Debra Lynette Robinson was celebrating Sismas, an annual holiday event honoring sisterhood among women, with 60 of her friends on Dec. 9, 2023. One of the women, Crystal Etienne, hosted the event at her Upper Brookville, N.Y., home, with Ms. Robinson’s best friend, Simone I. Smith, the founder of the event.
The group excitedly caught up while they sipped cocktails, Ms. Robinson said. “The room was full of joy, and we were dancing and laughing when Simone suddenly pulled me aside and told me she needed to talk to me,” she said.
Ms. Smith, a jewelry designer who is married to the rapper LL Cool J, led her to the front lawn. When she heard the R&B song “Good Luck Charm” by Jagged Edge playing over a speaker, Ms. Robinson knew this was no ordinary conversation. “My heart stopped,” she said. “It’s mine and Andre’s favorite song,” referring to her boyfriend, Andre Galloway.
Then, she noticed large glowing white letters on the lawn spelling out, “Marry Me,” and said she started shaking and broke out in tears. “Andre pulled up in a golf cart, walked over, and told me, ‘Everyone has a season, and this is our season,’” she said.
As Ms. Robinson’s fellow “sisters” watched the scene unfold, she said, “yes,” and they broke out in cheers and applause.
Mr. Galloway, 57, had orchestrated the proposal for several months with the help of Ms. Robinson’s friends. “Sismas is so meaningful to Debra, and I didn’t think there was a better time to do it than when she’s surrounded by the women who are everything to her,” he said.
The night was the culmination of a courtship dating to June 3, 2017, when Ms. Robinson, 45, and Mr. Galloway were both at the same bridal shower. Mr. Galloway, who was dropping off his niece’s son at the party, came in to say a quick hello to the host, and Ms. Robinson was a guest. They were unaware that their meeting was a setup, they said.
“Debra knows my niece, Lexi, and she introduced us and said she hoped we would like each other,” Mr. Galloway said.
“Lexi walked away and left us in a moment of awkwardness, but then something sparked, and we ended up exchanging numbers,” Ms. Robinson said.
Both were single and fresh off recent breakups. Neither was interested in a relationship. “I was laying low,” Ms. Galloway said.
He texted her “good morning” the next day, which led to a lengthy exchange of messages that became progressively bolder. “I asked Debra what she was looking for in a man, and she replied that she didn’t want a boyfriend,” he said. “She wanted her next relationship to be her husband, someone God fearing, honest and with all his teeth.”
[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]
“Andre told me that he was the man I was looking for with the exception of his missing back tooth,” Ms. Robinson said.
After two days of texting, Mr. Galloway invited her to dinner. They had their first date a few days later at Crabtree’s, a pub in Huntington, N.Y. At the time, Ms. Robinson lived in the town, and Mr. Galloway was renting an apartment in Roosevelt, N.Y., about a 35-minute drive away.
“We laughed all evening, had effortless conversation and ended the night talking for hours in Andre’s truck,” Ms. Robinson said. “It felt like we had known each other for years.”
At the end of their third date, Mr. Galloway walked Ms. Robinson to her front door and asked permission to kiss her. “It was sweet, respectful and unforgettable,” she said.
The two quickly became inseparable and said that Huntington Village became their “special spot.” There they would “meet up after work, walk through the streets and window shop as we talked, held hands and laughed under the streetlights,” Mr. Galloway said.
Ms. Robinson said that Mr. Galloway’s consistency stood out from the beginning. He checked in with her daily and sent her YouTube videos of love songs expressing how he felt about her.
They included the R&B ballad “Closer than Friends” by Surface and “Special Lady” by Carl Thomas. One night, while they were in his Ford Expedition SUV, “Let’s Get Married” by Jagged Edge played through the speakers.
“Debra rested her head on my shoulders, and in that quiet moment, we both knew we had found something real,” Mr. Galloway said. “We knew we wanted to marry each other.”
But first, he officially asked her to be his girlfriend, and they each said, “I love you.”
They moved into an apartment together in November 2018 in Commack, N.Y., where they continue to live.
Mr. Galloway grew up in Roosevelt, N.Y. He is a gas technician for the utility contractor Reconn in Bohemia, N.Y.
Ms. Robinson grew up in East New York, Brooklyn, and Central Islip, N.Y. She works as a sales associate for the luxury fashion boutique Hirshleifers, in Manhasset, N.Y. Her previous marriage ended in divorce.
The pair waited almost six to get engaged because Ms. Robinson said that they were in no rush. “We were having such a good time together,” she said. “I didn’t even realize how quickly the years went by.”
They were married May 29 before 200 guests at Larkfield, an event space in East Northport, N.Y. Elaine M. Flake, a retired minister with the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York, an African Methodist Episcopal Church, officiated.
As Ms. Robinson’s father, Ernest Robinson, Sr., walked her down the aisle, singers belted out “The Prayer” by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. Once they were pronounced husband and wife, the couple jumped over a wooden broom, as a nod to their ancestors.
During the reception, a D.J. played all the songs that Mr. Galloway had sent Ms. Robinson when they were dating. The guests included Ms. Robinson’s 60 Sismas sisters, who were there the night the couple got engaged. They took over the dance floor when “Candy” by Cameo played and danced the Electric Slide.
Shivani Vora is a New York City-based travel writer who considers herself a very savvy packer.
The post They Fell in Love to the Soundtrack of R&B appeared first on New York Times.
