Our gorgeous real bride contributor Kenz is back with her latest wedding planning shenanigans, and some exciting news, even though the journey to get there, wasnt quite as smooth as she hoped. Over to kenz to update you all.

Sometimes life gets in the way of things. It’s definitely gotten in the way of us planning our wedding. Between me starting a job in an entirely new field, Taz getting put on a crazy new project at work, both of us getting Covid (and me getting bronchitis), there hasn’t been much time to sort out wedding stuff. It’s definitely frustrating that it’s been pushed to the back burner, but there has been one major update…

We were sitting on the couch, a week before our 3^rd anniversary wondering what we should do. We wanted to do something special since last year we couldn’t do anything because of Covid and started joking about just going and signing the marriage papers at the court. Then it kind of turned into a why not?! situation, and well now we’re married! It was absolutely insane, but I’m so happy we did it. I know for every couple it’s different, but I’ll share what it was like for us.

For the requirements: Firstly, we had to get a “pre-marital health screening” done at a government hospital here. They take some blood samples and tell you results will be ready between 5-10 days. For us it was certainly a risk, as we needed it in 7 days, but it was fine as we spoke to the lab and they guaranteed it would be ready by the day before the signing. We were also told that we would need my father and 2 Muslim male witnesses not related to the groom present at court. We found our two guys (one of my best men, Talal and his brother who is very close to me) and my dad took the day off work. Next came planning a lunch after for the few friends we were telling and our families. I found the perfect restaurant and planned the set menu, and it was done. Everything was planned that day, a week before our anniversary!

Easy, right? Wrong.

It’s now the day before our anniversary. Our test results are not ready like they’re supposed to be, but they’ve sworn up and down that it will be ready by the next morning, before 10am (we’re supposed to be at court at 11am as we had lunch planned for 1:30). Then I go to the restaurant where we had planned our lunch to finalize the menu and they tell me right as I’m getting ready to pay that they can no longer accommodate us, as they’re no longer allowed to open before 4pm. I’ll remind you; this is THE DAY BEFORE. After a brief freak-out, my wonderful mother dearest helped me plan a last-minute lunch for nearly 20 people at Avli.

Ok, well certainly now everything is alright and sorted? Wrong again.

It’s now the morning of. Our test results are still not ready, but they tell us to come to the hospital and that it’ll be ready. Without much of a choice, we go down to the hospital, Taz in a suit and me in my new dress and wait for the results. At 10:30 we realize that we are not going to get them before 11 and reschedule the order of events. We’ll have lunch at Avli first and then do the court signing after. Well now Talal’s brother can’t come because of the timing, and we have to find another witness! Luckily Talal had a friend that was available, so we had our second. We had never met him before, but we all thought it was hilarious that there would be a stranger’s signature on our marriage certificates, so we went ahead!

After almost giving up, at 12:30 we get our results thanks to the wonderful lab team (who were honestly so helpful and excited for us)! We then went to Avli where Taz and I got to have a brief calm moment to ourselves, and a little drink to celebrate our last moments as “singles” before our friends and family arrived. We had a fantastic lunch in the sunken area of Avli, before rushing off to the court to finally get the deed done.We all got to the court and hit a bit of good luck; it was empty! They asked me to sit in the Women’s section where I met a local woman, who I think could tell I was a bit sad to be alone in there waiting, so her and her sisters spoke to me and then she gave me the beautiful ring off her finger when she found out I was there to get married.

We then saw the judge and it was done! The whole day leading up to it I was so anxious. Butterflies in my tummy, sweats, the whole 9 yards. But I swear the moment it was stamped by the judge; it was like a weight was lifted off me. Everything, even if forced and rushed, fell into place and it was perfect.

Don’t forget to visit us next month to see Kenz’s latest bridal diary post and to find out how their wedding plans are progressing! You can also follow Makenzie over at @Kenzieland on Instagram for more wedding updates!