Real Weddings: Fatima and Jonathan

Fatima Zaidi, the 35-year-old CEO and founder of Quill, a podcast production agency, and CoHost, an analytics product, met Jonathan Rasool, a 40-year-old public servant, through a mutual friend in 2017. By 2020, Jonathan had moved in with Fatima, and in May of 2023, they were engaged. After a Barbados elopement that November, the couple hosted a 50-person destination wedding in Morocco with fire performances and belly dancers in a private villa. Here’s how it all came together.

Jonathan: I first came across Fatima in the summer of 2017, when a picture of her at a pool party popped up on my friend Laura’s Instagram feed, smiling and looking fun and happy. I thought she was very good-looking, so I messaged Laura, half-joking, to ask if she could set me up with Fatima. But Laura said she wasn’t single at the time. I didn’t think much of it, but six months later, in November, Laura messaged me saying that Fatima was single now and that we should meet each other at a holiday party Laura was hosting.

Fatima: I was going through a fresh breakup at this point, so I was just looking to date and have fun. Laura sent me Jonathan’s Instagram profile, and I thought he was cute. So I agreed to be set up with him. Laura gave Jonathan my phone number, and we texted back and forth for a few days before the party.

Jonathan: Our text conversations flowed pretty effortlessly. We covered a lot of ground over text, like our goals, career aspirations and travel bucket lists. By the time we met, it felt like we knew each other. At the party, one of the first questions I asked Fatima in person was “If you had the chance to go to space, would you go?”

Fatima: I thought that was so weird because it’s something I ask people all the time. I responded, “Absolutely. Would you go?” He said he would too. Most people say no, but I feel like a person’s response reveals so much about their spirit of adventure and curiosity. Immediately, we connected over our fascination with space.

Jonathan: Laura has a dog, and Fatima and I both love animals, so we bonded over that too. We were both feeding the dog under the table and laughing about it.

Fatima: I left the party around midnight. Jonathan texted me shortly afterward, saying he was heading home too. He ended up calling me when he got back, and we stayed on the phone until 4 a.m. talking. That’s a big deal for us—we both usually go to bed at 9 p.m.

Jonathan: Laura’s holiday dinner was on a Saturday. We had planned a date for Wednesday, but then Fatima messaged me saying she didn’t want to wait until then. So we moved our date up to Monday. We went ice skating at Nathan Phillips Square and then to Hemingway’s for drinks. We shared our first kiss then too.

Fatima: We saw each other twice more that first week and started regularly going on dates three or four times a week. We went to the Science Centre and to jazz night at the Old Mill. He met my sister the second week we were dating, and I met his family pretty early on too.

Jonathan: We covered a lot of the big topics very quickly, like our religious and political standpoints. We are both liberals, and we care deeply about the greater good. Neither of us is religious. We both wanted children but didn’t care as much about marriage. We talked about the obvious stuff too, like work and where we’re from. I was born and raised in Toronto.

Fatima: I grew up in Oman and moved to Canada for university in 2007.

Jonathan: In our second month of dating, Fatima asked if I wanted to be her plus one at her friend’s wedding in Thailand.

Fatima: That was a moment when we had to decide: Is this a casual thing or is this serious? It was my best friend’s wedding, and I was the maid of honour. I wanted Jonathan to be there, and he wanted to come.

Jonathan: When I met Fatima, I was living in an apartment at Christie and Davenport. A year and a half after we started dating, in July of 2020, we decided to move in together.

Fatima: I was living in a three-bedroom condo at Bay and Wellesley with my sister and a roommate.

Jonathan: I actually swapped places with Fatima’s roommate: she took my old place, and I moved into the condo with Fatima and her sister.

Fatima: We got a cat the same day Jonathan moved in. His name is Charlie, and he’s our baby.

Jonathan: I know it’s just a cat, but it showed us how we would be as parents together. The fact that Charlie was the centre of Fatima’s universe and she was always thinking about him and putting him first showed me she would be a good mother.

Fatima: A year later, in 2021, we bought a house together at St. Clair and Christie. It was an economic decision—we didn’t want to rent indefinitely—and it meant more space for our cats. Our families were also thrilled: it meant they were one step closer to grandkids.

Jonathan: Fatima’s sister still lives with us. We all pooled our money together because, well, Toronto real estate. We also got our second rescue cat, Jasmine.

Fatima: After buying our house together, Jonathan and I started to talk about our next steps. We both viewed being married as something that would just be on a piece of paper. What mattered more was living together and starting a family. However, my parents are definitely old-school. I knew it was important to them that we get married before having kids.

Jonathan: Initially, I didn’t care about labelling our relationship with marriage. But we both knew how important it would be to Fatima’s parents. So, by the spring of 2023, I was getting ready to propose. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I asked her sister what kind of ring Fatima would like. With her help, I got a simple square-cut diamond ring. I measured Fatima’s finger while she was sleeping.

Fatima: In May of 2023, we planned to go to Wales on a trip with one of my close friends and her husband.

Jonathan: I figured that would be a good time to do it. I told our friends what I was planning but that I didn’t know exactly where I wanted to propose. Fatima and I both love being in nature, so I knew it would happen at a scenic spot outside.

Fatima: A few days into the trip, we went for a hike around a lake in Snowdonia, surrounded by rolling green mountains. It was beautiful, and there was no one else around. At one point, Jonathan saw this big boulder a couple of feet into the water and climbed up on it. I decided to join him.

Jonathan: I didn’t think she was going to come because she had to walk in the water and get her legs all wet. But once Fatima was up on the boulder, I realized it was the perfect time to pop the question.

Fatima: I was joking about the lengths that we go to get the perfect, beautiful backdrop for an Instagram picture. Then Jonathan said, “Promise we’ll do this for the rest of our lives?” Then he got down on one knee and proposed. I was totally shocked. I had no idea. But I was so happy, and I said yes.

