00:00Hello, my name is Oziyama Egnenson.
00:02And I'm Obior Egnenson.
00:04And this is our Essence Bridal Bliss Love Story.
00:10So we both went to, we moved to Miami in January 2014
00:16for a medical school, like a pre-medical school program.
00:20And we were both taking classes there
00:23before starting medical school.
00:25And we were in the same class.
00:27But I had a study partner and he mentioned
00:30there was a cool guy in the class.
00:32And, you know, you might want to start studying with him.
00:35And the rest is history.
00:37Shout out, Dina Chihanna.
00:40Yeah.
00:41I did not know that this would be my lovely wife
00:43when I first met her.
00:44She had all the good traits, but I didn't really know her personality.
00:47It took me a while to really enjoy that and really get to know her
00:52before I knew that this was the right woman for me.
00:56So before I wanted to pop the question, I needed about four years.
01:03Actually, okay.
01:07So I would say when we first started dating,
01:10I did ask Obie to court me.
01:13I wanted to know that he was intentional with me.
01:18And that was the difference, I would say, in our relationship.
01:23And you did also ask my mother, right?
01:28You spoke to my mom.
01:29I think so.
01:31And she gave her approval for us to start dating, especially during medical school.
01:37I wanted to, you know, concentrate on studying.
01:40But the relationship I had with you, it added more.
01:46You were very intentional.
01:48You didn't play about me, right?
01:50You were always there if I needed anything.
01:53You were my best friend.
01:55So it was, it was, the dating period was, I would say, excellent.
02:00And I would say that's what led us to getting engaged four years later.
02:04So the preparation process to get ready to propose to my wife was, it was, it was a fun process.
02:13My mother and I, we went to a couple of different jewelry stores to look at rings.
02:19I picked one I believe she would like based off her character and what she likes.
02:25And then, so I selected a ring.
02:26And then it was all about trying to figure out what was the best time.
02:30Um, we were, we had couples matched in residency program and we were, and we were going to move
02:35into a home that I bought in Georgia.
02:38Um, so I figured, uh, it'd probably be a good time to propose to her before we get to the
02:42home.
02:43Um, so, while I was driving, on the way driving down to Georgia, I stopped by her,
02:48I stopped by her parents' home in Baltimore.
02:49We decided to get dinner and that's where I decided to pop the question.
02:53It was definitely a surprise.
02:55So as far as the proposal and being nervous, I was not nervous when,
02:59one bit, I was pretty sure she'd say yes.
03:02Um, I'd say yes if I was her.
03:05But I did get on one knee as traditionally expected.
03:08I did.
03:09You did.
03:10And I was definitely surprised.
03:13Which was, I would say that's the fun part because yeah, I did not expect it at all.
03:30You know, typically a lot of girls are, they're like, I knew it was coming.
03:34Honestly, she was confused.
03:38So as soon as I got the ring and you proposed to me, we did not go into, immediately go
03:44into
03:45wedding preparation.
03:46I believe a couple months later, our families contacted us and they were like, what is going on?
03:52We need to set a date.
03:54We need to have the, what's that thing called?
03:58The, our traditional, we're Nigerians.
03:59So we do something called an introduction.
04:01They're like, we need to have the introduction this year.
04:05So we had our Nigerian introduction, which was very small and intimate.
04:10And that was at my house.
04:12Um, and I had a few close friends.
04:15You had a few close friends.
04:16And that's where we did our introduction.
04:17And that's when our families had us set a date for our Nigerian traditional wedding.
04:23So basically we had our Nigerian traditional wedding and we actually set a date in 2020
04:31for our white regular wedding, but that was canceled due to COVID.
04:36So we pushed it up to 2022, but I got pregnant with our daughter and that had us push our
04:44wedding
04:44back again to 2024, 2024.
04:50And our, honestly, our lives changed.
04:53It was just amazing to see the type of father you became and how supportive you are.
05:00And I would say, I mean, initially it was stressful, but we started to get the hang of it.
05:05After a couple of weeks with the help of both of our mothers and our family.
05:10It is great to be a girl dad.
05:12So what is it like to be a girl dad?
05:13I love it.
05:14You know, I get to be like emotional and things like that.
05:18It's a good, it's a good feeling, I guess.
05:20Added some softness to my personality.
05:23I really appreciate it for that.
05:25So how was it like planning our big destination wedding?
05:29We actually started planning during our baby move in October, 2022.
05:33We used that as like a two year anniversary trip.
05:37I believe we took like a two week vacation.
05:41Where did we start the vacation?
05:43Was it Paris?
05:44I think we started a vacation in Paris.
05:46And then we moved on to Venice, Italy.
