They were a long-distance couple for two years. In order to launch her career, Ms. Hopfer took a position in Pittsburgh as a labor and delivery nurse in June 2022. However, she stated that “living together was always the goal.” At the time, M. Graham was enrolled in community college courses and working as a medical assistant. According to M. Graham, “it worked because we made it work.”
Ms. Hopfer transitioned from nursing to grief doula work in 2023, working with moms of stillborn children. However, she was aware that she would ultimately go back to nursing. She took her present position in the Maryland hospital’s obstetrics department late that year.
She started by moving into the Vienna home that M. Graham and his housemates shared. They acquired a place of their own in Vienna in June 2024, six months after M. Graham’s lease expired. They had been discussing getting married before they moved in.
On a weekend getaway to Savannah, Georgia, on June 17, 2024, M. Graham proposed to Ms. Hopfer using a diamond engagement ring that her late grandpa, a jeweler, had saved for her. A month later, Ms. Hopfer used a second ring that her grandpa had saved for a grandchild’s wedding to pop the question to M. Graham at Pittsburgh’s Mellon Park.
The couple’s courthouse wedding on January 3 was somewhat less than the number of guests at their June ceremony in Forest, Virginia. Judge George Barbour, the branch chief of the marriage bureau in Washington, D.C., watched them exchange vows in front of ten guests instead of twenty-five.
Both said that they were able to generate an atmosphere of genuine love in a setting that was intended to feel more formal than romantic. Each recited a handwritten promise that reaffirmed their values and dedication. M. Graham pledged to provide Ms. Hopfer with a safe refuge.
Additionally, Ms. Hopfer pledged security in life and in love. Even when everything around us seems unclear, she vowed to always chose you.
