We wanted it have nature involved in both of our wedding days and the theme of “red” to flow into both weddings as we both wanted a pop of colour – and nothing screams love quite like red.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Meeral: I’m born and bred in Auckland and come from a Gujarati (Indian) background. I love being in nature and being a playful spirit. I love having deep and meaningful conversations with others and really connecting on the deeper things in life. I have passions in helping others, drawing, and a newfound love for yoga. For work, I’m a Senior Customer Success Manager at SEEK and have been there for 10 years now – its where I met Michael.
Michael: I’m born and bred in Melbourne, Australia and come from an Armenian & Maltese background. I’m a percussionist (been playing the drums since I was 12 years old) and have played in multiple bands in Melbourne. I have passions in photography, Muay Thai, IT and gaming. My profession is as a Senior Account Manager at SEEK and have been there for the last 6 years.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
Meeral: We first met in Melbourne at the SEEK Head Office on Thursday 17th May 2018. I was flown over from Auckland for one of my usual work trips to upskill in my Sales role at the time. For context, I had been there since Tuesday and I could have opted to leave home on Thursday, but I decided to change the dates of my flights to leave on Friday instead.
As I sat down at my desk, my eyes caught sight of a mysterious stranger sitting just one desk away. His exotic tan and shy demeanour caught my attention instantly. I couldn’t help but wonder who he was and where he was from. Throughout the day I would catch this mysterious stranger glancing over at me and quickly turning away and noticing the sweetest smile he would have on his face that seemed to be just for me.
The opportunity to get to know him came when a colleague invited us all out for lunch at a local café since I was leaving the next day. But Michael declined, saying he had too much work to catch up on as he just came back from annual leave. Without hesitation, I stood up and playfully said, “But you get to have lunch with me?” And just like that, he closed his computer and joined us.
When we got to the café it was crowded and chaotic. I remember feeling extremely overwhelmed being there. I looked around the room and caught Michael’s eyes who shared the same sentiment. All the noise and confusion melted away. In that moment, I felt calm and less alone. It was then, in that little café in Melbourne, I hoped that this wasn’t going to be where this story ends.
The day was coming to an end – so before leaving the office I made sure he knew my Instagram handle. As I was walking back to my hotel room, a notification popped up on my phone that Michael now following me on Instagram. That’s when our love story all began, and we haven’t gone a day without talking ever since.
How did you fall in love? because we began our relationship as a long distance relationship.
Meeral:
We had been getting to know each other virtually for 3.5 months – however, we met as colleagues, and I had no idea how he would be like romantically. I had always had hesitations about getting into a long-distance relationship. I was scared of getting my heart broken. I had another work trip to Melbourne which was when we decided to see if being in each others presence changed anything.
We spent the week exploring the city, trying new foods, and even went for dinner with Michael’s parents within 3 days of being together! It was the first time in my life that I felt truly calm and at peace in someone’s presence. It was then that I realised that love isn’t a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but a sense of peace and contentment that envelops you completely.
As the week came to an end, I knew without a doubt that I was in love with him. It was a feeling I had never experienced before, and I knew that I never wanted to let it go. Our love story had just begun, and I couldn’t wait to see what the future held for us.
Michael: It really didn’t take long for me and it really felt so effortless. Since we first met we haven’t not spoken since – though doing long distance we were forced to get to know each other through our words and it didnt take long for me to feel so in love after understanding Meerals values and who she is a as person. Not to mention the energy, the warmth and heart she has – I couldn’t help but fall in love. We had another chance to spend some time together months later and that really solidified things. Thought I know I had already fallen in love, seeing her and being with her amplified that beyond words.
Michael: I work for the same company (SEEK) as Meeral. The first time I ever saw her was at our Christmas Party during my first year at SEEK and I was extremely curious who she was – definitely blown away by her looks… not to mention she was dressed as Jasmine from Aladdin so, she was looking fine. 6 months later, I had just come back from Thailand and wasn’t going to come into work as it was a Friday. Last minute, I decided to get some work done. I sat at my desk and saw this beautiful person talking my manager, so assumed she was a manager too and thought I’ll probably never speak to her. Next minute she sat just a desk away from me and I couldn’t keep my eyes off her (in a non creepy way.. i hope). I soon remembered she was Jasmine from the Christmas party! She caught me looking and we shared a few looks and shy smiles. I had a mutual friend ask if I wanted to get lunch with her. I said, “no sorry I’ve got so much work to catch up on”. Then Meeral out of nowhere barged forward and confidently said (in front of everyone at work), “But you get to have lunch with me!!”. My jaw dropped and before I knew it i had pretty much shut the computer down and was off to lunch with Meeral ( I had already brought lunch to work that day 😛 )
How did you fall in love? because we began our relationship as a long distance relationship.
