Doreen and Harold Agabwe. PHOTO | COURTESY OF THE AGABWES.
Harold Agabwe, a pharmacist and Doreen Musasizi, an orthopaedist, met in 2015 while at Makerere College of Health Sciences. The two were in their second year at the Christian Union Fellowship. Doreen was studying medicine while Harold was doing pharmacy.
“I would see her during lunch hour prayers. I use to live in a hostel while Doreen used to commute from home. So,lunch hour was the only time I would see Doreen,”he recalls.
They became friends in the same year.
When Doreen became a leader of the lunch hour prayers she became more acquainted with the lunch hour members.
“One day, I was leading lunch hour prayers and I told people to get acquainted with each other. I got Harold’s phone number,”she explains.
“He is good looking, smart and tidy,”she says.
Harold explains that what attracted him to the young woman were a few unique traits.
“Doreen was smart, good looking and tidy. She would always mind her business,”he explains adding that she was a good communicator.
“I always wanted someone who could communicate and express themselves well in the English language,”he adds.
Proposal
Harold believed he wanted Doreen in his life although at that point they were not thinking about marriage.
He says Doreen cared about him and she was down- to -earth.
The proposal happened in 2018.
“I brought a ring and when I was with her I put it on her finger,”he recalls.
Doreen stayed with the ring and removed it in August 2024 when the official engagement happened at their introduction ceremony in Jinja.
Thereafter, the couple held their kukyala in May 1, 2024 and the introduction on August 3, 2024 before their wedding on September 7, 2024.
Introduction preparations
For the different functions, preparations had to be done collectively.
“We divided what to do among ourselves,”Doreen recounts.
She was handling what was happening at her parents’ home in Jinja while Harold would deal with other things.
“The planning was hectic for me since I was far from where the introduction was going to take place,”she explains adding that: “I could not supervise what was going to happen, most of the things were done on phone.”
Her parents and siblings helped her locate and book the service providers for the introduction. Doreen made the final decision on who she preferred to handle certain tasks at her introduction.
She travelled to Jinja two days before the ceremony and she arrived late.
“I met most service providers on Friday when they were coming to do the work,”Doreen explains.
Introduction disappointments
Harold says his service providers did an excellent job despite the delay of the person who was to take his gifts to the meeting place.
“My decorator wrapped the gifts very well but the person who was in charge of transporting the gifts came late. So, we arrived in Jinja late,”Harold says.
It was not any better for Doreen.
“I did not meet the DJ, so I sent him our introduction playlist but when the function started he was playing different songs,”Doreen notes.
She asked the ushers to tell the Dj to comply to what she had shared.
“He played the songs for a short time then went back to his playlist,I could not go out to tell him but I was incensed.
“He sent someone to tell me that he had lost the list with the songs to play. I wondered why he did not tell me,”Doreen wonders.
The decorator did not execute the details they had agreed to.
“In the in-law’s tent she did not do what we had agreed to, she ended up doing her things,” she recalls.
Wedding service providers
Some of the service providers disappointed the couple.
Harold says the Master of Ceremonies arrived late for the reception at Grand Global Hotel in Kikoni. The MC was supposed be at the venue by 3pm but he arrived one hour later, after the bridal entourage.
Meanwhile, the MC had taken long to share his programme for the reception.
“Immediately I sent him a deposit; he went quiet and sent the programme at 1am,”Harold says.
Doreen adds that despite his late arrival the MC was good and he kept engaging the guests throughout the function.
“He was so entertaining and hilarious,”she says.
The decorator did an amazing job but she missed out some details that she had agreed with the couple.
“She promised to make all the tables uniform though on the wedding day I realised that some tables were different,”Harold explains.
Best moments
The photoshoot at the gardens was Harold’s best moment,it was time for relieving the pressure that came from preparing for the wedding day.
“My best moment was exchanging our, although I started sweating and my matron helped me with a fan. It was an emotional lovely moment,” Doreen explains.
Lessons from premarital counselling
“I learnt that we all have individual needs, a woman has a love tank and a man has a respect tank. Other things in marriage fall under that,”Harold says.
“What stood out to me from the counselling was what makes a healthy marriage viz; trust,mutual respect and commitment to growth,”she explains.
Two cents
The couple had their honeymoon at Ssese Islands for one week.
For couples intending to get married, Doreen says, it is one of the best decisions to make.
“Making a relationship official brings a different special feeling that you are in someone’s life,”she notes.
Harold says he would not advise someone to get married when they are under pressure.
“It is better to agree as a couple rather than being pressured,”Harold explains adding that the couple should decide on their own minus external pressures.
