Everyone loves love, especially us women. The stories of how couples met and fell in love is not only interesting to read, it inspires and gives hope to single ones that True Love still exists and they too soon will find their happily ever after. Also reading married couples stories of how they met, fell in love and got married you’ll sometimes find one or more advice that you can apply to your own dating/relationship life to get the result you want.
Some of these stories are romantic, some crazy and some funny or a mix of everything. Enjoy!
The Owoyele’s Love Story
I’ll start with our love story. And depending on when you’re reading this page, there will be links at the end of our story to read from other couples how they met their husbands. If you’re married yourself I encourage you to share your story with us too, how you met your husband and your journey to the altar. Write directly to me on this email 
Your story can be as long or as short as it needs to be to share as much as you want to share. I’ll then publish your story on this website and link to it below this page. Let’s share in your love and happiness.
I got married to my best friend, June 12th, 2021 at the age of 39, just few months short of 40. My husband was about 42. Before then we were traditionally married May 15th, 2021. Our wedding was everything I dreamed my big day would be. It was intimate, classy and romantic. This is our journey to the altar.
So this morning while still in bed I rolled over on top of my husband as I always do, playing with him like the baby I am 🙈 and then I sat on top of him and raised my hand to his mouth as a Microphone, and said “Honey, you’ve been married for 10 days now, how has it been for you?” He said: “It’s been sweet, exciting and cool.” I smiled. 😊 Then I asked, “will you encourage others to get married?” He said, “yes, if they want to.” And finally I asked, “why do you think your marriage has been sweet and exciting?” he said, “because we’ve come a long way, because we apply bible principles for marriage and we listen to each other.” I smiled again. 😊 For me I can’t find the words to describe how amazing being married has been. It’s been beyond anything I could have dreamt of. And to think that just 10 months ago I couldn’t see myself getting married. Life surprises us in beautiful ways sometimes. 🥰
How I Met My Husband
I met my husband August 2014, a mutual friend introduced us virtually and we got chatting. The chemistry was instant from our chats. We had very interesting chats on Messenger. So interesting I had to resist the temptation of adding some screenshots of them to this post 😊 I’d rather keep that to us.
At this point in my life, I was looking to get married, eager even, although I was still struggling financially. In fact I dare say that the struggle part was one of the reasons getting married was appealing then. I mean picture my situation, a lady in her early 30s and very broke. It was the time I felt alone the most in my life. So when I started chatting with this man that became my husband about 7 years later, I was hoping it would lead to something serious. And with the chemistry right, we quickly arranged to meet in a public place.
Immediately I saw him, I was like damn! 🥰 He looked just how I like my man to look, tall with broad shoulders, and so handsome! And then when he spoke, chai! I was in love 😄 as he spoke so well. A tiny part of me was already selling myself short like Karo, a man that look like this and speaks like this, nah, he can’t want you. 😔 However we went ahead to have a great time! In fact the attraction was mutual. That turned out to be the longest date of my life, as regards time spent together. Neither of us wanted to leave. That scared me too because my experience before then had been that any date that starts so intense emotionally on both side, never goes anywhere. Things always died down after the first meeting. And yes, this wasn’t any different too. The only difference this time was that we were both very mature about it.
After the first meeting, our chats weren’t as interesting anymore, it became as is often the case with things like this, why haven’t you chatted me all day, why did you say this or that. And me, I won’t chase a man if he isn’t clearly chasing me. I just have never being that girl. I don’t even know how to do it. My pride never allows me. So I decided that he wasn’t ready for what I wanted then. And to be honest he wasn’t. Even though he was older than me, he wasn’t where he needed to be financially to be able to take care of a woman and a family. Both of us were two mature singles who were still trying to make ends meet. So I friend-zoned him 🤷 and we both kind of just focused on our individual hustle. We did great as friends. When you remove any expectation from any relationship you’ll notice you’ll relate better.
