Red Letter Daze: Saying 'I Do' at C.U.

Gul Gunaydin grad is a true expert on marriage between young couples — not only does she study interpersonal relationships as a graduate student in social psychology, but she also married her boyfriend of four years, Emre Selcuk grad, right here at Cornell in September. The two graduate students held their wedding behind the A.D. White House, and a friend from the psychology department led the ceremony with a group of faculty and friends in attendance.

Both newlyweds are originally from Turkey. After four years of dating and relocating to Ithaca for graduate school, getting married not only felt right, it was also convenient, given their living situation. “Since we would be living in the same house in Ithaca, we thought it would be convenient to get married,” Gunaydin joked.

[5]Take a Vow: A September wedding by the A.D. White House.

Gunaydin and Selcuk each came to Ithaca for academic reasons, but they are also here to support each other while studying on the Cornell grounds. And perhaps these two aspects of life are not completely unrelated.

Many other campus couples have gotten engaged over the years, as the myth goes, often choosing to marry in traditional campus locations such as Sage Chapel.

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Becky Sopchak ’08 understands the difficulty of making post-graduation plans that involve another person. She and Tyler Coatney ’09 became engaged last July and plan to marry in Sage Chapel this summer.

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The physical setting of Cornell provides a backdrop for these relationships. Gunaydin and Selcuk, for example, held their wedding in the center of Cornell.

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Camin’s fiancé, Gainor, proposed to her in Noyes Community Center, the location of their first date.

The number of potentially romantic areas within the Cornell community makes it a perfect place for couples to transition into the next stage of their relationship. Chimesmaster Ryan Fan ’10 recalled the number of times he has played the theme from Beauty and the Beast as couples ascend into the belfry, coming down as a smiling engaged couple. He described these instances as a “celebration of love on top of the tower,” and — given the romantic setting of the McGraw Clocktower and Cornell in general — one can see why.

As ­Sopchak put it, “Cornell is a great place to fall in love.”