When both graduated from law school in 2019, Ms. Davis cum laude, they moved to Washington together, where they spent hours in law libraries cramming for the bar exam (both passed). Ms. Davis, 28, is now an associate at the Washington office of the law firm Hogan Lovells. Ms. Naseef, 30, who also holds a master’s degree from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, is a staff attorney with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va.
By the end of 2019, Ms. Davis was ready to propose. Over the holidays that year, she had dual engagement rings made as she mentally sketched out a plan. “I had envisioned asking her around Memorial Day in Philadelphia, because she’s always loved Boathouse Row,” on the Schuylkill River, Ms. Davis said.
The pandemic’s arrival the following March at first made Ms. Davis hesitant to proceed with the proposal. “I decided to wait and see if things would get more normal,” she said. But by the time they took a trip to Philadelphia in May 2020 to visit Ms. Naseef’s family, Ms. Davis had recommitted to her plan. She tucked the rings into her suitcase and later asked Ms. Naseef to marry her while they sat on a bench on Boathouse Row.
The moment brought back the jitters that Ms. Davis had felt when she first asked Ms. Naseef out. “I was quite nervous,” Ms. Davis said. And once again, there were tears: “I definitely cried,” Ms. Naseef said.
On July 9, they were married at Palisades Park Country Club in Covert, Mich., where Ms. Davis spent summers as a child. Her younger brother, Dawson Davis, who was ordained a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated before 100 vaccinated guests. Among them was Donya Khadem, a friend from law school, who spoke at the reception held after the ceremony.
“She talked about how, in 2015, the state of Michigan was fighting to avoid marriage equality,” Ms. Davis said. Added Ms. Naseef, “That made it even more special to get married there.”