05:52And we looked at wedding venues in every city that we actually visited.
05:56I think we also visited Milan.
06:00And then our last stop was Barcelona, Spain.
06:04And I found this castle on Instagram and I was like, I have to see it in person.
06:09The owner of the castle, we met up with our soon to be wedding planner who we actually used.
06:15And we were able to tour the castle and just even from the gates riding up, we fell in love.
06:22So we used black vendors, majority black vendors.
06:26And that was important to me just because, you know, we're black.
06:31We understand each other.
06:32We just, you know, I believe that they're able to, you know, see the vision, use the correct
06:39lighting and everything like that.
06:41So how was it planned with them?
06:43It was, I mean, very easy.
06:46We picked the date and we were able to know who our vendors were early on.
06:52I believe at least a year in advance for majority of people.
06:56So I wanted this dress from a wedding vendor or actually a wedding designer that I don't want to
07:03reveal the name, but I mean, they're big on Instagram.
07:06So initially I flew out to New York, met with the designer.
07:10They were supposed to make this dress.
07:12They sketched everything.
07:14I actually was supposed to have two dresses from them.
07:17And come August of 2024, the communication was horrible.
07:24Me, I'm a type A person.
07:26So I had been communicating with them from like April or May.
07:29I was even going to fly out.
07:31But honestly, my schedule did not permit.
07:33And they insisted that they would have the dress ready on time.
07:37So the dress was actually supposed to be meant for me in June.
07:40Come June, no communication.
07:42July, August.
07:43So I have my stylist who is Chris Aya.
07:46And he recommended a black owned, a Nigerian stylist,
07:51wedding dress designer who does amazing work.
07:56So he was able to sketch my dream dress and we were able to contact her.
08:03And I honestly don't think she realized that my wedding was in two months.
08:09I think when she realized it, I mean, she delivered.
08:12She did an amazing job and she was actually able to have my dress delivered to Barcelona,
08:17even with the time constraints and everything.
08:19The communication was A1 and I am forever grateful and happy.
08:26It was important for me to incorporate crystals, 3D beading.
08:31I just want it to look different.
08:33I wanted like your typical white dress, but I wanted it to be extra.
08:37And the reason is because my bridesmaids were wearing light.
08:41So I just wanted to stand out.
08:43I just wanted to like in the nighttime, I wanted to glisten.
08:47And she did deliver that.
08:49Chris was able to help sketch the dress and she delivered just that.
08:53She worked with me every morning.
08:55She would contact me.
08:57I would be texting her.
08:59She would send updates throughout the day.
09:01And it was, it was just amazing.
09:03I'm actually happy the other designer made the mistake.
09:06Because this dress was everything in war.
09:15So I'm a Nutri girl.
09:17And I know you typically don't hear that bridesmaids wear white to a wedding.
09:21It's a taboo.
09:23But me, I'm extra.
09:25I wanted my girls to stand out.
09:27I wanted them not to look like guests.
09:29And we did have our guests wear all black.
09:32So I was, I was toying between our guests wearing all white versus the bridesmaids wearing all black.
09:38Or the guests wear all black and the bridesmaids wear all white.
09:42And I think we went with the latter.
09:45And I'm so happy I made that decision.
09:47They still stood out amongst the guests.
09:50They look beautiful.
09:51Their dresses were.
09:53And I'm so happy about how everything just turned out.
09:58The look.
09:59So where did I get my tuxes and my groomsmen's outfit?
10:04I went to a brand called Uma McGlore.
10:07They are a very high fashion, luxury designer brand essentially for formal wear.
10:14So they do suits and tuxes.
10:16And I think they did an excellent job.
10:18They help you from inception to finish.
10:22You know, they help you pick material, colors, options, styles.
10:26They really walk through the process.
10:28And I'm very appreciative for, you know, the good folks over there for really, really, really
10:35bringing to life my vision essentially.
10:39Yeah, so for me, the ceremony was very dreamlike.
10:45It was a lot of wet, a lot of flowers, a lot of familiar faces.
10:49You know, it was very comforting and very homey.
10:54And then when I got a chance to see my beautiful wife, you know, it was bliss.
10:59I get to see her walking down a mirrored aisle towards me across water essentially.
11:08Like her father accompanying her.
11:10And that was, it was a magical moment for me.
11:13It was amazing.
11:14It was beautiful.
11:15It was touching.
11:16It brought tears to my eye.
11:18I remember hearing like the crowd.
11:21I knew something was going on when it came down Cesar walking down the aisle,
11:25which I was able later to see, thanks to our videographer.
11:29But I remember tearing up before I walked down the aisle.