Jonathan: We wanted to do a destination wedding and figured it’d just be a celebration for our guests as opposed to a legal ceremony. We were still deciding where to do it when we booked a trip to Barbados that November with two friends. A few weeks before we left, I said to Fatima, “Why don’t we just get married there?”

Fatima: We got a reverend to come down to the beach with us, and our friends were our witnesses.

Jonathan: It was a really special, intimate experience. It was nice to have that moment together with just us and our two friends.

Fatima: We started planning our wedding reception as soon as we got back home from Barbados. We wanted it to be a unique travel experience for our guests, somewhere between Canada, where Jonathan grew up, and the Middle East, where I’m from. Around that time, I went to a charity dinner where I met someone who had just returned from a friend’s destination wedding in Morocco. She introduced me to the couple, and they connected me with their wedding planner, Raquel Niddam, a French Canadian who lives in Morocco and runs Beyond Events. I absolutely loved her. She sold me on having our wedding in Morocco. Raquel understood our vision immediately.

Jonathan: I was happy to do absolutely nothing for the wedding and let Fatima take the lead.

Related: Inside a three-part celebration that took place in Nigeria, Brampton and Mexico

Fatima: We wanted the reception to feel light-hearted and not overly planned. I didn’t care about the flowers and place settings—I just wanted to have fun. And I wanted it to be classy. We did make some of the big decisions, like the venue, Dar Imane Villa near Marrakesh. It’s a huge historic estate on 400 acres, where our 50 guests could stay overnight.

Related: Inside a destination ceremony at an Irish castle

Jonathan: I was just excited to explore a different country with 50 of our friends and family. I didn’t have many expectations for the reception itself.

Fatima: Finding my dress was really easy. I knew I’d never wear it again, so I just decided to rent one. I went to the Fitzroy with my sister and tried on five dresses. I immediately knew which one was the winner: a Cynthia Rowley tulle gown and veil. Then I bought Badgley Mischka heels to go with it.

Jonathan: I spent a little longer figuring out what I was going to wear. Since we were in the desert, I would be too hot in a full suit. Fatima really likes white, so I tried to go all white at first. But then I showed her a picture of what I wanted to wear and she totally kiboshed it.

Fatima: He had a white shirt, white gloves, white belt. I was like, “This is a hard no. You look like Ted Bundy. Or a pantomime.”

Jonathan: After that, I decided to keep things more simple. Fatima really likes bow ties and suspenders, so I got those and wore a white shirt, black pants and black shoes.

Jonathan: I gave Fatima the idea of doing a poster or something that said, “Welcome to Fatima’s wedding, featuring Jonathan.” I saw it on Instagram and thought it would be funny. The planner ended up making it into a giant mirror at the entrance, where everyone was taking group pictures together.

Fatima: We decided to do a traditional Moroccan entrance to the wedding, where I’d be carried in on an amaria, a platform with a roof, and Jonathan would lead the walk. I thought it was a nice way to embrace a Moroccan tradition. It was pretty epic. I felt so regal and royal.

Jonathan: We decided not to do a ceremony with vows or an officiant or anything like that. One of Fatima’s childhood friends said a few words, then we went straight into the cocktail hour, which was outside by the pool.

Fatima: We all arrived a week before the wedding to do some fun activities in Morocco. We visited souks, went quad biking and ATVing, rode camels, and had dinner and a party in the desert under the stars.

Jonathan: The morning of the wedding, I went golfing with a bunch of the guys while Fatima and the girls went to a salon to get ready.

Fatima: After getting our hair and makeup done, we came back to the villa, and everyone was hanging out in my room, drinking champagne and taking photos as we got ready.

Fatima: I wanted to eliminate all the things that people hate about weddings, like long ceremonies and group photos. We skipped the three hours of group photos nobody enjoys and just did quick candid shots instead.

Jonathan: Dinner was set up outside in a courtyard. Our chef was Aniss Meski, who is from Mouton Noir—a famous restaurant in Marrakesh. We served four courses: endive salad, chicken-stuffed cabbage leaves or roasted broccoli soup, beef tenderloin or truffle polenta, and a roasted apple dessert. The food was incredible. I’m a picky eater, and I like to think I’m modest, but that was the best wedding meal I’d ever had.

Fatima: Local belly dancers and fire dancers performed during dinner, before we surprised our guests with a choreographed first dance to “Shots” by LMFAO. Then the dance floor opened up for our guests. We didn’t want to stay up too late since eight of us were flying out to Paris the next day. So, at 11:30 p.m., we had McDonald’s Happy Meals delivered for everyone as a late-night snack, and the party ended at 1 a.m. We figured a few days of strolling around Paris would be a nice way to recover from the week-long wedding before heading back to Toronto.

Jonathan: Fatima and I had planned our honeymoon to be three weeks in Galapagos in December.

Fatima: But then I found out that I was pregnant. We’re going to have a June baby. It’s been a rough first trimester so far, so I’ll see how I feel leading up to the trip. We might postpone it. Now that we know we’re having a baby, we’re planning to move into a bigger place. We’ve already started looking at houses. My sister will be moving with us too. We’re a package deal.

Jonathan: Moving is always a hassle, but it’ll be nice to have a bigger place when we have one more roommate to share it with.

Cheat Sheet

Date: September 26, 2024 Photography and videography: Beyond Events Wedding planner: Raquel Niddam, Beyond Events Wedding venue: Dar Imane Villa, Marrakesh Decor: Beyond Events Food and dessert: Aniss Meski, Mouton Noir Late-night snack: McDonald’s Entertainment and DJ: Beyond Events Guest favours: Donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation Wedding dress: Cynthia Rowley, The Fitzroy