Former Catholic's First Time Fasting For Ramadan

In this episode, we talk about how we've planning our outdoor wedding in the Hunter Valley for the past month. 

It was an extremely chaotic and stressful last few weeks for us in the lead up to our wedding day but it was all so worth it!

We definitely underestimated the amount of prep work and coordination that an outdoor wedding would require.

Jump into this episode now to hear all about how we planned our special day and how it all went down!

Soon after converting to Islam, I had my first experience with the month of Ramadan!

In this episode, we talk about my first time fasting for Ramadan and the challenges I faced during it.

It was all completely new to me, from waking up super early for Suhur to not being able to eat or drink until Iftaar. 

It was definitely a challenge at times but it was also extremely rewarding. I'm glad I got to experience Ramadan so early on in my conversion journey.

Tune in to episode 6 now if you're keen to hear my thoughts on Ramadan.

Straight after our nikkah, I moved in with Zuhair's family. 

In my experience, living with the in-laws has not been as difficult as the movies would have you believe. I've been blessed with amazing in-laws who do so much to help us daily. 

I will admit that the only challenge I've faced is the language barrier. Although Zuhair's family tries to accommodate me by speaking English and I've been (slowly) learning some Urdu, it is not easy trying to keep up with native speakers. 

Overall, living with family has been a great decision for us and our relationship and life goals. I've been able to experience Pakistani culture and delicious food to a greater extent than I would have if we didn't live here.

Check out Episode 4 below.

When we first started discussing marriage and the possibility of conversion, Alex was hesitant and wanted to avoid the topic.

After meeting his family and seeing how they live, this tore down some of the preconceived notions I had (and that a lot of us have towards the 'unknown' or other religions different from their own). 

I was able to open my mind a bit more to Islam and understand some of the beliefs better which ultimately helped my decide to convert to Islam.

Check out Episode 3 below!

How do you approach a proposal when your family doesn’t believe in the concept of engagement?

In this episode we tell you the story of our proposal. It’s a bit of a funny one, with some catfishing and some The Office references involved.

Of course, behind the scenes, there was also work that had to be done to address our families’ concerns that we could have a happy and healthy future together as a mixed race couple.

Zuhair’s strict Muslim family didn’t understand why he needed to plan an elaborate proposal at all, and wanted to skip right to the marriage part. But as a modern mixed race couple, he tried to help them understand why an engagement (and some romance) was important to us.

Jump right into Episode 2 now!

Meeting the parents is always a nerve-wracking time.

But add to that two vastly different cultures and it can be a recipe for disaster.

Marrying outside your culture puts love to the test.

When Zuhair and I started talking about getting married, we knew the next logical step would be meeting each other’s parents. We wanted our families to support our decision and ultimately to get along in the long term.

In early 2021, we planned for me to meet Zuhair’s parents for the first time to all celebrate his birthday together. We turned up to the restaurant (late). I was shaking in my boots as I walked up to the table of seven.

Find out what happened next by listening to Episode 1!

Welcome to the Gup Shup Podcast! 

Hosted by Alex and Zuhair, in this introductory episode we'll tell you a bit about ourselves, our story and what you can expect from this podcast. 

Whether you're in a mixed race relationship or a 'standard' relationship, our podcast will be super relatable for you. 

We hope you will join us along in this journey and we're looking forward to connecting with you all!