We’re Getting Married!

Name: Shannon Lynné Winston DOB: January 15, 1986 Hometown: Baltimore MD Undergradate: Morgan State University :: B.A., English (Creative Writing); Minor: Psychology Graduate: Maryland University of Integrative Health :: M.S., Herbal Medicine Hobbies: Salsa Dancing, Baking, Poetry, Reading, LIVE Entertainment, Herbalism Bucket List: Live in Mexico (and maybe even other countries as an expat). See Gregory Porter LIVE in concert. Trust one of these companies enough to figure out where my ancestry hails from and then visit there. Basically get up out these United States. Favorite Quotes: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. People know themselves much better than you do…” -Maya Angelou “Try Jesus, please don’t try me!” -Tobe Nwigwe

Name: Oluwadamilare (Dare) Daniel Ajanlekoko DOB: November 2, 1983 Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria. Undergradate: University of Ibadan :: B.S., Economics Graduate: Cheyney University of Pennsylvania :: M.S., Public Administration Hobbies: I love to play and watch soccer. I like to get informed with the daily happenings around the globe, and love traveling. Bucket List: Skydiving Elephant riding in Thailand Mountain climbing Deep sea fishing and diving Exploring different cultures around the globe Favorite Quotes: “One cannot offer solution to problems when there’s no general agreement on what the problems are.” “If you’re not informed, you’ll be deformed.”

I met Ms. Shannon Winston on Tinder after downloading and reinstalling the App several times. As fate would have it, re-downloaded the App on July 23rd, met Shannon online July 25th 2021. On our first date, we met at Swahili restaurant in Beltsville and had a great time. The day happened to be one of my sisters birthday July 30th. Though my intention was to spend few hours with her before going for the birthday dinner, we ended having continuous conversation until 12am, then I made the conscious effort for us to continue the conversation some other day before dashing to the almost concluded event. Looking back, I wouldn’t trade the day if it happened again. Shannon is a trustworthy person, beautiful, intelligent and thoughtful in her words. She’s conscious of how she uses each words that comes out of her mouth. I was blown away by her core foundation character traits and decided knowing her more would be beneficial to me in the long run. I know I’m lucky to have a woman like her in my life and day by day, I’m learning to be a better man who can compliment and grow with her because I know she has so much to offer. I hope I would be a better partner to her as we take this step of faith in our relationship.

I met Daniel on Tinder! Ha! Of all places, right?! But I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better person!
 We matched and began chatting and the conversation flowed pretty effortlessly. I think at the time I was decorating cookies for an order and showed them to him and asked him which he liked best. I surprised him with one of those during our first date, though he is mean and did not actually eat it all. 🙄 
Our date was on July 30, 2021, less than a week after matching. We met at a restaurant called Swahili. It really was supposed to be a quick meeting/dinner. We ended up sitting and talking for 6 hours! After dinner we stood in the parking lot about 2 hours longer, still talking. We just couldn’t pull away. It was a nice time. I can’t even remember all of what we talked about. I know I spilled probably my whole life story, cause I tend to be an open book; and I recall trying to explain astrology to him, which he says he doesn’t believe in. 🤷🏾‍♀️ The next time we met up I believe was at Arundel Mills and this is where he really fell in love with me! We walked around the mall just chatting and sat outside after just talking again. I corrected him about genetics and something he said wrong regarding that. I had to pull up an article to prove my point, and that is what snatched his soul…cause I was right! He values intelligence and guess I wowed him with mine. From then, we were just together all the time. We went to Union Church together a few times. We attended the Happy Nappy Day/Poets in the Park festival together. He bought his first Juneteenth shirt there. I was drawn to him because he was sweet and caring and had such a big heart. Around the time of our first meeting, I was hit with was some very heavy, stressful life events. I was basically about to call dating quits altogether to just focus on home, but Daniel really stepped in and showed himself to me during that time. I was so stressed out I was not even eating (I lost 8 lbs), he would constantly send me food despite my protests not to, and just showed that he really cared. And I so needed that in that moment. But it made me realize if he could do all that for someone who was a basic stranger…being together would only allow his devotion to grow stronger. It made me open up to him with little reservation. I have to say...his jokes are corny and generally not funny, but we vibe, so it’s ok. Basically, I was such a joy to be around that before long, he was so smitten he asked me to be his girlfriend, and shortly after that his wife. And here we are… one year, and a whole baby, later. The rest, as they say, is herstory!

If you have Apple Music, feel free to listen to some of our wedding playlist. Spotify version coming soon.