They met after their mutual friends’ match making efforts and after a
lot of forming, they were both hit with Cupid’s arrow and fell for
each other. Their love and proposal story is so heartwarming!
Love story (as told by Iyanu):In 2013, a colleague/friend mentioned him(Femi) to me, but in a very
nonchalant way, we both just laughed over her terrible matchmaking
skills, then her then fiancé (now husband) kept pestering her to get a
favorable answer from me, I wasn’t in the mood and kept tossing and
turning her. Her fiancé came to PH to see her and majorly to convince me
to give his best friend “Femi” a chance. The speech was really funny.
It was something like this:
“So Iyanu, how are you doing? I have this friend. He’s a real cutie,
sweet, soft, caring and loyal. All I want is for you to meet him. Just
ONCE and if you don’t like him, I won’t understand sha, but I’ll respect
your decision. So what’do you say?”
I was humbled by his adamant request and said “okay, i’ll meet with
him. Just so i can shut you up once and for all and end this reign of
terrorism.” He was ecstatic and said… “okay dear, seeing as you are
coming for my wedding, no need to hook up anywhere else, just watch out
for my “BESTMAN” he’ll be the man of your dreams.”
emotions running through me, excitement (he might be cute ooh), anxiety
(what if he’s not intelligent or i don’t like the way he talks?), worry
(what if he doesn’t just fit into my “specs”). I pushed all that
negative emotion out the door and enjoyed the wedding.
Of course, the first thing I looked out for was the best man! Okay,
just to confirm, he looked wayyyyyy better than his friend had tried to
describe. I told myself, probably, it’s the suit, or the glasses he had
on. Infact, his effizy Sef was on another level.
My friend’s husband said “please don’t leave yet, you have to speak
to Femi.” Finally Mr. Busy bestman and i had a sit down, after talking
for one minute all my fears were placated. Then he said “can you take my
number, i’m not with my phone.” In my head i said “yes of course i
will”
My mouth said “in truth if i collect your number i won’t call you.”
He smiled and i knew this battle was won already, his next words “please
can i get yours?” i said that’s fine. So i gave him my number.
I went everywhere with my phone after that day (Infact was ready to
sleep with headphones on). Three days after he called, and we spoke for
over an hour. After that conversation, he was signed, sealed and
delivered.
Then he said, “see Iyanu, do you have a boyfriend because i don’t
want to be just a friend.” I said yes i do, and then he said, “Okay then
this conversation is over.”
I said “ahan, i value your friendship ooh, can’t we just be friends?”
he said “NO, i want you in my life but not as a friend as something
more. So if it can’t be that, let’s forget about it.” Problem with guys
these days, they want what they want, no compromise, and no halves. It’s
full or nothing.
That conversation was in March 2014, we just chatting, talking and
gisting, he was fun to talk to, the best part of my days were when we
talked. I told my mum about him mostly to get her off my case. Prior to
him, she kept asking, “so Iyanu, is there a guy i should know about? We
know how our mothers can be on issues like this. (I’m sure at some
point, my mum was ready to fix me up if she had her way). it was a
matter of pride actually, it was imperative that i told her about him
even though i had not given him an answer as to whether or not I’ll date
him oooh.
I kept praying (God has got to be the source of your conviction and
nothing else.) While writing my exams in May 2014, i kept praying (for
success in exams and Femi) then i got a conviction (a word from Numbers 23:19).
Now this was tricky cause I wasn’t sure what the conviction was for,
Femi or My exams (I chose exams ooh) after the exams though I went to
Abuja to see family, and met with my brother in-law whom I often refer
to as my spiritual mentor (we all need someone like that in our lives)
and we got talking.
He said he got a word and the Lord said he has given
me a word already, he told me what the Lord said and I confirmed that
was what I got as well. So I went back to PH, happy and full of joy.
This was in May 2014.
For me, it wasn’t Love at First Sight (I don’t believe in it). I
believe Love is a choice and I chose Femi with God as my navigator.
Their love story as told by Femi
This all started in November 2013, after a 5 year relationship ended
(obviously i was broken.) Now, i felt like my friend (Niyi: Friend
since university days) was tired of me licking my wounds and wanted me
to jump into a new relationship (passing the “best friend” baton to
someone else.)
It goes without saying, i knew her(Iyanu) before i met her. All Niyi talked about was,
“Iyanu this, Iyanu that. Guy you have to meet Iyanu. She’s for you.”
I can assure you that i rolled my eyes whenever he started, simply
because this was normal, he was relentless in his effort. It seemed more
like he needed hook after he got married (he was engaged at this time.)
So Niyi went to PH to see his fiancée, he called me with gist, the profile he came with was crazy,
“Femi, my guy, i met this lady, she is… she is spiritual, brilliant,
intelligent, caring and when you see her carriage ehn, you will know
that i am your friend, no be for mouth.”
So i said okay oooh, I’ll speak to her. So there and then he gave her
the phone and we spoke for the first time. She sounded calm, friendly
and soft, even her voice was giving me chills. Immediately Niyi got back
I pestered him for her number ooooh and he kept posting me. After a few
week with no result I let him be and remembered I wasn’t even ready for
any sort of relationship (although unconsciously, I started planning to
meet her at Niyi’s wedding.)
As a man, we plan ahead, so;
Plan A: meet Iyanu and kickstart something cool that will last a lifetime God willing.
