Symone Sanders, the host of MSNBC’s symone, and Shawn Townsend, the earlier director of the mayor’s office of nightlife and custom in Washington, DC, had been married on Friday night time time in a shock ceremony held on the historic Larz Anderson House in Dupont Circle.
The couple first met in April of 2019 as soon as they’d been launched by former South Carolina legislator and political analyst Bakari Sellers. Bakari—a longtime good buddy of Shawn’s—made the connection when the trio went out for cocktails at The Eaton Lodge after a screening—and subsequent Q&A moderated by Sanders—of his documentary Whereas I Breathe, I Hope.
Symone and Shawn purchased engaged exactly two years later. It was Easter Sunday, which has always been an important day for the couple. On the time, Symone was serving as senior adviser and chief spokesperson for the Vice President, so Shawn made preparations with the office to ensure he could pull off the shock. Symone thought she was going to hop on a plane to fulfill the Vice President in Los Angeles, nevertheless instead Shawn whisked her away to the rooftop of Lodge Zena to pop the question.
In a single different shock maneuver, this time was executed by every Symone and Shawn (with help from event planner Lamont Akins), the couple invited their household and associates to attend a celebration dubbed “Toast to Townsend,” ostensibly celebrating the couple’s upcoming nuptials. Nonetheless after all people gathered, the event was revealed to be a wedding, and the couple exchanged their vows amid a crowd of 100 on the Gilded Age mansion.
Shawn wore a personalized Gucci go nicely with for the wedding ceremony, whereas Symone’s wedding ceremony ceremony costume was from World Bridal Boutique in Alexandria, Virginia—and situated merely three weeks sooner than the ceremony. After realizing her genuine wedding ceremony ceremony costume wouldn’t match on account of her measurements weren’t taken appropriately, Symone went searching for a sample that she could purchase immediately. “The costume I wore at my wedding ceremony ceremony match like a glove,” Symone says. “The ladies at World Bridal Boutique and my tailor had been actually a blessing.”
Pastor Dededrick O. Rivers of Ward Memorial AME Church, an in depth good buddy and advisor of the couple, officiated the ceremony. In his vows, Shawn known as Sanders his “expertise or die,” together with: “It’s the moments behind closed doorways that we now have shared…whether or not or not it’s me complaining about Precise Housewives, a political debate, or photobombing my Zoom calls. It is all time correctly spent collectively.”
