Kentucky Wave 3 meteorologist Tawana Andrew is getting married after boyfriend Rusty Steele makes his request during the Goode Morning News Picture of the Day segment.
Screenshot, Wave 3 News
What started as a âbetâ on a popular dating app has turned into three years of adventure with the promise of more to come.
When WAVE 3 News morning meteorologist Tawana Andrew created her profile on Hinge, she included the prompt, “I bet you can’t do better than me.”
And when Rusty Steele answered his prompt, the Kentucky meteorologist at first had no idea what to answer.
This is because he only replied with “bet”.
âBet. I bet,â Andrew said. âOnly three lettersâ
She did respond eventually, and those three little letters led to Friday’s special âMake it a Goode Morningâ segment with fellow meteorologist Brian Goode.
During the image of the segment of the day segment, a teardrop shaped engagement ring appeared on the screen. The photo was accompanied by a quote: âIt’s time for my princess to become my queen. Goode then asked for help deciphering the photo and the message, prompting Steele to step onto the set.
Andrew was stunned when she saw her then-boyfriend walk over to a navy suit, designed to perfectly match her navy blue dress.
“No way,” she replied as Steele took her hands and fell to one knee. “No way, no way, no way.”
Tears started to flow, leaving Andrew speechless.
âTawana, these last few years have been the happiest of my life. Whether it was skydiving or watching the entire Star Trek series⦠you were my best friend, âSteele said as Andrew continued to cry. âAnd I know we’ve agreed to take this one day at a time and see where it goes. But with each passing day, I fell more and more in love with you. A love that has grown to such an extent that I don’t want to spend another day without you, and I want to love you one day at a time for the rest of my life.
Steele then removed the teardrop ring from her coat.
“Tawana Andrew, will you marry me?”
Through tears and with a smile on his face, Andrew quickly responded.
“Yes, oh my god.”
The two kissed for their on-air hug, as Andrew was almost speechless until she remembered she still had a job to do.
âHow am I supposed to make the weather after this,â she asked, eliciting laughter from her fiance and her colleagues at the station.
Fortunately, Steele and the team at Wave 3 News had a plan for this as well. Someone else was taking care of the day’s weather, leaving Andrew time for a post-offer interview.
How he pulled off the surprise proposal
During the interview, viewers learned that Steele first contacted Goode about a surprise proposal in mid-July.
âThis engagement has many layers,â Goode said. And it was almost turned around when Steele tried to measure the size of Andrew’s ring while she was sleeping.
The only problem? She wasn’t really asleep.
âTawana comes to work the next day and she says, ‘he’s going to do it,’ Goode shared.â ‘He measured my finger. It’s a sign.
To “fix” the plan and keep his then-girlfriend from becoming overly suspicious, Steele gave Andrew a birthstone ring for his birthday. It shook her, and Tawana even wore the birthstone ring on Friday morning.
As the crew reviewed the proposal, tears continued to flow.
âI couldn’t breathe at the time – a panic attack in its own right,â Andrew recalls.
Steele was the only Hinge match Andrew had ever attended, she said, and “he’s just taken me adventure after adventure after adventure since then.”
Their first adventure as an engaged couple has already been planned, as Steele organized a meal and a night in downtown Louisville.