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In Weddings

A testament to love: Ukrainian couple gets married in building destroyed by war

April 7, 2022 No Comments

What’s that epic phrase from Interstellar?

“Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.”

One incredible couple is giving a new meaning to this quote, proving that not even war can stop love.

Anastasia and Anton Sokolov from Ukraine got married in a country that is currently under attack due to the invasion of Russia.

The video of the couple getting married tugs at the heartstrings and really puts a few things in perspective. The newlyweds said their “I dos” in a subway against a historical building that appears to have been destroyed by the war.

Anton and Anastasia have no plans to go on a honeymoon anytime soon. One day, they want to go somewhere with a beach and palm trees. Before that happens, there is a war to win, and brutal days ahead. But yesterday, there was hope, and beauty, and love inside the ugliness. pic.twitter.com/4WNT42KfiE

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) April 4, 2022

Also read: A roaring proposal! A lion joined this Cape Town couple’s engagement

The couple shared this magical moment with civilians and journalists who managed to join in and capture this unusual moment.

No wedding cake, no A-line fitted wedding dress, and no wedding band – just a simple affair that celebrates love, especially during a time that is filled with so much sadness and destruction.

The bride wore a cream-like silk dress with a layer of tulle fabric that ensured she looked like a bride – not forgetting the veil! Her beaming face was framed with a gorgeous flower crown that paired perfectly with the bouquet of tulips in her hand.

The groom looked handsome yet casual. He wore a loose-fitting white shirt and a black jacket and trousers.

While it may not be the ideal setting or time, this incredible moment showcases that love has no reason, no boundaries and no distance.

In Announcements

Couple propose to each other simultaneously

December 6, 2019 No Comments

We’ve heard of couples being in sync, but this one takes the cake. This beautiful couple both felt it was time to get hitched, and ended up proposing to each other at the same time!

Caitlin Mullins and Annie Fox from Georgia have been together for years, and each spent weeks planning separate proposals for the other without their partner knowing. During a romantic hike to the highest peak in Georgia, Brasstown Bald, Caitlin got down on one knee to propose to her girlfriend. Little did she know, Annie had the same exact idea.

“I had absolutely no idea,” Caitlin told Metro UK. “I’d been planning the proposal for a while. I thought I was been sneaky, going out on a hike to see the sunset. I was incredibly shocked when Annie pulled out a ring too. She had no idea.”

They plan on saying ‘I do’ in 2020 at the same place they got engaged. Congrats to the happy couple!

Image: Metro UK

In Celebs

Famous couples who have eloped

November 8, 2019 No Comments

In the age of celebrity, it seems like every public personality goes big with their weddings. From Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra’s multiple nuptial celebrations spanning two separate continents, to Kimye’s $2.8 million wedding in Italy, celebrities know how to party hard.

While some prefer to splash out on their big day, others desire a more low-key, understated experience. These famous couples decide to ditch the dramatics in favour of an intimate elopement.

Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas:

This cute couple surprised fans when they got hitched after the 2019 Billboard Music Awards in a Las Vegas chapel. The shock ceremony was attended by the other Jonas brothers and DJ Diplo, who live-streamed the nuptials via Instagram.

In another non-traditional move, the coupled exchanged ring pops instead of wedding bands.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0I_yeqhycx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

John Legend and Chrissy Tiegen:

Before their lavish Lake Como wedding, this hilarious couple actually eloped and got married at a New York City courthouse in 2013. Their reasoning behind the elopement, however, was more necessary than romantic.

“We are dumb and didn’t realise that our Italian wedding would not be recognised unless we had a real ceremony in New York City,” Chrissy told E!News.

They have been happily married for six years and have two children.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BydurFhl5Ji/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Kristen Bell & Dax Shepard

Following their 2009 engagement, Shepard and Bell married at the Beverly Hills County Clerk’s office in 2013. The four year wait was purposeful. The couple vowed that they wouldn’t marry until same-sex marriage was legalised in the US.

Six years and two kids later, this couple’s marriage is as low-key and loving as ever.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B35B631JWdd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Jessica Alba & Cash Warren

A heavily pregnant Jessica Alba walked down the Beverly Hills Courthouse aisle to marry Cash Warren back in 2008. Both were casually dressed for the occasion, with Alba in a long blue dress and ponytail and Warren in a white shirt and brown pants. Who said you need to dress up to get married?

They have now been married for 11 years and have three children.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxqwd-Hl8MN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Sacha Baron Cohen & Isla Fisher

Known for their over-the-top humour, Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher went interestingly understated with their nuptials. They married in Paris in 2010 with only six guests in attendance. Their guests didn’t even know about the wedding until the day.

“It [was] very important to me to have a beautiful ritual celebrated with my family and friends. And when you are in the public eye, to keep that private and to make it happen without it being really visible is really difficult,” Fisher said about the wedding.

