When you meet the love of your life but you just didn’t know it at the time. That’s the love story of Godfrey and Perasanya – a genuine couple from Ontario, Canada. Many of you out there can relate to Godfrey and Perasanya’s love story – hence why we got the chance to know more about how the couple met, their wedding planning, meeting the parents, and so much more.
Glancing through their stunning wedding images made us realize how lucky we are as a culture to have traditions and families to keep us moving from one milestone to the next. You witness a groom tear up, a mother at her happiest and saddest moments, and friends/family who are surrounding you on stage to watch your husband tie the thali.
All love stories start somewhere – read below to find out how this one started!
How They Met
Godfrey and I (Perasanya) met about 10 years ago through mutual friends, however it wasn’t until eight months later that we actually started dating. If you ask Godfrey, he’ll tell you that he liked me from the very beginning and was just bidding his time. However, I naively thought we were just great friends. Shortly after we met, I began my first year at the University of Waterloo, and he was returning to UOIT in Oshawa for his second year. You would think the distance alone would put a damper on things in terms of our “friendship”. Lucky for me, Godfrey must have really liked me because he made sure we talked almost every day. Whether it be on MSN (remember those days?!), text messages, and even phone calls – I’d hear from him quite often. That probably should have clued me in to how he really felt. But it wasn’t until about three or four months later when he made sure to call me at midnight for my birthday (and even Christmas) that I got an inkling that something more might be going on here.
About a day or two after I moved back home from Waterloo for the summer, Godfrey came to see me with a cake. Quite often, when we’d be on the phone bantering about something and Godfrey would be quick to use the phrase “you can’t have your cake and eat it too”. In his usual witty manner, he decided to ask me out with a cake (he actually wrote “Will you be my girlfriend?” on the cake) and told me this was the one time he’d let me have my cake and eat it too.
Meeting The Parents
We both have great relationships with each of our respective in-laws today; however, it was probably a little easier for me than it was for Godfrey. The first time I met Godfrey’s parents, it was actually a mini ambush. We had only been dating for a couple months at the time, and didn’t want to get the parents involved yet. I remember Godfrey was driving and had to get something from his house and so he quickly pulled up on his driveway. I assumed his parents weren’t home, but decided to stay in the car anyway. Before Godfrey could even get out of the car, his mom (who actually had a facemask on) came running out of the house saying “Kutty come inside!!!”. She wanted to make sure she could meet me before Godfrey could run off without introducing me. Looking back, it was actually pretty funny, but at the time I was so unbelievably nervous – but I also had to laugh at how sweet and eager she was to meet me that she didn’t even care that she came out with a face mask on. Both his parents were extremely kind and sweet, they just seemed really happy to meet me since Godfrey was very tight-lipped about our relationship at home.
Although my parents knew about our relationship early on, they didn’t actually meet Godfrey until three years into our relationship. It was important to Godfrey that he graduate and have a career plan before meeting them, so we waited. My parents were also warm and welcoming when Godfrey first came over, however my Dad didn’t hold back and asked Godfrey a bunch of serious questions. One of the questions was “Why do you love my daughter?” – yeah, he went there. Poor Godfrey – he was extremely nervous, but he answered all of my dad’s questions, and they have a great relationship today. He’s probably even their favourite child.
Godfrey and Perasanya’s Background
We’re both Sri Lankan – Tamil descent, however our parents are first generation immigrants to Canada and neither of us were born in Sri Lanka. Godfrey was born in Switzerland, hence his Deutsch name (I even ID’d him the first day I met him) and for those of you who are wondering- yes he is Hindu – he just doesn’t have a traditional Tamil name. My parents lived in Germany where my brother was born, however they moved to Canada a few months before I was born.
While at the University of Waterloo, I pursued my bachelor degree in Accounting and Financial Management and then went on to obtain my Master of Accounting degree as well. I recently completed the CPA process and am currently working as a Senior Financial Analyst at the Hospital for Sick Children. Godfrey actually transferred to the University of Waterloo shortly after asking me out and completed his BA in Political Science before attending law school. He is now a lawyer focusing on personal injury, criminal law, and employment law. He also recently started up his own law firm; GB Law – www.gblaw.info.
Wedding Planning
Our wedding was in June of 2015, and at the time I was only 25 and Godfrey was 26, which seemed a bit young to be getting married. However, we had been together for 7 years at that point and didn’t really see a reason not to get married.
We started planning the wedding about a year and half prior to the wedding date – and the very first thing we did was hire Abi Jegan of Geetham’s Events as our wedding planner. Abi was a godsend for us and the best decision we ever made. From managing vendors to even keeping our parents happy, Abi was able to do it all! After that, we quickly moved on to booking our venues; Grand Empire Banquet Hall in Brampton for our wedding ceremony and Apollo Convention Centre in Mississauga for our wedding reception. Next, we started meeting with photographers and videographers trying to find vendors we believed would capture all the happy and important moments of our wedding. After our meeting with Annuj & Tanya of Impressions by Annuj, we knew immediately we wanted them to shoot our wedding – and they have also since become great friends of ours. Annuj has even won numerous awards and accolades for an amazing picture he took at our wedding ceremony! Soon after, I met with Prashanna of P-Your Vision, and I knew I wanted him as our videographer. We haven’t regretted either decision since. They are both amazing teams with so much talent and personality – and so much fun to work with!
