We're Getting Married! #GatlinEVERAFTER2021

We met at church; in fact it was the ordination service of Shatiek's cousin, who happens to be Shakiyah's best friend, Jonathan McClaren. After the service, a group of us went out to dinner to celebrate...and I sat across from Shatiek. When he opened his mouth and smiled, I saw the most beautiful smile and set of teeth I had ever seen. I asked, "how old are you?" He said "I'm 15." In my head, I thought "nah, I'm 17...I cant be with him, he's too young." I thought that was the end of it. It wasn't until a month later, when that same group went to Dallas BBQ's in Times Square the day after Christmas and I saw that smile again. That night, even though we were in a group setting, we laughed and talked like we were on our own date. It was clear that I wasn't the only one admiring...he had his eyes on me too (from Shatiek: "FACT CHECK: this is not fake news...it's true!"). Before the night ended and we parted ways, our encounter went like this: Shakiyah: "If we were to ever get married, we'd have to name our baby something with a 'Sha' because your name is Shatiek and my name is Shakiyah." Shatiek: "Ok, so lets get married!" Shakiyah: "People normally date before they get married..." Shatiek: "Ok, so let's date." Shakiyah: "Are you saying you want to date me?" Shatiek: "Yes, give me your number." And the rest is history! We officially started dating February 1, 2010

What a magical day... It started out to be just a photoshoot, at least I thought. What followed was the best surprise proposal ever. We did the photoshoot with my dad at Brooklyn Bridge Park. We took so many beautiful pictures right on the water, under the Brooklyn Bridge. After about 40 minutes of taking pictures, I'm thinking: we're done, right? Nope! Shatiek and my dad insisted on us taking more pictures at another location within the park, so of course I said, let's go and get this over with! [At this point, I was very hungry] My dad and Shatiek kept stalling, and their phones kept ringing. I wondered, "when did these two get so popular on a Sunday afternoon." Eventually, we parked the car in a nearby garage (for $40! - I knew something was up because Shatiek would NEVER pay that much money to park the car). We finally made it to the next "photoshoot" location and to my surprise, in Pier 3 was a host of our family and friends waiting for our arrival. When we got there, I saw a heart made of roses and candles in the center and all I could do was cry. When this man got down on one knee I couldn't wait to yes and THAT I DID! This was hands down the most thoughtful gesture anyone has ever done for me and I can't wait to spend forever with this man!- Shakiyah*