Jessica Giggles

The life of an event manager, with crazy OCD tendencies, a love for all things sweet, and a #SexyShoes aficionado!


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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 14

The last post was all about getting our invites out, finalising our seating plan and sorting out to-do lists. The last few weeks before our special day went by so quickly that they’re all blurry… But it doesn’t matter because our day was so memorable that I don’t need to recall the lead-up.

Saturday 24 March started off with French toast made specially for me by my dad. We sat on the patio in the early morning sun and chatted and ate. I was calm. But I was also nervous and excited. I couldn’t believe that the day had finally arrived.

The morning’s hair appointment drifted into the afternoon and the start of having my make-up done and getting ready. The photographer arrived and before I knew it, it was time to slip into my beautiful dress, put my red heels on, and take my dad’s arm as he walked me down the aisle.

I remember silently willing my legs to keep me upright. I remember each and every step on the grass towards a red rose petal heart where my husband-to-be was waiting. I remember leaning over and kissing him which obviously caused a stir, but I hadn’t seen him since the Friday and I just had to kiss him.

Our marriage officer led us through our vows and I Do’s. And as I was promising to be there through it all, I couldn’t help but notice how I was barely whispering the words. Not because I didn’t mean them or because I didn’t want anyone to hear, but just because there was so much emotion that my voice just couldn’t take it.

And then we were married. Husband and Wife. With a signed document to prove it and with red rose petals strewn all over us for extra effect.

The reception was perfect. The decor was beautiful. The atmosphere was relaxed. It was like we were hosting a dinner party with our nearest and dearest. The evening flew by in a bit of a haze between starters, main course, speeches and dessert. And although we had handpicked the menu (especially the dessert buffet), I found I couldn’t eat for the excitement. I was married! To the man of my dreams! To my best friend!

PS: Of everything that happened that day, the one thing I’ll never forget is how I burst into happy tears after reading through my Twitter timeline that morning and seeing Gary’s tweet about how he was going to be marrying his best friend.

And now for some piccies… These were all taken by family or friends and uploaded to Facebook. I just can’t wait to see the professional pics…

The setting & saying I DO

My gorgeous dress

My sexy red heels

Mr & Mrs

Continues in part 16 soon…


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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 13

The wedding date has been set and it’s now only a few weeks away. Eeeeeeek! My oh my how time flies! And everything is falling into place so nicely…

Our invitations arrived only last week after there was a small glitch in the printing process. Despite the delay in getting them, we have almost delivered all of them already (this was quite easy considering how small our guestlist is). I know how detail oriented I am so I’m sure you’re keen to see what they look like…

We chose a simple yet classic invitation that has an outer “slip” envelope. Our initials are embossed on the front and a simple black strip has our guest’s name on it.

The insert is again simple and classic. (Sorry I had to blank out the details for any of you that would want to gatecrash…)

Now we are just awaiting the last of the RSVPs so that we can finalise the seating arrangements (I’m sure this will turn me grey), confirm final guest numbers with the venue, and start tying up all those other loose ends.

Continues in part 15


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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 12

First a recap…
His Sexiness and I went through a bad patch. So bad that the wedding was called off! But we got to talking, we got to working through things, we got to a place where we wanted to be together come hell or high water…we got to a place where the ring was back on my finger.

And now… Now we have set the date for March and the wedding plans are well under way! YIPEEEEE!

Everything is falling into place so nicely…like it’s meant to be.

We have our ceremony venue and reception venue sorted. The ceremony will be taking place in a garden and as the setting is already so beautiful, we won’t have to spend a cent on decor. The reception venue is just what we were looking for. And best of all, the amazing menu that has been put together for us sounds absolutely tantalising and is really affordable.

Our invitations are being printed, well actually they are being reprinted because for some reason I kept all the previous invitations as we hadn’t yet handed them out. So all we had to do is reprint the insert. And this means that we will be able to get them out quicker.

And now for the details any gal would want to know…the dress and the shoes. Well, I have already met with my dress-maker to discuss the design and type of fabric. And we recently met at The Plaza to buy my fabric. I was so quick in choosing fabric, that she came with me to look at shoes. And as luck would have it, I found my wedding shoes in the second shop I walked into.

