Everything was ready and picture-perfect for her big day.
The guest farm in the lush Overberg mountains outside Swellendam in the Western Cape was all set for a feast and festivities: tables were adorned with centerpieces of roses and honeysuckle and a showpiece wedding cake was ready to be cut.
The sound system was ready for the bridal couple and their guests to dance the night away. And in the flower-bedecked chapel the pastor was waiting at the altar to guide the pair through their vows in front of 60 excited guests.
Trudie Swanepoel was ready too, dressed in her dream gown, her hair in a stylish ’do, flanked by her bridesmaids in their mustard-coloured dresses. The groomsmen were also lined up, in crisp white shirts and leather braces.
The groom was a little late though.
“Not for a moment did the family or I notice any red flags,” Trudie (27) says.
But as the minutes ticked by she started to get worried. Eventually she called him – and in the blink of an eye her dream wedding and plans for the future collapsed in a heap around her.
“I’m not coming,” Martin Strydom (35) told her. “Let’s call the whole thing off.”
Trudie was devastated but somehow managed to hold her head up high. She climbed onto a chair in front of the guests and announced, “There won’t be a wedding. You can gossip about this tomorrow, but for now we’re still going to party!”
Martin’s mom tried her best to comfort Trudie and his brother took charge of proceedings.
Only the pastor left early – there was nothing for him to do. Everyone moved to the reception area where “my almost-brother-in-law opened the dancefloor with me,” Trudie says.
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