How we met…

Sunny was speaking on the phone to our mutual friend – who was at that time hanging out with me at my parents’ place. I was being myself and singing out loud in the background. Sunny thought I had a nice voice and asked my friend who I was. I misunderstood and grabbed the phone and said a few rude things. He still thought I had a nice voice. A few weeks later, we officially met at a construction site. I accompanied our mutual friend, who wanted to drive by the area to say hi to her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was also friends with Sunny. Sunny happened to be working at the construction site, and from there it began…

Engagement

We got engaged on December 27, 2010, which was four days before our wedding. It was a pre-wedding party on my side that took place at Fraserview Hall in Vancouver. We had the Mangna, ring exchange, the Chunni ceremony, and my side’s Jaggo.

Wedding day

We got married on December 31, 2010 at Gurdwara Nanak Niwas (No. 5 Road) in Richmond, BC. The weather was beautiful. The sky was clear, the sun was shining, and there were light patches of snow on the ground. Although it was freezing outside, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for our wedding day.

Outfits

I wore a dark red lengha in brocade silk that was covered with antique gold embroidery and silver stones. It also contained red and dark green borders and designs. My jewelry was antique gold and it had green stones in it. I also had a matching purse that was made from the same materials as my outfit.

My flower-girls/bridesmaids were wearing dark green suits that had shimmered gold embedded in their fabrics. They also wore gold parandas and gold mojay. Their bouquets were comprised of cream roses, accented with gold, and were wrapped in gold fabric.

Sunny wore a white/cream colored etchkin, dark red turban, dark red palla, and dark red chunni. Sunny’s etchkin also had an antique touch to it and it was filled with light gold embroidery and silver stones. It was also highlighted with a few red stones throughout.

Favorite moments of the day

Sunny: My favorite part of our wedding day was when I got to slow dance with Mona at our reception. I don’t know how to dance and have never danced before. I would have never done it if it wasn’t for Mona. It felt really nice to dance, yet learn how to dance, all together for the very first time in front of so many people. At the same time everyone got to see the love I have for Mona that I kept hidden for so many years. It all just came together for me.

Mona: My favorite part of our wedding day was when Sunny popped the champagne bottle and decided to put it straight to his mouth. I was very surprised. The crowd was cheering and going insane. It was the first day of our marriage and he did something completely unexpected. For me that foreshadowed that my life with him will definitely be interesting and that he will always break my expectations and do the extraordinary for us.

Reception

Our reception took place on December 31, 2010. It was held at Bombay Banquet Hall in Surrey. We went with a pure white winter décor theme, which was accented with silver. It included trees, flowers, branches, twigs, pillars, center pieces, candles, and light posts. I wore a grass-green colored lengha that was contrasted with orange and it contained cut-work patterns, gold embroidery, and silver stones.

Honeymoon

We are going on a multi-island cruise for our honeymoon in July. Because we got married in the middle of my law school schedule, I had no time off after our wedding.

Favorite quote

“Sharing is caring and caring is sharing”

– Anonymous.

What are your goals as a couple? Where do you live now?

As a couple, it is our goal to finish up our studies and to raise a family. I will be done Law school next year and after that we will decide where we want to make our home and start growing our family. We both currently live in California.

What have been some of the biggest challenges you have overcome as a couple?

As a married couple we have not yet faced any major challenges, but we know that as life goes on we will face challenging circumstances that we will be able to overcome together.

How long did you know each other before you got married?

We both knew each other for over eight years before we got married.

How important is it to share interests and beliefs?

To a certain extent it is important to have common interests and beliefs, but more importantly, it is much more crucial to accept one another’s interests and beliefs and to learn to work with one other. We are all individuals; thus, it is important to love one another for who we are.

What are the strengths of your marriage?

One of the main the strengths of our marriage include our ability to share household tasks.

What have you grown to appreciate about each other?

We appreciate everything there is about each other. We appreciate each other as individuals, we appreciate each other as friends, we appreciate each other as partners, and now we appreciate each other as husband and wife. We are both extremely thankful for each others’ presence in our lives.

Jason McManus & Sonia Kainth
Photography: Tristan & Jenna Shouldice

Jason McManus & Sonia Kainth

How we met…

Both of us were living in residence at the time and on the same floor. We hadn’t really spent any time together until the forces of procrastination brought us together. We ended up meeting when I (Jason) found Sonia playing video games in the floor lounge at 2am.

Engagement

It was the day before I was moving away to school. Jason and I went out for dinner after packing up all my stuff and then we went for a stroll along English Bay. He proposed on one knee in the sand, surrounded by the lights of the city.

