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SINGAPORE : The way Vernetta Lopez tells it, when she first talked to Wayne Gladwin, the man who would later ask her to marry him, he fell out of the sky. Quite literally.
"He's a friend of a friend," explained the MediaCorp Radio Class 95FM DJ.
"I was in Segamat in Johor Bahru to film a segment for All Change (the TV makeover series), and I saw this guy parachute and he landed and took off his mask - and it was Wayne!"
Fast forward a little more than six years to 2009, and the two of them are getting ready to head into the "final straight" for their wedding, which will be happening on July 25.
There will be a small lawn ceremony before moving indoors into a hotel ballroom for a party that "will be a blowout", they said.
For the wedding, Lopez will be wearing a gown from Bridal Veil by Michelle Huimin, with a bouquet by Damien Koh of Fleur Connection; while Avenue 8 will be documenting the event on camera.
They plan to head to Los Angeles for their honeymoon, although Lopez said they would have to wait until after National Day because she's co-hosting the parade.
"But two days after that, we're gone," she quipped.
And while some couples may sometimes experience pre-wedding jitters, both Lopez and Gladwin, an IT consultant, say they are really looking forward to the wedding and marriage.
"I'm not nervous or anything," said Gladwin. The 38-year-old Englishman has been living in Singapore for 15 years.
"Good answer!" said Lopez, who turns 36 next week.
"I'm feeling okay - just the usual anticipation for an event thing, you know. Everything's pretty much settled, and once it's all settled, I'll feel ... even more okay!"
Okay then!
Seriously, how did the two of you meet?
VERNETTA LOPEZ: Our friends set us up by lying to us.
WAYNE GLADWIN: Mutual friends who live in New York set us up on email. The guy was telling me that Vernetta thought I was cute and the girl was telling her I thought she was cute. So, the next time they came back to visit, that was the set-up.
VL: The funny thing was that we started talking and ignored the friends who came into town.
How did you know you were "The One" for each other? Was there this bright light with choirs singing?
WG: It was gradual.
VL: You said it was Christmas!
WG: I'm not the kind of guy who throws around the words "I love you" easily. I have to mean it before I can say it. And I remember I told her on Christmas day.
VL: The night before, he said, "I have your present for you in the morning, and it comes in threes."
WG: I don't remember that!
VL: Yes, you did, and I was thinking, like, what could it be? Pendant? Keychain? And in the morning, he said, "Your present is this ...", and he whispered those three words.
WG: Er, but I bought her a real present, too!
VL: Yeah, he got me a very nice watch. That was a special moment because it was a long time after we met.
How did he propose?
VL: It was over Pictionary!
WG: We were playing Pictionary. I had made this pictogram which would read, "Will you marry me", and she had to guess what it was ...
VL: I was like, "Oh, it's 'Will you marry me!' Okay, whose turn is it?" It took me a while to realise ...
Okay, let's talk about how you're going to celebrate your last days as singles.
WG: I'm going to take my friend's yacht and go to Batam. To play golf ... among other things! Like getting drunk, obviously.
Not while on the golf course ...
WG: Of course on the golf course! It's traditional!
VL: My friends and I are going to stay at a nice hotel in Singapore, maybe go pub crawling a bit, but basically just chilling out. We're taking a boat ride, too - down the Singapore River. But no strippers. I don't like strippers ... Actually, I don't mind a female one, just not a male one - that creeps me out.
Vernetta, you run a wedding planning firm. So, is this wedding all your input?
VL: Everything is done 50-50. Wayne has a very good creative streak, so I wanted both of us to be part of the planning process ... He came up with the idea of, like, a champagne brunch style, but for dinner instead. We want people to mingle, not just a sit-down dinner type thing. So, it's very brunch feel, but with a full dinner menu. And loads of champagne.
WG: We've got more champagne than we have guests. And then we have the beers, wines and others ... We have enough booze to sink the Titanic.
VL: We've been thinking of locking the doors so that no one can leave.
You two planning on having kids?
WG: We're still on the fence about this ... We realise that if we want to have kids, we need to do it soon, because we're not getting any younger!
VL: My gynae keeps saying that!
WG: Maybe a few more years ...
VL: ... To squeeze out a few.
WG: We're still a bit nervous about that.
VL: But I don't want to say I want to wait one or two years, because every person we know who's said that, immediately after the wedding - they're pregnant! But one little Wayne and one little Vern would be quite nice!
WG: Maybe two little Waynes ...
VL: Riiight. We should talk about this some more. But the best made plans are the ones you don't make.
- TODAY/il
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