Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
Real Wedding Stories

Wedding Story – Justin Tisdall & Sameena Iqbal

Darpan, 09 Jun, 2014
  • Wedding Story – Justin Tisdall & Sameena Iqbal
How Our Paths Crossed
 
A: We were both part of the opening team of the Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver. It started with small talk and a big spark in between crazy dinner rushes at the Market restaurant and then a few months later, on April Fool’s Day Justin asked Sameena to dinner at one of his favourite restaurants in Vancouver called La Brasserie.
 
What I Love About You 
 
Justin: I love that Sameena has a huge heart, is loyal and is close with her family as well as her love for travel. 
 
Sameena: I love Justin’s sincerity, sense of humour, ambition and loyalty. He is super handsome as well! 
 
The Big Question 
 
Justin was an influential bartender, who won a 6-month long cocktail competition; the prize was two tickets anywhere in North America. With this free chance to satisfy Sameena’s travel bug, the couple decided to fly to New York, the city that never sleeps. On their third day in New York, Justin woke up early and suggested he and Sameena walk to Central Park. His goal was to propose in Strawberry Fields. Bad idea. As they made their way there on foot, the rain began.
 
At first it was a light drizzle, then turned into full blown torrential down pour. This aftermath of Hurricane Irene left Justin undeterred with his idea to propose to Sameena, where John Lennon taught us all to imagine a better future. With two blown away umbrellas, a new warm sweater and a few soaking wet feet, the couple kept moving ever closer to Central Park, where Justin wanted Sameena to imagine their future together. The two stood literally across the street from the Gates of the Park when Sameena said ‘Enough, we have to go to a mall to get out of this weather.’ This put the kibosh on Justin’s secret plan.  
 
After a gruelling hour at the mall, Justin suggested going to the Guggenheim museum (this was his backup plan for the proposal). Once they arrived, the lineup was long, Sameena was cold, wet and hungry and neither were in the best spirits when Kobe Bryant and his body guards pushed Sam aside. Justin decided this was not the time nor the place to commit their love. Justin had dinner reservations at Daniel, Daniel Boulud’s best restaurant. 
 
In the hotel room Justin had laid out Sameena’s favourite necklace (which she didn’t know he had brought) and a beautiful dress (which he had snuck in his suitcase) across the bed. Sameena was still unaware of Justin’s ulterior motives as the two headed for a nice dinner. A little side note is that Justin had been frantically text messaging his friend, who worked at the restaurant letting him know this is not a congratulatory dinner, this was now an engagement dinner, as he had not yet popped the question.  
 
Sameena had no idea Justin had been trying to propose for 12 hours by this point, let alone get not get mugged on the subway with the engagement ring clutched in his pocket, as they rode the train around the city trying to find solace from the rain. Finally the moment arrived. During a break in the dinner, Justin began to speak about their grandmothers, then he got down on one knee, ring in hand, he mentioned that if we can make it as long as this ring has made it in my family (65 years), we will have a successful marriage and a wonderful life to look back upon. 
 
Sameena with tears in her eyes, completely shocked and blindsided and surprised said jokingly, “So are you going to ask me?” Justin’s response “I think I just did.” Sameena said ‘Yes!’ and kissed and smiled the rest of the evening away. 
 
The Wedding
 
It was a beautiful sunny day in July and we had the wedding of our dreams on the Science World terrace. The theme was modern, fresh and romantic. We were surrounded by 140 friends and family that love and support us and that is all we could ask for. The ceremony was light and personal with our own vows. The decoration was simple and elegant done by Debut Event Design, and the flowers by Queensberry Flower Company were tastefully displayed.
 
Our Favourite Moment 
 
Sameena: Walking down the aisle and seeing Justin; that’s all I needed. 
 
Justin: Saying our vows, “I do,” then sabering champagne off the terrace…and our first dance. 
 
The Reception
 
Sameena: Funny Story, Justin decided to surprise me by singing our first song to start the festivities. It just made perfect sense that our song would be “Sideways” by Citizen Cope. Justin – the music expert in our partnership – kept sidetracking this topic and convinced me that an Erykah Badu song would be better. 
 
He completely surprised me by orchestrating the best moment ever! Him, my eldest niece Jade and our close friend Dave played Sideways (Jade and Justin sang and Dave played the guitar). I think it gave all the guests goosebumps. He jumped down after the first verse and we had our first dance as Jade and Dave kept performing. After the serenade, the Band Koko Soul played while Justin and his friends sang and rocked with crowd.  The bar was open, I didn’t stop dancing and everyone enjoyed the beautiful cityscape and music until late into the evening.
 
The Honeymoon 
 
We went to Medellin, Cartagena and San Andres in Colombia, South America. We chose Colombia because a good friend of ours invited us to her wedding, which was two weeks after ours so perfect timing. We spent three weeks there with the first three nights focused on our friends wedding. One highlight was going to Guatape, Medellin for the day and hiking up the mountain to see the views – truly amazing! 
 
Cartagena was very romantic city and everything was in walking distance so we never had to take a taxi or bus. This was the part of the trip where we splurged on our hotel – Ananda. It was boutique, luxurious and had amazing staff. Whenever there was a few hours of stormy weather, we were happy to be in our beautiful oasis! 
 
In San Andres, we had the beach portion of our trip. We would walk next door everyday for lunch to this beach-front restaurant called Casa Francesca and order this amazing seafood rice dish (resembled paella) and have our ice cold beers, while playing each other at Crib or Rummy. It’s the simple things that made it so memorable!
 
Our Goals
 
Personally, we are extremely excited to begin a family and start having children. We want to be happy with our careers, but most importantly happy with our lives together as a couple, and as a family. We want to continue to travel with a major trip every two years, and many small travels in between. Career wise, Justin is on his way to becoming a restauranteur and Sameena is very excited with her continued career at the Shangri-La Luxury Hotels.
 
Words of Advice 
 
Be patient with one another. Allow for independence, but ensure to make time at least once a day to provide undivided attention to one another. Cherish the special moments because time just flies by. Keep surprising each other with the little things and don’t become complacent. Plan your next holiday so you always have that to look forward to and be excited for. Exercise and overdose on chocolate together! Pick and choose your battles.
 
GREAT QUOTES:
 
Q: What are your favourite quotes (in regards to love or marriage)?
A: Sameena: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.
Justin: Live the life you love, and love the life you live. (personal mantra, also we had this scrolled across our wedding cake)
 
Photography by Kristy Ryan – Blush Wedding Photography

MORE Real Wedding Stories ARTICLES

Wedding Story – Jagbir Singh & Navjot Thind

We met through our mutual friend Sharon Ghuman, and initially met online but never got the chance to meet in person because we both lived far apart. Navi lived in Indianapolis and I lived in Seattle.