will promise to spend the rest of his life with Brenda Felicia, who was crowned Miss World Netherlands 2019.
The pair met earlier that year on Tinder and said they “both swiped right at exactly the right time”.
Nel said when he initially swiped right on Felicia’s profile, they had exchanged a few messages, but she would reply only three or even six months later.
“One morning I woke up and decided to message her again, and to my surprise, she replied almost immediately.
“I sarcastically asked what she was doing with her life that it took her six months to respond.”
Felicia, 25, said she had not been up to much, aside from being crowned Miss Netherlands.
Her response prompted him to Google her and realised he was not being duped.
Nel and a few associates had started their own software engineering business, which took him to Pretoria and ultimately to Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, in 2019.
The two finally met in Arnhem — Felicia’s home town — in August or September that year and went on a sushi date, but soon afterwards Nel left for Japan for the Rugby World Cup.
Upon his return to the Netherlands, Felicia left for London and then South America to participate in the Miss World Competition.
It took another four months of not seeing each other before they could meet up again.
“I later realised that I left for Japan on her birthday on September 17.
“This was an epic fail but also an important lesson as she learnt that as South Africans, rugby is in our blood,” he said.
A few months later, on February 14 2020, they met up again and two weeks later they were officially a couple.
But Felicia said the wining and dining that formed part of the dating process had been quickly thwarted when Europe went into lockdown in March.
The lockdown rules were so strict they knew they would not be able to go anywhere or see each other, so they decided to begin their lockdown together in Nel’s apartment.
They both agreed there was nothing like being locked down together to allow you get to know someone on a deeper level.
“We learnt so much about one another.
“We fell in love and I knew I wanted to make her my wife.”
In September 2021, Grant made up for missing her birthday the previous year by taking his girlfriend to Paris, where he proposed during a dinner cruise on the River Seine.
He dropped to one knee as they sailed past the Eiffel Tower just as it lit up.
Getting the ring to the Netherlands involved Grant flying one of his friends from Pretoria to Gqeberha to collect it from his dad at the airport.
Nel had bought the ring at Browns Jewellers in Baywest Mall.
From Johannesburg, it was taken by one of his colleagues to Amsterdam before Nel drove 200km to fetch it and back.
He then drove his soon-to-be fiancée to Paris.
After the engagement, she visited the Bay and Nel’s parents.
Felicia said it had been her decision to get married in Gqeberha because she loved the weather, the sights, and the spirit of ubuntu that South Africans embodied.
After they tie the knot, the couple will head back to the Netherlands for a short while.
They plan on settling in Houston, Texas, where they one day hope to raise children.
HeraldLIVE
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