We weren’t like into each other’s lives 24/7 but we were great friends. He became my confidant, the person that’s there for me to comfort me when I’m going through something, and my gist partner when we have some time to kill; and quickly we became best friends. We may not see each other or even speak for months, but when we did, no matter how long it had been, the connection remained. We would talk about anything and everything. There was no off topic. And when we hung out, we would enjoy good meals together. That was one of our thing, still is; either a good home made meal or what we call mama put in Nigeria (food vendors that sell affordable local meals). We had a place we would go for a tasty and affordable mama put. This went on for years. And individually we grew in person and in business. My big break came in 2017. And in same 2017 bros surprised me with a visit at my new place in a car he had just bought. I was impressed! He was now a more attractive bachelor, if you know what I mean. 😉
Best Friends but Wrong Match
Now he was ready for a wife. But somehow we both agreed we were not a perfect match. He had his reasons which included that I didn’t welcome correction very much. I had the attitude of like me as I am or that’s the door! At this point also, all the domestic violence stories I was reading online wasn’t helping my attitude towards men. Equipped with my own money and a nice apartment, I would ask myself what do I even need a man for now. 😏 And my Mr Owoyele didn’t care how much you have, you can’t be a man over him! He would tolerate you as a friend, but making you his wife was a different ball game. And me I thought he was too strict. I am very playful and I fool around a lot. I needed a man who didn’t take life seriously all the time, who was playful too and would let me be me. I also was very vocal about life and relationship on my Facebook wall, bros wasn’t into all that. He is a private person. Although I apply some sense when sharing on my wall, I am far from being a private person, and I love to write and I love to share. These among other reasons made me decide that we were better as friends. So even though we were both old enough to get married and ready financially and we were best friends, we were looking at other places for love interest while we remained best friends.
Did we consider each other as possible marriage mates every now and then? Yes we did. I actually didn’t know how many times he considered me until he told me after we got engaged, he did much more than I knew. And I considered him a few times. You see, no sane woman that wouldn’t want him. He’s very supportive. He’s honest. He’s very contented. He’s a man that takes his responsibility as a man seriously not one that looks for the slightest excuse to escape them. I remember the day he stopped by briefly to see me and I was on my way out. As we were parting ways, he stopped me and gave me transport fare. I was shocked, like hey, I’m a millionaire now (only in Naira), 😄 I didn’t need to be given transport fare, I thought to myself. We were not dating. I wasn’t his responsibility. That touched me a lot. That simple act further demonstrated a man that was generous and would play his role of a head whether you the woman bring to the table or not.
He gradually over the years earned my respect for varying reasons. I didn’t respect any man like I respected him. Anyone, man or woman who was in any way close to me heard about him. I always talked about him, and everyone that heard about him would ask me so why don’t you guys just get married. But each time we thought about it or discussed it, yes we did discuss it, we would laugh hard and be like nah, it won’t work! He would say if he was my man he won’t tolerate some of the things I do. And I’ll be like I can’t even marry a man like you, so unromantic and so serious. 🙄
Do I even Need a Man? 🤔
Then in recent years I became really cynical about marriage. I felt it wasn’t for me. And every crazy thing in my head I shared with him including how I would prefer a husband who had an offshore job so he wouldn’t always be around and I could still have some space.🤦 I bet there were many times he thought this girl was crazy! 😄 But he would listen to me no matter how crazy my thoughts seemed. He was very accepting. That’s why our friendship lasted so long. Nothing I didn’t share with him, some he didn’t agree with but he never condemned me. He would offer advise every now and then. But that’s it, he let me be me. A few times he sat me down and asked what will it take for you to be a wife material? That just infuriated me, like what do you mean, I am not a wife material??? Well, leave me alone I don’t even want to be a wife. 🚶
To be honest, I felt he was all the man I needed in my life as long as we are not married. Marriage ruins things I also thought. I mean what else did I need a man for, I run major ideas by him and he’s always there to guide me, if I needed someone to save me I could call him and I am sure he will show up instantly, gist partner I also had in him so… 🤷 Although sometimes I got worried, what happens when he gets married, will I still have access to him the way I do? 😔 I would jokingly tell him sometimes, I don’t think I would attend your wedding because I may just stand up and say I object! 🙋 We would laugh 😄 But honestly I didn’t know if I was joking or serious with that. Anyway fortunately we didn’t have to find out 😄
We were a Perfect Match After all – From Best Friends to Engaged!
