“I was going to call him and tell him I’d marry him without pants if I had to!” – Justina & Martin

His trousers weren't done until 11am, the wedding start time!

Bride: Justina Li, a Design and Innovation Consultant & Dancer

Groom: Martin Ojom, an Animation Artist & Dance Artist

Wedding venue: Acholi Inn, Gulu

Wedding date: 28th December 2020

Meeting

We met in Gulu on 9th October 2017, on Uganda’s Independence Day. We met as dancers to prepare for a performance in the evening. Though there was nothing romantic, we found ourselves working really well as a team and becoming good friends. We began training everyday after work together, and we really fell in love quickly. After a weekend performing in Kampala, we decided to make it official. However, it was during the 2 months left of my time in Uganda that our love and commitment became more real as we learned more about each other. There were a ton of obstacles, but we kept choosing each other.

Engagement

I started to look at rings around the end of 2018 and I think Martin read my mind and prepared to propose to me when I would return to Ug in 2019. In Feb, I was landing in Entebbe, but fighting a really tough fever after getting food poisoning. Martin had to come to pick me, as usual, but this time with 2 other friends and flowers. I knew something was up right away. He started to make a speech to all the people waiting at the airport and then taxi drivers about his love for me, then he went down on his knee and asked me to marry him. I was so shy because I looked really sweaty and sick from the fever, but I fought for strength because, of course I had to say yes! All the taxi drivers and onlookers clapped and that was really fun!!

Planning the wedding

The wedding planning was a mixed bag of fun and stress. We wanted to be married in July, but COVID caught us in lockdown, so we shifted the wedding to December, hoping that my family and friends from Canada could come. The wedding planning momentum died down during COVID, but as the December date drew closer, we started to get some fire under our bums. As a designer, I really enjoyed making wedding cards, a save-the-date video, and stationary like wedding guest bracelets and food tickets and usher cards. I also loved applying my design skills to the colour scheme, from the cards to the flowers to the decor to the dresses. Martin was more of the vendor guy, contracting services providers we needed for the space and organizing things in Gulu. We also had a great team of helpers who headed up overall planning, but also food, entertainment, ushers, accommodations, etc. It was so so helpful to delegate these things to people I trusted. The most stressful part was how we had to plan and execute in separate places, as it was difficult to make shared decisions quickly and follow up on some things like the outfits.

Experience with outfits:

Overall, I envisioned a fusion of Afro and Asian culture. I’m of chinese descent, but born in Canada, and because we wanted to appreciate Ugandan culture, I thought I should also pay homage to my Chinese culture. It made a beautiful combination, because Chinese culture is all about red and gold at weddings, and it matched well with Ugandan colours in the kikoyi. We first designed with a pen and paper drawing in black and white, then I put it on the computer to colour. Being a designer helped here. We showed this to our designer/tailor and gave him whatever creative freedom he wanted based on the loose drawing.

For my wedding dress, the biggest bump was the neckline, which was supposed to be a red mesh halter top. However, the backless design made it hard for the mesh to be supported and look good on me. We adjusted it multiple times to try to get it to work, but eventually got rid of the mesh and had the sleeves go across my shoulders instead. I loved the final look and how it highlighted my collarbones. The best part of the dress is that there is a short round dress hidden inside – a 2-in-1 wedding and changing dress. We revealed the short dress in a surprise dance, and no one saw it coming!

For the groom’s suit and groomsmen suits, we had a huge bump. 2 days before the wedding, some of the suits were stolen! The boys were so disappointed, as it had taken a long time to perfect them. We called the designer right away and he helped us rush to town to buy material, on Boxing Day of all days, and managed to deliver everything by 11pm the night before the wedding. More adjustments needed to be made, so a friend in Gulu offered to help adjust the clothing through the night. Martin’s trousers were supposed to be gold like his coat, but we couldn’t find the material so it changed to kikoyi trousers. His trousers weren’t done until 11am on the wedding day. 11am was supposed to be the wedding start time! I was so anxious I was going to call him and tell him I would marry him without pants if I had to.

Luckily, everyone pulled through. It wasn’t exactly the final look we had initially designed, but it comes with a crazy story behind it!