We took our time deciding on the finer details. We were lucky to work with both Dream Decor (for our wedding) and Geetham’s Event Decor (for our reception) to create beautiful masterpieces for both events. When it came to choosing sarees, I actually wasn’t present there to pick them. My parents had made a trip to Sri Lanka for my cousin’s wedding and decided to stop in India on the way back to do some shopping for the wedding. Due to scheduling conflicts at work, I wasn’t able to go with them. While in India, my mom would FaceTime me from the different stores she was shopping at and show me different sarees. But how much can you really tell from a video call with poor service and grainy images? Luckily, I’m not too picky (at least I don’t think I am) so my mom was able to purchase both my saress in addition to a hundred others for our family and herself. When my parents came back home, I was happy with my mom’s choices. Then my mom showed me another kanchipuram saree she had bought for herself to wear one day in the future – and I fell in love with that one instead. Being the awesome mom that she is, my mom was happy to give me that one as my manavarai saree!
Everything else fell into place quite easily, especially having Abi lead the planning which she made unbelievably helpful. Godfrey was busy with law school for most of the wedding planning, but he did make an effort wherever he could to help make decisions. Even though Godfrey wasn’t there to help all the time, I was more than okay with the help of my cousins. My two cousins, Neluja and Dil, were basically my back-up planners; they were there to help me with everything and anything, in fact I think Dil was more stressed then I was. She would call me with a bunch of questions about all the last minute details that I really hadn’t even thought about, and then get worked up that I hadn’t considered any of it yet.
Wedding Day
I don’t believe there were many glitches the day of our wedding. I remember my makeup artist Rajany of Simple Beauty arrived thirty minutes later than she said she would. I later realized she gives brides an earlier time to make sure they’re good to go once she gets there (very clever of her). Even then I wasn’t too stressed about it; I think I was just really happy that I’d be marrying Godfrey that day – as corny as it sounds. Everything was running like clockwork, except for a little hiccup with the bridesmaids MUAH, but that was quickly rectified when Makeup By Kajitha, who was getting my cousins ready, was able to come save the day. As usual, the groom doesn’t have much prep in terms of getting ready so Godfrey had no excuse to be late – and he wasn’t.
My favourite moment of the wedding, and based on Godfrey’s reaction, was my second entrance with my parents as I was wearing my koorai saree. I remember everyone was looking at me walking down the aisle, but I was looking at Godfrey and I saw him wipe a tear away. Saying I was surprised is an understatement! Godfrey is not an emotional person, and I’ve never seen him cry. When I asked him later about the tears, he said that it hit him at that moment that he was actually going to marry me – and Annuj being the incredibly talented photographer that he is, caught the moment perfectly on film.
The ceremony itself went by in a flash, if you don’t count the 600 guests we had to take family photos with – but it had to be done to keep the parents happy. Our reception was basically just a big party. We limited the speeches to four and only had one dance performance which we joined in on at the end – and then it was straight to the dance floor! It was such a fun night from beginning to end and the party continued at the hotel we were all staying at that night. Just writing about it is making me miss it all over again!
Life After the Wedding
As mentioned earlier, we were both fairly young when we first got married, and we’ve lived on our own from the very beginning. Since we lived on campus while attending University, we did have some experience fending for ourselves, but it is still a much different experience. Back then, our parents still supported us financially, we’d go home every weekend, our moms would cook and pack meals for us, etc. Having said that, our parents and still are a great help to us after our wedding. They’d still try to send us meals and buy us groceries, but at some point you just have to grow up. I never used to cook before our wedding – that quickly changed. I wouldn’t say I cook everyday now but if someone’s cooking at our house, it’s usually me. Not to say Godfrey just lazes around and watches me slave over the stove all the time. He does help when he can, but starting a new business is quite time consuming in itself. He’s been swamped with work since opening up his own law firm and I’m more than happy to take over in the kitchen so he can focus on work (this setup keeps our kitchen a lot more clean as well).
Another aspect that was new to us was being completely financially independent. Although we had already been covering our own expenses, there’s nothing like facing reality as an adult until you’re talking rent payments, insurance agreements, utility bills, and so much more. We quickly learned to handle it all, and have been fortunate enough to have our parents there to guide us, but we’re still learning every day. Since getting married, we’ve spent as much time as we can travelling. All of our friends with children have constantly told us to travel as much as we can before we have children, so that’s what we’re doing. One trip I’m hoping to plan in the near future is a visit to Sri Lanka. I was able to travel there 7 years ago but Godfrey hasn’t had a chance since he was two years old; so he doesn’t remember much about it. I’m hoping we can change that soon!
WEDDING HIGHLIGHTS
RECEPTION HIGHLIGHTS
Images by Impressions By Annuj (http://www.impressionsbyannuj.com/)
Featured Vendors
Geethams Event Decor Inc: http://geethamseventdecor.com/
Apollo Convention Centre: http://apolloconventioncentre.com/
Grand Empire Banquet Hall: http://grandempirebanquet.ca/
Impressions By Annuj: http://www.impressionsbyannuj.com/
P-Your Vision: http://www.p-yourvision.com/
Simple Beauty: https://www.instagram.com/simplebeautybyrajany/?hl=en
Makeup By Kajitha: https://www.facebook.com/MakeUpByKajitha/
Tie • The • Thali would like to thank Perasanya for sharing her story and wedding planning with our readers. We wish the lovely couple a happy married life! We would also like to thank Annuj from Impressions by Annuj for providing stunning images of this special day to be incorporated on our website.