“We Had to Ride Around on Bicycles to Get Good Service Providers” – Hildah & Ronald

The couple tied the knot on 30th May, 2020, during the national lockdown!

Bride: Juliet Hildah Namulundu, a Communication Officer with an NGO (Doctors with Africa CUAMM)

Groom: Ronald Busiisa, a Procurement Officer with Modern Steel Limited in Jinja.

Wedding Date: 30^th May, 2020

Reception venue: Nile Nest Resort in Njeru on the shores of L. Victoria.

How did you meet?

We met 4 years ago in 2016 at church during one of the youth activities. Ronald was the zonal youth chairperson of Mbikko Parish and I was serving as the sub-parish youth chairperson then. We had met severally during parish meetings but it never crossed my mind that there would be anything special between us because I was still nursing a heart break from a past relationship. However, the magical moment was on valentine’s day which fell on a Sunday when we had a charity activity in my sub-parish and I was the one organizing. This brought us closer and I noticed something special about his character. He was very calm, humble and humane all through the activity and I was interested in knowing more about him. Little did I know that he felt the same towards me. We exchanged numbers and we started talking immediately and this blossomed into the love we still share and enjoy to date. We talked for a longer time but it took him sometime to mention that he loved me in as much as all his actions were pointing to love and I was becoming impatient until one day when he finally asked me to be his girlfriend and I accepted without any hesitation because I was head over heels for him already after the so many interactions we had.

Engagement

Unlike many young men out there, Ronald had a different view about the engagement. He said he did not see the essence of an engagement which he was still going to do during the introduction ceremony. He casually asked me during one evening if I would allow him to come see my parents to which I agreed. We had our Kukyala in May 2018, our introduction ceremony in December the same year and finally our wedding in May 2020.

What was your experience planning the weddings during lockdown?

Our wedding was at a time when COVID-19 was at its peak during a national lockdown and this made it very hard to plan. We were in Jinja and most of our service providers that we had identified were in Kampala. We did not have any wedding meeting because the weekend that we had planned to have our wedding meetings launch was the first weekend of the lockdown in March 2020. We remained hopeful thinking that the lockdown would have been lifted by May 16^th which was our tentative wedding date. However, reality struck us when the lockdown was continuously extended and we knew it was going to be hard for us to have our wedding. Thanks to our families and the church that supported us and encouraged us to go on with the wedding amidst the pandemic. The decision to go ahead was made in one week to the 16^th of May which was our first date and we decided to push it to 30^th to allow us three (3) weeks to prepare for our big day. It was actually very hard for us to come to terms with the reality of having less than 20 people attend our wedding.

Our wedding was full of plan B options from changing the venue from Mbale (where my husband comes from) to Njeru (where we stay), changing the wedding date from 16^th to 30^th May and changing all service providers apart from photography.

It was really challenging running around to look for last minute service providers around Jinja within 3 weeks. At the moment when public transport, private cars and boda bodas were not operating we had to ride bicycles from Njeru across the Nile and get to Jinja where we would get relatively good service providers.

We also had to seek for permission from the authorities to actually have our wedding go on and also allow our parents travel to come which was another big challenge to us. For the wedding day, we were only allowed 4 private cars for the whole function whose number plates were registered.

What was your experience choosing your outfits?

Just like any other excited bride-to-be, I had a number of options that I had picked for my gown and I wanted a customized gown that was a perfect fitting for me. My tailor in Kampala decided to start with the maid’s dresses and had promised to work on my gown last. My dreams were shattered with the lockdown. The tailor could not get the materials to work on the gown and therefore I ended up hiring one at the last minute from Jinja.

For my husband, his outfit had already been made but was locked up in the arcades which the tailor could not access. We trekked and combed the whole of Jinja looking for a desired outfit for him but all in vain. Days were running out and the pressure mounted. To him, he believed that at least if he was going to miss most of his family and friends, it would be satisfying if he wore a nice suit and not settle for less. One (1) week to the wedding, the groom had not yet found the suit. Finally, I remembered about my sister’s friend Elton who owns a designer boutique and I tried my luck to see if he could be of help. Fortunately, enough, he was more than willing to help and promised to tailor the outfit in only 3 days. Luckily for his gifted hands, he made a perfect suit with just estimated measurements and that’s what he wore.