“Hold that rock up, baby!” That’s how DK Metcalf broke the news of his engagement to Normani yesterday, while speaking to press after the announcement he would be traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a five-year, $150 million contract. With Normani watching him from the side of the stage, Metcalf jovially called upon her to hold up her engagement ring. “They got me good,” she said, holding her ring finger aloft and wearing a Steelers jersey.
Less than 24 hours later, the couple spoke to Vogue to share the story behind their whirlwind engagement, which took place on March 12 during a trip to Houston—ostensibly for spring break, to celebrate Metcalf’s sister and cousin’s birthdays. “Oh my goodness, honestly, I knew absolutely nothing,” says Normani, beaming from ear to ear. “As oblivious as oblivious can get, that was pretty much me.” Having approached the trip as simply an opportunity for their two families to spend time together, the R&B star spent most of the week undertaking a series of classic Houston days out: eating dinner at the iconic fried chicken joint Frenchy’s, shopping at The Galleria mall, and going to the rodeo. “I was just thinking, ‘Okay, cool. This is a great opportunity for our families to get together, enjoy each other, and spend quality time together.’”
On Wednesday night, Metcalf told Normani to prepare for a surprise birthday dinner for his sister. “I was thinking that I’m in on the secret, and it turned out that everybody else was in on the secret and I had no idea what was going on,” she recalls, laughing. After stressing about her outfit—and eventually running late, after stopping at the store to pick up a pair of heels—she arrived at Metcalf’s family home to find overflowing flower arrangements, candles, and a cellist and pianist playing. “My whole family’s there, his whole family’s there, and this is how clueless I was: I run and I hide, as if I’m about to be in on the surprise for his sister—thinking she’s behind us and that we’re all going to say, ‘Surprise!’” Normani adds. (The decor, Metcalf explains, was very much a group effort: “Her manager Lydia, my mom, and her mom all put our heads together to make it as fairytale-like and cute as possible, with all of her favorite flowers and colors,” he says, noting that he worked with creative producer Sasha Lance and local florist Stylish Floral Design Co to bring it to life.)
The proposal itself took place immediately afterwards, and was inspired by a movie night early on in their romance. “When we first met, we watched Juwanna Mann at my house,” says Metcalf. “There was a part in the movie where Vivica Fox’s character said, ‘It would just be nice to receive flowers on a Wednesday.’” So for the past few months, Metcalf sent her flowers every Wednesday, accompanied by cards with chapters of a story about how Normani found love, told in a fairytale style. After Normani arrived at the surprise event, Metcalf’s mother told her to go look at a card that was placed nearby, in an envelope with her name on it—and that’s when everything clicked. “At the very end of the story, I used both of our nicknames and said I had a question for her,” Metcalf says. “As she finished reading the final love letter, I came down the stairs, got on one knee and asked if she would marry me.”
Adds Normani, “Honestly, I was so overwhelmed, I can’t even remember what was said. I just said ‘Yes, yes, yes, of course.’ The ring was beautiful. My baby did amazing. It was so beautiful and special, and he went above and beyond.” As for that ring? It came from the couple’s shared favorite jeweler, Jason of Beverly Hills: “I picked out the shape and told him to make it big, because this is my girl!” Metcalf says.
The NFL star also admits it wasn’t his first time planning to propose—in fact, he’d wanted to do so during a family trip to Turks Caicos last year, but their hectic schedules got in the way. “She was releasing her album at the time, and I didn’t want to give a hint that we had to go to Turks during her album release. I really wanted to come up with an idea and plan that would flow easily, and that’s what I did.” After revealing these long-gestating plans to Normani, she was even more surprised than before. “I was like, ‘Baby you knew for over a year?’” Normani says, laughing again. “I’m replaying everything, trying to see where he actually might have given me a hint, but I was just clueless. To get anything past me for over a year is crazy!”
Normani and Metcalf’s three year relationship began in 2022, while public speculation began linking them as far back as June of that year, when they were spotted having dinner at the celebrity-favorite Italian restaurant Giorgio Baldi. A year later, in July 2023, they shared their relationship publicly for the first time via an Instagram post. It turns out, however, that their romantic connection was facilitated by their mutual friends Ciara and Russell Wilson. (Indeed, Metcalf shares that he made sure to run the engagement ring by Wilson for approval.) “Me and Ciara are really close, and Russell and DK were teammates on the Seattle Seahawks,” Normani shares. “About two years prior to us even meeting, they were playing music videos in the locker room and ‘Motivation’ ended up popping up on the screen. He was like, ‘The moment that I saw you come up on that screen, I said, ‘That s going to be my wife. That’s going to be my girlfriend one day.’’ I was in a relationship at the time, and then the chips just fell the way that they did.” Two years later, Ciara was throwing a party for her rum brand, and was adamant that Normani come, in what was an elaborate set-up. “I ended up going, and lo and behold, he ended up being there, and the rest is history.”
For Normani, walking down the aisle has been something she’s always dreamed about—and she’s already thinking about what she’ll wear to their big celebration. “I was definitely that little girl dreaming of what my wedding dress would look like, what my ring would look like, and what my dream proposal would look like,” says Normani. “But for me, the most important part is that God has just been there. He’s been faithful to both of us, and I have found my dream man. There’s nobody that I would want to spend the rest of my life with and do life with. He’s literally my best friend, and I’m just really grateful that we found each other.” Adds Metcalf, “I will say this: our relationship hasn’t always been easy, we’ve been through trials and tribulations. I want to commend her for sticking by me through all of it. She’s been resilient, I’ve been resilient, and over the past three years, it’s shown the love we have for each other. A big shout out to both of our families because they’ve been loving us, praying for us, and supporting us the whole time.”
So is Normani already entering into wedding planning mode? “Oh, girl, I’m trying my best to just be present in this season,” says Normani, laughing. “We literally went from the proposal to—thank you, God—him being signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers, so it was two big really big days for both of us. This is the first moment that I’m really getting the opportunity to just reflect and process everything.”
That said, Normani does share she’s excited to get the ball rolling—especially with her family by her side, and after what has been a challenging few years. “I’m grateful that I get to do it alongside my mom,” she says. “We’ve been through a lot as a family between my mom and my dad’s health issues: my mom was diagnosed two times with breast cancer, and she’s still here to see this day, and my dad had prostate cancer. I don’t take for granted that they’re both here to witness this monumental moment in my life—I’m really, really blessed.”