Wedding

Our wedding was over two days. On the first day, we had a vow exchange in the Rose Garden of UBC Campus. The next day, we had a traditional Sikh wedding at aGurdwara. On both days, the weather was fantastic (after a little bit of rain on the second day). Everyone that helped us on that day was wonderful – everything went out without a hitch (except for underestimating people’s hunger at a ‘cocktail’ reception)

Outfits

Day 1: Groom – gray suit, pink tie

Bride – ball gown wedding dress with beading detail

Colours – fuchsia and white

Day 2: Groom – wore a traditional etchkin (cream and red)

Bride – wore a traditional lengha in red with silver detailing

All the flowers over the two days were designed and created by my oldest and dearest friend Tracy H. She, along with her amazing husband and another long-time friend, spent countless hours making both the rose garden and our reception venue spectacular.

Favourite moments of the day

Groom – Apart from getting married to my stunning wife, the Milni, it was the first time friends and family had been to a Sikh temple, let alone a Sikh wedding. To have such a welcoming ceremony as part of the experience was incredible to see. It made it extra special that they were there.

Bride – watching Jason negotiate with my sisters after the wedding for his shoes and then to enter our house to meet me.

Reception

We had our reception at the Bollywood Banquet Hall in Surrey, BC. The venue was perfect. The staff and food were amazing. The décor was done by the hall based on discussions we had with their team. The hall went all out with our décor and was accented with the flowers prepared by our friend and the combination was gorgeous.

Honeymoon

We went to Paris and Italy. We started in Italy and it was fantastic. The weather was perfect and the people were beyond friendly. We finished our honeymoon in Paris. We had planned it to be there for the Tour de France, which was a once in a lifetime experience for us.

Favourite quote

“Every day is an adventure.”

What have been some of the biggest challenges you have overcome as a couple?

As a couple, I think the biggest challenge was when Sonia went away to Law school as it virtually meant that we were apart for almost three years. With Sonia’s work schedule and my work it made it a challenge to spend much time together. However, through it all we were supportive of each other’s endeavours and were committed to find our way through it. As hard as it was, there was not a moment when either of us thought that it wasn’t going to be worth it.

How long did you know each other before you got married?

A very long time..ha. It actually seems like forever.. and neither of us really remember what life was like without each other.

How important is it to share interests and beliefs?

Interesting that this was asked as we regularly ask ourselves “how did we end up together?” and are amazed by how different we are. We have different tastes in almost everything. We do however, share a very open and accepting attitude about life and it has turned what could have been hurdles into amazing opportunities to learn, explore and ultimately expand our experiences.

What are the strengths of your marriage?

We’re a team and we are always supportive of each other. Not to say that others don’t share the same strength, but we have very different ambitions and passions in life and instead of that being a barrier we treat it as an opportunity.

What have you grown to appreciate about each other?

I think what we appreciate most about each other is that we are intensely supportive of each other’s independence and individuality. Our careers are polar opposites, our background and passions are different. Yet we still find ways to make everything come together without making sacrifices that are against the grain of what we truly desire and makes us happy.

Gurpreet Leekha & Zareen Charania

Gurpreet Leekha & Zareen Charania
Photography: Pardeep Singh Photography

Gurpreet’s Side of the Story on how we met…

A friend and a representative for a pharmaceutical company who visited my office often, Lesley, had been offering to set me up with her friends for some time. So when she mentioned a new name, Zareen, and said she would be at the BCAO (optometry) conference in March 2009, I initially protested. But Lesley seemed convinced this Zareen was someone I should meet, so I acquiesced.

On the day of the conference, I finally headed to Lesley’s booth where we were supposed to meet. As I approached, I saw an attractive brown girl walking away from the booth, saying bye to Lesley. On the chance this may have been Zareen, I ran up to Lesley and without saying hello, pointed and asked, “Is that her?”

Lesley shrieked “yes” and yelled for Zareen to come back… we met, we chatted, and I could feel the chemistry with her right off the bat. She was beautiful, very funny, had an amazing smile, and it felt like we could have kept talking all afternoon. We planned to meet later that night at the conference party, and I sauntered off.

That night when Zareen came in, I played hard to get, gave her a little wave, and went back to my friends… it wasn’t until later that we had a drink together and chatted. I was especially taken by her way of communicating, so confident and concise… she didn’t mince words. The more we talked, I started to feel like letting her go would be a mistake.

Zareen’s Version on how we met…

Our story is one of timing, luck and lots of free drink tickets…

The morning of the conference, I was attending a very early morning breakfast lecture when 30 minutes into the session, a guy walks in holding a plate of breakfast, standing by the door eating it while everyone else was already finished eating and paying attention. I remember thinking, why would anyone come into a lecture 30 minutes late when it’s just about to end, and be eating his breakfast by the door? I noted this odd behaviour, dismissed it, and would have never thought my future husband had just walked through the door.

