She was losing her sight when we met

Newlyweds enjoy a moment while taking photographs in Munyonyo.

What you need to know:

Bruce Nabaasa, a Medical Laboratory Coordinator at Watoto Childcare Medical Services, walked down the aisle with Doreen Nyangoma, a Physics and Mathematics Teacher at Hope Senior School, Nakirebe, on August 9, 2014. They shared their wedding experience with

How did you two meet?
Bruce: I first met Doreen at Mbarara University in 2008. I was in my fourth year studying Medical Laboratory Science while she had just joined to study Education. We met when one of my female friends came and told me that there was a certain girl in her hostel with an eye problem.
Being one of the university fellowship leaders, I requested her to take me to this girl so that I could pray for her. When I finally met the girl, who happened to be Doreen, I instantly developed an admiration towards her. Her beauty did strike me, but I did not tell her anything, but rather prayed and left.
From time to time, we would meet and talk. When she began losing her sight and was flown to India for an operation, I constantly called to check on how she was doing. In the long run, we ended up being good friends. And it was this friendship that developed into something more at a later stage.

When was the proposal done?
Doreen: It was in 2010. I remember we had travelled to Mbarara District together when he lied that he had been called back to Kampala to do something very urgent. I was so upset because of this sudden thing that had come up. Little did I know that his major aim was to go back to Kampala to pick an engagement ring and then come back to propose.
Bruce: I had travelled with her only because I was trying to determine the size of her finger throughout the journey. When I finally thought I had the right size in mind, I came up with the lie and headed back to Kampala to collect it before making the journey back to Mbarara.

How long did it take you to plan for your wedding?
Doreen: After, I graduated from university in 2012 when he started telling me that he wanted to visit my family members in order to formalise our relationship. After declaring his intentions, we started planning right away.

Where did you look for ideas and inspiration?
Doreen: I had a pile of wedding magazines including a wedding planner pamphlet that I would often read to get ideas. Also, I would get different concepts from friends.
Bruce: We would also pick ideas from every wedding meeting that we attended and from the various wedding programmes we watched on television.

Did you have a clear picture in your head of what you wanted for your big day?
Doreen: I always dreamed of having an indoor event because of their exquisite nature and hot pink as one of my theme colours and this is what we went with for the wedding.

How long was it before you started informing your guests about the wedding?
Doreen: We started passing the information around about four months before the function. It helped us in that our friends and family were not taken by surprise whenever we called them to attend our wedding meetings.

Did you have a bachelor’s party or bridal shower before the wedding?
Doreen: Yes, I did. My friends and family members including aunts threw a surprise bridal shower a week before the wedding where we discussed a lot of things about marriage.
Bruce: By the way, after that bridal shower, I noticed some positive change in her which was a good thing. That aside, I also had mine (a bachelor’s party) which was organised by male friends and family members. They advised me accordingly on how to treat Doreen.

Were you involved in the wedding planning process or did you delegate a team to help out?
Bruce: Doreen is very detail-oriented and specific. In the beginning, she was literally doing most of the things by herself. When her twin sister, Maureen Nyakato flew into the country from Germany, she chipped in, therefore taking a huge load off her shoulders.

How was the search for your wedding gown, Doreen?
Doreen: There is a friend’s gown I admired so much and asked where she had got it. When I went to the place, I was given the same design. However, I did not fit into the gown because it was slightly smaller than my body size. Since I really liked it, I decided to work on my weight by doing exercises as well as watching my diet. I ended losing about 7kgs over several months. The gown was a perfect fit a week to the wedding.

What were your outstanding moments on that day?
Bruce: The fact that Doreen said I do. It was something that I had long anticipated for.
Doreen: After the church service and just before the photographs at the stone quarry in Muyenga and the gardens in Munyonyo, Bruce surprisingly led me to an open-roof black Benz that he rented to use on that day. On seeing it, I was not only stunned but overjoyed as well since I had always wanted to use one on my big day. Hiring the car was not planned since Bruce had brushed off the idea of having one during the earlier meetings, explaining that our finances were limited.

Did you encounter any disappointments?
Doreen: As Bruce and I were entering the reception vicinity, the DJ (Disc Jockey) played a song that we had not told him. I was mad at him because we had earlier told him what song we wanted.
Bruce: The car that was supposed to pick me and the rest of my entourage from the salon broke down and we had to wait anxiously at the salon. All of a sudden, one of my friends picked us up in a Starlet. During the service, I was very worried and kept thinking of the broken down car that was supposed to carry some of the entourage. We were fortunate that the car was fixed and ready to use after the church service.

Any funny moments?
Bruce: Yes, there was one particular one. I remember at church, during the sermon, my wife would engage me in small talk by asking if her hair was neat and how her nails looked. Probably, the pastor even noticed and had to mention that he was talking to us. And then at the reception, she would ask if the lighting was okay and if the cake was perfect.
Doreen: It was quite difficult to focus. I kept thinking of various things.

Was there anything that did not go according to plan?
Bruce: The food caterer did not prepare our local dish and yet we had emphathised that she cooks it.
Doreen: She was supposed to have prepared kalo (millet bread) and eshabwe (ghee sauce). Probably, she took it as something minor and yet it was very important to our guests.