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December 1, 2019
New Orleans, Louisiana
#RoadToTheSmiths

Deshonda & Joseph

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Our journey begins...

Joseph Michael Smith

and

DeshondaPatrice Charles, Esq.

#RoadToTheSmiths

December 1, 2019

New Orleans, Louisiana

How they met

From Africa to Zucchini

They'd known each other for years and shared a few of the same close friends. But one December evening in 2014, after celebrating her sister's 40th birthday, Dee and Joe struck up a conversation. It was friendly... innocent..., but also intriguing. You may know that both are avid runners which made for an instant connection, but not many sparks flew that night. Due to picture sharing though, they exchanged numbers. Then, about two months later they saw each other again at the Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale's Inaugural Ride After Party. This time when the two locked eyes the sparks flew!! They were shocked and tried to play it cool. For months they exchanged random texts and sporadically commented on each others fb posts, both trying not to seem like teenagers with a crush! Then in December 2015, after discovering they were each recovering from separate run-related injuries, Joe made his "move"... he asked Dee to give him a call as the text messages were becoming more frequent and getting kind of lengthy. So on Friday, Dec. 12, 2015, Dee called Joe. Then, as Joe would say, they talked from "Africa to Zucchini!" LOL! (Meaning from A to Z). They spent the next 6 hours talking, sharing, & learning about everything from Joe's days traveling the world emceeing to Dee's journey to owning her own law practice and her musical talents. That night they talked and laughed about everything! Nothing was off limits. No filters, no judgment. There were a few testy moments, but they kept talking anyway. After that night, they talked every single day until they finally made it official. There's a debate among them as to the actual dating anniversary. Dee says it's 1/9/16 when they connected after the MKFF Gala and had their first official date. Joe says it's 5/1/16 after his 90-day dating probation expired. Either way, it led them to love, happiness, & that fateful day, Dec. 30, 2018, when Joe got down on one knee and put a BEAUTIFUL ring on it. Now, their journey truly begins...

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