Patrice Ebony Moss and Melvin McKinley Witcher Jr. were married Feb. 22 at the bride’s family home in Upper Marlboro, Md. The Rev. Melvin McKinley Witcher Sr., a Baptist minister and the father of the groom, officiated.
The bride, who is 37 and taking her husband’s name, is a Clare Booth Luce associate professor of biochemistry, with tenure, and program chair of the biology program at Trinity Washington University in Washington. She graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Meharry Medical College in Nashville.
She is the daughter of Mary C. Moss and Carl E. Moss of Upper Marlboro. The bride’s father is a power equipment operator at the United States Post Office in Landover, Md. Her mother is retired as a program analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency in McLean, Va.
The groom, 36, is the video production director for Zion Church in Landover. He is also the owner of an independent videography company in Landover that bears his name.
He is a son of Pamela A. Witcher and Pastor Witcher of Capitol Heights, Md. The groom’s mother works as a secretary for a private doctor’s office in Olney, Md. His father is pastor of Little David Baptist Church in Landover.
Mr. Witcher got a first glimpse of Ms. Moss in April 2015 during an Easter play performed at the First Baptist Church in Glenarden, Md.
“She was sitting right in front of me, and man, she was beautiful,” he said. “I started asking around about her.”
Mr. Witcher, who is admittedly shy, did not try starting a conversation with her. “The words were just stuck in my throat,” he said.
Two months later, he managed to let a few of those words loose and steered them in Ms. Moss’s direction when he bumped into her at a housewarming party in Upper Marlboro.
“We didn’t speak long, but I remembered thinking he seemed like a nice guy and he was very handsome,” Ms. Moss said. “But in a matter of minutes our conversation was over and I went about the rest of my day.”
Two months later, Mr. Witcher and several friends were sitting in a restaurant when Ms. Moss walked through the door with several of her friends.
“Well, look who’s here,” Mr. Witcher said, putting a smile on Ms. Moss’s face.
“She looked totally gorgeous,” he added. “I was caught off-guard a little bit because I didn’t expect to see her there.”
But this time, he went over to her and they chatted briefly and exchanged phone numbers.
“He was so kind and respectful,” Ms. Moss said. “When I got back to my table all of my friends were asking about him.”
But Mr. Witcher was still shy, which is why he didn’t call or text her for nearly a week. “I guess I was a little nervous,” he said. But Ms. Moss was not exactly sitting home waiting for her phone to ring.
“I was out there dating, doing my own thing, just having fun,” she said. “I knew Melvin liked me because several friends had told me so, but I really wasn’t paying much attention to him at that time.”
Two weeks later, they were back where they started, at the same church, where a music festival was being staged.
Mr. Witcher approached Ms. Moss again, and they spoke a bit longer, long enough for him to ask her out on a first date to the Bone Fish Grill in Crofton, Md.
Starting that night, Ms. Moss began paying attention.
“I began to see the man he really is, a kind, churchgoing, fun-loving family man,” Ms. Moss said. ”And then when I met his family and saw just how much love and respect there was among them, I knew he was the right guy for me, and suddenly, my life was going in a different direction — his.”