Our relationship changed from best friends to engaged about 9 months ago. He had been struggling with finding the ‘right’ woman for him because he was very sure of what he wanted. They never got him. The person he is, the kind of home he wanted and hence the type of woman. I got him. I knew what he really wanted and I wanted that too, but that was before. The Me at this time was struggling with the idea of being a wife. The Me now thought I would be losing my freedom if I got married. And do marriages even last these days. 🤷 Honestly for me the fact that I knew exactly what he wanted was part of the reason I didn’t want to try to be together. I felt like I didn’t want to disappoint him, and I didn’t want to change who I was just because of him. But sometimes I would hear about some of the issues he’s having with a particular love interest and I’ll be like they don’t deserve you, let’s just get married, how bad can it be, we excel as friends already. And it’s like one of those things too I would say where I don’t know whether I am joking or being serious. But he’s always like you’re the one who doesn’t want to calm down. And we move on to other things and forget about it.
Then one day in October 2020, during the EndSars movement in Lagos Nigeria, he was accompanying me somewhere, he was driving us there when roadblock kept us parked in one place for a few hours. These were hoodlums blocking major roads preventing vehicles from moving. Everyone had no choice but to turn off their engines and wait. Nothing to do we started to gist, one talk lead to another and another and then we found ourselves really for the first time like we never have before, talking about the issues and concerns we each have with the other that is holding us from making the move. From that conversation we realized that we got some things wrong about each other. We also realized that the other person was open minded about some things we had thought they were closed minded on. But it was especially for the perfect timing. I, at this point was already making some personal adjustments in my lifestyle that he was aware of and impressed by that made me more ‘suitable’ for the role of a wife. That talk lead to more talk for the next few days. We needed to make sure we were on the same page and that we wanted the same thing out of marriage. Marriage was something we both didn’t want to joke about. We either do it right or we didn’t want to do it at all. We both wanted to be married once. And we both wanted to enjoy marriage and not endure it. He’s waited this long to do this because he insisted on remaining single until he found someone he felt he had a good chance with of having a happy home. There’s been so much pressure on him to settle and he kept his stand. And for me same thing, until I lost interest that is.
We made the decision not long after to start a relationship in which God was the only third party. We would study the bible together as often as we could, mostly over the phone. We were always communicating. We allowed ourselves to be molded by God’s word. We learned to be more humble so that when there’s a correction the other person doesn’t see it as an attack.
The relationship progressed beautifully although not without its hiccups. But each misunderstanding brought us closer as we always learned from it and make efforts to act better. Few weeks into our courtship and we were in love. And since then our love grew and continues to grow. We have always cared for each other deeply but we never said I love you to each other until our affection for each other grew beyond that of friendship.
We had a connection the day we met in 2014. That connection never changed, instead it grew. Like I said before, we were not always in each other’s lives. Many months would pass sometimes without a single conversation, but once we connected again, it was as if nothing had changed. We felt that meant something. And it did! We considered ourselves engaged from the moment we decided to get married, but it wasn’t until a few months later that he gave me an engagement ring, by this time our relationship had progressed and we were sure that we were on the right path.
Me flaunting my engagement ring
In case you’re already wondering how he proposed, I wasn’t proposed to and I wasn’t surprised like you see them do all over the Internet. There was no surprise, and bros has never liked those dramas. I knew the ring was coming and when it came there was no drama around it. Bros simply came in front of me, reached for my hand and pushed it in. I’d been expecting it so I was happy and grinning from ear to ear, and we hugged. There was no bending a knee. According to him he wasn’t proposing. He can’t propose when I already agreed to be his wife. To be honest, I felt bad a little that he didn’t put more effort into making the ring presentation romantic. Although I also don’t like all the dramas they make around marriage proposals these days, but I felt a little romantic indoor presentation isn’t too much to ask 😒. The sweet part of the whole thing wasn’t in the presentation but rather in the time invested in making sure he got me one of the best rings. And he made sure to use the jeweler I had always dreamed of getting my ring from. So we’re good. 👍
Meet the Man I Married
So the life I live now came to me as a big surprise. Before October 2020, I was sure I wouldn’t turn down love if it finds me because I am a lover, but getting married was something I didn’t think I would do anytime soon. But with this man it felt right. It felt like it was written even. 😄 Like I tell him, he’s the only man I could have done this with. The only man I could have married because for me to marry and stay submissive with the level of independence I have enjoyed requires a lot of trust, trusting the Head leading the home, knowing I can relax and let him lead and he won’t disappoint me. And I think everything we’ve shared was building up to this moment because I don’t see how else this could have happened for me.