Meeral: We had been getting to know each other virtually for 3.5 months – however, we met as colleagues, and I had no idea how he would be like romantically. I had always had hesitations about getting into a long-distance relationship. I was scared of getting my heart broken. I had another work trip to Melbourne which was when we decided to see if being in each others presence changed anything.
We spent the week exploring the city, trying new foods, and even went for dinner with Michael’s parents within 3 days of being together! It was the first time in my life that I felt truly calm and at peace in someone’s presence. It was then that I realised that love isn’t a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but a sense of peace and contentment that envelops you completely.
As the week came to an end, I knew without a doubt that I was in love with him. It was a feeling I had never experienced before, and I knew that I never wanted to let it go. Our love story had just begun, and I couldn’t wait to see what the future held for us.
Michael: It really didn’t take long for me and it really felt so effortless. Since we first met we haven’t not spoken since – though doing long distance we were forced to get to know each other through our words and it didnt take long for me to feel so in love after understanding Meerals values and who she is a as person. Not to mention the energy, the warmth and heart she has – I couldn’t help but fall in love. We had another chance to spend some time together months later and that really solidified things. Thought I know I had already fallen in love, seeing her and being with her amplified that beyond words.
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
Meeral: Before telling my parents about Michael. I knew it would be a difficult task to convince them to accept our relationship, as he was not of Indian background. I knew it would be a significant milestone in our relationship, and one that would test the depth of our commitment. But, as I soon discovered, Michael was fully dedicated to making sure we took the necessary steps to gain the acceptance and respect of my family. With this in mind, we devised a thoughtful plan. We arranged for Michael to initially meet my parents as “just a friend”, recognising that once they had the opportunity to interact with him, they would see the genuine and caring person he truly is. And, when the opportunity presented itself, he did not hesitate to act. Despite having returned home from a late-night gig at 2am, he woke up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight to Auckland, for a brief but meaningful one-hour visit and soon returned to Melbourne. That’s when I felt the confidence to build our beautiful love story by telling my parents about him because I knew he was the one.
Michael: Pretty quickly. As mentioned before from VERY early on I knew there was something very different about the way I felt when being with Meeral. It wasn’t until we met up again where we spent quality time in each others presence I knew for sure. Every day after this she consistently solidified that always putting in the effort for us and myself.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…
Meeral: We wanted it have nature involved in both of our wedding days and the theme of “red” to flow into both weddings as we both wanted a pop of colour – and nothing screams love quite like red, plus its Michael’s favourite colour! We wanted both weddings to connect to each other, so having the same colour scheme and both including fairy-lights really helped to pull the two wedding days together.
Michael: As well as what Meeral said above, another big part for our weddings was to really create weddings that brought the two cultures together.
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
Meeral & Michael: Photography & videography hands down – After months and months of effort gone into planning the two wedding days, the actual days end up disappearing at a blink of light. The one thing you have after all the dust is settled to relive those moments are both the photos and videos from those days. That’s why we were so happy to splurge on this because we to have memories captured that will truly last a lifetime – and we are so happy we did that in the end!
INDIAN WEDDING VENUE Allely Estate, @allelyestate WEDDING VENUE (Western) Glasshouse, @glasshouse.nz PHOTOGRAPHER & VIDEOGRAPHER Le Roex Media, @leroexmedia INDIAN CELEBRANT Vasant Kumur Shukla CELEBRANT (Western) Simon Reed PHOTOBOOTH Memory Go Round, @memorygoround PHOTOBOOTH (Western) Modobooth, @modobooth FLORA & STYLING Stylish Event, @stylishweddingsandevents FLORA (Western) Urban Flowers, @urbanflowers.kingsland INDIAN OUTFITS Custom Made in India SUIT Boss, @boss RINGS Custom made by close family friend in Melbourne GROOM’S SHOES Aquila, @aquila_est1958 BRIDE’S SHOES Bared Footwear, @baredfootwear BRIDAL MAKEUP & HAIR Bridal Beauty NZ, @bridalbeauty_nz BRIDESMAID MAKEUP & HAIR Made Up by Ruth, @madeupbyruth
