In light of the recent outbreak, prayerfully, we’ve decided to postpone our wedding reception until a later date that will be safe for everyone to attend. We thank you so much for your unwavering support during this difficult, yet joyous time. We will send updates to all of you as we know more. Again thank you and you are all in our prayers.

The story is a tad hazy for the both of us honestly. I remember us both at Alfreda Bonner’s house for a Super Bowl party as kids. I’m convinced that’s when Kiera fell in love with me, though she has no recollection of it. According to my family though, I was actually obsessed with Kiera and followed her around. I have no recollection of that either. She remembers me just always being around, but she never really noticed me until she was about 18. She wasn’t shy about letting it be known either. She told her friends and even her parents! Sadly, I wasn’t interested at the time. Preoccupied with youthful shenanigans, I never stopped to notice her and when I did, I wasn’t sure I was ready. Before I moved to New York, Kiera finally got the courage to tell me how she felt. I knew I had years of work to be worthy of her so I let her down easy. I didn’t say yes...but I didn’t say no. We both knew we had lots of growing to do. Without it and those growing pains, we would’ve never reconnected when we did and we would’ve never fallen in love the way we did. Slowly then all at once. A little over 3 years passed and what started out as an innocent text conversation, led to weeks of talking, service plans, going to plays together, and eventually falling head over heels for each other. Timing is everything. And we timed this one just right.

So many things that almost went wrong the day I proposed. Kiera thought I was acting odd because I was, to be honest. The restaurant that our families were eating at that evening called me in the middle of breakfast and 30 minutes before I proposed, someone texted Kiera saying congrats. My nerves were on edge. She dismissed the text, thinking it was a mistake, but I took her phone and “accidentally on purpose” deleted the message. I took her to get her nails done, but told her it’d be a while before I proposed so she wouldn’t get suspicious. Kiera loves Piedmont Park so I wanted to propose there, but was rainy and freezing cold outside. When we got to the park, she got out of the car and immediately got right back in and asked if we could go somewhere else. Naturally, I almost had a panic attack. It must’ve shown on my face because she said we could stay for a little. She did say that she’d only give me 5 complaining-free minutes though. I told her I wanted to take her to the park to play UNO. Kiera and I play a lot of UNO, and it gets extremely competitive. It’s not uncommon for a game to end with one, or even both us screaming at each other😂. But, it’s our favorite game to play together, so I figured I’d ask her to spend forever with me while doing something we both enjoy. I took 5 blank uno cards and wrote the “Will You Marry Me ?” on them. Then I organized the deck so that I got all 5 of those cards and a “swap hands” card. I gave her a few draw 4 cards to boost her ego a little. What I didn’t account for was me having to draw so many cards. Kiera ended up winning before I could put out the swap card and give her the proposal cards! So, I accused her of cheating and switched our cards. When she saw the cards, I took the ring box out of my pocket under the table and came around to her side of the table. It was so cold, the only words that came out of my mouth were “ Hey. It’s me.”

Even with everything that “went wrong” that day, Dwane still managed to surprise me! I didn’t think anything when he came to pick me up that morning and asked me to wait inside while he took a phone call outside. I brushed off the restaurant calling him at breakfast thinking that he was trying to make future plans. I didn’t even get suspicious when he took me to get my nails done and insisted that I get the exact design I wanted “just this ONE time”, even though I thought they were a little too pricey. Looking back though, the biggest clue was right before we walked to Piedmont Park. Taylor and I got out the car and started walking after we’d parked, while Dwane stayed in because he “had to call his dad” ( I found out later that this is when he took the ring out of its hiding place). After walking in the cold, rainy weather for a few seconds, I ran back to the car to ask him if we could go somewhere, ANYWHERE, else to play uno. Dwane looked so stricken. You would’ve thought I’d swapped out his vegan burrito for one loaded with steak and cheese😂. Anyway, we decided to compromise; we’d go to the park just to play 2 rounds. I told Dwane I’d give him 5 minutes of no complaining, but that I couldn’t control what happened after that. I don’t think he got even 30 seconds! And I didn’t stop complaining until we actually sat down to play. After the first round, Taylor got up to go to the restroom, leaving just me and Dwane to battle it out. He says he purposefully gave me 4 draw four cards, but he didn’t account for the way I would use my cards so effectively, resulting in a swift, crushing victory. Right as I put my last card down, Dwane claimed that I’d cheated and put down a swap card. I fought so hard to keep my cards, but he took them out of my hand and made me swap with him. I saw him reach into his pocket and I looked down at his cards and just saw the word “Will”. When I looked up, Dwane was one knee and I dissolved into a puddle of tears