Peter Nathan Hess praised Sarah Daniel David long before they actually met.
In 2019, Hess, 37, a staff reporter for Spectrum, an autism research publication, loved several tweets by Vice's astrology editor, David Ms. David (36), about his work with writers in the American East Union. But what really caught his attention, he said, was her sense of humor, including Gollum's profile picture from “The Lord of the Rings” in make-up and diamond earrings.
By 2021, the two were following each other on Twitter. It is now known as X. Hess happened to check David's Instagram account and send a message. They chatted for a few weeks, and Mr. Hess asked David.
“In the beginning he wanted to meet up to talk about the union,” David said, “but he made it clear he was interested in me.”
Hess, now an author at IBM Research in New York, invited David to join a picnic at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn for his first date in May 2021.
“I didn't realize that hanging out in the cemetery was something,” David said. “It was an arboretum and I learned a lot from Peter that day about trees, plants and bugs.”
They also talked for hours about writing, films and their families, then decided to have dinner together. They picked up a Chinese dumpling and went to Mr. Hess's apartment in Brooklyn to watch a movie.
“I felt open and comfortable talking to Peter. I really liked him,” David said. “I'm usually skeptical of people, but the fact that I wanted to see him again said a lot.”
Two weeks later, they returned to Greenwood Cemetery for a second date. This time we're going for a guided tour that includes catacombs.
David holds a Bachelor's degree in Gender Studies from Brown and is currently attending New York University Law School. She was born in the Philippines and moved to Jamaica, Jamaica, with her family at the age of five.
Hess received his Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and moved from Durham, North Carolina to Brooklyn in 2015.
After a few months of dinner dates and joked with each other and making each other laugh with funny songs about things in their own life, the pair declared their love for each other.
Inspired by her love for the date show “Love Island” and the contestants' love for the epic gestures, David wrote a love letter to Hess to share her feelings with her. “I said I love her too,” Hess said. “I still have her letter.”
By September 2022, both apartment leases had risen and decided to move together to Windsor Terrace in Brooklyn. “We used to live with our partners and we knew that moving with him would be forever,” said David, who is now vice president of online media at the Writers Guild in the US East.
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David said the marriage had appeared several times in two years together. “We knew we were going to get engaged, but talking about it was still exciting, so I made an effort to cool it down,” she said.
May 7, 2023, David and Hess proposed to each other under the same Redbud tree where they had their first picnic. They exchanged their own chosen engagement rings and read love letters to each other.
My letter to Sarah made me want to take the next step together, how much I love our lives together,” Hess said.
On April 19, 2025, David and Hess got married at the Prospect Park Boathouse in Brooklyn.
“When we met, Peter lived in the block away from Prospect Park and we went there in love with a picnic,” David said.
David walked down the aisle for “Sarah Smile” by Daryl Hall and John Oates, a song named after her, and exchanged vows they wrote together. Their friend Ben Glow, who was appointed Universal Life Church for the event, presided over the ceremony in front of 120 guests.
To celebrate David's Filipino heritage, the bride and groom wore traditional outfits purchased in the Philippines. David wore a “Terno” top in a second-hand dress. Hess wore a cotton shirt and a “Baron” shirt decorated with floral decorations.
At the reception, the couple included a traditional Filipino “money dance.” There, the bride and groom danced the line as their loved ones stopped money and gave their clothes blessings.
