The namesakes who won a Dream Wedding share their Keke love story

The winners of the WED Dream Wedding 2.0, Opemipo Fajana and Opemipo Kehinde will be tying the knot on Sunday, the 14th of April, 2019 at the Balmoral Convention Center, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The couple won a FREE wedding from WED Expo in collaboration with A-list vendors including BM PRO, Cakes by Tosan, Nwandos Signature, Awgz, Mimi Luxe Events amongst others.

The couple will be having a game of thrones-themed wedding inspired by their favourite TV show. The bride shared;

Our wedding is a game of thrones-themed wedding majorly because that’s our favorite show and as it happens, the final season premieres on our wedding date. We thought “why not have that as part of our memory”. So for our pre-wedding shoot, together with our planner, photographer, and the WED Dream team, we decided to have elements of the TV show in our pictures.

Read their sweet keke love story and see photos from their stunning Game of Thrones-themed pre-wedding shoot session with Nigerian wedding photographer, AWGZ.

Enjoy!

How We Met by the groom, Opemipo

And they called it keke love

I was heading home from work one fine evening in October 2015 when I suddenly noticed a lady beside me in the keke. Her face was lit up by the glare of her screen as she read blogs on her phone and I noticed two things:
1. Dang, she’s pretty; and
2. Dang, that’s a whole lot of opened tabs

I couldn’t summon the courage to take her attention from what she was reading but as God would have it, we got down at the same stop. It took me a couple of seconds to get the nerve to walk up to her and all I could say was, “Hello, my name is Ope. How do you do?” She responded, “Hi, my name is Ope too. But I bet your name isn’t Opemipo”
And I replied, “My name actually is Opemipo.”

We made small talk about the coincidence and exchanged numbers but I made sure to call her that night just to “see if she got home safely”.

After that fateful night, it’s safe to say we became fast phone friends with occasional visits to her house until sometime in January when I asked her out on our first date: to a charity concert for the Federal Nigeria Society for the blind.

She wore a black and white dress with a cute peach flower in her hair that made her look so beautiful but what took my breath away was her outpouring of emotion when faced with people who were disadvantaged. She spent a lot of the evening in tears as we listened to choirs of visually impaired children. She just couldn’t control her emotions as she saw the kids singing with gusto.

That empathy, love and raw emotion are the hallmarks of Opemipo as anyone who knows her can testify and they have kept us going all these years.
Also, saying “I love you Opemipo” is self-love and who doesn’t want some of that?

How We Met by the bride, Opemipo

I was on my way from work on a blessed day in October 2015. I boarded a keke and as usual, was reading juicy stories on all the blogs from my phone.
Upon getting got down at my stop, a young man walked towards me. He said; “Hi, my name is Ope” in the sweetest British accent that caught my attention. I responded with a surprised face and said “My name is Ope too, but I bet you can’t be Opemipo.”
He smiled and said my name is Opemipo. (That was the first time I had legit met someone bearing the name – Opemipo, most people I had met before were Opeyemi, Opeoluwa, etc.)

I thought he was joking but we laughed about it and we exchanged numbers. We spoke that night and he told me about how he had just moved to the area and he didn’t know anyone and also about why he moved back to Nigeria.

The next day, he came to my house in the evening and it became a routine with us gisting outside my gate. It was not love at first sight for me, because to be honest, he wasn’t my kind of guy. He didn’t have a mustache and the kind of swag l liked. But something was different about him. He was open, caring and very honest. I like straight forward people and he amazes me every time. The days I worked on Saturdays, he would send uber rides to pick me up and he just kept surprising me each passing day.

He asked me to be his girlfriend in March 2016. It was the first time I went to his house and I remembered he made a special spaghetti meal for me (I wonder what it is with guys and spag). I didn’t give him a direct answer because I wasn’t sure if I loved him but I knew, I really liked him so I decided to give it a try and to say the least, it’s been an amazing journey.
When we fight, we have a happy place (Sweet sensation eatery/KFC) where we talk it out and resolve the issues. As time passed, we grew academically and financially. He makes me a better version of myself.

The proposal: Opemipo (Groom)

I’m not sure why but we had pretty much-done everything about this-traditionally. We planned our introduction before I even proposed.

I asked Ope to get her ring size (no skulking around stealing her jewelry) so that it could be bought and delivered before I proposed. This had to happen before the introduction which, again, had already been booked, planned and paid for.

Safe to say, Ope knew I was going to propose to her at some point but I had to still surprise her. I drafted my cousin, Ewa of Ewas Concepts, to help me out and she planned a pretty sweet surprise party.

Step 1: I told Ope that my parents wanted to take us to dinner one Saturday night

Step 2: I got hold of all Ope’s friends by any means necessary including scrolling through her 1000+ IG followers to find people she had spoken about.

Step 3: Got her cousin’s numbers from her immediate family I knew.

Step 4: Got a chocolate and flower bouquet, which eventually couldn’t hold the ring but we rolled with it

Step 5: Planned for the entire corridor of my grandma’s house to be littered with flowers

Step 6: GASP!! Her lecturers decided to make that Saturday her seminar defense, which threw me into a spin because that would have ruined the surprise.

Step 7: She was able to finish her defense, got home and got dressed and called me to pick her up.

Step 8: Got stopped by Police for doing nothing wrong. I was slightly panicky in the car since there were all these plans about to be ruined by locking us in jail (which would have been a very different proposal story)

Step 9: We got to the house. Went through the other door because “that was closer to where my parents were staying” and burst into the corridor lined with drapes and flowers with my sister playing the ukulele at the end of the hallway and our friends and family there to welcome my teary-eyed soon-to-be fiancee.

NB: I did not cry despite what anyone else says.

The Proposal by the bride, Opemipo

In 2018, we started talking about getting married and he even asked me to pick the rings I liked. I knew it was going to happen soon, but I didn’t know how.
In June 2018 that same year, his parents came to visit and they called, asking us to have dinner with them. I went into their house first and after greeting them, they led me into the house and I saw flowers on the floor, his sister was playing the violin (This was the first time I was meeting her).
When I got to the living room, I saw all my friends. This brought tears to my eyes as I never ever imagined all that he has been planing. I was led to sit on a chair and each of my family and friends gave me a card to read. (These small cards contained our journeys, the fights, why he loves me, and why he wants me to be his wife).
This was the sweetest thing ever and I cried my eyes out. Lol

He came out, got down on one knee asked me to be his wife and I can’t forget the euphoria I felt that very moment. Later that evening, his mum also gave me a ring she got me. Now I have two rings.

Having Ope in my life has been an overflow of blessings. After we got engaged, a friend of ours sent us a link to vote for them in a wedding competition by WED Expo. We voted and then thought, “why not enter for the competition as well”. We submitted our application and then sent people links to vote for us too. After a rigorous process, we emerged the winners of the WED DreamWedding where we’re getting a wedding worth millions of Naira!

Just like that,Opewa ti po Si,and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my amazing man! I Love you