So…everything is coming together! And we’re totally excited! And we just can’t wait for our special day to arrive!

Continues in part 14


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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 11

First a recap…
His Sexiness had popped the question and the wedding planning began. It was all running smoothly, too smoothly perhaps?! Just as we were about to hand out our invitations and start the count down to the big day…the wedding got called off!

It’s almost been a year since the day we told our friends and family our special day was not happening. BUT a lot can happen in a year… Fighting, crying and shouting (at each other, or just by myself), talking things through to get to the route of the problem, analysing every aspect… In the end we realised what we wanted, which direction we wanted to head in, and who we wanted to share the journey with… So yes, the engagement ring is back on, the wedding is being planned, but mostly…we’re just looking forward to kicking things off as soon as possible because once you know you want to be with someone, you can’t get there soon enough!

Continues in part 13


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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 8

First a recap…
His sexiness and I had fallen in love! We’d been together for almost 2 years and living together for almost a year. We had added 2 doglets to the mix and made a little family.

In the November of 2009, Saturday the 21st to be exact, His Sexiness woke me up at 04h00. He told me we needed to get up, pack and get going by 05h00 or we’d be late. I thought he was having some vivid dream so I told him to go back to sleep and let me sleep until a reasonable hour (I had had a particularly gruelling function the day before). He laughed this off and again told me to get up and pack. I was instructed to pack for three days and that I should include two sets of smart outfits. Again I questioned his “awakeness” and I knew he wasn’t joking when he started running around getting his things together.

Being the curious, have-to-be-in-control girl that I am, I questioned him nonstop hoping to get a few clues as to where we were going so that I knew what I should be packing. I surmised that we must either be going to the bush or to Cape Town to surprise my friend. I packed and got myself ready, all the while continuing the questioning.

It was then time to get into the car and get going. His Sexiness used a tie to blindfold me and drove left, then right trying to disguise where we were going. But as I have an acute sense of direction, I knew exactly where we were going. And when he asked where we were, I said we were in X suburb on X road and that he really was taking me a round-about way to his parents house to drop off our house keys. Upon this statement, he huffed and puffed! He told me he’d forgotten about having to drop off keys and that I should remove my blindfold because I’d already guessed where we were going – Cape Town. I felt supremely satisfied that he’d had to give in to me because of my awesome sense of direction and deduction.

I was told to keep quiet about the trip though as it was a surprise for my friend for her birthday. So no tweeting or any mentions otherwise.

We arrived in Cape Town and His Sexiness’ brother Ross came to fetch us from the airport. Before driving through to Hout Bay where we were going to be staying, we had to stop past somewhere as Gary had a client that needed his system converted to Mac. While he had his meeting, Ross, his then girlfriend and I had a bite to eat at a restaurant nearby. Before long we were on our way to our “home” where we freshened up and got ready to head over to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens to surprise my friend at her birthday picnic.

We arrived and walked very slowly not wanting to be spied before we spied her. Once we’d found where the group was sitting, I phoned to wish her a happy birthday. I mentioned how gorgeous she was looking in her orange top and she only said “thanks”. I then had to prompt her as to how I knew what colour she was wearing. While on this phone call we sneakily walked up to her and surprised her. And the surprise went down so well! She was so happy!

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly with catching up with the birthday girl and Ann and meeting other twitter friends – Cazpi and Acidicice – while munching on the yumminesses we had brought with. Before leaving the picnic, we made plans to meet up that evening to continue the birthday celebrations at Oblivion. Gary and I then made our way home to have an afternoon nap before getting ready for the night’s festivities.

The nap was heavenly! Just what was needed before a night out! But before we joined the ladies, we decided to go out for dinner, somewhere for just the two of us.

As we were leaving, His Sexiness suggested we go to Chapman’s Peak to watch the sunset. I thought it was a fantastic idea since I couldn’t remember when last I was there. And I didn’t think this was out of place at all, I just thought His Sexiness was being romantic and wanting to show me what Cape Town was all about. I did find it so funny when His Sexiness began getting antsy because all the viewing points were busy. I simply told him that it’s probably “date night” for most couples and what better way to spend it than watching the sunset together. We eventually found a quieter viewing point and got out of the car to have a look at the sunset.

