Bonds with books and long car vehicles

“Guy where this photo was taken” was a quick one that John Susser Sanders Jr. gave along with a photo from his Hinge dating profile. The image captured Sanders at the 2023 National Original Festival in Washington, at the main signature event of sociologist Matthew Desmond.

Shannon Shiyi Wu volunteered at the festival that year and was familiar with Desmond's work. When Sanders liked one of her profile pictures in September 2023, Wu checked out his profile and saw photos from the festival. “I know exactly where it is,” she replied. “The book is “by America” ​​and “poverty.” They chatted about how Mr Wu read Mr. Desmond's Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Evected,” and visited an inspirational exhibition at the National Building Museum in 2018.

It was the first of many shared interests for the couple. Their first date, days after they matched on hinges, got off to a rough start when they went to the wrong place in the coffee shop where Mr. Sanders agreed to meet. The conversation flowed easily once they pieced together the snuffs and found each other half an hour later.

(Click here to read this week's featured couples.)

She is “very easy to talk to, very engaging and fun,” Sanders said. “I thought she had a wonderful, distinctive laugh.”

Wu, 33, is the director of payment policies for the American Hospital Association. Born and raised in Libertyville, Illinois, she received her bachelor's and doctoral degrees in psychology from Princeton. From Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Born and raised in Chevrolet Chase, Maryland, Sanders, 37, holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Rice University, a master's degree in accounting from Notre Dame, and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden University. He is the senior manager of technical accounting at International Game Technology, a company that provides products and services to lottery tickets and casinos.

Their next dates until fall 2023 were a series of thoughtful chases including watching comedy shows, trying out Peruvian food, visiting Rothco's exhibition at the National Art Gallery, and dining at Washington's Michelin star restaurant, Dabney.

It was the first weekend of December that Sanders invited her to his family's home on the eastern coast of Maryland. Along the way, she saw him in the car and listened to her favorite songs from her favorite band (“I Need My Girl”), realised she didn't want to finish the ride. “Oh, I might be really serious about this guy,” she recalled the thought.

The car ride was also where Mr. Sanders felt his love bloom, although it was a different audio material. He loved listening to audiobooks like “Bad Blood” by John Carreyrou and Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin together while driving, listening to audiobooks like “American Prometheus.” “She has an incredible intellectual curiosity that she was engaged to begin with,” he said. “I learn a lot from her.”

In November 2024, more than a year after they met, Sanders proposed to Woo near Touchstone Gallery in downtown Washington. It was where they went on their second date and walked from where they first kissed. “I told him before, but I didn't want any big scenes or anything,” said Wu of their engagement conversation.

Their wedding on February 28th was also modest. They were married in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and were married at a ceremony where George Barber, chief of marriage, was hosted by his parents, Mr. Sanders' brother and toddler nephew.

“I cried a bit as I was reading the vows. I think he had to take a few breaths out there too,” Wu said. “I can't imagine doing that in front of 100 or 200 people.”

The small group then shared a family-style meal at Amber, a Vulcan restaurant in Capitol Hill, and ended up at Hazelnut Torte, Heidelberg Pastry Shop in Arlington, Virginia.