Nine years and three kids later, their marriage is still going strong.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsV7_4dhivp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos

Hollywood’s most loved up couple got married on a whim. A year into dating, All my Children co-stars Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos randomly got engaged over pizza and wine. The very next day they set off to Vegas for a shotgun wedding on May 1, 1996.

They have been married for 23 years and have three children.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuT7a5VBcuW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green:

Fox and green wed in an intimate, sunset ceremony on June 24 on an Hawaaiian beach. Their sole witness was son, Kassius, Green’s son, who also acted as his father’s best man. Fox wore an Armani Privé gown featuring a 16-ft. (4.88 metre) train.

Their marriage has had its ups and downs. After five years of marriage and two children, they separated and filed for divorce in 2015, citing irreconcilable differences. However, a year later they seemingly reconciled and had their third child.

“Some people look at divorce or things not working as, like, a disappointment and it’s not,” green said in an interview. “The fact that it worked at all is a positive. We have three amazing kids. We’ve had and we have a great relationship. We’re just taking it day by day.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/tW5p8HJl6T/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Jordan Peele and Chelsea Peretti:

Get Out director Jordan Peele and actress Chelsea Peretti have always been low-key with their relationship and their wedding was no different. They eloped to the mountains without breathing a word about it to anyone. Their only wedding guest: their pet dog.

“We went to Big Sur, ever heard of it?” she joked on late night talk show, Conan. “It’s beautiful—oceans, mountains. We were married by a woman named Soaring, like soaring above the clouds, and our dog was there, and that was it. No guests.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4F_CtFlEna/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock:

An elopement was not the original plan for this couple. After becoming overwhelmed with wedding planning, Clarkson and Blackstock decided to have a private ceremony in 2013, attended only by Blackstock’s two children.

They now have two more children together.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk1G9K8A3oi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Image: Instagram / Sophie Turner

In Emotional

Widow honours late husband with annual photoshoot

November 6, 2019 No Comments

When we marry, its with the intention of being with someone forever. But for some, that forever is cut short at the blink of an eye. Such is the story of Vanessa Lanktree and her late husband and best friend, high school sweetheart Eric. Years after his passing, Vanessa honours her late husband in a touching annual photoshoot.

Canadians Vanessa and Eric met back in 2006 when they were still in high school. They fell in love, and in 2011, firefighter Eric proposed to Vanessa on Christmas Eve.

“He was my first boyfriend, my first love,” Vanessa told SWNS. “Our relationship through the years was so strong because it started so young. I had no doubt about our lives together.”

They married on September 8, 2012 in a beautiful church ceremony.

“As I walked down the aisle with my dad, Eric was bawling his eyes out,” she said. “I already knew I wanted to marry him but when I saw him crying, I thought how lucky I was.”

Two years after their wedding, however, tragedy struck. Eric was killed in a head-on collision with a truck in November 2014 while he was making his way home from a vacation in Vegas. He passed away soon after the impact, before Vanessa could even make it to the hospital.

“I felt like I was the only one at that age that had lost somebody that young like their husband,” she told CBC News. “Our lives had just started — it takes time to finally feel like you’re not in a cloud anymore.”

Years later, on the day after what would have been the couple’s four year anniversary, Vanessa suddenly decided to don her wedding dress again. In her dress, she danced around her kitchen to their wedding song, Keith Urban’s “Making Memories Of Us”. Putting her dress on again was a cathartic experience, one that soon became an annual tradition.

“It has felt so good to put my dress on,” Lanktree told CBC News. “I love putting it on and just felt good and I felt good in it that day and I still feel good.”

“Grief doesn’t go away but somehow you find little things to help you cope, like putting on your dress,” she said to SWNS. “Most people get to go out with their husband for supper or a date night on their anniversary, and this is my thing that I get to do without him.”

Putting her dress on became a symbol of an incredible relationship and marriage, and a way to honour their time together. Vanessa says that she will most likely do this yearly for the rest of her life.

She has since found love again and her boyfriend, Kurtis Isbister, is very supportive. This year, he took pictures of her in her wedding dress whilst in a sunflower field.

Vanessa hopes that this tradition inspires others to deal with their grief and live their life to the fullest.

“Eric would have wanted me to continue on with life and find some happiness somewhere,” Lanktree said. “The thing is to somehow find a way that you can honour that person. You can still find a little bit of happiness.”

Image: Vanessa Lanktree

In Announcements

SA Interracial couple proposal goes viral

October 25, 2019 No Comments

This interracial South African couple’s proposal recently went viral on Youtube and the Facebook #ImStaying Group, proving that love should have no boundaries.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2rlKw-J8nK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

In a video posted to Youtube, Samuel Varrie proposes to his girlfriend of two years, Tshepiso Mathole. On their two year anniversary, Sam first had her read a flip book he made for her under the guise that it was just a gift. They then went to a beautiful park, where Sam proceeded to get down on one knee and propose. Since being posted a month ago, the video has racked up over 50 000 views.

