Her Story: I was attending a birthday party for Cedric Emerson, hosted by his wife Charisse at Barone's in Pleasanton during their annual "Music Under the Stars" event. The evening was coming to an end, so I decided to relax on the couch inside the cabana to enjoy the live band before last call. Out of nowhere, J approached me and we began to have small talk (I have no clue what that small talk was about - lol). At a certain point in the conversation, I decided it was time to get past the random (spirit) banter. I did the "forbidden" and asked J approx. 6 loaded questions about his life/family, career and his purpose in life. J was taken back, but intrigued at how direct I was being. He laughed and then proceeded to answer each question. We exchanged contact information and a week later, we had our 1st date in Napa. His Story: On the evening of June 20, 2019 my friend, Thornell insisted that I leave the house to catch up over cocktails at Barone's. I refused multiple times, because I'd recently arrived home from work and was tired. Eventually, I gave in and decided to go hang out. The evening was going well and I happened to run into a good friend of mine, Cedric who was hosting his birthday party there. As I approached Cedric to congratulate him for his birthday, he introduced me to his wife Charisse. As I turned to acknowledge Charisse I noticed a cute, quiet young lady sitting in the right rear corner of the private cabana. I eased my way to introduce myself and to my surprise, I was put in an impromptu interview. Thank GOD I had my resume prepared to answer Sharonda's 50 questions. As you can see, I passed the interview with flying colors and here we are today. The truth is... that night was filled with lots of laughs, great conversations and memories. The rest is history... NOTE: You can find the photo of the night we met in the "Peek into our love" section

As you're aware California shutdown on March 4, 2020 for a State of Emergency due to Covid19. Covid19 changed how businesses operated and drastically change J's plans from his initial proposal surprise. Nevertheless, he quickly improvised and created a plan on the the evening of April 26, 2020. J asked me to leave the room and he'll let me know when I could come back. After about 5 minutes of waiting, something in me said "Girl, he's about to propose. Put some lotion on your hands NOW!" Another few minutes passed and J asked me to join him in our living room. I walked into a dark room lit with candles lit and a sign that read "Sharonda, will you marry me?" I slowly walked over to J and he said a lot of stuff (that I don't remember) and he proceeded to get down on one knee and popped the question. Of course I said YES!!! Fast forward to August 2020, after the shelter in place was lifted, we were finally able to view and book our venue. Yep... we decided to plan a wedding in 7 months, during a pandemic and without a wedding planner!!!