After their first date, it didn't take Curtis long to realize Kelnisha was special to him. After two years of dating, he knew spending their life together was a possibility – if she felt the same. After finding the perfect ring, he then had to decide when the perfect moment would arrive to propose. Knowing Kel, he knew she wouldn’t want anything too over-the-top, nor anything that was random and blah.

As they continued to build their life together with their son CJ, Curtis started to contemplate opportunities to propose. When would be the best timeframe? Where could the proposal take place? Who would Kel want to be there? How would he surprise her? …Plus one thousand other questions ran through his mind.

Eventually, Curtis decided the best time would be after closing on their first home. After asking Kel’s father for his permission and blessing to take his daughter’s hand in marriage, he then started to plan accordingly. The house was expected to close on Thursday, January 12, 2017 and the proposal would be Friday, January 13th in their empty house.

Curtis started to prep Kel for the night by saying they were going to go on a celebratory dinner date with a couple from out-of-town. Thus, she would need to consider getting her hair and nails done. Moving into a house is an exhausting process, so Curtis had to make sure her calendar was marked and the expectation to be free and social was understood. As a result of their clothes being boxed still, he decided to find her the perfect dress to wear himself. This was an interesting task because he never brought her an actual dress. On Thursday, January 12th, he gave her the dress as a gift, in which, he presented as simply being thoughtful.

When the next day arrived, Friday, January 13th, he invited his little-big brother, Quintin, over to help execute the game plan. Curtis needed Quintin to help organize the family and friends coming over at the neighborhood clubhouse. In order to do this, the brothers pretended like Quintin was helping them unpack earlier that day. Quintin also made it known to Kelnisha that he was pressed for time with another engagement and needed to change at their new house. While he was “changing,” Kelnisha and Curtis was getting ready for their own outing – the celebratory dinner date with friends from out-of-town. Kelnisha and Curtis left out the house while Quintin was still in the house changing. They asked him to lock the door behind him.

At this point, Curtis is simply trying to get Kelnisha out of the house. To Curtis’s surprise, this was easier than he thought – she was on time and ready to leave. Now Quintin had to get their family and friends from the club house and bring them back into the house. This took a little longer than expected, so Curtis had to do some SERIOUS stalling – hahaha. The friends Kelnisha was expecting to meet up with were not even in town.

Finally after all the family and friends arrived to the clubhouse, Quintin called Curtis and Kelnisha and told them he had broke something very important in their house – a glass or window. Curtis immediately detoured back to the house where all the lights were off. He told Kelnisha to come in with him. Upon walking in, the music qued – Brian McKnight, “Back At One” – and Kelnisha could see all of her family and friends standing in a circle. The time had come for the journey to continue even further. Curtis then proceeded to ask Kelnisha to spend the rest of her life with him, and she said, “Of course, Curtis.”

After the proposal, there were even more friends waiting to congratulate Kelnisha and Curtis at Nikko’s Japanese Restaurant – the location of their first date.