Love: Shannon McDonald & Christopher Wink

Because Shannon was a Temple News copy editor who also wrote opinion pieces on "mostly grumpy stuff about the city," she thought she'd introduce herself to the paper's new opinion section editor, Christopher.

It was 2007, and the two would spend many long evenings in the busy newsroom. "She was very beautiful, and very quiet," Christopher remembers. "I immediately presumed it would be very difficult for me to have any kind of relationship with Shannon beyond the necessary work one."

The more they worked together, the more Christopher discovered that his first impression was incorrect. Friendship grew as they admired each other's commitment to ethics and craft, dissected current city and campus events, and made each other laugh.

Christopher later cofounded the local technology blog Technical.ly Philly, now a technology news website called Technical.ly serving several Mid-Atlantic cities. But back then, he was anti-social media. When Shannon told her friends about a budding romantic interest, she could show them only his column mug shot - he proudly had no Facebook profile.

A month after they met, Christopher suggested lunch. It was the first time they had done anything together outside the newsroom, and Shannon tried to be casual about it.

"I was unsure of what this was," she said.

Christopher cleared things up: "I made the incredibly romantic gesture of buying her a single slice of barbecue chicken pizza and a Mountain Dew."

He grew up in a rural part of northwest New Jersey. She's a Northeast Philadelphia native. Christopher says that some of the same things that led him to love Philadelphia also led him to love this native daughter:

"Shannon is undeniably herself. She is richly appreciative of tradition and is endlessly prioritizing family and established networks. But she has a streak of antiauthoritarianism. She is a product of Catholic school education and richly in love with rules. She has a deep and endless pool of enthusiasm for what she cares about, and absolute disinterest for things she does not care about. She is inwardly cheerleading for the place she loves the most and sometimes hates the most." After a breath, he adds: "I also think Shannon is nice."

"I love that Chris pretty much never stops talking," says Shannon.

She adds: "It's because he never stops learning, so he never stops asking questions. He's always trying to understand the broader picture. I also like that he is very warm and welcoming. He's really good at lifting people up and making them appreciate their qualities as much as he does."

Christopher, who is now 29, graduated first, and, in 2008, did a summer fellowship with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association in Harrisburg. He and Shannon saw each other when they could. When the fellowship ended, Christopher and a college buddy went backpacking in Western Europe, but many of Christopher's thoughts were focused on whether he should figure out a way to be with Shannon immediately in their favorite city or take a newspaper job in any city where he could find one.

He came back home, and in early 2009, what is now Technical.ly was launched.

Shannon, who is now 28, was a senior and managing editor of Temple News when she founded NEast Philly, a hyperlocal news website that covered the Northeast. She ran NEast Philly until late 2013, when her full-time job as social-media strategist for WHYY's Newsworks, plus teaching multimedia storytelling and journalism research at Temple, left her with too little time. She still teaches and is now community manager at BillyPenn, a website focused on Philadelphia news and civic engagement.

In December 2009, Christopher bought a place in Fishtown. Shannon joined him there in fall 2013.

In July 2014, the couple observed Shannon's 27th birthday in the same way they had for years: dinner at Zahav. Afterward, they walked along the Delaware waterfront, past the Seaport Museum, past the then-empty RiverRink, then farther north to Race Street Pier.

"This is the longest I've ever been with anyone," Christopher said. "You, too, right?"

"Yes," Shannon said.

"It's going pretty well, right?"

"It is," she agreed.

She's used to Christopher's asking lots of questions, but Shannon thought something different might be happening.

"How many of our birthdays have we spent together?" he asked. She calculated. "Could we spend all of our birthdays together?"

He knelt, she said yes, and Christopher gave Shannon his grandmother's diamond nestled in a new setting by a jeweler who's a longtime friend of her family's.

The ceremony and reception were held at Stotesbury Mansion on Rittenhouse Square. The ceremony was performed by Christopher's sister's boyfriend. During the dads' funny-but-truthful welcomes and warnings to their new family members, Michael McDonald said his people were a bit more reserved, and he jokingly pleaded with Christopher not to hug them so much. George Wink told Shannon every event and even normal meals would feature way more food than necessary.

George also spoke of the huge role Carol, Christopher's mother, played in his life. She died several years ago.

Friends did readings, including one from Still Life With Woodpecker - a Tom Robbins novel the couple read together. Christopher's childhood friend Mike strummed the guitar during their ceremony.

Shannon's mother, Cheryl, made brilliantly colored paper flowers, which the attendants' accessories matched.

When their 150 guests needed a break from dancing, they could shoot pool or play one of two old-school arcade games the couple rented.

For signature drinks, Christopher chose an old fashioned, which came with a detailed, flowery description. She choose the beverage he first bought for her, and the one certain to be found in the cooler at all McDonald family parties: a can of Mountain Dew.

"The most incredible six minutes of my life so far were when our fathers gave the family welcomes and when we said our vows," Christopher said. "There are very few times when I heard so close to genuine honesty that was also comforting. And so many different groups of people important to me were hearing it. It was an intimate, genuine, honest moment."

Immediately after the ceremony, Shannon and Christopher walked through the room they were just married in out to Rittenhouse Square for photos. The couple walked around a bit, waiting for all members of the bridal party and their parents to come outside. "People were congratulating us. There were hugs and high fives," Shannon said. "I had this giddy smile on my face, and I took this big, deep breath. I felt like a really huge thing had just been accomplished."

A bargain: The flowers made by Shannon's mother. Five bouquets and all the flowers that decorated the venue cost $75.

The splurge: Christopher's spreadsheet made it clear that some other venues cost less than the mansion, but none evoked the historic, center-of- it-all feeling nearly as well.

Ten days in Ecuador.

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Officiant: Officiant: Matt Hoying, partner of the groom's sister, who became ordained online to perform ceremonies.

Venue: Stotesbury Mansion, Philadelphia.

Catering: Feastivities Events, Philadelphia.

Photography: Fairmount Photo/Matt Godfrey, Philadelphia.

Flowers: Mother of the bride, Cheryl McDonald, made paper flowers.

Dress: L&H Bridal, Philadelphia.

Music: Ceremony, Mike Herz, Newton, N.J.; Reception, DJ Shawn Ryan, Philadelphia.

Do you have the date? E-mail us - at least six weeks before your ceremony - why we should feature your love story: weddings@phillynews.com. Unfortunately, we can't respond individually to all submissions. If your story is chosen, you will be contacted.

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