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Darnell & LaDonna Suggs are the 2008 Winners of the NBC TODAY Show reality series - “Race to the Altar.”  Chosen out of thousands of engaged hopefuls, Darnell and LaDonna competed in a 5-week competition against 4 other couples from across the country for a once-in-lifetime opportunity to tie the knot on America’s No. 1 morning show. The couple and other wedding hopefuls designed gowns, went on a treasure hunt through NBC Studio 1A, had a bake-sale battle, and played a name that price game. Darnell & LaDonna garnered well over 250,000 votes and millions more tuned in week after week to follow the race and take part in choosing every aspect of the wedding. The couple exchanged their “I do’s” live on Rockefeller Plaza in New York City on June 25th, 2008 as part of the finale to the TODAY Show Throws a Wedding series.  With viewer participation, the couple enjoyed an “East Meets West” ceremony theme, with the bride shining in a glamorous silk strapless dress by Priscilla of Boston, the groomsmen fitted in formal navy attire by Hugo Boss, and the bridesmaids in classic, pink Simple Silhouettes dresses...
With Darnell at the altar, LaDonna walked down to “At Last” by Etta James. The couple exchanged heartfelt, emotional vows, with Darnell promising to “go to the ends of the earth” to see LaDonna smile, hear her laugh, hold her tenderly, and ease her fears. He called his bride his “best friend, confidante… the love of my life.” LaDonna acknowledged her father’s absence and said she knew he was “smiling from above” as her grandfather gave her hand away in marriage to Darnell. LaDonna vowed to look forward to her tomorrows, “knowing [they] will walk it together side by side, hand in hand, and heart to heart.”

Following the ceremony, the wedding party proceeded to the Rainbow Room, where they were serenaded by a surprise celebrity guest - LaDonna’s cousin, Melinda Doolittle from “American Idol.” The couple wowed the audience with a ’dancing with the stars’ like first dance performance - filled with turns, dips and lifts - to the Alicia Keys rendition of “Never Felt this Way.” The couple and their family laughed, toasted and danced the afternoon away 65 stories high atop the Rockefeller Center...
Following the wedding and reception Darnell & LaDonna enjoyed their viewer chosen honeymoon to Bora Bora at the St. Regis Bora Bora resort.

For most of America, this was their first introduction to this young, charismatic duo, but their Race to the Altar actually started 3 years ago. The Suggs’ relationship prior to their high profile wedding was much more than your average boy-meets-girl tale.  In March of 2005, Darnell and LaDonna met in Boston, Ma. among 17,000 of their peers, 12,000 miles away from their homes at the National Society of Black Engineers convention.  LaDonna was attending Alabama A&M University at the time and Darnell was a student at Florida A&M University; both majoring in the field of engineering. Amidst the other 17,000 students, the two ran into each other more than six or seven times during the four day convention. Taking their encounters to be more than coincidence, the two exchanged numbers to keep in touch, but only saw each other 4 times within their first 6 months of courtship...
In the Spring of 2006 the couple both landed jobs in Atlanta, Ga. Even though the two were living in the same city, their jobs kept them on the road quite a bit with Darnell traveling up to 80% of the time and LaDonna about 40-50% of the time. Now for many couples, circumstances such as these pose significant challenges, but the couple used this to their advantage by coordinating their schedules to meet up in different cities and planned romantic dates on the weekends that they were both home in Atlanta. The two fell more in love with every passing day and about a year later Darnell began to plan an elaborate wedding proposal for LaDonna that she would never forget.

Being a frequent business traveler, Darnell earned many travel rewards and early in 2007 he began planning to put those reward points toward a round trip ticket for him and LaDonna to travel to Egypt for New Years day (which also happens to be LaDonna’s birthday). With the help of friends and family Darnell was able to find the perfect engagement ring for LaDonna and everything was falling into place...
Toward the end of the summer he revealed that he was planning a special trip for the two of them and suggested that LaDonna get a passport just in case.  Shortly before their departure in late December he revealed that they would be traveling to Egypt through the New Year. While in Egypt on New Years Eve, LaDonna’s Mother and Grandfather received a call from Darnell asking for LaDonna’s hand in marriage. They happily gave their approval. On New Years Day while touring the Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Giza; Darnell got down to one knee with the Pyramids and Sphinx as his backdrop and asked LaDonna to marry him.  Tears of joy in her eyes, LaDonna screamed and then accepted. At Darnell’s request, their tour guide captured the special moment on video.

Almost 6 months later, the 2 shared a national stage on the TODAY Show and exchanged their vows, in front of millions. TODAY Show host Matt Lauer summed up there whirlwind journey best with a toast to, “the couple from Georgia that met in Boston, pledged their love in Egypt and have now shown their commitment in New York.” That was just the beginning for the Suggs...
Darnell and LaDonna both have budding careers in their chosen area of expertise, engineering. He is a technology consultant for a prominent consulting firm and she is a nuclear reactor inspector. Their professions are mutually demanding but the two still make time to stay involved in their community and have recently started a non-profit corporation called The Suggs Foundation, Inc.  The foundation’s primary mission is threefold; to encourage young adults to pursue careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathmatics) fields, alleviate the complexities of making critical life transitions, and promote civic responsibility, environmental protection and community activism.

The couple now use their celebrity as a platform to engage in public speaking on behalf of the foundation; reaching a broad audience to share their ’SUGGS-CESS’ stories to help raise the social, economical and environmental consciousness of others.  Theirs is truly a “Love Story That Keeps On Giving.“

(TodayShow.com contributed to this write-up)
To find out even more about the Suggs’ feel free to download or read their personal bios by clicking the links above.