A Black Couple Finds Love Through Online Dating

Who doesn’t love Black love?! We do and we celebrate it with our “Put A Ring On It” series. Each week, we’ll feature YOUR engagement and wedding stories, romantic photos and even tips that’ll help other Beauties out on their Big Day.  Check back each week for a new installment!

This week, we spoke with Lakeisha Hall and John Branch about their online dating love story and how they managed a long-distance relationship for over five months, before deciding to spend their life together. 

HER STORY

I met John on BlackPeopleMeet.com in January 2012. I’d interacted with several people on the site, but didn’t have success so after a few months I decided to close my account. I hadn’t gotten around to deactivating the account when I received a message from John. From our initial contact, I felt he was truly interested in me and wanted to get to know me better. We also spoke fairly early in our interactions about expectations and what we were truly looking for in a relationship (we both were serious about finding a life partner/spouse and, ultimately, marriage). We also did not let our online interactions drag on for too long before we decided to meet in person. We met for the first time at a local coffee shop. I was so nervous to meet, but John had the ability to put me at ease. We talked for hours and I found leaving to go home very hard.

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After only a couple of months we were officially a couple. Both of us had always had the desire to relocate, but the logistics of both of us finding jobs and relocating at the same time proved to be problematic and unrealistic for us. With John’s love and support, I accepted a great position in Houston, Texas but that meant that we would have to be separated for an undetermined amount of time. We dated long-distance from January 2013 to August 2013, when John was able to also find a job and relocate.

The Surprising Moment

John proposed to me on March 14, 2013 while I was in Florida visiting him during my spring break. He proposed to me at a small jazz club in front of all of the other customers! One of the best memories I have from the proposal was just how nervous John was leading up to the actual proposal. Looking back, that should have been a tip off, but I did not put it together until they invited him on stage to do it! John then invited me up on stage! Although both John and I had talked about the possibility of marriage very early on in our relationship, the actual moment was still unexpected but a great blessing. We are truly in love; he is my best friend and I can’t wait to marry him on June 14, 2014.

NEXT: Check out his side of the story and that BEAUTIFUL ring!

HIS STORY 

I had recently taken a teaching position in St Petersburg, FL after having a not-so successful experience in my doctoral studies. In terms of online dating, I tried sites like E-harmony and Match.com, with no success. I had seen some commercials for Blackpeoplemeet.com and I decided, “why not?”  I was online for a few weeks, when I came across Lakeisha’s profile. After talking for a few days, we finally decided to meet in person.  I liked what I saw immediately in her and, I must say, our first date was outstanding.  Since that meeting, I wanted to spend every waking moment with her.  Eventually, I won over her family (turns out, her dog was my toughest critic and not her mom!!)

MUST READ: PUT A RING ON IT: Ylorie Was In The Dark About Her Proposal, Literally 

Lakeisha was considering moving out of Florida mostly due to lack of job satisfaction. This made me choose whether or not she was going to be a part of my life long-term.  I loved her enough to say, “go where the job is.” This also made me look at relocating as well because I had a reason to now.  If she was going to be in my life for the long-term, I wanted some input in terms of where she would be moving.  We looked at five cities (Houston, Dallas, Baton Rouge, Nashville or Baltimore) and Houston was the final destination. The thought of possibly being without Lakeisha scared me, especially since we would be living in separate cities (she left right after New Year’s). I immediately realized two things: 1) Lakeisha would become Mrs. Branch and 2) I am moving to Houston.

How He Proposed 

I always had a dream about popping the question at a sporting event. Logistically, it was impossible. Now that I look back on it, I was thinking about doing it at a minor league hockey game, but I forgot the ring in Florida.  The next idea was doing it at a game in Tampa when she was visiting over spring break, but they didn’t allow marriage proposals across their message board (pathetic). I also thought about proposing at a hockey game because that’s where we spent our first Valentine’s Day (yes, a hockey game). During our courtship, I also knew that she loved jazz. There was a jazz lounge in Tampa that we went to a few times and I figured that it was a good place to pop the question. I called there in advance to see how it would work and they gave me the details.  When we first arrived there, I was a nervous wreck — Was the music going to be right? When would I be called up to the mic? Would Lakeisha know something was up?.  After a glass of wine, I eventually calmed down.  After going onstage, I called Lakeisha up. That was when I got down on one knee. After taking out the ring, I saw her tear up and compose herself.  She said yes and the rest is history!!!

The couple will be getting married this June and we wish them nothing but the best!

Are you recently engaged or married? Do you know someone else who’s about the head down the aisle? Let us know by messaging us on Facebook or emailing us at hbgotthering@gmail.com.

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