To have and to hold. Norah Lydia Nabwami and Peter Omiat met in 2014 but it did not occur to them that years later they would be wife and husband, writes Esther Byoona.<\/p>\n
Norah Lydia Nabwami and Peter Omiat met at Makerere in 2014 at a fellowship. They used to prepare concerts. In that year, Peter was in charge of dance and had to teach people and that is where he met Norah. She was supposed to teach people as well but she did not know. Their friendship blossomed.
\nAfter some months of each knowing the other, Peter and Norah went for a church service at Watoto Church Downtown and he asked her out in church. He asked her to pray about it, which she did for six months. On February 22, 2015 Norah accepted to be Peter\u2019s girlfriend.<\/p>\n
The proposal<\/strong> The charm<\/strong> The preparations<\/strong> During their prayers, they asked God for a specific date for their wedding and God revealed the date. They had to seek permission to travel by car and it was hard to get the essentials for the day. \u201cWe are grateful to God that we had a wedding there, we did not have to do much decoration. The church service was at the fountain and the reception was in one of the halls at Kigo,\u201d says Peter. The wedding<\/strong> Advice<\/strong> To have and to hold. Norah Lydia Nabwami and Peter Omiat met in 2014 but it did not occur to them that years later they would be wife and husband, writes Esther Byoona. Norah Lydia Nabwami and Peter Omiat met at Makerere in 2014 at a fellowship. They used to prepare concerts. In that year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21132,"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":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[524],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1784],"class_list":["post-21129","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\/21129","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=21129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21131,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21129\/revisions\/21131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21129"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=21129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe two had started talking about marriage in 2020 because they had been dating for six years. Peter says when he asked her out in 2014, he was not asking her to just see where their relationship would go but the end goal was marriage.
\nIn 2020, they decided to get married. They started the planning process.
\nThe proposal was a surprise to Norah at the home of Peter\u2019s brother where they were celebrating one of the children\u2019s birthday. He proposed on April 10, 2021in front of his family members and Norah said yes.<\/p>\n
\nPeter loved Norah\u2019s humility and when they were friends, she was a great friend. For Norah, Peter was humorous, humble, free-spirited and friendship.
\nShe had prayed for a great friendship which God answered. She says they had similar interests and Peter was always present when she needed him.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFirst of all, it was a miracle from God that we were able to finish everything. This ranges from getting the venue to our financial resources for the do,\u201d Peter says.
\nThe real preparations for the Omiats involved calling close friends and relatives and letting them know about the wedding and asking them to feel free to contribute to the wedding.
\nThey prayed and sought God for a good wedding and a good marriage.<\/p>\n
\nHowever, due to the Covid-lockdown their parents and friends asked them to postpone the wed ding but they were doing it in obedience to God. Everything worked well.
\nNorah says what helped them was planning early.
\nHe says they had a good organising team. Norah\u2019s matron and her husband asked them to get five couples inclusive of themselves to do a monthly contribution of Shs100, 000 for each couple.
\nEach month, they would get Shs500, 000 and it would multiply. This was done for 10 months.
\nPeter says, during the Covid-19 lockdown they made calls to close friends and relatives to tell them about the wedding.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt was a blessing in disguise because with the reduced number of people coming for the wedding, the cost venue was affordable at Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort & Spa in Kigo.\u201d
\nNorah\u2019s matron suggested the reception venue and called one of the employees for an appointment, and they got a good deal.<\/p>\n
\nThe service providers for the wedding were mostly friends and at the time guest numbers were limited. Since most of the service providers were friends they could give the service at the wedding and attend the wedding.
\nTheir friends had provided the services at the introduction and they were happy with what they had done. They baked their wedding cake.
\n\u201cThe decorator was a former schoolmate and she was open to negotiations. I went to her place, told her my expectations and she fitted everything in our budget. She also called and prayed with me as well as sent me daily devotions. She was excited about marriage and about young people getting married,\u201d Norah recalls.<\/p>\n
\nPeter mentions that they did not sleep on the wedding eve because they were praying. He enjoyed the wedding from the service at the fountain to the reception. The sermon was about wedding vows. The reception was intimate with mostly close family members and friends which meant a lot to the couple.
\nNorah enjoyed the whole day but what stood out for her was the peaceful service.
\n\u201cUsually I go for weddings and there is a lot of pressure, rush, if you arrive late, you wait for the reception. I was late but the pastors came to pray with us,\u201d she notes.
\n\u201cThe reception was intimate with our close family members and friends. Because I knew everybody at the ceremony, I was able to give a speech that included each one of them, which was lovely,\u201d says Peter.
\n\u201cWe were limited to 20 guests but God helped us and we revised to 40.\u201d
\nFor Norah, she wished the day was longer.
\n\u201cIt is as if the day had started then we were at the reception then it was goodbye, but I enjoyed it.\u201d
\nFor Peter the wedding was better than he expected.
\nDuring the wedding Norah felt that the dream of their wedding day had come to pass after dating six years.
\nHoneymoon
\nThey went for a honeymoon in Kalangala for five days and it was a gift from their organising committee.
\nDuring their honeymoon they learnt that they could eat, relax and life can slow down and you rest and enjoy each other\u2019s company without any worries.<\/p>\n
\nPeter advises those intending to get married to get to know each other, they should be friends not just have flings but friendship because it sustains you when things are tough.
\nNorah adds that friendship helps you know each other\u2019s abilities and you respect each other and know what one can do and what they cannot do.
\nShe says a couple should plan, prepare, pray and live within their means.
\n\u201cPlan for the after wedding, like you do for the decoration. Plan also for where you are going to stay, what you will need in a home so that you do not get married in a fancy function but go home to misery,\u201d she explains.
\n\u201cOf course we all begin somewhere if you have enough resources to make a 1,000-seater tent re-strategise and see how you can make a seat for your home, a workable kitchen, a good place to stay. Pay your rent so that you do not go home to debt,\u201d she advises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"