Before Jasmine Ariel Bolton and Junior John West went on their first date in on April 18, 2021, a month after being matched on Hinge, they were confident that they were a good match.
For their first date, Dr. West invited Ms. Bolton to join him in one of his favorite pastimes. “I had said on my Hinge profile that I loved going to farmers’ markets, which Jasmine seemed intrigued by, and I suggested we hit the one on Sunday morning at Dupont Circle,” he said.
At the time, Dr. West, 34, was living in Baltimore and a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Ms. Bolton, 35, was a senior counsel for the Department of Education in Washington.
“I saw Junior at the market entrance and thought he was as tall and handsome as his profile,” Ms. Bolton said. “My heart skipped a beat.”
Dr. West was also smitten. “Jasmine was wearing this beautiful flowy dress, and her beautiful eyes drew me right in,” he said. “She had the nicest, most welcoming voice, which made me smile immediately.”
They spent the next hour chatting as they perused the market, stopping at various stands to pick up treats, including macaroons. Eventually, they parked themselves on a bench at Dupont Circle and talked for three hours about their careers, interests and favorite foods.
“Our time together flew by,” Ms. Bolton said. “I prayed at the end that there would be a second date. I hoped that this would be the beginning of something special.”
“I called her later that day and asked her out again,” Dr. West said.
Their second meeting was on May 5, Cinco de Mayo, at Blue Agave Mexican Food in Baltimore. “Jasmine looked so gorgeous in her blazer and pumps that I could barely keep my composure,” Dr. West said.
The two sipped margaritas and shared stories about their upbringings. Dr. West, whose parents immigrated to Toronto from St. Kitts, told Ms. Bolton about how he had relished his numerous trips to the island throughout his childhood. When they finished their meal, Dr. West said he wanted to keep the evening going and invited Ms. Bolton to his apartment.
While there, they shared their first kiss. It was a surreal moment, Ms. Bolton said. “I didn’t want the kiss to stop,” she said.
By the fourth date, Ms. Bolton said she was sure that she wanted to marry Dr. West. “We were attending my good friend’s wedding, and when we were on the dance floor, ‘At Last’ by Etta James started playing,” she said. “When Junior reached out and grabbed my hand, I knew I never wanted to let it go.”
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Dr. West, who had already fallen for Ms. Bolton by that point, said while dancing with her at the wedding, “All I could think about was how we would be wed one day, too.”
Ms. Bolton grew up in Memphis and holds a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard and a law degree from Columbia. She is a civil rights lawyer who specializes in education and works remotely as the policy director for the Partnership for the Future of Learning, a nonprofit organization that promotes education equality.
Dr. West grew up in Toronto. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a bachelor’s degree in cell and molecular biology and has a Ph.D. in cell and systems biology. He is an assistant professor in the department of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Michigan.
The couple’s relationship intensified as they alternated weekends in Washington and Baltimore. They also took overnight trips to New York and Boston and indulged in their mutual interest in wine by visiting wineries in Virginia and Maryland. In February 2023, Ms. Bolton left the Department of Education and started her remote job, and that April, she moved to Baltimore to live with Dr. West.
In September 2024, they moved to Detroit, where they currently reside, for Dr. West’s professor position at the University of Michigan.
“When Jasmine moved to Baltimore, marriage was obvious,” Dr. West said. “The holdup was me trying to figure out the best time and way to ask Jasmine to be my wife.”
On Nov. 25, 2023, Dr. West proposed to Ms. Bolton on a walk through the vines at their favorite winery, Big Cork Vineyards, in Rohrersville, Md.
The following year, on Dec. 21, the couple married before 15 guests in the living room of Ms. Bolton’s childhood home in Memphis, where her parents, Julian and Joyce Bolton, still live. The Rev. Stephen P. Walker, the bride’s uncle and a baptist minister, officiated.
Dr. West and Ms. Bolton plan to host another ceremony and a larger reception on Feb. 1 in St. Kitts.
After their vows, a vocalist serenaded them with Natalie Cole’s “This Will Be” while they danced. They then gathered with friends and family for a Southern feast that included fried chicken, candied yams, and pecan pie. The groom’s mother, Josephine West, also prepared black cake, a traditional Caribbean dessert.
“The day was a dream, and I felt like I was walking on a cloud,” Ms. Bolton said. “It was the same emotion I felt when I first met Junior, but it’s only grown stronger since.”
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