That afternoon I met Gurpreet for the first time at the tradeshow. We instantly connected a clichéd feeling like we had already known each other for years. We chatted that afternoon and soon realized that we went to the same high school, just many grades apart. Later that night, we all met up at a party downtown, and when I walked in, Gurpreet played it suave by merely giving me an eyebrow raise in acknowledgement across the room. As the night progressed, people started to leave, the mingling groups got closer and finally Gurpreet came and said “hi”, and offered to buy me a drink from one of his many free drink tickets. We had great conversation that night, we laughed a lot, he entertained me for the remaining part of the evening, and have never had such an incredible time with someone whom I’d just met. I think we both knew that night that we had met someone who would be a part of our lives for a very long time.

Engagement

I was tricked. Gurpreet and I went to New York at the end of last year, and everyone thought this was it – Gurpreet was going to propose… and admittedly a part of me felt the same way. So every night we went out, I tried to look ‘photo’ ready in case he decided to pop the question, but the end of our travels came, and no proposal.

Soon after that, we planned a trip to London and Portugal for New Year’s, and everyone thought, okay now this was really it. We had a perfect holiday with beautiful sights and adventures, New Year’s Eve fireworks overlooking the river, champagne and romance filled the air, but the end of our travels came, and once again, no proposal.

Little did I know that we didn’t have to travel anywhere for Gurpreet to propose. We were in Victoria for Valentine’s Day, at one of our favourite restaurants, and as we were enjoying a great meal, Gurpreet handed me a small box. My heart stopped for a brief minute, and I opened it to find a silver chunky ring from a vendor in Vancouver. I loved it. Gurpreet looked surprised and responded with, “you do??” I think he was surprised that I wasn’t disappointed when I saw that it wasn’t an engagement ring.

Ten minutes later, he handed me another small box, and I opened it to find matching earrings. I loved them. Gurpreet was still surprised at my lack of disappointment that there were no diamonds in the box. My next little box had chocolates in them, and the night went on with boxes stuffed with thoughtful presents.

I realized afterwards that he was setting me up to be disappointed all night. That is, until, ‘the box’ arrived. It was a beautiful moment shared between us, one that I will remember and cherish forever. I couldn’t have felt luckier. My journey of small boxes eventually led to the one that contained a promise ring in it with a vow for Gurpreet to always share his popcorn with me, until death do us part.

Reception

We were married on September 4, 2010 at the Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) at the India Cultural Centre of Canada in Richmond. Our reception was at Bombay Banquet Hall in Surrey the following day.

We had a huge wardrobe mishap. I had ordered a custom-made lengha from a boutique store in Surrey in mid-April with an expected time of delivery for July for the reception. Months passed, and I heard nothing from the store, I would call, email and get no response. Finally one week before the wedding, the lengha shows up and it looks nothing like what was promised, it was quite comical how it was a complete disaster and it was six inches smaller everywhere. Needless to say, with less than a week before the wedding, I had to find another lengha, try and match it with the colours of the wedding, the bridesmaids saris, jewelry, shoes, etc. Thanks to Guru Bazaar on Main Street, I was fortunate enough to find something I loved and was extremely happy with how everything turned out. The colours were jewel tones, deep purples, blues, and fuchsia. I carried orchids and roses. At the reception, we had personalized M&Ms with our faces on one side and ‘I Do’ on the other.

Favorite moments of the day…

The best part of the day was feeling the love from everyone around us who was there to celebrate in the joining of our lives and families. A personal favourite of mine was seeing all the bridesmaids dressed up in saris, some of whom have never worn them before and they were all incredibly beautiful and I felt so very lucky to have them stand for me. Another favourite was when Gurpreet and I walked into our wedding reception immediately following our entrance video. Everyone was in stiches from the video we created and it was a seamless introduction to us as a married couple, it just kicked the night off perfectly.

Honeymoon

Tahiti/Bora Bora – it was an incredible adventure – tons of snorkeling, scuba, ATV tours, hiking, great food, biking, swimming with sting rays, and beautiful waters.

How long did you know each other before you got married? 1.5 years

How important is it to share interests and beliefs?

For us, sharing similar belief systems is very important. We have similar values and morals and when it comes to spending a lifetime together and hopefully raising our own family, we can draw upon these values and create a strong foundation with which to build on. As for interests, while it’s great to have similar intellectual, creative and personal interests, it’s also nice to share in another person’s experiences that force you to try new things and gets you out of your usual routine, it allows for individuality and exciting new adventures.

What are the strengths of your marriage?

Trust and love naturally, but we have a crazy chemistry that ignites both of us to have a blast whenever we are together.

What have you grown to appreciate about each other?

We’ve only had a six month lesson on this – but love, acceptance, quirks, values, habits, daily tasks, heart, it’s a mishmash of our life and we are grateful for every aspect of it.