Early this year (HERE), we featured the ‘single, saved and not having sex’ movement of 25 year old Antoinette Igebu, who is an unapologetic Christian, Engineer,
Consultant and Writer.
She is the C.E.O of Tonie’s Mane – a burgeoning Wigs & Hair
Extensions brand. She is also the Founder of The Esther Legacy – an
upcoming organization that promotes building teenagers and young adults
into purposeful women who recognize Jesus Christ as their Lord and
King.
She got married to her love of her life, Chris, last weekend and we have got first photos from the beautiful wedding and of course, their fascinating love story.
From Antoinette
do I start really? How about the day we spoke. I had received a call
from a friend asking me if I had a boyfriend and telling me one of his
friends wanted my number. Initially, I was like “Gosh. These boys
have come again”. So I asked the basics. What’s his name? Surname? Where
did he see me? What exactly does he want? Is he a Christian and I don’t
mean church-goer? What does he do? Is he fine? Lol! I was a bit
skeptical but I gave my friend the permission to give this “new guy”
called Chris Oguta my number. After the phone call, I proceeded to wear
my Detective Cap immediately. Google to the rescue! I
didn’t find much except for his LinkedIn profile. Bummer. I scrolled
through and thought to myself, “This will have to do for now”.
I
had thought Chris would act like the typical boy who would take ages to
call (after begging for your number o! Forming will now start.
Idongerrit) but he called me almost immediately. We clicked. Which is
something rare for me especially with “prospective toasters”. Maybe it
was due to the fact that he asked if he could take me out for a “meal”
and I was like, what age are you from please? Who still uses the word
“meal”? Are you a vampire? Lol. He called me razz and said it was Jand
English. Right.
Wow, I’m only on the day we spoke still? Okay, let me speed this up a little…
So
I agreed to going out for a meal with Chris and we set a date. He came
to pick me up and the first thing I noticed was his very “yellow” hand.
Then my eyes travelled up to his face. Niiiice. I liked what I saw.
Totally different from his LinikedIn profile photo (Thank goodness, he
has changed it now. I made sure of it). Talking to Chris felt…
natural. We were so real around each other and it really was the best
date I had ever had. I had been to Cactus several times before so it
definitely had nothing to do with the venue or the ambience. I felt
peace about this guy and I just could not explain it. By the time he
dropped me home, we both didn’t want to leave each other’s sight.
The
next couple of weeks was like a whirlwind. We spoke on the phone A LOT!
Gosh, I wonder how we did it then. Our relationship was pretty much
long distance – he lived on the mainland part of Lagos while I lived on
the island. If you live in Lagos, you know that’s long distance. So, we
made sure to spend time on weekends. I was attracted to his personality –
especially his love for God and his respect for my values. I knew he
was the one, and I knew he knew I was the one. Haha. Our love grew
deeper and 3 weeks later, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend.
Chris
and I both knew we were going to get married afterwards. There’s no way
in the world I would have said yes to being his girlfriend if I wasn’t
sure he was going to be my husband. It was in May that he asked me to
marry him. I was having the worst day and he asked to take me out so I
could clear my head. I should have figured out what was about to happen
because he was acting so weird.
We were done eating and about leaving
when my friend walked in. Immediately, it dawned on me and I started
screaming. HAHAHA. He got down on one knee and I honestly don’t
remember anything he said. Scratch that. I didn’t hear anything he said.
Till he asked if I would marry him and I screamed, yes of course!
Is
he the one? Absolutely. Does he make me happier than I ever imagined I
could be? Absolutely. Am I excited to start this new chapter of marriage
in my life? HECK YES!
From Christopher
was September 2015 and I was single and searching (not even going to
front. Lol). I was going through Instagram and I saw this very
interesting picture appear on my Explore page. I decided to click on the
picture and with every other click through more of her pictures, I
became more curious to find out who she really was. Her posts were not
typical and for someone who had so many “followers”, it didn’t seem like
she was selling something.
Already being very
curious, I was faced with a dilemma. Should I DM her? Will that really
be the best approach? Then from a stroke of luck (well, hard work
actually because I went through virtually all her pictures), I saw a
comment by a friend on one of her pictures. They seemed to be cordial,
so I knew that was my inroad. (Meanwhile, she later told me that if I
had gone through the DM approach, it would have been a NO NO. Thank God
for saving me).
Days later, I was having a telephone conversation
with her and asking her out for a ‘meal’. Our first meal/date went very
well and I probably hadn’t felt so comfortable with anyone on the first
conversation. That’s when I started to have the feeling that something
special could be brewing. I did my background check (you can’t blame me,
this is Lagos) and I was very happy with the feedback. Antoinette
ticked all the boxes for me.
Few weeks later (including many hours
spent on the telephone), we started dating officially. I genuinely
believe it was the best thing that had happened to me. By the time I
proposed in May, I had long known that Antoinette is the love of my life
and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Fast forward to
December and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing. Cheers to a great future to us!
Wedding photos:
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Kemi Filani Weddings keeps it real, makes it fun 😉
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