Now His Sexiness had been quite quiet and acting a bit weird. I thought nothing of it and put it down to him being tired and not properly awake yet from our afternoon nap.

So… We’re standing on the cliff, him behind me with his arms wrapped around me, and he’s saying how we should do this again and how he wants to make it official. And I’m standing there thinking “what are you on about?” but saying how beautiful it is and how we should do this again soon.

The next moment he’s on bended knee asking me to marry him! I burst into tears! I smothered him with hugs and kisses!

And then he asks, “Is that a yes?”

And I’m like, “You’re damn right it’s a yes!”

And suddenly it all made sense. We weren’t here just to surprise my friend, we were here because he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me! And considering the amount of plans I’d made for that weekend that he had to cancel, he must really love me!

Continues in part 10


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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 5

A recap…
At the beginning of 2008, His Sexiness and I started dating. We had an unromantic first date but he thoroughly spoiled me on our first Valentine’s Day. We spent every possible moment together and when we weren’t together, we’d sms each other or he’d call to chat.

My 24th birthday arrived after we’d been dating for nine months. I don’t remember telling him that I LOVE and ADORE my birthday but I do remember the extent to which he made my special day even more special.

My birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday so I was at work when I received an email at 10h00 with the subject of “Listen” from His Sexiness.

Below the pic of us was a link to a website. It was clue #1 as to what my present was. A cryptic riddle was sent via sms later that day which formed clue #2. For the life of me I cannot remember what clue #3 was. What I eventually figured out was it had something to do with music (clue #1) and that it had something to do with the colour pink (clue #2). Now this got my imagination soaring! Could it be a pink teddy bear that played music? No, don’t think he’d pick something like that. Could it be pink cupcakes with music notes in the icing? Nope, didn’t think so either. I eagerly anticipated the end of the work day as I knew I’d be seeing His Sexiness and knew I’d finally be able to understand his gift.

But unfortunately that evening I was told that my gift hadn’t arrived yet. I was left in limbo – anticipating, waiting, wanting time to hurry up…

The next day (Thursday) I was at a venue supervising the setup of a huge fun day event that was taking place on the Friday. I was quite bored waiting for the stretch marquee/tent to be erected and for the various games to be installed. The next moment I get a call from His Sexiness. I complained about not having had lunch yet and being stuck at a setup. And he immediately offered to pop past with a quick bite to eat. So there I sat, waiting for his arrival with with my stomach grumbling and growling.

He arrived with the tell-tale paper bag of his favourite fastfood store and I immediately tucked in. After our lunch was done he told me that my gift had arrived and would I like it now. Of course I said yes because I just had to put my imagination at ease. Off he went to collect the small package from his car. He arrived back at our temporary lunch area and tells me that he hadn’t had time to wrap it properly because he’d just got his hands on it. And I think, “Great! Less time on unwrapping and more time on finally knowing what it is!” He hands it over, and I finally see that it’s a pink iPod (one of the new editions). I am in love! I protest a lot about how he shouldn’t spoil me so much but at the same time loving the fact that he wants to spoil me! The best part of all… He whipped out his Macbook, connected my new iPod and installed all his music on it so I could use my new gift right then and there while at the boring setup!

Continues in part 7 soon…

*Picture credit


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First Impressions

I saw this on Cat’s blog and thought it’d make a nice post here.

What’s the first thing you notice about a man when you meet him?

I am a very aware person so for me there are quite a number of things I notice about someone when we first meet. Probably on the top of my list is grooming. I check his hands to see if he bites his nails. I see if his hair is well groomed. I look at his shoes to see if they’re newly polished. I look to see if he’s clean shaven or if his beard is neatly trimmed. I believe that if a man takes care of himself, he’ll take care of you.

After that I look for a gorgeous smile, an infectious laugh, a sense of humour, unguarded eyes, etc, etc…

As Cat said, if you need some blog fodder – consider yourself tagged!

*Picture credit


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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 4

A recap…
At the end of January of 2008 we had our first date. It was neither romantic nor sexy but it was truly memorable as His Sexiness showed his gentlemanly side.

