ARod and Katie

During my first year of college, I lived in GW's biggest freshman dorm called Thurston Hall. In the words of GW expert Alia L., "going to GW and not living in Thurston is like going to New York and not seeing Central Park." Thurston IS GW and when I look back at my four years of college, I am so glad I made the decision to live in such a crazy place. My room, 309, housed four people. It was the same size as my current bedroom and I am shocked the four of us made it through that year alive.

Because this was our first year of college and because Thurston is such a social place, most dorm room doors were open most of the time, so we quickly became friends with the people living in the rooms on either side of ours. To the left was a room of six boys (one of whom paraded around in pajamas with Sugar Daddy candy printed all over them for the entire month of September...very memorable) and to our right, room 307, was another quad. I remember walking into 307 to find all of its residents working on beading projects one morning. It was then I was sure we would be friends...

That was 2001. Fast forward eight years to Columbus Day weekend 2009. Several residents of Thurston 307 and 309 (along with the friends we incorporated into our third floor community) were gathered to celebrate one of 307's former residents (Katie) marrying a sweet and southern gentleman, Alex Rodriguez (aka ARod) in Salem, MA. (You may recall hearing about Katie and ARod from my previous post about the best Lobster Rolls on Block Island, the location of Katie's bachelorette weekend). It was so fun to have so many of the college friends all in one place for an entire weekend! The wedding hotel also manages an adjoining bed and breakfast where all of Katie's friends stayed so we were able to recreate some of the Thurston feeling (without the dried pizza in the elevator).

I had so many favorite parts of the wedding. The rehearsal dinner was held on the water and the seating chart looked like a nautical chart, complete with an antique looking boat at the top. Texas (Alex is from Houston) and New Hampshire (Katie is from Manchester) flags flew outside of the hotel during the reception. Katie's cousin officiated the traditional Catholic service. Alex wore monogrammed boots and the groom's cake was also a boot (and you know how I feel about cowboy boots). The place cards were tied to tiny pumpkins and guests were given little packets of candy corn as they left the reception to tie in the subtle autumnal theme of the weekend. Katie's mom and her sorority sisters danced to "Build Me Up Buttercup." Katie's mom actually didn't leave the dance floor. Perhaps that was my favorite part of the festivities...and when I commented on her love of the dance floor (as both of us spent the majority of the evening tearing it up), she responded by saying "Emily, who do you think I am? Of COURSE I love the dance floor." How could I have been surprised?

Katie and Alex let me photograph the entire weekend and the results reflect the type of "all access pass" I was given. Thanks for including me in the festivities, Katie and Alex! I can't wait to continue the celebrations...

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(for those of you viewing this through Google Reader or a similar site, I've included a slideshow of my favorite photos from the wedding weekend...to view it you must visit the actual blog website)