Amreen + Nakia

How did you meet?

Met online, way before Facebook was a thing, on a website called high 5. Nakia was pictured with his German shepherd and long hair. He looked like trouble…. which I liked 😉 but he also had incredibly kind eyes. He also came across as someone with good morals and love for his family which was important to me. After chatting online and texting for a few weeks, we met for a coffee at castle towers after I finished work one early winter evening in 2007. Conversation flowed easily and I also remember thinking WOW he’s ridiculously tall.

When did you know they were the one?

I don’t think there was one particular moment in time. I would say over the years after spending time with each other, realising we enjoyed each other’s company, making each other laugh, sharing love for similar things and building trust and respect for one and other it became evident that I didn’t want to live my life without him. I could, but I didn’t want to. He was the last person I wanted to speak to at night and first person I spoke to in the morning.

Interesting story that made us realise that maybe there is more to this relationship:
Yellow Rose – A psychic told Nakia before we met to keep a look out for “the yellow rose”. Meant nothing to him at the time. However, upon meeting me and realising that my favourite colour was yellow it made more sense to him and he perhaps thought there was something more in this relationship than meets the eye.

What are your three favourite attributes of your partner?

Hilarious – Nakia is infectiously funny! He always finds a way to make me laugh, even in my darkest hour, either with his crude remarks or lame dad jokes. I can be quite a serious and intense person and often don’t really know how to relax. He balances this out by bringing out the lighter side of any situation to life. He reminds me to not take life so seriously and boy, does he know how to relax! Whilst he may look intimidating, he is a giant cuddly teddy bear.

Giving – He is incredibly giving and caring to all those close to him and makes me feel safe when I am with him. I love the fact that he can cook and is the principal chef in our household because I absolutely despise cooking (I can hear my Indian ancestors turning in their graves!). He has a love for adventure and nature and always pushes me to do things outside my comfort zone; like a 16km hike in 0-degree weather (brrr!). He is my biggest supporter and makes me feel like I can accomplish anything!

Handsome – And of course, I think he is incredibly rugged and handsome!

Who proposed and how?

Nakia proposed on my birthday in 2011, 10 years ago. We hosted a party to celebrate my birthday and all day he kept saying that my present was “Him”. I never understood what this meant and considered this his way of saying that him throwing me the party was the present. I blew it off and didn’t think much of it. That night I found a ring box under my pillow, and he stared back me. I think he was incredibly nervous and couldn’t event get the words out to ask me to marry him! but of course I said yes instantly. Our wedding has been deprioritised many times since getting engaged. Nakia decided he wanted to change his whole life. From being a gyprock plasterer, owning his own successful business and house. He decided to shut his business, sell his house to go back to university to pursue a career in environmental science. We thought this would be a 3 year delay, however he then decided to do his honours and follow that up with a PHD. Between all that I also started and completed a degree in psychology, and we also bought our first home together. FINALLY, 10 years later, here we are tying the knot!!

Where did you fall in love with your dress and why?

I purchased my dress at the MWL Bridal shop in St Ives, Sydney. By the time i visited the shop I had already tried on countless dresses at other retailers and nothing had felt like it was “The ONE” yet. My entire wedding Pinterest board was full of embellished or lace dresses and that’s what I had been trying on. I’d seen Lottie online and just felt drawn to its silhouette and simplicity. I needed to try it on. So off I went and selected Lottie amongst a few others to try on. Lottie was the first dress I put on and I just knew straight away that it was the ONE. It was the complete opposite of everything that I had tried on so far and it was utterly perfect! I paired it with the Harlow veil and requested buttons on the back of the dress. I was told the dress will be sent 2 months out from my wedding day however I received it almost 4 months out which was a pleasant surprise and gave me plenty of time to make minor alterations to the length and waist. I was incredibly happy with the entire experience.

What was the best moment for you at your wedding?

There were 2.
1- Our Vows: We decided to do our own vows and tailored them to be personal to us and our journey together. However, because we are light-hearted individuals that don’t take our selves too seriously, we also included some funny ones that had our guests in stiches. A couple of Nakia’s vows for example: “I promise to sit quietly and patiently waiting for your dinner leftovers” or “I promise to use my bug skills to remove bugs from your general vicinity”/ A couple of mine for example: “I promise to pretend to find your dad jokes funny” or “I promise to never stop reading the movie plot to find out what happens although I know you wish I would”
2 – First Dance: Nakia is NOT a dancer. Not even a little bit without significant anxiety. But because it was important to me, we decided to get dance lessons leading up to the big day. Nakia was apprehensive at first however took to the routine even better than I did. On our wedding day he did an amazing job leading and I was so incredibly proud of him and grateful that he was able to push himself to dance with me on our wedding day. It meant the world to me, and I may or may not have shed a few tears after!

What were your favourite details?

The FLOWERS and my makeup.
White house flowers made ALL my floral wedding dreams come to life. I knew they were great but seeing the vision come to life exceeded all my expectations and truly took my breath away! The flowers were stunning and all my guests wanted to know who did them.
My makeup was flawless. It was natural enough that I felt like myself and did not budge all day long!

What advice would you tell other brides?

I heard this A LOT from all other married couples leading up to my big day, and it’s the one thing we wished we had scheduled time for in our run sheet for the day. Take some time to yourself with your new husband. Even if you can squeeze in 10-15 mins do it because looking back on our day, everything went by SO fast we wish we had taken a moment. Other than that, our day was flawless.

Any standout vendors?

Alex, our photographer. He was just simply sensational. He was easy going, laid back and made us feel so at ease. The pictures, well I was floored when I saw them. He is simply the best. White house flowers, as mentioned, impeccably brought my vision to life and lastly, Moby Dicks, our reception venue. The venue is spectacular with amazing views of whale beach and more importantly the events team. Leading up to the day, they were super organised and easy to work with and on the day, catered to our EVERY need. I would choose all 3 again in a heartbeat!