Sarah & Sholto

We met online in 2017 while we were still studying at the University of Pretoria. Sholto was a final year computer engineering student, and Sarah was a third-year veterinary student. Sholto’s interest was immediately piqued by a cheesy and nerdy physics joke on Sarah’s profile. We hit it off immediately and we would speak for hours. Sholto took agonisingly long to ask Sarah out on a date because he was writing exams at the time. Sarah, who was very impatient, nagged him to ask her out on a date. Sholto, realising how demanding she was, quickly organised to meet in person. Our first date was at Blue Crane restaurant in Pretoria. When Sholto arrived, he saw Sarah speaking to one of the waiters. Her smile and bubbly demeanour instantly caught his attention. When she turned back to look at him, it was love at first sight. Sarah thought Sholto was very shy and nervous about the date. She realised this after he started coming out of shell after his second double brandy and Coca-Cola special. He even gained enough liquid courage to grab her hand from across the table. Sarah loved how natural it was to talk to him and she felt like she had known him her whole life. She found him very easy-going and calm. Sholto enjoyed how caring, and compassionate Sarah was. He always found conversation intellectually stimulating with her. Sholto struggled to speak to people in similar situations, but he found that the conversation just flowed naturally with her. There was never a lack of things to speak about. By the end of the date, we stole a kiss in the bird hide by the restaurant, only to be chased off by the gardener.
We have shared quite a few memories over the years, from travelling to places like Cape Town and the Kruger National Park, to buying our first house together. Sholto was there to help Sarah through her last 3 years of vet school, and 1-year veterinary community service in a different province. Sarah was there for Sholto when he completed his honours degree in 2021 and master’s degree in 2024. We have rescued two cats, Sylvester and Spencer, and absolutely adore them. After being together for 5 years, Sholto felt it was the right time to get married and popped the question at a beautiful wine farm in Cape Town. He had been hanging on to the ring all morning and was very nervous. Sarah picked up on this and thought his behaviour was very odd. Especially when he kept asking her if she wanted to walk through the vineyards for pictures (Sholto hates pictures). The rest is history.