Bride: Joslyn Winkfield, 31, Photo Editor at ESSENCE.com
Groom: Shannon Ko, 31, Screenwriter
Married On: October 12, 2014
Location: Alger House, West Village NYC
Style: An Alice In Wonderland Inspired, Secret, Garden Wedding
There Was Something About Him
So many beautiful love stories begin at college. Joslyn and Shannon first met during their collegiate years. “I remember seeing him around campus and we had some mutual friends,” she recalls. But it wasn’t quite love at first sight. “Honestly, even though he was cute to me, I thought he was pretty strange with his super long cornrows and bright baggy clothes. He gave me a funny feeling I didn’t understand at the time, so I avoided him at all costs.” She didn’t know it just yet, but that funny feeling was the beginning of her soul recognizing its counterpart in another.
One day, they exchanged a few words while she was working at the campus radio station. The station was in the freshman dorm room, and there was a window where you could see students passing by. “I was waving anyone I saw down to persuade them to listen to our radio show,” she shares. “I waved at him before realizing who he was. I had no choice but to talk to him. I asked him to listen to our show and he said in a smooth deep voice, ‘I don’t have a radio, but I’ll buy one just for you girl.’” She laughed nervously, hurriedly thanked him and got back to work, but she never forgot his eyes. “They seemed to look right through me,” Joslyn adds. “We reconnected a year after graduation via Facebook, started out just messaging each other back and forth, and eventually agreed to meet up and hang out. The rest is history.”
Come Away With Me
Joslyn loves to travel. After four years together, at this point, the couple had already shared several memorable trips—New Orleans, Montreal and even Costa Rica. In 2014, Shannon bought tickets to Paris without asking her first. (They were supposed to be saving money.) He told her that he found a good deal he just couldn’t pass up. “All my friends kept telling me that if he was taking me to Paris he was definitely proposing,” she recalls. “I just figured it was another one of our adventures together, so I didn’t think much of it until we were on the plane, and then I was freaking out!” Joslyn started driving herself crazy. After they arrived in Paris and settled in, they went out to eat and shared the best burgers they’d ever had. Afterwards, exhausted from the trip, Joslyn was ready to get back to the apartment they’d rented and turn in. But Shannon wanted to explore a bit. It was dark and rainy, but she agreed. “We wandered around and he seemed a little stressed,” she remembers. “He kept saying he was trying to find some river he heard about. ‘Do you mean the Sienne?’ I asked. ‘THE river in Paris?’ I told him we weren’t anywhere near it, but he was determined.” Joslyn admits that her hair was a mess at this point, her feet were sore and they were totally lost. She started whining and complaining a bit, so Shannon finally gave up.
When the couple finally got their bearings and was heading home on a quiet empty street, out of nowhere, a stumbling drunk man walked up to Shannon and grabbed his arm. Shannon was able to shake him off and they hurried the rest of the way, but Joslyn was already over the entire day! Finally home, she started to get ready for bed. “Suddenly he was pulling at my arm and saying ‘I love you so much, and we’re perfect because we’re not perfect,’” she shares. “How fitting since the night was far from perfect. He seemed to pull a tiny box out of thin air and suddenly I realized he was getting on one knee, in our cute little apartment in Paris, asking me to be his wife.” “Everything got very fuzzy after Joslyn saw him get on one knee. “He said, ‘Marry me. Wait, that’s not right. WILL you marry me?’” she recalls. “By this point I was on my knees too; I was too weak to stand. I remember crying hysterically and nodding. I could barely speak, but I managed to remind him he was supposed to put it on my finger. (Laughs) Sometimes I feel like I’m on a TV sitcom with this guy.” The couple Skyped their parents right after it all went down. Aww! See the couple’s magical New York City wedding day and share their love!
Photos: Falcon Griffith of Chellise Michael Photography