OUR BEAUTIFUL ARRANGED WEDDING

Oneyear on, these newlyweds couldn’t be happier

Most love stories start with a couple locking eyes across a room or a flirty first date, but for Auckland newlyweds Harmeek Singh and Sukhpreet Kaur, it began with a proposal.

Despite spending just a few hours in each other’s company before getting hitched in February last year, the pair tell

Woman’sDay they couldn’t be happier one year on.

The couple, who both grew up in Punjab, India, are part of the second season of Three’s popular reality show

Arranged, which lifts the veil on arranged marriages.

Radio DJ Harmeek, 29, recalls, “I saw Sukhpreet for the first time when I was singing at a community event and she was there with her family. She stood out because she was looking glamorous in a Punjabi outfit.”

Beautician Sukhpreet, 26, remembers thinking that Harmeek was a good singer and thanks to the whispers of her friends, she knew he was a good guy. A year and a half later, the singles started talking.

It was Harmeek’s sister Inderpreet, a good friend of his future wife, who got the ball rolling on the possibility of a partnership between the two.

Sukhpreet tells, “Harmeek’s sister talked a lot about her brother. She said I was a really nice girl and that they wanted a nice girl for him. She’d said she wanted me to be her sister-in-law, which felt nice.”

Inderpreet was in charge of finding a wife for Harmeek after their parents tragically died in a 2014 car crash in India and after six months of searching, she approached her brother about a special girl he might like.

“My sister had the responsibility of finding me a good wife and I knew any girl would have to be approved by her,” recalls Harmeek, who was focused on his budding singing career as well as his work for Auckland’s Punjabi station Radio Spice.

“She started telling me about Sukhpreet and how she’d be a good wife to any Indian boy. After that, our families decided we’d be a good match to each other.”

From there, the pair went on their first dinner outing with their families in tow, followed by two unaccompanied lunch and shopping dates.

A few months after they first spoke, Harmeek proposed and the couple excitedly awaited their wedding day as they lived their separate lives.

“Harmeek is a popular person and my uncle is also very famous in the Punjabi community, so I’d become very well-known too,” explains Sukhpreet, who manages her aunt’s laser beauty clinic.

“Everyone was excited to see us get together because they knew who we were and said we are perfect for each other. We’re both talkative, social and love to make friends.”

Bride and joy

Dressed in a vibrant pink and peach wedding sari adorned with sparkling jewellery, Sukhpreet married Harmeek in India before three days of celebrations.

“It was a very big day of our lives and very good, even though I was tired because I couldn’t sleep the night before,” Sukhpreet tells. “I was thinking too much about the attention I’d be getting and what I’d look like.”

Laughing, the aspiring clothing designer says it was more exciting than daunting moving in with her new husband after their wedding, despite the fact she’d never had a boyfriend. “Harmeek’s a good partner and never forced me with anything,” she tells. “Before the wedding, we’d talked and it was easy anyway.”

Now, with plans to start a family next year, the content couple say the key to their successful relationship has been shared values and open communication.

However, Sukhpreet says there’s one thing that is missing from their relationship.

“If I could have one wish, it’d be that Harmeek’s parents were here to share our happiness,” she tells.

Yet Harmeek is certain his late mother and father would be very happy with where he is in life now. “My mother always wanted me to go out, perform and to have a nice wife, and what I’ve achieved today is all because of their guidance,” he explains.

“Sukhpreet is a brilliant girl – she’s beautiful, intelligent, and has family and cultural values. My parents would be very happy to have her in our family.”