FIRST DATE
Krystal: Way back in 2005 when I was 19 and an upcoming Gospel artiste, a friend accompanied me to Rufftone’s Lampstand studios to record my music. When I got there, I expected someone officially dressed but here he was casually dressed in sandals and shorts.
Rufftone: When I saw her at our first ‘recording’ meeting, I just felt the urge to get to know her more. I asked to meet her several times after that and with time, started warming up to her. One thing led to another and now we are married.
PROPOSAL
Krystal: Rufftone had asked me out on a movie date and we went to the Nairobi Prestige Mall Plaza. Just before we got into the theatre, he went down on one knee and popped the question.
Rufftone: She said yes, but it sounded awkward, like she did not believe it. I expected her to jump and cry in joy, but all I got was an awkward yes.
Krystal: I had not seen the proposal coming and then again I had always imagined my proposal would be grand, not the casual manner in which he did.
My awkward ‘yes’ was because I thought he was joking. He has, on many occasions in the past, played pranks on me. Then again this is Ruff we are talking about, he never does things the conventional way.
THE DRAMA
Krystal: He would send mixed signals on so many occasions that I was left confused. When I got the chance, I travelled to Namibia where I thought I could move on but my heart was still his.
I prayed for a sign from God to direct me on if I should move on or hang on. Soon after, I travelled back home, having gotten a sign in the affirmative.
Rufftone: She wanted us to talk about the relationship while she was miles away and I had to ask her to come back home. I explained and confessed my love for her.
As for the wedding, I would say God did this wedding for us. We had a week to plan the entire wedding but it turned out great with minimal mishaps.
The biggest challenge was finding service providers on such short notice. Also, getting friends to come for the planning meetings proved difficult as they were committed elsewhere. We, however, trusted in God.
Krystal: Getting my dress was an uphill task. I also had to change the bridesmaids barely a week to the wedding and the tailor who was given the task to make their dresses was disappointing. Thank God for Wambui Mukenyi who came through and was able to design and tailor the dresses, all in a day's work.
With so much work to do, the process sharpened the minds of those we worked with. I soon learned that not doing things on time is a major contributor to things going wrong on your special day.
Rufftone: We had to be on top of things ourselves on so many areas if we wanted to see the results we anticipated. This can be tiring especially when you also have to coordinate the decor, cake, outfits, venue and other areas.
IN HINDSIGHT
Krystal: I learned that God’s timing is the best and couples planning to wed should know when it is God’s time. We have tried planning this wedding a couple of times before but something would always come up and stall our plans.
Rufftone: Do not plan things within your schedule as they are deemed to backfire. For our wedding, I had a commitment on the weekend of the wedding that was postponed and this gave me an opportunity to wed.
We had set our wedding for the prior week but Daddy Owen got a commitment that needed to be sorted out before we could wed, hence the postponement.
Krystal: I would like to warn brides against doing a wedding without doing some research. The reason we were able to pull off a wedding within a week was because I had researched enough and had planned in my mind so many times before. I knew what I wanted, why I wanted it and where to get it from.