Devin Ellise Miller recalled first meeting Rieanna Katherine Stewart at a bar in Detroit in February 2022. But Ms. Stewart remembers it differently.
“I have a knack for remembering people’s faces,” Ms. Stewart said. “I knew I had met her before.”
In August 2019, Ms. Miller’s friend, Nevin McRay, had taken her to a potluck dinner for his kickball team. Ms. Miller was introduced to the group, but she and Ms. Stewart didn’t connect one on one.
At the Detroit bar, Ms. Stewart said she recalled thinking, “This girl is so hot,” when she saw Ms. Miller. Ms. Stewart had no problem interrupting a conversation Ms. Miller was having with the bartender.
Ms. Miller was intrigued. “She kind of did this ‘up down’ of me,” she said. “She was flirting, and so I flirted back,” Ms. Miller said. Ms. Stewart didn’t mention the previous meeting until later.
It was an instant connection, Ms. Stewart said: In “that moment, we both left time and space. There was no one around me during that conversation.”
The two exchanged Instagram handles, and Ms. Stewart messaged her later that night.
“‘We could meet Nevin for a drink or for a walk. Or we could ditch Nevin,’” she recalled messaging. “I didn’t want to assume she was queer.”
Ms. Miller didn’t want to make any assumptions either. “If you mean this as a date, I’d love to, and if you meant this as friends, I’d also love to,” she messaged back.
Ms. Stewart told her she definitely meant it as a date, and the two made plans for one week later at Collect Beer Bar in Detroit.
“It was the best date I ever had in my life,” Ms. Stewart said. “I felt like she really saw me.” They hit two more stops that night: Bronx Bar in Detroit and Bumbo’s Bar in nearby Hamtramck, Mich.
Then they retired to Ms. Miller’s place. “We stayed up all night talking and making out,” she said.
After Ms. Miller dropped her off the next morning, Ms. Stewart recalled thinking, “‘What just happened? I already miss this person.’”
There weren’t many texts after that date, Ms. Stewart said, “because we were basically always together.”
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About three weeks after meeting, Ms. Miller asked Ms. Stewart to be her girlfriend. “I was wary because it felt so soon, but I was so sure of us,” Ms. Miller said.
The two moved in to Ms. Miller’s condo in the North End of Detroit in September 2022. “It just felt like a relief not having to pack every night and drive back and forth,” Ms. Miller said.
Ms. Miller, 26, is a data architect at General Motors. She has a bachelor’s degree in statistics from North Carolina State University and grew up in Hickory, N.C.
Ms. Stewart, 31, is a Detroit training manager at Capital Impact Partners. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Wayne State University and grew up in Woodhaven, Mich.
The two bought a house together in July 2023 in the Russell Woods neighborhood of Detroit. Dual surprise proposals ensued a week later on Aug. 6 during a five-day vacation to Port Austin, Mich. The two had purchased rings together earlier in the year and agreed to each propose at some point in 2023.
Coincidentally, it ended up being the very same day about an hour apart. “We had each planned to propose further in the week, but we both were just so excited,” Ms. Miller said.
The two were wed on Sept. 28 at 611 West Philadelphia, an event space in Detroit. Christina Nicholaides, a close friend of Ms. Stewart who was ordained by American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, officiated.
About 50 guests attended the ceremony and, later, about 50 more guests joined for the reception at the same venue.
The two will change their last names to Ms. Miller’s father’s last name, Kovac, because, Ms. Miller said, he “has been extremely supportive” of their same-sex union.
“It was an incredible honor to have all of our chosen family together in one room,” Ms. Stewart said. “That experience made me want to continue creating spaces where others can feel safe, loved and truly seen.”
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