A couple’s wedding announcement was supposed to attract congratulations online. Instead, it went viral due to an over-pour of criticism about their first date at a Popeyes parking lot.
The biggest shock of this story, for me, is that it got in the Times Vows.
After a First Date at Popeyes, Marriage Was on the Menu https://t.co/P2IgTiznLp
— Naima Cochrane (@naima) August 7, 2022
Boston spouses Stevenson Boyce, 44, and Sharhea Wade, 34, revealed in The New York Times Mini-Vows section that they met on the dating app Hinge before getting married. According to the article, Stevenson canceled their first date twice before the pair finally met in a Popeyes parking lot. Sharhea added that the line for Popeyes was so long that Stevenson eventually purchased himself a meal from the KFC across the street.
The two continued dating as Stevenson let go of five other women he also dated, eventually making Wade his girlfriend. Months later, during a trip to Barbados, Stevenson admitted he proposed to Sharhea with a ring purchased by his close friend and colleague.
The couple got married on July 23, and after sharing the announcement publicly went viral due to their unorthodox love story. Getting hundreds of comments in agreement, one Twitter user wrote:
Their first date was not at Popeyes, which would certainly have been one thing, but in the parking lot of a Popeyes. After he canceled on her twice. He was a divorcee 10 years her senior dating 6 women. His coworker bought the ring. She is a VP at a multibillion dollar company.
Their first date was not at Popeyes, which would certainly have been one thing, but in the parking lot of a Popeyes. After he canceled on her twice. He was a divorcee 10 years her senior dating 6 women. His coworker bought the ring.
She is a VP at a multibillion dollar company.
— Simply TC 💚💛🖤💙 (@BienSur_JeTaime) August 7, 2022
The Bride’s Friend Defends Her Popeyes Love Story
A Twitter user who goes by Jasmine online claimed to know the bride Sharea Wade personally and stood up for her after seeing negative takes on her relationship. She tweeted:
As someone who KNOWS this bride and was in this wedding, know that she is happy, thriving, loved & blessed. She never wanted to be married but she found an *great* guy who opened her eyes to an even more amazing life. She is no fool and he’s does his part. They are GOOD!
Jasmine continued to shoot down assumptions in a second tweet.
So sad how yall have replied and QTed this with so many ASSUMPTIONS forgetting how this works. The author picked the facts of the story to include and put it together just so y’all would eat it up like this. So much is missing as it typically is. Y’all keep on though.
Roomies, do YOU think this situation deserved this much judgement?
Jasmine. She never wanted to be married but went on a Hinge date in a Popeyes parking lot at the beginning of the pandemic, kissed a stranger who was seeing 6 other women in a pandemic, moved him in in a pandemic after 6 months, & accepted a ring he didn’t buy, but we the fools? https://t.co/jz9UOoiRCp
— Dear Ashley… (@asj519) August 7, 2022
NYT wedding announcements are usually endearing and aspirational.
Publishing the Popeyes parking lot engagement story was meant to humble Black women and make them think it’s acceptable to settle for mediocre treatment. Anyway, I won’t be renewing my subscription.— Kia Richards (@KiaRichards_) August 7, 2022
34 and a VP of a company but let a 44 year old man convince you to sit in the parking lot of Popeyes to eat KFC as a first date…. pic.twitter.com/RslT071wfC
— The Neighborhood Publicist (@nhoodpublicist) August 7, 2022
