How We Met
Andre and I graduated from the same school (Howard University) and are both West Indian. Although we’re some years apart in age, we have many of the same friends. Andre is also a DJ, so we partied in the same circles.
Our first encounter was one night, in 2011, at a club. I was standing outside looking for my girl friend, who is a mutual friend of ours.
He came outside, recognized my face, and asked if I was coming inside. I told him no, but asked if he had seen our friend inside. We flirted and he told me we should go inside and find her together.
I thought he was insanely beautiful and charming, too, but KNEW he’d be a pain in the heart being both a DJ and younger than I was. From then on we would flirt and dance, but I paid him no mind…
It was several years later, at a day party, among our friends, he grabbed my ring finger before I left and told me he was eventually going to need to know my ring size. SMH and LOL I started listening in technicolor, from that day forward (May 2014)
We have traveled, giggled and partied our way to a beautiful life. These are some pics from that first day party and since.
how they asked
Dre loves to plan an epic surprise, so he planned and conspired with my friends and family for months to make his proposal a memorable one for me. My best friend Tracey is a photographer and had been hoping we would do a photo shoot with her for months.
Since Dre is a bit shy in front of the camera I was always afraid of he wouldn’t commit to do it. One day in July via group chat, she formally requested us for a styled, “bohemian elopement” photo shoot. Of course, I jumped to agreement. Little did I know it was the beginning of Dre’s proposal plan…
Tracey shared her vision with us with photographs of dresses, hair styles, bouquets, color schemes and (awful) floral crowns. Since I am not one to do my nails, wear a dress, or wear make up on a regular day, I had to submit I would be pristine on her day. (everything did!) LOL
In the meantime, as the day drew closer, Dre enlisted the support and help of our friends and family to host, cater, attend and keep me distracted… If ever I began to think the day would somehow be about me (not wearing a floral crown, or picking a lip color of my liking) I was quickly but kindly reminded, “we are doing this for Tracey, and she has final say on everything”.
On the day of, we rushed during the golden hour for as many pics as we could capture. It was hot, and intense, and lots of HARD WORK!! So caught up in the intensity and professionalism of getting great pics, I was totally stunned that our last frames (back to back on the pier) would be the moment Andre took a knee.
He had known since the beginning of our relationship (my love of pictures and scrapbooking) that somehow the making of a scrapbook would be included in his proposal. As a yes gift, he gave me a scrapbook, he hand-crafted, that charted our relationship, with the last page left blank for our picture from the day’s work.
Once done with the pictures, and bawling from the scrapbook, we had planned to grab a drink in the neighborhood at Fran’s (Tracey’s second shooter and my other great friend) sisters house.
Again, to my surprise, family and friends waited there to surprise me, congratulate, and celebrate the moment with us. I could not have asked for a more perfect day.
The proposal was everything I wanted, intimate and quiet, while the celebration afterward was loved-filled, and fun – my favorite people shuttled in without my knowing.
