It was Olivia’s beautiful eyes that captivated Jaspal Singh back in 2013 when they first met. He was working in a service station in Kempsey and she was studying midwifery at uni. Fast forward to 2018 and he now owns the service station, married that girl with the beautiful eyes and celebrated the birth of their son.
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“Our love story began that day [at the service station],” Olivia said.
The pair didn’t waste any time getting to know each other, and in 2015, during a holiday to Bali Jaspal proposed.
“He had the waiter put my ring in a teacup and delivered to the table. It was beautiful and very romantic – and of course I said yes!” Olivia said.
The couple were married at Sails Resort in Port Macquarie on June 2, 2018.
A local girl, Olivia, then Henderson-Brown, grew up on a banana plantation farm on Yarrahapinni mountain, near Stuarts Point. Jaspal grew up in India, in a country town called Lang in the state of Punjab and had moved to Australia in 2009.
To celebrate their diverse backgrounds, Olivia said she was determined to have a mixed cultural wedding, which was no small feat.
“Bringing two cultures together and making everyone happy with the end result seemed like a massive task, but the plans went so smoothly and without a hiccup,” Olivia said.
“We asked our guests to wear traditional Punjabi clothing. For the women, it would be a Lehanga or a Salwar Kameeze, and for the men, well, they just wore a normal Aussie suit.
“Everyone looked amazing,” Olivia said.
For their big day, Jaspal wore a traditional Sherwani wedding suit and Olivia wore a bridal Lehanga in the traditional Punjabi colours of red and maroon.
Olivia’s family also embraced the Punjabi wedding traditions – Olivia’s favourite was where the bride’s sister would meet the groom at the door of the wedding location, she would then ask the groom to give her money and gifts if he wanted to marry her sister.
“This is all about having fun and wasn’t seen as serious, it’s a moment to tease her future brother-in-law,” Olivia said.
“My sister Harmonie was able to get Jaspal to hand over his full wallet and was gifted a gold ring.
“Jaspal then cut a ribbon and was fed sweets. He was then able to enter and have permission to marry me,” Olivia said.
Jaspal and Olivia also had a Punjabi DJ and traditional Dholli drummer attend the reception.
“They travelled all the way from Sydney and absolutely wowed everyone. The music was Punjabi music and all the guests had an amazing night getting their Bollywood on, [and enjoying] the dance floor,” Olivia said.
“I have had everyone tell me it was the best wedding they have been to – the night was full of colour, love and laughter. They want us to get married again just so they can re live that night.”
Jaspal not only fell in love with Olivia, but also embraced a life as stepdad to her children, Baligh and Harley from a previous relationship.
Baligh is chronically ill with Cystic Fibrosis, and due to hospital admissions and taking time off work to care for him, the couple have postponed their plans for a honeymoon.
“At this time we were unable to go away on a honeymoon. We do however plan to go away to Fiji for our one year anniversary,” Olivia said.
The couple also shared their big day with their 3½ year old son Dileep, who they affectionately call their little Indian prince.