Linara Jineé Davidson and Henry Lawson Greenidge were married Sept. 22 at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. The Rev. Patti Welch, a Lutheran minister and a canon at the cathedral, performed the ceremony, with the Rev. Michael A. Walrond Jr., a Baptist minister, taking part.
Mrs. Greenidge, 36, is the managing director for fund-raising and external affairs at the East Harlem Tutorial Program, an organization that provides after-school programs, operates three charter schools and offers teaching residencies. She graduated from N.Y.U. and received a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia.
She is a daughter of Montez Caldwell Davidson of Manhattan and the late Dr. Ronald W. Davidson. The bride’s father was an internist in private practice, with offices in Manhattan and in Brooklyn, and also specialized in acupuncture and nutrition. Her mother is the purveyor of a health-food product that was developed through her husband’s practice.
Mr. Greenidge, 37, is the government and community affairs manager in Manhattan for Cruise Automation, a self-driving vehicle subsidiary of General Motors. He graduated from Hampton University and received a law degree from the University of Baltimore.
He is the son of Dr. Loretta L. Patton-Greenidge and Royston A. Greenidge of Brooklyn. The groom’s mother, who is retired, was a family-practice physician and the acting chairwoman for family practice and community medicine at the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens. His father owns and manages residential and commercial properties in Brooklyn, and is also an artist and was the founder of Stepstone Art Gallery in Brooklyn.
The couple met in the fall of 2016, in Washington, at the annual legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus. Mr. Greenidge was then working in the office of the New York mayor as an assistant director for external affairs, and Ms. Davidson was a regional political director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
A mutual friend introduced them moments after another friend had finished telling Mr. Greenidge that he needed to open himself up to the possibility of meeting someone. “She left to have a drink and I turned around and Linara was there,” he said.
Ms. Davidson said that Mr. Greenidge made an immediate impression on her, too. “To be honest, when I saw him — and it’s a wonky thing to say — the moment that I saw him, something said to me in my head, that is my husband right there,” she said. “But I didn’t pay too much attention to it.”
The two began chatting and soon realized that, with all that they had in common it was amazing that they hadn’t already met. They both had jobs in New York politics, including a brief period when they both worked in the mayor’s office, went to prep schools in New York, took part in Jack and Jill of America, have parents who were physicians. And, their families even knew each other.
“It took me 35 years to meet him, but we’ve been in the same room the whole time and didn’t even know it,” she said.
The next day, Mr. Greenidge asked Ms. Davidson if she would have lunch with him two days later, when they were back in New York City, and they agreed to meet at his favorite Thai place, which was just around the corner from the Clinton campaign office in Brooklyn.
She arrived at the date wearing Converse sneakers, he remembers, which were his personal favorite footwear. He saw it as another sign.
“It just felt right,” he said. “The lunch wasn’t a very good lunch. There were awkward pauses and we both didn’t finish our food. But when we left, we shared a kiss. Just a peck on the lips but that’s when I knew she felt the same way I did.”
“She has this ability to really hear you, understand you and she makes you feel like you are the most important thing,” he said. “She has this affect on people that’s amazing. She doesn’t even know it.”
