Dr Lesina and Tom's engagement comes two years after the pair met on a dating app. Photo / Mo N
Five years after she went looking for love as New Zealand’s first leading lady on The Bachelorette, Dr Lesina Nakhid-Schuster is getting her happy-ever-after!
During a weekend away in a dome tent in Raglan, her partner Tom Brodie popped the question.
“It was an endearing moment,” says Lesina, 37. “We both knew we’d get married, but he’d put so much effort into it – it felt loving and just right.”
Their engagement comes two years after the pair met on a dating app and one year after Lesina told us she had found her “forever person” in Tom, 39, a development manager for an industrial property firm.
Since then, the couple has put their relationship through two tough challenges. First, they travelled together on a six-week jaunt around the Middle East and Egypt.
“We learned we deal with stress differently, so it was a good test,” says Lesina. “I had a big accident in Jordan, where I gashed my head after fainting from the heat, and Tom looked after me.”
Then, when they returned from their travels, they moved in together, with Tom shifting from Christchurch to join her in her Hamilton home.
“We were ready to live together after a year and a half of long distance, but it’s the little things that are hard,” says Lesina. “Figuring out who’s doing the cooking was our biggest domestic challenge.”
Yet Lesina may soon have less time to cook. The ear, nose and throat (ENT) non-training registrar has been accepted into a five-year training programme to become an ENT surgeon. She was studying to get in when Tom proposed.
“She was nervous about her interviews and I wanted to give her the security of knowing that even if she doesn’t get into the programme, I’m going to be with her forever,” Tom says.
Having discussed marriage, Lesina knew a proposal was coming when Tom asked her to get ready for a surprise outing. An awkward 40-minute drive to Raglan followed.
“I was talking about dinosaurs because he was dead silent, which isn’t normal,” laughs Lesina. “It was the nerves. Then we arrived and he was like, ‘Wait in the car for five minutes, then come around the side of the tent.’”
Five minutes later, Lesina wandered around to find a photographer waiting and then Tom, who had changed into a flash outfit, sank to one knee, asking her to marry him.
“His speech was lovely, but he’d forgotten half of it and then the ring got stuck in his pocket,” shares Lesina. “It was cute.”
Tom adds: “She gave me a hug and kiss, but she didn’t say yes. Afterwards, I was like, ‘So that’s a yes, right?!’”
Tom adds that he knew Lesina was “the one” right from the start. He explains: “I was walking back from our first date and just knew I’d found my person. Talking to her was so easy, she got my sense of humour, she’s beautiful and I felt like I could be me in front of her.”
Lesina says: “People always say, ‘When you know, you know,’ and I used to think that was a nice concept, but I wondered if it was real. You don’t believe it until it happens to you!”
And while The Bachelorette is far behind her, the lessons she learnt on TV have enriched her relationship with Tom. Most notably, the couple are able to be more vulnerable. Interestingly, this is a trait that The Bachelorette contestants and fans said Lesina lacked.
“People called me out on that a lot, and it’s something both Tom and I have had to learn,” says Lesina, who shocked viewers when she decided not to pick any of the contestants in the final episode. “There’s lots of talking about feelings and emotions, and trying to be honest and vulnerable with each other, so that we’re in a really healthy relationship. It’s been hard for both of us and is still an evolving process, but since The Bachelorette, I know so much more about relationships.”
Tom reckons that initially being long-distance helped build strong foundations for their relationship. Smiling, Lesina agrees: “It gives you the opportunity to really figure out your person’s personality. It’s not just about physical stuff or immediate gratification. You have to talk and problem-solve. You can’t just hug it out.”
The couple are looking forward to one day starting a family. But, for now, Lesina’s still coming down from the high of getting engaged and making it into her ENT course.
And there’s a wedding to plan! Lesina’s dream nuptials would take place in Aotearoa, incorporating her Trinidadian and Lebanese heritage, as well as Tom’s Samoan and German background.
“There will definitely be something Samoan,” she says. “I want to do a siva [dance] and have Tom do the boy bit.”
“I’m already practising!” grins Tom.