When Stefanie Joseph and Christopher Reinhart Richards matched on Hinge in January 2023, they bonded instantly over their shared love of books.
“After Stefanie told me she is a bookworm and aspiring writer, which I am too, I knew she was someone different,” Richards said. “I had never met or dated anyone whose idea of a great time is to get into a good book.”
A few weeks after they connected, the two had their first date over brunch at Shuka, a Mediterranean restaurant in Manhattan, and they hit it off even more in person. At the time, Joseph was living in Far Rockaway, Queens, with her mother and working as an executive assistant at a children’s museum in Long Island. Richards lived alone in an apartment in Downtown Brooklyn, writing short stories.
“I thought he was cute,” Joseph said. “He got to the restaurant before me, and when I approached the table, he stood up and helped me take off my coat like a true gentleman.”
“Stefanie was immaculately dressed, and I already knew she was intelligent,” Richards said. “It was hard not to like her right away.”
Their conversation flowed for two hours and touched on their backgrounds, writing aspirations and shared literary interests. Joseph talked about her preference for historical fiction, romance and nonfiction; Richards described himself as a “die-hard” fan of science fiction, fantasy and mystery.
Not ready for the date to end after brunch, Richards asked Joseph if he could take her to his favorite chocolate boutique, Li-Lac Chocolates, in the West Village, where he bought her truffles. They kept talking as they walked, and he invited her to his mother’s nearby apartment, which she rarely used.
She agreed, and as soon as they entered, they started to kiss. “It was more passionate than anything I had ever experienced or could imagine,” Richards said.
They talked and cuddled on the living room couch until well after midnight. “It was late to go home, so I suggested she stay over and sleep in the bedroom while I slept on the couch,” Richards said.
“I felt so safe and said yes without thinking twice,” Joseph said.
The next morning, the pair grabbed bagels, and as Richards walked Joseph to the subway to head back to Queens, they excitedly talked about their next date.
They began texting daily and talking by phone each night. A few weeks later, they saw each other again in Washington, D.C., where Joseph was on a work trip. As they explored the city, they began to “fall in love,” both said.
“Chris officially asked me to be his girlfriend, and I never looked back,” Joseph said.
Joseph, 38, is from Dix Hills, N.Y. She is the executive assistant to the president and chief executive of the New York Historical, as well as the institution’s trustee liaison. She has a bachelor’s degree in Slavic studies from Boston College.
Richards, 43, grew up in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. He is a writer at work on a science-fiction novel.
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Back in New York, their relationship picked up even more speed. They spent weekends together at Richards’s apartment. Saturday nights in, on the couch reading and discussing their respective books while sipping cocktails made by Richards became a ritual. “Chris is a great mixologist and often experiments with different cocktails to match the books we read,” Joseph said.
She, in turn, enjoyed feeding Richards with her cakes — ginger rum most of all — along with brioches and savory dishes like beef Wellington.
When Joseph found her current job in December 2023, Richards asked her to move in with him in Downtown Brooklyn. “I told her the commute would be a third as long if she lived with me,” he said. The couple continues to call the apartment home.
Living together brought their first challenge: how to fit their book collections — around 600 tomes each — into a two-bedroom apartment. “I left some in my mom’s apartment and kept others in storage,” Joseph said. “But we knew that we wouldn’t be able to stop buying, so we decided to buy more bookshelves to store them all.”
In October 2024, Richards proposed.
“I walked into a sea of candles, and then Chris got on one knee and asked me to marry him,” Joseph said. “I was so giddy with excitement that I gave him the wrong finger to put the ring on.”
They wed May 2 before 86 guests at First Presbyterian Church in Hudson, N.Y. Jim Rooney, who was ordained through the Universal Life Church, officiated.
Their reception at Hudson Hall at the Hudson Opera House in Hudson, following the ceremony, featured a literary theme. Library card bookmarks served as seating assignments, while the table numbers were designed to resemble novels. Each table featured a quote about love.
Their chocolate stout cake with mocha frosting resembled a stack of books, and the hall’s stage was transformed into a reading lounge.
“The day was the start of a new chapter for both of us,” Richards said. “Pun intended.”
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