11:33And once I walked down the aisle across the water and I just was looking at Ovi the whole time,
11:40it was just amazing because it was like, look where we've come.
11:44Like, you know, look how far we've come.
11:46We got married the same year that we celebrated 10 years of knowing each other.
11:50And it just, it was just amazing.
11:53It was beautiful.
11:54And, you know, it was more than I could ever ask for.
11:57So Ovi's vows was, you know, it was very touching to me.
12:01I, you know, I was listening intensely.
12:04And I, I really appreciate the vows and that you made to me and the promises.
12:10And yeah, it was, it was beautiful.
12:13It brought tears to my eyes as well.
12:16And, you know, it's just a moment that I'm going to cherish for the rest of my life.
12:19So we use Priscilla Lorenz, who was our wedding planner.
12:23And also she helped us bring our vision to life.
12:29It's just funny when you send like your vision board to,
12:33to people who are supposed to, you know, bring it to life.
12:36And it's just, it's just wild when you actually see what you envision in real life and even more.
12:42I just remember telling her when we did another site visit that I wanted flowers everywhere.
12:48And I didn't know she was literally going to put flowers everywhere.
12:51So walking to the reception, just look, seeing the flowers all over the ceiling,
12:55on all over the table, to the floor, just flowers everywhere.
13:00It was just beautiful.
13:01And they were all real.
13:02And it was just amazing.
13:04Like it smelled like a greenhouse.
13:06Like you could smell how fresh the flowers were.
13:09And I was just so happy.
13:11It was just very angelic.
13:12It was just really a fairy tale.
13:14And honestly though, I mean, I had the butters of my dreams.
13:18So, yeah.
13:20Food was delicious.
13:22I think we had a company called Jubany or a restaurant called Jubany do the catering.
13:27Michelin.
13:28Michelin star restaurant, which is delicious, delicious food.
13:31Um, and it was nice to get the director, all the guests, you know, watch everybody have
13:37fun and see them enjoying themselves.
13:39So that was like a, that was really good.
13:41That was a really good part for me, was watching everybody else enjoy it.
13:44Yeah.
13:44Yeah.
13:45Especially her.
13:45Yeah.
13:46We did karaoke.
13:47So the MC, he went around and we did karaoke while we all sat, ate dinner.
13:53It was just very intimate.
13:54We only had like 120 guests, but from where we sat, I feel like we could see everyone.
14:00Um, so, I mean, I love that intimacy.
14:02We have the wedding.
14:04So what was the cake like?
14:05You want to describe it?
14:07We needed a sword to cut the cake.
14:09So it's funny because I told the, um, wedding planner, I wanted a big, huge cake.
14:17And I didn't know they would take it literally, but it was, the cake was tall.
14:23It was white, maybe like six rolls of cake.
14:25I don't know how you describe it, but it was tall, white with flowers.
14:29To me, it was just simple and elegant and it was nice.
14:33So did we save our cake in the freezer?
14:35No, we did not.
14:37Um, we did not travel back home with our cake.
14:41And yeah, we'll just get a new cake this year.
14:44I know it's a tradition, but we'll start our own tradition.
14:47So did we meet our budget?
14:50You know that expression, like a hair above your budget?
14:54We were like a dreadlock above our initial budget.
14:58It was, uh, it wasn't bad though.
15:02It wasn't bad though.
15:03I think it was worth every penny.
15:04That's really what matters.
15:12So let's tell you guys about our ring or my ring, actually.
15:16So you want to start?
15:18No, I'm good.
15:19So, you know, OB initially first bought my first ring in 2018.
15:23But after I gave birth to Zara, he presented me with a push gift.
15:28So my ring was upgraded and, you know, you didn't even consult me for either ring, which is impressive that
15:36you know my style.
15:37And I love it and I'm very appreciative of my upgraded ring.
15:42So what advice would I share with other couples getting married?
15:45I would say invite those who, you know, mean the best for you, who, you know, you actually speak to.
15:53I would invite actual friends, family, and not acquaintances.
15:57And also an advice someone gave to me is after you walk down the aisle, you know, and the ceremony's
16:05complete, be by your husband's side, be by your spouse's side the entire day.
16:09So you guys can have the same memory.
16:12Yeah, so my advice would be know what you want, and if you don't know, ask your wife.
16:18Yeah.
16:19So what's next for OB and OZ continue to love each other, continue to grow our family.
16:28We love Zara and, you know, one of these years she'll have a sibling.
16:33We work together, so continue to work together, make this money, and start these businesses.
16:39What do you think?
16:40Yeah, I think we're just going to just grow, just grow together in every sense of the word, family, business.
16:48Say.
16:49Say.
16:50And love, really.
16:52Rather.
16:53Yes.
