We are a young couple based in Lagos, Nigeria who have decided to surrender our relationship as a vessel to God. We met in 2003 (yes, that long ago)! We were classmates in elementary school but were not clear that God was creating a foundation for us to subsequently fall in love. As young professionals in Lagos subsequently in 2017, we found each other again and have been together in a romantic relationship ever since.

As told by Osarugue: Uwa proposed on his birthday, and of course, he planned a surprise that had our closest and dearest mutual friends. Unbeknownst to him, I had also planned a birthday surprise – also using the same friends! Our friends were thus in a vortex where they were juggling two simultaneous surprises! The first testimony is that it all went seamlessly, with neither of us ever getting to know about the other surprise (there were some close shaves though) 😃😃

The "Royal" in the theme represents two things. (i) We happen to both be Benin. Culturally and historically, the Benin kingdom has been known for its reverence of royalty and its long line of royalty and we wanted our joint heritage to reflect in the theme. (ii) secondly (albeit more importantly) is the fact that we want it to be clear our relationship with God. Our identity in Christ is rooted in 1 Peter 2:9 “… But you are a chosen generation, "a royal priesthood", a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” We are all these things and the generation that springs up from us will be all these things. The common denominator is that we are again royalty. "Amethyst" in the theme represents two things: (i) While we were praying about the wedding, we had a vision of precious stones. At this time, our focus for the wedding was #NewBeginings. When we had this vision of precious stones, we prayed and the passage that was revealed to us, was "Revelation 21". In sum, the passage speaks of the Bride of Christ coming down in the form of a new city (a new heaven). The foundation of that city is made of twelve precious stones (these stones will form the names of all the tables at the reception), and at the top or completion of the foundation is the precious stone Amethyst (which has the colour of royal purple, again tying in to the royal theme, and the foundation of the new beginning of our wedding and marriage). (ii) Beyond the passage, our research also shows that one of the attributes of the jewel is: “…Nicknamed as the couples stone, Amethyst helps in strengthening relations as it gives a promise of fidelity; which over time helps in having a deeper connection with your soulmate. Amethyst can be used to bring back, bring forward or retain a loving relationship…” In essence, the wedding day has been yielded to God, to achieve His purposes.