Vows – The Flavours of Love

It was a match made in foodie heaven for IT applications manager Donnelle Shamari Watson and systems infrastructure analyst Dwayne Mario John Williams.

According to Watson, when the two met through a mutual friend at TGI Fridays in Kingston — after Williams had vehemently insisted upon an introduction — they were immediately smitten with each other.

“I sat beside him and we chatted the entire night. When the night was over we exchanged numbers and started speaking almost daily,” she told Vows.

While the attraction was difficult to ignore, their relationship remained platonic as they worked on building a friendship, dating casually and hanging out regularly. It was during this time that they discovered their mutual affinity for food, trying new restaurants, and visiting new places together.

It would take a trip to Toronto, Canada, six years later, however, to change their lives forever.

“Dwayne and I have made it sort of a tradition to have sushi at every location we visit. For this trip, however, he had suggested that we try to make our own, which is no easy task. We Googled sushi recipes, YouTubed making sushi and searched for Asian supermarkets in the area,” Watson recalled.

“We spent the entire morning shopping for sushi ingredients and we also bought a bottle of our favourite wine. The afternoon and the evening were spent making shrimp tempura, sticky rice, and seared spicy crab; everything in preparation for the rolls. Once everything was prepared, we made our sushi, had some wine, and chatted with our family,” she continued.

At the end of a hectic day, nothing seemed out of the ordinary for Donnelle, who recalls that the moon was particularly mesmerising that night. Dwayne, however, had quite a surprise in store.

“We had discussed going to the park earlier in the day, but, after everything, I thought we would have just relaxed at home. But Dwayne said he still wanted to go, so we did. We spoke casually about the day, as he pushed me on the swing. After about 30 minutes we decided to head back,” she recounted.

“I remember jumping up onto a low retaining wall while saying something to him.

“He did not respond, so I turned around and saw him on one knee with the ring. He asked, ‘Will you marry me?’. I started crying. I jumped down, ran over to him, started kissing him and asked, ‘What are you doing?’

We both laughed for a while until he said, ‘You haven’t answered’. We both laughed out loud and I finally answered, ‘Of course I will’.”

They were married on August 24, 2013 amid the ruins near the Mona Visitors’ Lodge on the campus of the University of the West Indies.

“The ceremony was beautiful. It was a very happy day for me. Everything went well with setting up the venue. Thank God it didn’t rain,” said Watson.

The beaming bride walked towards her husband-to-be while a saxophonist played Kenny G’s Forever In Love — a personal favourite of hers. The moment could not have been more perfect.

“I never thought I would have cried, but I started tearing up as I walked up the aisle and saw him looking down at me smiling. The tears quickly turned into laughter. There was lots of laughter throughout,” she shared.

After the ceremony, cocktails were served on the north lawns of the venue, providing guests with access to an open bar and a menu of jerk pork, barbecue chicken kebabs, stamp-and-go, and fruit kebabs prepared by Jeanette Hutchinson.

At the reception, the bridal party danced to Bruno Mars’ Marry You, doing a two-minute routine before the bride and groom entered. For their first dance as man and wife, the couple chose Jim Brickman’s The Love I Found in You, a song chosen specifically for the lyrics “You are the air I need to breathe, the river of life inside of me, you are the half that made me whole, you are the anchor of my soul.” The newly-weds and their guests celebrated until midnight.

They both look forward to enjoying their honeymoon in Hawaii, building their home and starting a family. According to Watson, they are excited to embark on the next phase of their lives together.

“We have our lives ahead of us, and many goals and aspirations. We work hard, we are a great team, and we know that with God there is nothing that we cannot achieve. We are tremendously blessed and the future is bright,” she said.