Bride: Vanessa Freeman, TV Host/Producer
Groom: Hakim Sabur, Entrepreneur
Married On: May 3, 2013
Wedding Location: The Venetian, Garfield, NJ
Wedding Style: Hollywood Movie Premiere Theme
Love At First Sight
Ladies, you don’t have to go out of your way to meet the man of your dreams. Vanessa met her soul mate on a regular work day. She and Hakim only had to glance at one other at the beginning of a meeting and sparks between them immediately began to fly. When Vanessa, who was traveling on business at the time, excused herself to freshen up before the meeting began, Hakim’s colleague pointed out the obvious – they’d already connected. “He pulled me to the side and asked me when he should get his tux ready,” Hakim recalls. “Deep down inside I knew he was right. After the meeting, I asked Vanessa to have lunch with me before she got back on the road. It was love at first sight for both of us.”
The Next Step
It was a warm summer Friday, and Vanessa found herself rushing home from work to meet Hakim in time to make their dinner reservations. He had insisted she be on time that night, and she was already quite famished, so she walked in the door ready to run right back out to the restaurant. Hakim stopped her, told her to sit down and said they “needed to talk.” Confused by his seemingly solemn demeanor, Vanessa’s heart sank as she took a seat. Hakim explained that he was “done” and that “it’s just not enough being her boyfriend.” She thought he was breaking up with her out of nowhere, but Hakim had something entirely different planned for her.
He reached to put on his shoes and pulled out a Cracker Jack ring instead. “We can’t keep going on like this because it’s time for us to evolve,” he told her. Hakim had always joked with Vanessa about wanting to propose with a Cracker Jack ring, but she couldn’t believe he was actually doing it. Moved by his romantic gesture, Vanessa thought perhaps her real ring was coming later, so she happily accepted his proposal. Wrong again. Hakim reached into his other shoe and pulled out her diamond engagement ring. Vanessa was on cloud nine! She was, of course, way too excited to even think about eating dinner after that, so instead they sat at the table smiling at each other as Vanessa stared back and forth at her ring all night.
You won’t want to miss their lavish New Jersey “I dos.” (Lauryn Hill was a guest and a performer.) Share their love and see the pretty pics!