From a Camp Meeting to Instagram & Forever! You’ll Enjoy Oluwapelumi and Ireoluwa’s Love Story

BNW August 17, 20220 Comments

It’s so beautiful how something so lasting and permanent can spring up from something as simple as a “hello”. Love happens in its own way and time and this is one of the many beautiful features that it possesses.

Oluwapelumi and Ireoluwa met at a camp meeting through a mutual friend. If you guessed that we’d take a break here to shout out to friends who connect their friends to each other, you’re absolutely right! Friends who play Cupid are our favourites. 😅 But we digress…

Oluwapelumi and Ireoluwa reconnected on Instagram after their initial meeting and a seed was definitely established. That seed has now germinated into a full garden of love and we’re super excited for the lovebirds. Their pre-wedding photos will have you drooling. And we bet you want to get the full gist of how this love came to be. Keep scrolling to find out!

Enjoy their pre-wedding shoot and love story below.

Their love story as shared by Ireoluwa:

I met the woman of my dreams in 2014 at a camp meeting. Before that time, a mutual friend has been speaking so graciously about her to me. When we met, we exchanged pleasantries briefly. After that time, we didn’t get in touch or exchange contacts but our mutual friend didn’t stop speaking about her to me. Fast forward to 2020. I was in the UK and was seriously considering a relationship. I had visited Buckingham Palace a few days before and posted it on my Instagram. I think the following day I got a reaction and a message from her to my post. Her face was really familiar and she also had some mutual connections. My curiosity began. I spent a long time investigating the profile and all her posts. There weren’t many and it made me more curious. I asked myself “Why will this fine girl not be posting often?”. I wanted to see more of her pictures but I didn’t get it until much later. We started chatting and it felt like she was a friend that I had lost contact with for a long time and we miraculously reconnected. The conversation was really open and sincere. After messaging for a while, I asked for her number because I wanted to have it and WhatsApp was quite easier for me for sustained conversations. We eventually agreed on a time to speak and we eventually did so for 5 hours. It was the most beautiful and interesting conversation. I didn’t know how we managed to speak for that long but we did and that was the beginning of several conversations of mixed durations.

As we spoke, the beauty of her personality became more radiant in my heart and I was careful not to build castles in my head or raise my expectations as it was just the first contact. I knew it was necessary to give things time, even though I was interested in being in a serious relationship after my Master’s. As we spoke, I prayed to God to guide me. Out of my utmost respect for her, I didn’t want to ask her out without any clarity of desire. I wanted to pursue a relationship with God’s blessings and consent. The more the engagement continued, the more I felt that there was more to this fine babe to me and I wanted more. One of our discussions led me to introduce her to my spiritual father. A few days later, I called him to check up on their discussions, he spoke highly of her and told me that she was a great woman. I took it seriously and knew that I had to cherish the relationship whether it led to marriage or not. I was determined not to let her go. I became much more interested in knowing if there was more to our friendship than what I was seeing and used the medium of prayers, study, and meditation to check my thoughts. At some point, I couldn’t deal with the overwhelming feeling that I had and was careful not to destroy what we had by any chance.

One gracious evening in my apartment, I decided to be certain of my feelings and alignment with God’s word as I knew that marriage was really important to me and a big step I had to be deliberate about. I wanted to date intentionally. I sat in the living room, switched on the TV, began to play some of my favourite worship songs, and began to pray and ask God for his direction and definite answer about her. My key marriage story is that of Isaac and Rebecca described in Genesis 24. Rarely and importantly, God answers me when I pray by granting me an answer of peace, I find myself engulfed with his presence and a strange aura of peace fills my entire being. That night, I had this experience and knew that the answer was on its way. One afternoon, I was discussing with her and like a eureka moment, it became crystal clear that she was the person I’ve been praying for. I spoke to a few friends and my pastor about it and they joined me in prayers and encouraged me to follow after my conviction. A few months later, I asked her out and she gladly said YES! I was super delighted to be in a relationship again after some disappointing experiences. I was filled with joy, gratitude, and awe of God’s faithfulness to me. As expected, we had disagreements but we did resolve them amicably, most times on the same day. We also had personal challenges that we had to support and stand by each other. I remember while I was working after graduation, she’d stay awake for me till I returned from the night shift and we’d speak before going to bed. I saw her sacrificial nature through this experience. I felt so loved. I grew to appreciate her authenticity and sincerity in her dealing with me, especially reading stories on social media and other people’s experiences. We didn’t fail to pray together. Also, our shared vision for a home and family helped us in these moments.

Later, I asked to be introduced to her family and express my intentions to make our relationship lead to marriage. They gave their support and desired to know me more as well. Fast forward, she home where I proposed to marry her. It was a very intimate moment that I would never forget. As I hugged her and held her tight, tears began to roll down my eyes. I was really overwhelmed by everything that’s happened up till that point. She also began to pray for me which I cherish so much that it brings chills down my body when I remember it. To summarise, it has been an exciting journey to this point. Babe is a gift to me and I treasure her so much and have strong faith in our future. Prayers, faith in God, mentorship and continued open conversation have played a huge role in our journey. I bless God for everything and cherish the opportunity to build a godly home centred on Christ the solid rock with her. We can’t wait for the bright future awaiting us. We can’t wait to celebrate our union in grand style.

Their love story as shared by Oluwapelumi:

Gosh! This is surreal! All I can say is we are making a beautiful picture and I am at peace with the process. My friend was always talking about Ire and his brother and was always congratulating them on their birthdays. It was fascinating as I felt the twin brothers looked different but I wasn’t really interested and just saw them as a friend to my friend. In 2014, I met my friend and Ire by coincidence in a camp meeting while they were talking. She introduced him to me and we only said “Hi” to each other. I remember he was wearing native attire and I felt that he talked a lot. Well, I ignored that and patiently waited for his long chit-chat with my friend to end as we were expected to lodge together for the night. We didn’t connect after that time, though, our mutual friend still spoke often about him. In 2020, I was going through Instagram and his picture popped up. I decided to check his profile but I wasn’t sure if he was the same person I met in camp and said “Hi” to in 2014, so I decided to put a comment on his story after checking out his profile. I felt that he was a good-looking dude and a reasonable person. For reasons I am not aware of, I commented and asked a silly question “When will you come over?”. He replied to me and it was quite an awkward chat – I wanted to end the conversation right away but he didn’t stop messaging. I went along with the flow and continued with the chat. We exchanged numbers and talked and talked and it felt like I’d known him forever. It’s surprising how a simple “hello” leads to “I do” a little while from now. Overall, I feel grateful to God for our journey, and the excitement and new experiences being married to my own man will bring into our lives. I cherish the blessings of God that we see and will experience in our future.