This is one feature we’re excited to share. We’re so happy to finally bring you Toju & Yori’s story and lovely pictures. We had to split the post into two parts so expect pictures from the white wedding in a separate post. Just to give you a little bit of an idea of what to expect from the white wedding post, here’s a teaser.
Read their story below;
How We Met
Ours is a story I’d term as destiny. We met in Lagos through a mutual friend for the first time. I had just finished my youth service after moving back from England. She had also just moved back to Nigeria from the USA to start her youth service. I had no idea who she was at the first meeting and to be honest I didn’t really acknowledge her not because I didn’t think she was gorgeous but everyone just kinda stayed on their lane just enjoying the atmosphere. Little did I know the shock that was coming later.
I resumed a new job in an investment banking outing and on this particular day, someone from HR was introducing a new corper round the building and shockingly it was the same girl (Toju) I just saw like a couple of days ago. We recognized each other instantly out of shock of course and just smiled. She came to see me later on obviously being the only familiar face she knew in the firm and from there we became colleagues. Her dad’s driver usually dropped her off at the office; her dad dropped her off sometimes until I found out we lived in the same estate in Lagos. As a matter of fact, she lived practically 5 mins away from me and I had no idea. To cut the story short, we started going to to work together and coming home together and that’s how we became fond of each other. We became very close friends spending hours in Lagos traffic and weekends together since we lived 5 mins away from each other. I never knew the girl I’d marry had always lived 5 mins away from me and I had no idea who she was… Lol.
The Proposal
Toju is an extremely difficult person to surprise hence planning my proposal had to be extremely discreet. She had just finished her MBA in Atlanta and was coming home for Christmas. We had always talked about getting married after dating for a few years and I was convinced she was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. What I decided to do was to propose the day she arrived as it probably wouldn’t have worked on any other day; she’d probably suspect something. With the help of her parents, I had her room decorated with flowers and all the other romantic things.
I’d usually go pick her up from the airport but a couple of days before, I told her I wasn’t going to be able to makeiIt due to work constraints and she understood so her mum and driver went to pick her up. I hid in her romantically decorated room with a photographer hiding somewhere in the room too. While she was on her way home, I was on the phone complaining to her of how angry and frustrated I was with work but she had no idea I was in her room. I also parked my car far away to douse any suspicion. So she arrived and ran to her room because she needed the rest room and as soon as she came inside and saw everything ‘she ran out of the room shouting and screaming also in tears’. Her mum shouted at her to get back into the room and I proposed and she said ‘YES’
The Wedding
Toju & Yori had their traditional wedding in Lagos and their white wedding in Atlanta, Georgia. The groom – Yori shared his wedding tips and advise for couples. Read below;
Well my advice for intending couples is to start the planning as early as possible because things always go wrong. Also couples should discuss and share their ideas together about the kind of wedding they want no matter how unrealistic it may sound. In most cases it’s the women who have tons of ideas because they’ve probably started planning their wedding in their minds even before they met their husbands. Couples should also have a budget because having a budget helps you select vendors, location and so on. Wedding planning could sometimes cause a lot of tension between couples so I’ll advice couples to take time out during planning to have fun, go out on dates to relax their minds. Also both parties should learn to compromise on their ideas though I’d advice men to let the women have their day. One thing I learnt is the wedding day is more of the woman’s day so as a man, you need to give her room to run all the ideas she has, just make sure you remind her of the budget. Also the most important advice to couples, always remember there’s ‘Marriage’ after ‘Wedding’ so don’t go spend your entire savings on weddings. Leave some money in the bank for expenses that come after the wedding specifically with settling down.
Watch the video and view pictures from the traditional ceremony below;
Vendors
Traditional Wedding
- Photography & Video: Klala Photography | Instagram
- Makeup: Beauty Cook Studio | Instagram
White Wedding
- Wedding Planner: EllyB events (CEO is Eliana)
- Photography: Jide Alakija of Alakija Studios | Instagram
- Videographer: Imagine Video Productions | Instagram
- Caterer: The Ritz Carlton Hotel
- Décor: Andy beach & EllyB Events
- MakeUp: Jaytee
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LoveweddingsNG
A Nigerian and African wedding website that connects brides with brands they love. Sharing daily wedding inspiration, ideas, love stories, and more. Find us @loveweddingsng on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, Get in touch via email at info@loveweddingsng.com