The Couple
Dorian Willis and Chauncy West met at a Baylor fraternity step show after party. As Dorian got ready to leave the party with some of her sorority sisters, she made a cheeky comment about being single and ready to mingle. Chauncy, who was standing close enough to overhear her remark, smoothly replied, “How about you mingle over here?” She turned around, ready to fire back with a snarky reply, but she got tongue-tied when she saw Chauncy and instead blurted out, “Oh, he is kind of cute.” A true face palm moment, Dorian says.
They instantly hit it off and spent the rest of the night talking on the phone, as Chauncy—who attended Texas A&M Commerce—made his way back to Commerce with his fraternity brothers. Despite the instant spark, they ended up losing touch but later reconnected at the beginning of 2016 at church. After service one Sunday, Chauncy asked Dorian to brunch, and the two have been in-tune ever since. “Not only is he my soon to be husband,” Dorian says. “He is also my best friend.”
Dorian, who hails from Fort Worth, is a proud Baylor graduate and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She obtained her bachelor’s in journalism with an emphasis in public relations, and later obtained her Master of Arts in organizational management from Dallas Baptist University. She is a commercial lines underwriter for an insurance company in Dallas.
Chauncy is a Dallas native and a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. He graduated in 2007 from Texas A&M Commerce where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in business administration. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and works as the senior manager of operations for a mortgage company in Lewisville.
The Proposal
In August 2016, Dorian hosted a birthday dinner for Chauncy at Eddie V’s. “Everyone that knows how much I love birthdays, so I really wanted this to be special for him,” she recalls. During the planning, the couple also decided to book a trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico, to continue his birthday celebration. On the night of the dinner, as they dined with family and friends, Chauncy stood up to thank everyone for coming. Dorian had no clue the proposal was coming, so she opened her Snapchat app to document his speech. She admits the beginning of the speech was somewhat of a blur, but her ears perked up when Chauncy began to talk about how much he loved her. He proceeded to reach into the inside of his blazer, pulled out a ring, and got down on one knee.
After he popped the question, she tearfully responded yes, and the restaurant erupted in cheers while the waitress brought champagne for the newly engaged couple. To top it all off, she found out the trip to Cancun was not for Chauncy’s birthday, but was actually set up for them to celebrate their engagement as well.
“Normally I am pretty good at picking up on clues regarding surprises, but this was a total and complete shock,” she says. “It was an amazing moment and one that I will cherish forever.”
The Wedding
The wedding was on March 17, 2018 at the Omni Park West in Dallas.
—Abbey Bowling
