Get ready, because you’re about to witness something beautiful.
Shantelle Guyton, today ESSENCE has a very special surprise for you: Your longtime boyfriend Duane Brown (who is awesome, by the way, and absolutely adores you) reached out to us with a special request that was so sweet, we just had to oblige. You see, he has an important question to ask you and he asked for a little help from us to be sure you get the message in a big, big way. Are you ready?
Without further ado…Duane, you’re on:
Now that congrats are in order, Duane felt there was only one way to kick this celebration off right….
And now, a message from singer Bilal for you both:
If you’re reading this and you’re not Shantelle, that’s okay, because we know you’re loving this moment just as much as we are here at ESSENCE. Want a little backstory on the newly engaged couple? We’ve got you.
Duane, a celebrity stylist based in New York, and Shantelle, a multicultural marketing director, reside in New York and they have been dating for six and a half years. They and are proud parents to their 2-year-old son, Blake.
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They met at an event years ago and for Duane, sparks flew instantly. “I saw her in the room and I thought she was beautiful,” he tells us. He didn’t get a chance to get her number, but the very next day he bumped into her again at a restaurant and he knew it had to be fate. “I could not believe that I ran into her again, so I said to myself, I have to speak to her,” he recalls.
He knew she was the woman of his dreams after they shared an epic eight hour date. “The chemistry was on another level,” he says. “It was something that I have never experienced before.”
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When Duane called ESSENCE to ask if we’d help him make his proposal epic (applaud this man for creativity!), he couldn’t stop singing his future wife Shantelle’s praises. “Shantelle is the woman for me because she is beautiful, patient, kind, loving, supportive, ambitious, god fearing and the best mother to our son,” he gushed. “I love how she loves my son and I with unconditional love and support.”
After her bought the engagement ring, Duane knew getting ESSENCE involved was the best way to seal the deal. “Shantelle loves ESSENCE and reads it all of the time, and I just knew that this was the perfect outlet to propose to her.”
We couldn’t agree more. Congrats, Shantelle and Duane!
Please leave the couple your well wishes in the comments below and share the love.