Prewedding Pictures – Karo and Kanmi
There are so many things I love about my husband, I struggle to pick which I love the most so here’s my top 5:
1. He’s contented and has the kind of pride you will want a man to have. If you like earn billions a month, this man’s eyes will not enter that your money. Instead he will still take responsibility over you for what he can afford. He can never seat down and let a woman feed him. So you’ll never have a reason to disrespect him, he won’t take it. Honestly as friends he earned my respect with this a long time ago. And I always put him above all men, even the ones I dated.
2. He’s a problem solver. I feel like he becomes his best when there’s a problem to solve, when there’s a challenge. He rolls up his sleeves very quickly and thinks fast, and before you know it the problem is getting solved. Sometimes I find myself looking at him in total admiration, like how did you think of that so fast! He compliments me a lot in this regard because I am quick to feel frustrated when there’s a challenge, when something unforeseen happens and disrupts our day. But he stays composed and immediately starts strategizing.
3. He’s a born leader. It comes to him naturally. And he leads with respect and consideration. He’s a good communicator. When there’s an issue and he speaks to me, his love and care is evident each time. And he’s vast on spiritual matters and quite knowledgeable about certain areas of life as well. So there’s no area of life I go to him for guidance on that he doesn’t help me with. And when he teaches or corrects me on something I got wrong, he does so with so much humility.
4. He cares so much he feels my pain. If something happens to me, like I hit my leg, or my head or I’m feeling sick, you look at my husband his mood changes immediately as I am going through the pain, because he can’t take the pain away right away. I have found myself telling him sometimes that bad things happen sometimes unexpectedly, but it doesn’t have to dampen the mood. We’re still in an imperfect world, so we would hurt sometimes, we will be in pain sometimes but I don’t want to feel my pain in your eyes too. But it’s always so touching to see him care so much.
5. He has a pure heart. He empathizes even for strangers. He is quick to feel others pain. I remember when he met my mom for the first time. I had been dreading that moment because my mom has been bedridden for awhile now and her speech isn’t as it used to be, which he knew all about, but had never met her. On our way to see my parents for the first time, several times I wished he could have met the mother who raised me, before she became sick 😢. I told him you would have really loved her! I wasn’t comfortable to be honest for him to see my mom in her condition. But this man got there and held my mom. He patiently interacted with her and promised her he would take care of me. I’m not sure how I was expecting him to treat her but the way he treated her touched my heart more than anything else. 😭
What about the differences in our personality?
I was just telling him a few hours ago that the person he has become is nothing like the person I thought I knew when we were friends. I said the way you let me be a baby with you and you pamper me so much that I call you my dada and you call me tata, I never would have thought you would be that guy. 😊 He smiled. All the pampering I deserved as the last born that they failed to pamper me, my hubby gives to me now 💃. And there’s no boring moment with him, in-between listening to music, dancing together, studying the Bible, attending Christian meetings, watching comedies and fooling around it’s all joy and laughter for the last 8 months. We’ve of course had few misunderstandings but with good communication, love and respect we are able to move on from it quickly. I’m very happy that they rarely happen now.
What about the part where he didn’t like me sharing on social media? Well, we struggled with that a few times during our courtship, but I think after he read some of my write-ups and enjoyed it, he decided to let me do me. He still is a private person but he told me it’s just who you are so do you. 😉
I Got My Fairytale!
Growing up I had always thought about getting married. At first I was too young to even make pictures in my head of how I wanted the wedding day to be like. But I knew I wanted it to be great. I would always tell my mom that I wanted to get married early. And that on my wedding day our street was going to be blocked for vehicles and when they asked what was going on that the street is blocked, they would say, didn’t you hear, the last born of Mr Itoje is getting married today! However my life took a different turn and I eventually became cynical about marriage after all I had seen and heard about some of it. And I thought I had lost that dream forever of falling in love and having a beautiful wedding and a beautiful home. But no, it was waiting for me, waiting for when I was ‘ready’ to have it. Our love and our wedding feels like a fairytale. I feel like I’m living a fairytale. I feel like the patient dog that got the fattest bone. 😉 Just look at my man! Total package. He is handsome, got good character and knows how to love and treat a woman right, and I mean that in every way, if you get my drift 😉.
From our Traditional wedding
From our White wedding
So what’s all the rush for to get married? Take time to discover yourself, know what you want so you don’t accept any and everyone that come your way, then relax, wait for your own. God’s time is always the best. Do not force love, let love find you.
=================
THE END
This story was first published June 22nd, 2021 on my Facebook wall.
Friendship is the Purest love.
Sweet Love story 🥹