Maira Ansari Reports on Her Wedding Day

By: Tonya Abeln, Photography by Lana Wilson

Published On: December 31, 2011

Maira Ansari, weekend anchor for WAVE 3, reports on the most hard-hitting news affecting our city. On weekdays, she often stands in undesirable weather conditions to bring her viewers the breaking stories of the hour. For her NFocus photo shoot, she found herself in the ornate Louisville Palace surrounded by a team of hair and make-up experts, sharing with good humor the story that changed her life forever – how a personal-trainer-turned-matchmaker, a strategically placed elliptical machine, and an unofficial gym courtship turned this ambitious broadcaster into a gushing bride-to-be.

During our interview, Maira and her fiancé, Justin Miller, took loving jabs at each other in regard to their engagement story—he says he caught her completely off guard and she says she saw it coming—which occurred roughly a year after they first began dating. After a long day at work, Maira tried to cancel her birthday dinner plans for something more low key, but gave in to Justin, who had a driver waiting to take her to Del Friscos, the site of their first date, where the entire back room, filled with roses and just one table, was reserved only for them. After dinner, when Justin placed the box on the table, Maira took the ring (and matters) into her own hands, jumping up and exclaiming, “Yes!” while turning on all the lights in the candlelit room so she could see the ring. She laughs, “Justin is so well spoken and such a great presenter, but I didn’t even give him a chance to say his prepared speech!” According to Justin, he is now saving it for their one-year anniversary. First, however, they look to March 24, a weekend of wedding events that will blend cultures and bring many family members to Louisville – a city where they look forward to spending their lives together – for the first time.

Family is very important to Maira and Justin. Maira was born in Pakistan but grew up in a small town in Illinois. A believer in fate, she notes that her contract had expired at a station in Champaign just as her father had his second open-heart surgery, allowing her to help her mother care for him. A week after he was home from the hospital, Maira learned of an opening at WAVE 3, and in the five years since, she has called Louisville home. Justin was born in Kentucky but grew up in Germany before returning to the Bluegrass to attend college at Western Kentucky University.

Maira and Justin will celebrate their wedding with a traditional Pakistani ceremony, but they attempt to be mindful of both cultures and have called on the expertise of wedding planner Sharon Bell with Memorable Celebrations to help them do so. Maira says it will be as much of a new experience for her as it is for Justin since it will be her family’s first wedding in the US and she must rely largely on her mother to walk her through the traditions. All of the wedding events will take place at the historic Seelbach Hotel, beginning with the Mehndi on Friday evening, a ceremonial application of henna tattoos that includes singing and dancing for the bride.

It is clear that Maira and Justin’s love is rooted in the respect each has for the other’s love of family, friends, and community. Justin was adopted as a child and currently works in foster care research as he pursues his PhD at the University of Louisville and teaches at the School of Social Work at Sullivan University. “It is a blessing that he is such a lover of children and we’ve discussed our desire to foster or adopt in the future,” Maira shared. Likewise, Justin admits, “I was and am attracted to her because she is so caring to other people.” Maira supports many local nonprofits, March of Dimes, Habitat for Humanity, the American Diabetes Association, and The Salvation Army, to name a few. While she often engages in relief efforts for her native Pakistan, Maira says that it is important to her to stay involved in the community where she works and lives. She and Justin look forward to starting work together this year with the local chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America.

The couple enjoys dining out and working out at the gym where they met, but the word “family” is the term most often used by both. Whether they are discussing expanding their new family someday or introducing their visiting families to the sights of Louisville in March, Maira stresses, “I knew I loved him when I saw him treat my parents as his own. He has embraced them and really cares for them and that proves how much he cares for me. I look forward to growing as a daughter to his parents too.”