Plan B: try to reconcile with 5 year relationship Ex…
Now wedding came with a whoosh and I got cold feet… I felt worry
(what if she doesn’t like or she’s forgotten about me?) morale was
feeling down but I pushed through (Niyi was encouraging me. Doing the
bestman duty). Prior to the wedding day, he had introduced and invited 2
ladies for me to meet.
A day to the wedding, while I was still anxious, I heard Niyi on the
phone “Hi Iyanu, hmm you need to see my Bestman, he’s fun, he’s
handsome….” I told him ooh hyping might spoil the taste of the soup
oooh.
So we went to church, I was the best man (doing all the Bestman
duties) but that wasn’t what stopped me from looking for Iyanu ooh, my
target was another lady. So I was like a lion on the hunt. Fortunately
for me, the lady snubbed me and I moved on fast.
Niyi gave me iyanu’s location and I took my time admiring God’s work,
her curves were mad and the outfit she wore didn’t help my situation.
Now I had to be strategic, I didn’t want her to catch me looking at her
like that. So I looked and closed my eyes to take it all in. then while I
was with Niyi whispering something, Iyanu came and congratulated the
couple and announced quite loudly
“well I’m leaving ooh.”
This was it, it was so obvious that the last statement was meant for
me. Niyi quickly introduced us and we got talking. I danced during the
ceremony, I may have cried at some point but this talk was the best time
I had during my friend’s wedding.
Now as the devil would have it, I
didn’t have my phone with me, so I asked her to take my number and she
did, then I thought to myself (“what if she doesn’t call. Ladies can be
funny ooh.”) so I told her to excuse me, I quickly got a phone and got
her number. I tried as much as possible to be composed (if I was alone,
this would be the point where I dance shoki to the ground and back up
with one eye covered.)
Why Iyanu?
Niyi didn’t quite do justice to her profile. Shes humble, strong, beautifully made, reasoning and her beliefs are perfect.
Meeting her was divine and the most intriguing about us was the fact
that we could talk for the whole day and nonstop; this I didn’t get in
my previous relationships. I mean real talk! It’s just unexplainable how
that happens.
It is just a further proof of the fact that we were meant
for each other and destined to be together forever. She’s the best
thing I have seen. I feel very comfortable around her. She is no doubt
God’s best work. Her knowledge about things stuns me.
She knows
something about everything and tell me, what can be more charming?
Absolutely nothing! She is both an epitome of beauty and an embodiment
of intelligence. It would be an understatement to say she is the best
thing that has happened to me.
The Proposal: Iyanu’s Story
Every girl on earth has an idea as to how she wants (fantasizes) her
proposal to go, I was no different. We all want to be princesses at some
point in our individual lives. I love to control everything that
happens to me, so I told Femi how I wanted him to propose. I think I
said something like this:
“Femi, you really need to get this right ooh. The proposal has to
be epic, I want my friends there as witnesses. I want a restaurant
scene, where even people I don’t know are happy on my behalf and clap
for us when it’s all over. Obviously, you have to go on one knee and
tell me cute things, maybe put the ring in a glass of champagne or in
ice cream etc. If not, you are on your own oooo.”
Femi is a shy person. I knew I was taking him out of his comfort zone
plus I wasn’t even sure he would do it the way I wanted, anyway I still
hoped he will. We had been dating for a while and I kept asking him, “when do you plan to propose?” his response was always a shrug.
This fateful weekend I came to Lagos. I had a full weekend planned, I
had to work, visit friends and family and obviously to see Femi as
well. For the First two days I stayed at a friends place “Mense”. I had
to go home on Saturday night but she kept trying to persuade me to stay.
I insisted on going home, Femi came around and also tried to convince
me to stay, I won finally and he called a cab for me and insisted on
going home with me.
We talked for a while, then he brought up the topic of his proposal and asked me for my opinion on his speech. “What if I said, Iyanu, would you do me the profound honour of being mother to my kids and life partner forever?”
I told him that sounded cliche, that he has to be more original,
I might have even given him a few lines (can’t really remember). Then he
tried again:
“Iyanu, before I met you, I had never known what it was like to
look at someone and smile for no reason. I thought I had the perfect
life before I met you. After I met you, I knew I was missing something
vital this whole time. You complete me Iyanu. Be my wife?”
Well, I was taken aback because even the cab driver was looking at us
via his rear mirror. I smiled and told him we still need to work on it a
little, then he said he was joking.
When we got to my house, like the gentleman that he was, he saw me to
the door, then I told him, he didn’t need to come in, so I escorted him
to get a cab. But then he decided to escort me back to the door and we
continued escorting ourselves for about three more times, then while I
was escorting him to get a cab for the last time, in the middle of the
street, he went on one knee and said: “What if I wasn’t joking in the cab? What if I meant what I said? Iyanu, will you be my wife?”
I was in awe but that wasn’t the only emotion I was feeling at the
time. I was angry (because its not how I would have planned it), I was
excited (because a new journey was about to begin with the man I love), I
was shocked (Femi is overcoming his shy nature). Quickly I noticed
people were standing and looking at us, so I told Femi to stand up ooh.
He said: “not without an answer. Oya answer me ooh.”
Obviously I said “Yes darling, I’d love to go on this journey
with you, but let’s remember that you have to propose again ooh. I don’t
like this one ooh.”
Now see photos from their wedding:
White wedding:
The loverbirds are now in Paris for their honeymoon, KFB wishes them a happy married life!