The Monday after our first date was the day His Sexiness and I officially started dating. He arrived with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and stated the obvious in asking if we could be exclusive. I was thrilled!

A couple weeks later the international day of love arrived. I had been planning my present to him for days. I didn’t want to be too over-the-top and mushy considering we’d just started dating, and I also didn’t want to look like I didn’t put any thought into it. I decided to go with home-made vouchers with little gifts to go with them – a candle-lit home-cooked meal for two was attached to a couple of candles. I thought it was perfect and I couldn’t wait for him to open the goodie bag!

If I thought my present was thoughtful and wonderful, his present way outshone mine…

I was sent a very formal sms during the international day of love requesting my presence at his place that evening. I arrived on time but was told that I had to stay in my car in the parking lot as he wasn’t ready for me. I must have waited about five minutes but my nerves and excitement made those few minutes drag by!

When the time eventually came, I was told to drive around to the garden gate entrance to his flatlet where I was greeted by His Sexiness looking dashing in a suit, waistcoat and tie. I was led through the gate and into his small garden and that’s when I saw why he’d taken so long…

He had completely transformed his little covered patio! There were hundreds of lit tea-light candles on the edges of the walkway as well as surrounding the edges of the patio. There were two bean bags with a blanket spread in front of them and a bottle of wine was chilling in an ice bucket on the side. And hiding in the dim light, on top of a bean bag, were 14 long-stemmed red roses. I was poured a glass of wine and told to make myself comfortable while I waited for the next surprise. A few moments later I was served take-away dinner from my favourite restaurant (where we’d tried to remake as our first date). He made it even more special by ordering in the dishes we’d had that night. It was an amazing night and such an unforgettable present!

Continues in part 6 soon…

*Picture credit


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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 3

A recap…
In the January of 2008 we met again, we chatted a lot via sms, and we shared our first kiss…

At the end of that January in 2008 I organised a huge banquet dinner for Absa Bank which was held in an airport hangar at OR Tambo International (Johannesburg’s international airport). The dinner was for 1500 guests and included 5 star decor, entertainment by Doctor Victor & the Rasta Rebels, delicious cuisine and wonderous cocktails. There was a lot of running around on my part but the event went superbly!

Now His Sexiness and I had been seeing each other for a week, and as he was such a gentleman, he offered to meet me at the airport hangar once my event was finished so he could follow me home and ensure I got home safe. I jumped at the chance to see him since I’d been so busy those last few days with this event. So he met me at the venue and followed me home. He came in for a cuppa tea and the most glorious thing happened…we ended up chatting the whole night! I had never experienced this before! It was wonderful!

However I did not feel so great the next morning – I do require at least 8 hours of sleep to function properly. But the fact that His Sexiness was still there gave me the energy sleep would have done.

We were chatting once again when I got the phone call… The phone call I was hoping to have avoided…

While in the organising stages of the hangar event, I had specifically instructed the caterers and bar service that they would need to keep their areas clean during the event, and clean up AND remove any/all rubbish or refuse they might incur. This phone call was to notify me that this had not been done and that paper and other debris were now being swept by the wind onto OR Tambo airfields. This was a HUGE problem!

So off I rush to shower and change! And while rushing around I advise His Sexiness that I have to dash to the hangar to sort this out and that I’ll catch up with him later. Again his gentlemanly side shows itself when he offers to drive me there and help out where he can. I was gobsmacked! I mean who would offer up their Sunday to help someone clean up a massive hangar? Obviously someone that liked me A LOT!

We got to the hangar and the mess was worse than I expected. I had been thinking that His Sexiness would be able to keep me company while I sorted out the mess but I had no such luck… Not only was there a lot to clean up inside the hangar, the area outside the hangar (where the catering kitchen tent was situated) was a disaster area. I immediately got in touch with the airport caterer who provided our crew meals and asked to borrow a few brooms and black plastic bags. I then put His Sexiness and myself to work.

We swept and we swept and we swept. We filled black bag after black bag after black bag. It was seriously hard work but luckily it only took a couple hours to get everything in order. It wasn’t the most glamorous or sexiest first date, but that was when I first thought that His Sexiness could be The One.

Continues in part 5 soon…

*Picture credit

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