Azita And Boniface |

Azita and Boniface met in the office! “We met where we worked in the same UN agency in Iran. “ She says. However, with strict dating policies both at the office and in the bride’s country, la téléphone was the way to go! “ You may call us the telephone couple.” Boniface says. But with a common interest in one language, theirs was The French Connection!

Proposal

Boniface’s time to leave Iran came and free to express their love at last, he proposed! “I proposed twice. First in Dubai on a boat cruise.” He says. “We were visiting Dubai and he hired a private boat! It was nice you know, with the city lights reflecting on the water and I said Yes!” Azita smiles. As if that was not enough, Boniface proposed again in Kenya, this time surprising her with a rock in the wine glass at dinner. “ On both occasions I went down on my knees.” Says Boniface.

Fashion

Azita wore a three-piece corset-wedding gown with boning. The semi nude bodice gown had a ruffled A-line skirt giving her the picture perfect princess look. “I bought the dress in Iran. I had already booked a gown in France but when I went home I found a better one and settled for that one. I bought the accessories in Geneva, Switzerland where we live.” says the bride. To complete her look, she carried a peach Lilly bouquet.

The maid of honor and her three bridesmaids all wore simple long dresses and the groomsmen adorned black suits from Delvis Xclusive “I wore the suit bought in France (Annecy). I bought the shoes and watch in Geneva, Switzerland” Boniface says.

Wedding Theme

In trying to find a theme for their wedding, Azita and Boniface drew inspiration from their wedding venue. “We finally chose the theme in line with the venue: a golf resort. We had the wedding in a golf resort. We had golf cocktail after the main reception for close friends and family where we played golf while we passed time for the wedding dinner.

We had golf balls printed with our names and wedding date as the wedding favours, we went to the reception in a golf cart.

For good measure: we played golf during the honeymoon too!

Guest List

With guests arriving from far and wide, they then drew their guest list. “We arrived at the final list after discussions with our various families and friends. About 130 guests turned up. Since the number was not so big we tried to call or email all for confirmations. Parents did the same with the guests they invited. Relatives from out of town were accommodated by various friends and relatives.” They say.

Sticky Situations

“Kayamba Africa provided the PA system for the wedding service and the reception all through to the evening party. There were some problems though in the preparatory phase. They mixed up the dates despite us going to inform them of the revised date. They did not wear the costumes we chose and even what they finally wore was not uniform. Their DJ mixed up the music during the wedding ceremony and slept during the evening party and had to be woken up. The entertainment during the reception though was, as the group is known for: superlative. The hotel did not complete the podium over the pond on time. Otherwise all the rest went well.” The bride and groom reminisce.

Honeymoon

After their first night at the honeymoon suite at the Windsor Golf and Country Club the newlyweds went off to Kuredu Island, the Maldives. “The journey was fantastic. We had our travel agent, Travel Care Ltd, based at Hilton house propose several land or Island resorts in the Indian Ocean. We did not want to travel too far after the tiring preparations. We discussed the various options and came to a common destination: the Maldives. We loved it and spent our time Swimming, snorkeling, parasailing, dancing, novel reading, badminton and playing golf. The highlight of it all was when all the guests at the hotel were invited to a “white party”, a romantic dinner by the beach. It was awesome to have 1000 people dinning by the beach. The parasailing too was hilarious.

Hindsight

“The secret of our successful day was the bride, a meticulous planner and tough negotiator. It was great to have worked with a golf theme and pure teamwork, dedication and determination of both of us saw our planning process through. Having everything within the same venue was convenient and to save money, we decided to plan everything ourselves hence we did not hire the services of a wedding planner. All went well but if there is one thing I would do differently is having a different entertainment group.I had panned my wedding one year in advance and I wanted to have the best wedding which I think every couple has the right to have especially if they put much time and effort to it. All in all having the tradition that women receive the couple at the reception was fantastic. According to my family (bride’s) and my friends who had not seen this kind of tradition, it was fabulous and beautiful. When the women came and sung happy songs it brought dynamism and excitement to the atmosphere. It was just unique and unexplainable.” Azita says.