Watch the cute video here:

The couple met in res at the University of Pretoria where they both studied. The pair were friends for two years but after they ran for chairperson and vice-chair of Tuks village, which they both got, the flame was ignited.

They fell in love quickly, and after two years of dating, they are ready to get married.

Sam spoke to Tshepi’s uncle beforehand to discuss all of the details because he wanted to follow customary law, but still wanted to keep everything a surprise. However, the uncle spilt the beans and told Tshepi that he met with Sam. According to Tshepi, nothing stays a secret in customary law.

Out of respect for Tshepiso’s culture, Sam decided to engage in lobola negotiations. In order to do things right according to her culture, Sam’s family had to write a letter to the Tshepi’s family in which they detail their intentions to enter into union as families. The full negotiations will begin in December 2019.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2roycnD4yf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

“I wanted to share with people the love that we have,” Sam explains to Jacaranda FM about why they posted the engagement video. “There is such a genuine thing that can be amazing if you just look past your race”.

Tshepiso says that although interracial relationships have become more normalised in society, they still get a lot of stares when they’re walking around. They’ve also experienced unsolicited comments when out in public.

Picture: Youtube

In News

The 60-year engagement

October 22, 2019 No Comments

An Australian couple tied the knot this weekend, 60 years after they first got engaged, proving that love never truly dies.

Tom Susans, 87, and Judith Beston, 80, first met in 1957 at a Brisbane-based teachers training college and within two years they became engaged. At the time, however, the marriage was not meant to be. In 1959, Tom started a teaching job in Beaudesert, Queensland while Judith moved back home to Redcliffe, Brisbane with the intention of them getting married and starting their life there. Her family, however, were not supportive of the engagement.

“I thought ‘this is good, I can get married here and Mum can help me a bit’, but at home it was really difficult,” Judith told ABC news.

“Mum didn’t want Tom involved; she thought he was much too old for me.”

Familial pressure turned out to be too much for Judith, causing her to move to New Zealand where she began teaching, got married and raised seven children.

“She just disappeared,” Tom said. “I didn’t know where she was; I couldn’t find her anywhere in Australia. I thought she was dead.”

Tom kept the engagement and wedding rings, placing it in a wooden cabinet for safe keeping, They would remain in this cabinet for 60 years.

Tom also moved on. He eventually moved back to central Queensland, married a fellow teacher, and raised four girls.

Despite moving on, however, Tom never lost hope that he and Judith would be reunited. He would search for her at every one of their University’s reunions, but she never attended them. He gave up, eventually, and stopped seeking her out. He was then surprised to find that she was at the 50 year reunion, and immediately called her.

The pair reunited in 2009 at another reunion, but despite keeping in touch through Christmas cards, their relationship did not progress.

It was only after Tom’s wife passed on, and Judith had been widowed for a long time, that they began to explore their relationship again.

“The chance of us meeting each other and the chances of us picking up where we left off — we seem to be pretty compatible,” said Judith.

In April 2019 the couple met up face-to-face and holidayed together in Queensland. It was here that Tom proposed again.

“When he asked me to marry him, I said yes straightaway,” said Judith. “Normally I have to think about things for a while and sometimes I think about it long enough for it not to happen.”

They finally married in an intimate ceremony in October 2019, where Tom was finally able to place the long-kept wedding ring on Judith’s finger.

“I thought after 60 years, it was about time she had it back — and it fitted,” said Tom.

Picture: ABC News

In Bachelorette Party

Bride chooses her grannies as flower girls

October 17, 2019 No Comments

The bridal procession do not often get more attention than the bride, but this wedding’s flower girls were exceptional and truly attention-worthy. Lyndsey Raby and her new husband, Tanner, felt so privileged to have their grandmothers present at their Tennesee wedding ceremony that they went a step further and asked them to be the flower girls.

“I knew as soon as I was engaged, I wanted to involve my grandmothers,” Lyndsey told the Huffington Post.

The beaming bunch included Tanner’s gran Joyce Raby (70), Lyndsey’s two grandmothers, Betty Brown (72) and Wanda Grant (76), and even her great-grandmother 90-year-old Kathleen Brown.

“I do believe they were more excited than my bridesmaids,” Lyndsey added.

These matriarchs are an integral part of both Lyndsey and Tanner’s families and have a great influence on their lives. Lyndsey said that she felt honoured to have them at the wedding and encourages other couples to do the same. “I felt so blessed to have them all here so I wanted them to be involved.”

Traditionally, the flower girls at the wedding are the cousins or nieces of the couple, and mostly they are little children. Of course, there’s no reason why the bride can’t skip a few generations! What a special moment.

Picture: Natalie Caho Photography