{"id":17214,"date":"2021-03-08T11:38:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T08:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/?p=17214"},"modified":"2021-03-08T11:41:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T08:41:28","slug":"benson-was-dads-replica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/?p=17214","title":{"rendered":"Benson was dad\u2019s replica"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Promise Twinamukye<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Ann Hope Birabwa turned Benson Seruwagi down several times, he finally won her over and they are now happily married.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ann Hope Birabwa, media personality and a fashion designer at Annz Collection, met Benson Sseruwagi, IT personnel at American Air Force at a church event. \u00a0She was with her friend who knew him but they whom Benson felt the urge to support, however, Hope was rarely online since she only accessed Internet at a caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Hope\u2019s father was due for an operation and she posted her frustrations on Facebook. Benson reached out to her and they exchanged phone numbers. Hope got a job on radio and Benson always called in as a fan. She then joined TV alongside doing charity.<\/p>\n

They spoke on phone daily, whether he was in or out of the country.
\nWhen she would get a problem, be it boyfriend issues (she had got into a relationship), she would tell him (although not divulging details). He was a good listener and she got more comfortable talking to him.
\n\u201cI would be broken most times but every time I returned home, I looked forward to that midnight call that would relax me,\u201d Hope says.\"\"<\/p>\n

Closeness<\/strong>
\nBy 2017, Benson had started thinking of settling down and he could not find a more perfect partner than Hope.
\n\u201cI wanted to ask her out. Being traditional, I did not want to do it on phone. Since I was in the US, I could only fly over to talk to her about my intentions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He flew into the country, took her out and asked if she would be his girlfriend. She declined.
\nWith a heavy heart, he returned to the States thinking that she was seeing someone.
\n\u201cI knew when Ben went back, he would stop talking to me. But he instead increased his support for my ministry,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Ben stalked her on Facebook until a status on Valentine\u2019s Day.
\n\u201cI promise to be true, to give my all to you,\u201d with which she was declaring her heart to God and her future husband as well (whom she had not met yet). He lost hope. However, from previous conversations about what she was going through after she was robbed in 2018 it seemed like there was no man in the picture.
\nShe spent nights at different friends\u2019 places, even got an excuse of sleeping at 77 days of glory (DOGs) in Rubaga.
\nBen offered to pay rent for her. Hope looked for one within her means in case support stopped coming in. Disguising as her fan, he secured for her a smartphone and sent money to buy houseware. Seeing a lump sum, Hope invested much of it in piggery.<\/p>\n

One day, Hope was a bridesmaid, she took pictures and sent them to Ben who was mesmerised. He knew if he did not act fast, someone would win over Hope. He called her.
\nAfter four years of friendship and turn downs, Ben asked Hope out for probably the last time on June 4, 2018. She confessed how she felt about him and how beautiful his heart was.
\n\u201cMy dad has been my pillar. It seemed like God made a replica of my dad, and that was Ben,\u201d she said.
\nPatient, generous, a great listener and hardworking, traits in her father she always wanted in a husband, convinced Hope that she was making the right choice.
\n\u201cHe supports every dream I have, everything I do and he pushes me to do better,\u201d she says.
\nShe, however, told him how broken she was and did not want to put him in her mix, to which he replied, he wanted to walk the healing journey with her. They would talk to their families on phone and had accepted both of them.<\/p>\n

The love journey<\/strong>
\nOn December 12, 2019, Benson proposed to Hope during a candlelit dinner at Speke Hotel. They did kukyaala and days after, had their introduction on December 21, 2019. There were many events in a short time, they postponed the wedding to 2020 so that they would enjoy this time.
\nThey learnt some lessons during the introduction. Some service providers disappointed them, so they had enough time to look elsewhere and the venues had been overbooked too ,so they took their time to find the perfect venue.
\n\u201cIt was her first event to plan herself and she got exhausted from kukyaala and introduction,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Wedding<\/strong>
\nThe wedding was set for July 10, 2020 and Covid-19 happened. Unless the airports were open, Ben could not travel. The wedding meetings could also not happen because of the Covid-19 restrictions.
\nWith no hope for July 10, they postponed to December 18, 2020 but they did not want to tell anyone except her best friend.
\nSince Ben was not in the country, he worked harder to save more, as Hope did the same as well as planned.
\nThe wedding date was confidential and the economy limping, they asked people for support but did not expect much.
\n\u201cFriends from the US contributed although they do not fundraise money to do weddings as we do while Hope\u2019s fans did the same,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Highlights<\/strong>
\nTwo weeks before the wedding, Hope\u2019s parents were involved in an accident and were hospitalised for days. Seeing them walk her down the aisle, was amazing. Her mother wore a Nigerian outfit to conceal her injuries. Her father, who could not stand for a long time managed to walk the aisle stretch.
\nSeeing her husband and Apostle Grace Lubega waiting for her at the end of the aisle was a dream come true for Hope. Her pastors are busy people but they made it and stayed until the end of the ceremony. Her fans too attended the party.
\nApart from the service provider who did not bring the bridesmaids’ dresses before church service, everything else was perfect for the couple.<\/p>\n

Quick bio<\/strong>
\nDate:<\/strong> December 18, 2020
\nGroom:<\/strong> Benson Seruwagi
\nBride:<\/strong> Hope Ann Birabwa
\nVenue:<\/strong> Speke Resort Munyonyo
\nSuit:<\/strong> Larry casual, at Shs2m
\nGown:<\/strong> Anita Beryl, at Shs8m
\nCake:<\/strong> Shs2.8m Rumis
\nRings:<\/strong> Shs 4.8m
\nBudget:<\/strong> Shs110m
\nPhotography:<\/strong> Kimera Photography, Myco Angello
\nGuests:<\/strong> 220
\nDecoration:<\/strong> Icandy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Promise Twinamukye Although Ann Hope Birabwa turned Benson Seruwagi down several times, he finally won her over and they are now happily married. Ann Hope Birabwa, media personality and a fashion designer at Annz Collection, met Benson Sseruwagi, IT personnel at American Air Force at a church event. \u00a0She was with her friend who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[524],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1784],"class_list":["post-17214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-stories"],"authors":[{"term_id":1784,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"weddingadmin","display_name":"weddingadmin","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd3996c46efafdc40969010bfd78c8e4dda9d99318e7dd6403983ea0dadbcfce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17217,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17214\/revisions\/17217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17214"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=17214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}