Chris and Emilia – A Love that Started 10,000 Miles Away. Fate and Destiny has brought them together. Distance won’t stop their love from growing. CHECK OUT THEIR FULL STORY BELOW.

How they met. ONE CHILLY NIGHT IN AUSTRALIA. (as told by the bride, Emilia)

For two people who live literally 10,000 miles from each other, it seems almost improbable that we met in Melbourne, Australia, at the 2016 NTC Convention. Chris was visiting the continent for the first time, and I was there for graduate school for barely a year by that time. Being the shy self that I was, and given my inherent lack of friends, he thought I was an overseas visitor too. Well, on the evening of the fourth day at the convention, he decided to introduce himself at dinner (obviously choosing the exact moment that my mouth was full). It wasn’t a very pleasant first impression on his part, I must say. In short, he insinuated that I was a loser because I was always by myself. Safe to say, after that great conversation I promised myself that I would never speak to him again. But little did I know, God had a completely different plan for us.

Fast forward to the end of the convention and I was in a hurry to leave. My friend and I decided to make a quick pit stop at the dining hall and then head home. As soon as we entered, a torrential downpour of rain started. There was no way we were going to make it back into the car without getting drenched. We decided to wait it out in the foyer, but lo and behold, Chris was caught waiting there too. So much for not talking to him ever again! Amongst the craziness of children playing and the crowd hustle and bustle, he came over again and we got to talking. Only this time, we just clicked. Even though it couldn’t have been more than 30 or 40 minutes, we spoke about everything under the sun and, to me, it felt like I had found a long lost friend. I never thought it would be so easy and comfortable talking to a perfect stranger, but it was! They often say, “love at first sight” does not exist, but that night, when I left, I knew he was the one.

Despite having a great evening, we didn’t think to exchange numbers or social media handles, we somehow just left it to fate to bring us together again. And that’s what happened. Fast forward 8 months later, my family and I were visiting the US and my mom wanted to meet a friend. This friend turned out to be Chris’ mom and we were both pleasantly surprised to meet again after such a long time. Although, we were attending another church conference together, this time we exchanged numbers and kept in touch. Despite the distance, we fell head over heels for each other, and a year and a half later, in December 2018, he decided to propose in Dubai.

The Proposal – Part I (as told by the groom, Chris)

The Setup

Sigh… I think the first mistake I made was Googling for places to propose in Dubai. They mean well, but are so misleading for people who have never visited. When I saw that the Dubai’s Miracle Gardens ranked #2 on Google, I was instantly convinced. I mean, how could I go wrong? This girl likes flowers, the Miracle Gardens is full of flowers, it’ll be a huge hit! Her family also happily cosigned on the idea, so I was somewhat confident that it was a good plan. Fast forward to December 1st, the day of the proposal. Two groups were formed. The first group, consisting of Emilia, her brother Aaron, my sister Kezia and myself, and a second group, unbeknownst to her, consisting of her parents and her cousins, who were to go ahead of us and set the area up with flowers and balloons. The plan was to hit the Miracle Gardens before golden hour, get down on one knee, and then have a big celebratory dinner post the grand proposal.

As we walk into the Miracle Gardens, the stress starts to kick in. Not just because I’m about to propose to the girl of my dreams (teehee) but because literally everyone in the Middle East has also decided to visit. I didn’t realize it was the national day weekend and the gardens had just opened up for the new season. How could anyone take a romantic photo without at least 200+ people photo bombing us in the background? Those perfect golden hour images on Google had deceived me…

I try to be as calm as possible and pretend to be interested in the floral exhibits around us. After about 10 minutes, I get strict orders by the secret group, via Whatsapp, to keep walking along the main path towards the decked-out Emirates Boeing A380. There I’m instructed, the balloons and flowers have been set up for the proposal. As we walk closer to the plane, I spot random people posing in front of this display, like it’s any other floral exhibit. Here’s when things really start to go downhill.

The Proposal – Part II

To make sure everything went down smoothly, her family had instructed a security guard to prevent people from taking the balloons and the flowers. As I nervously walk towards these flowers and balloons, Emilia sees the security guard taking steps to prevent us from doing so. He obviously didn’t know those flowers had been set up for us. Being the protective one that she is, she firmly tells me to leave it alone and to walk away. I, on the other hand, choose to pick up the flowers and motion her to come closer for a picture. This freaks her out even more and she becomes increasingly confused and alarmed at my bold, reckless behavior. I see her rush of emotions, which causes me to forget what I’m going to say. I quickly realize that I had not even mentally prepared for this part. I grab her hand and mumble some words about how each of these roses stands for a promise, to which she responds bewilderedly, “What?” I quickly shrug it off like never mind that I’m holding 40-50 roses in my hand, how many promises did I make exactly??

As she quickly realizes that I’m about to get down on one knee, she digs her nails into my hands. “Please don’t do this here, there are so many people!” I look around like “no there’s not!”, completely ignoring the crowd of onlookers with cameras recording our every awkward movement. I see her eyes burning a hole through mine and consequently into my soul, and I, despite all the buildup to this point, simply say “Well these flowers are for you, because I love you!” And I give her a hug.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse. Out comes her family to congratulate us. They’ve been hiding this whole time, waiting for a cue to jump out. They think the question was popped and she said yes. At this point, she loses all composure and starts crying, because she is genuinely happy to see her family. But on my part, it’s just an awkward exchange of hugs and “I didn’t actually say anything” all around.

The Proposal – Part III

Finally getting it right…

We take a quiet walk around the garden and we end up in one of the second level displays overlooking the garden. We talk about how things went down, and how things could have gone better if I had taken a smaller, quieter, low-key approach. I apologize, and we have a good laugh about it, resulting in one of my most cherished pictures of us two.

I decide to rectify the situation and instead plan to propose at the family dinner that I had organized. After an amazing dinner of Indian cuisine, we end up getting access to a private beach area (the security guard was kind enough to let us in). There, as the waves gently lapped against the shoreline, I got down on one knee, and I asked her to be my other half. This time, she said yes! It couldn’t have been more perfect. After one failed proposal attempt, it felt like God had set us up for an amazing way to end the night.