Olumide and Abidemi's Vogue and Vibrant Havana Engagement -Munaluchi Bride

MunaLuchi Bride Magazine Spring 2018 Feature: Olumide & Abidemi
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Featured in the Spring 2018 issue of MunaLuchi Bride magazine, Olumide and Abidemi celebrated their engagement with a photoshoot in gorgeous Havana, Cuba. Having met byway of a mutual connection, their first date was a romantic evening of attending the Atlanta Hawks basketball game followed by dinner and endless conversation – flowing as naturally as if they’ve always known each other.

Read all about Olumide & Abidemi’s love story, proposal, and wedding aspirations in their vogue and vibrant Havana engagement. View the vendor list below and see the complete selected gallery here.

Bride & Groom-to-be: Olumide Ola & Abidemi Ogunleye
Occupations: Wedding Planner/Floral Designer and Hospitality Manager
Wedding Date: 09/28/2018
Wedding location: Atlanta, GA
Location of engagement shoot: Havana, Cuba (Jesus de Miramar, La Guarida, Havana Cathedral, Santa María, Ciudad De La Habana, Cuba, Old Havana)

Tell us how you met and all about the proposal: During a casual conversation, my mom told me about a guy that one of her friends wanted me to meet, and of course I was totally done with the idea of hookups. That just wasn’t my thing anymore. Eventually, I decided to be “open minded” with the intention to brush him off whenever he called. You know one of those moves you pull when you don’t want your mom to think you don’t take your love life seriously so you just kinda go with the flow? Yeah. So I nonchalantly agreed to pass on my number to him. Her friend forwarded my number to him and let me tell you, he wasted no time calling me. First couple of conversations was quite basic. It flowed but still basic. He definitely caught my attention when he screenshot me tickets to a basketball game and dinner reservations as a first date invitation, his initiative was very attractive. Then I actually started liking this guy! Like I couldn’t believe I was feeling the “hook up!” The chemistry became evident and the rest goes in the history books!

Fast forward to the proposal, I coordinated a dinner party with our friends and family for his birthday. So as people are arriving we’re mingling and having a good time. One of my blogger BFFs had always raved about this nail line that she promotes. She’d been telling me that she would give me a set the next time she sees me, so she brought them along to dinner. On the other hand I’m a florist, so it’s no surprise that my nails weren’t manicured to perfection. So she’s like “oh I have the new nail art kit, let me do your nails before we forget again.” Mind you, the nail kit literally takes like 2 minutes, and my friend is really into them, so the idea wasn’t alarming at all! We’re girls; we do random things all the time!
So we’re all catching up, dinner is over and it’s almost dessert time. He excuses himself and heads for a restroom break. He comes back holding a cake and a dozen roses with sparklers on the cake. So here I am so confused and asking a bunch of questions; “Why is he holding the cake? That’s not even the cake I ordered. Did the server give him the wrong cake? The server is supposed to bring the cake out! Why is HE carrying it? And it’s the wrong cake!” I was completely confused. Meanwhile, my friends and family are standing around the table with their phone flashing, no one is saying anything, and they were just smirking giving me that playful “I don’t know” look and singing “happy birthday” which really had me confused. I’m a planner so I don’t like when I plan gatherings and they’re not going as planned. I was still trying to figure out why he was carrying the wrong cake! And then he gets on one knee, and the cake reads “Will You Marry Me?” with a ring in his hand. I was shocked! To the MAX! I could not believe it! I. WAS. IN.TOTAL. DISBELIEF! It was a true surprise as his birthday dinner turned into our engagement night. And just in case you were wondering. We did eventually find and eat the birthday cake I ordered him!

Describe your engagement session. Our engagement shoot was fun and colorful. We wanted to incorporate our personal lives into our shoot, so since we both enjoy traveling, we decided to go on vacation and execute our engagement shoot while we were on vacation. On a relaxing evening, while playing our favorite board game called Ludo, we had agreed that the winner of the game would pick the destination of our vacation and engagement shoot; which of course I won (the bride) … so here we come Havana, Cuba! Ludo is a board game we are both very fond of, so we incorporated it into our shoot by personalizing our pictures and our save the date on it. We also incorporated our personal lives into our shoot by adding a bicycle riding scene into the shoot. Abidemi actually taught me how to ride a bike and it was such a great experience we both cherished because it was something I have always wanted to learn how to do. Our photographer, Fotos by Fola, was very helpful in our engagement shoot process. We chatted and bounced ideas off of each other and upon his arrival to Cuba, we finalized all the ideas and shot the next day. Our shoot was fun, playful and it definitely showcases the dynamics of our relationship. We play, we chill, and we absolutely love to get all dressed up.

What did you do on your first date? Our first date was fun – we went to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game and went to a restaurant after the game. The game helped us loosen up a lot, so at dinner, conversation flowed so easily.

How has wedding planning been so far? Wedding planning is going quite smoothly actually. Being a wedding planner, it feels surreal to be planning my own wedding. Sometimes I tend to bounce back and forth between being the bride and being the planner, and since I’m both, I have to find a balance without being so hard on myself and overanalyzing the process. However Abidemi’s involvement in the process has taken the edge off and gives me a great sense of comfort and support.

Tell us what you’re looking forward to most on the wedding day. We’re looking forward to the moment we are presented as man and wife. I think our first look will be awesome, so we’re quite excited for that moment as well. We just can’t wait to celebrate with our friends and family. It’s going to be a great day!