Makeup artist Dayo of @ebellebeauty and Zino started off as neighbours, then friends, and now they are getting married! Their love story is so charming, you just might shed a tear or two.
#TheBenos2016 has already kicked off with a family introduction, with the rest of the wedding festivities coming soon.
Enjoy their love story and pre-wedding photos!
How We Met
by the bride, Dayo
I had just recently moved into my Makeup Studio (@ebellebeauty) in FESTAC Town which happened to be on the same Close as his parents’ house. Business was a bit slow because it was a new shop, so I escaped boredom by mostly watching movies.
That also meant running my generator almost all day as power supply was very poor in that FESTAC axis. So once in a while, neighbours came by to charge their phones/gadgets, and Zino was one of them. He came around after work quite often, and said he usual, “Hi, how are you, can I charge my phone?”I would answer yes and turn my face back to the TV and continue with my movie totally oblivious of his presence.
Sometimes he would sit and wait for his phone to charge (while making small talk). Other times he would leave his phone to charge and come back for it. After this went on for quite a while, I became a bit more friendly, and would pause my movie to actually have some sort of conversation with him. All this while, it NEVER occurred to me that we would become lovers. I never even considered us friends.
As this routine continued, I paused my movies even longer and the ‘small talk’ became longer and longer. I closed later than usual, we took walks and gisted even more. It was at this point I considered him a friend. We became quite close, got to know more about ourselves and ultimately, we became fond of each other. The chemistry was off the chain but we remained just friends.
One day, Zino came back quite late from work and was somewhat moody. I asked what happened but he didn’t say much. So I suggested we go to some place to talk. This was our first ‘unofficial’ date. The atmosphere was just perfect. Right there, at that moment, we just knew that we were meant to be more than just friends and that night we exchanged our first kiss.
At the end of that week, Zino said and I quote, “I’m going to get married to you by December” and that was just in April. I could only smile.
Describing Zino
I quietly learnt and observed things about him – Zino is a very gentle, quiet and sometimes shy man but can also easily switch into this very playful and funny person. He is a happy man with a great sense of humour (he’s Isoko boy na). He rarely worries; I do the worrying. He is patient – I’m not; He can be really quiet; I’m very vocal. He is not easily provoked; I have zero tolerance to any unwanted/unwelcomed issue/development etc. He is very emotional too. He is not a good time keeper. This very attribute drives me crazy but I love him still…Lol.
I could go on and on. He is almost my exact opposite and that just makes us SUPER.
The Proposal
As the months went by we knew where we were headed and we trusted God.
After a year and few months of dating, on my birthday, Feb 23rd, Zino decided to make our plans public by officially asking me to be his wife and spend the rest of my life with him …
He told me over the phone that morning on his way to the office, that we were going some place in the evening, just the two of us, nothing serious. He came back really late and I was so mad to the point I didn’t wanna go anywhere. I thought to myself, this is worst birthday ever. Little did I know…
After much cajoling, I agreed and we left to have a quiet dinner. We were done with our meal and it was time to go. Zino kept stalling, he was on his phone and smiling (I later got to find out that he was chatting with Olumide who was giving him some sort of moral boost). I was trying really hard not to get angry again. Next thing he excused himself, walked somewhere off my line of sight and I was on my seat praying that the night should end already.
When he returned and said, “just a few more minutes baby”, I could only roll my eyes. Then a waiter appeared with a cup of ice cream for me. I said to him, “I don’t want ice cream, you should have asked,” and he was like, “please just take a few scoops and I’ll have the rest, I just want to make sure you leave here happy”. I obliged, but I even surprised myself by doing so because the normal me can be very stubborn and difficult.
All the while Zino had this sheepish smile as well as an apprehensive look on. He was also kind of blushing. In fact, he facial expression that night said too many things all at once. I was going ask but I thought best not to since all I wanted was to go home. At this point, I was on my 3rd scoop, just one last one and I’ll be done. The 4th scoop came with a surprise. I felt something solid in my mouth, I paused and Zino leaped forward, afraid that I was going mistakenly swallow it. I brought it out and was shocked. By the time I looked up, Zino was on his knees asking me to be his wife. At that moment, my heart just melted, I flew into his arms and said YES!
I couldn’t stop grinning till the next day. And here we are, still happy and in love.
We Bless God.
In about a month’s time, we will be going before God, our families and loved ones to declare our love and exchange marital vows. I couldn’t be more grateful to God, I am super excited to be getting married to Okeoghene Ewomazino Ilibeno, my best friend.
Photography: Soji Oni | instagram.com/sojioni
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