Wedding joy after KFC proposal
Hector ’s proposal at a fast-food outlet went viral – now he and Nonhlanhla are preparing for the wedding of their dreams, thanks to the generosity of the public
IT’S a scene we’ve seen played out many times before – in movies, on TV and often in real life too – and it usually brings a tear to even the most jaded eye. But there was something extra-special about this public proposal. All the necessary ingredients were there: a guy on bended knee, a ring and a stunned young woman. Yet its charm and simplicity put it in a league of its own.
And it tugged at heartstrings right around the world. The special moment was caught on film and spread like wildfire on social media, sending viewers into a feel-good frenzy of generosity.
Hector Mkansi (37) and Nonhlanhla Soldaat (28), now affectionately known as the KFC Couple, still can’t believe the buzz generated by Hector’s proposal at the fast-food outlet in the Evaton Mall, Gauteng.
The pair have been inundated with around 200 pledges of wedding venues, caterers, DJs, ministers, décor, suits, gowns, honeymoons, baecations, flights, transport, more than R300 000 in cash, magazine shoots and A-list MCs to host their big day.
And all because Hector wanted to do something a little different for the love of his life.
He and Nonhlanhla have been together for eight years and tied the knot last year but it was a small, simple wedding, he says, and “far from what we wanted”.
“Each year I vowed to make her feel special, which is what I did [at KFC].”
Hector tucked the ring into Nonhlanhla’s bag of fries – and when she spotted it, he dropped to his knee.
“Nkosikazi [wife],” he began. “You’re so special to me. Will you please marry me again?
“I don’t have the financial muscle, I’m not working. If I was, I’d do something big, but . . . I wanted to make it special, no matter how small. I want you to feel comfort, to feel special – like the queen that you are in my home.”
The lovebirds are now looking forward to their dream wedding. “We haven’t yet come up with a date, but I can’t wait to come down from a helicopter, holding my wife in her champagne dress,” Hector tells YOU.
“Everything that’s happening is what we’ve been praying for.”
THEY met 10 years ago at a funeral. “I asked a relative to call her over. When she was in front of me, I found myself shaking and I ended up asking her to get me a plate of food and a juice.
“When she came back, I told her there was something missing from the plate – her phone number,” he recalls, smiling.
At the time, Nonhlanhla was 18 and in matric and Hector was 27. Her mother, she recalls, was initially opposed to their relationship, saying Hector was a player who’d get her pregnant and leave.
“It got worse when I visited him in Limpopo,” she adds. “I was warmly welcomed by his family but when I came home my mother said I should go back there.
“I was emotional when I called him, but he spoke to my mother and promised to pay lobola.”
Nonhlanhla had a good feeling about Hector despite her mother’s reservations. “He was different to other men and introduced me as his wife even before he’d paid lobola.”
Hector started negotiations with her family in 2011.
“I only managed to complete the lobola last year and we got married in December.”
The couple knew their first wedding wouldn’t be the one of their dreams, but they went ahead so they could be together legitimately.
Their marriage is a happy one “not based on material things”, Nonhlanhla says.
She’s studying toward an education degree through Unisa and Hector volunteers full-time at his church.
The couple have a son, Percy (7), and Hector has two children from a previous relationship.
“Nonhlanhla is everything I need in a woman. I knew I’d found a home when I met her and I can boldly say she’s my soulmate,” he says.
“He treats me so well,” Nonhlanhla adds. “He always makes sure we never lose sight of the fact that we’re in love, and even though we’ve been together for some time our love is new every day.
“That’s why I’ve never taken even going to KFC for granted.”
HECTOR had planned his proposal perfectly. He’d taken their wedding rings to be cleaned and when they were done with errands that day, Nonhlanhla said she was feeling peckish. Hector suggested they stop at KFC for a bite to eat.
“She loves KFC and I’d been waiting for her to say something about being hungry. Right on schedule she caved, and I knew it was my moment,” he says.
“I wanted to do something special when I gave her her ring back. Even though I don’t work, I wanted to make the moment memorable.”
Luckily for Hector, the restaurant didn’t have the cooldrink Nonhlanhla wanted, so when she popped out to buy it at another shop, he seized the moment and asked the staff to tuck her ring into her meal.
When their lunch arrived, Nonhlanhla opened the box. “When I saw the ring, I knew it was mine, of course, and I started getting emotional. I thought, ‘Why is he doing this to me?’ Then he got down on one knee. He’d never knelt for me before.
“I’m a shy person, so the attention was a lot. That’s why I kept covering my eyes.”
The couple had no idea their touching moment would go viral on Twitter.
“Hector normally takes pictures of us e a t i n g and posts them on social media, but that day he didn’t. So, I was surprised to get a call from my cousin and other random people telling me Twitter was looking for us,” she says, referring to the tweet KFC sent out in a bid to locate the couple.
Every time someone phoned she thought they were being pranked or scammed, so she ignored the calls for a while.
“But our phones wouldn’t stop ringing. People were telling us we were famous. It was too much!”
Their second wedding will undoubtedly be a lavish affair, fit for royalty. And it will be open to everyone, the couple say, once they’ve figured out the logistics of it all – something KFC South Africa has said it will help with.
For now, they’re taking in their newfound fame. “Even our neighbours want to take pictures with us so they can show their friends we live next door,” Hector says with a chuckle.
And who can blame them? Living near the prince and princess of proposals is something to brag about.
‘Our phones wouldn’t stop ringing. People were telling us we were famous. It was too much!’