Hello there
Kate, who grew up in Yardley, met David in 1998 on their first day as freshmen at Columbia University. David, who grew up in Manhattan, lived in the suite of dorm rooms across the hall, but spent so much time with Kate and her three suitemates that he usually had his dorm phone forwarded to their place.
In sophomore year, David, Kate, and five other friends lived together in a cramped New York City apartment. Kate was pre-med with a philosophy major. David studied political science. They spent much time together studying, eating lunch, and just talking. "He and I, in our oblivion, never really thought about the two of us dating," Kate remembered. "But everyone all around us always did."
Both spent part of their junior year studying abroad. David studied politics at Cambridge in England; Kate studied philosophy in India and Australia. When her program ended, Kate went to Germany, where she taught a GMAT course to make a little money. David came to visit. "We were away from school, from all of our friends," Kate said, "and romance was definitely in the air."
But when classes resumed at Columbia, it was back to business as usual. Kate, David, and their other roommates were living in close proximity again, and the two did not think dating was a good idea. "But neither of us forgot what happened, either," she said. They did their best to keep secret the sparks flying between them.
About halfway through senior year, David's beloved Yankees won the World Series. In his joyous mood, he turned to Kate and said, "What do you think about giving this a try and dating?"
How does forever sound?
The dating experiment more than worked. "I think that marriage was something that was really always in the plans for us," Kate said. When to do it was the question. David and Kate, who are now both 29, were incredibly busy. As often as not, they did not live in the same city. Kate went to med school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. David earned his law degree at Yale.
A couple of years after finishing their advanced degrees - and a decade after they met - David and Kate were living together in a fifth-floor walk-up in the East Village. In July 2008, they took a weekend getaway to Turks and Caicos. David really wanted to propose, but he loves to surprise Kate. The trip seemed too obvious. They had a great time and then came home. At the top of their apartment's stairs, Kate noted that her usually chivalrous David made no moves to carry her heavy suitcase or open the door for her. She put down her bag and swung the door, which opens into her office. "There, open on my desk, was the ring." He ran up behind her and got down on one knee. "After almost 10 years," Kate said, "he was still able to surprise me."
It was so them
Kate, an outdoorsy type, is now a third-year ob-gyn resident at NYU who works at Bellevue and Tisch hospitals. David, who is all about the city, is a lawyer with Jenner & Block. They chose to marry at the Water Works because its city setting on the banks of the Schuylkill appealed to both of them, Kate said. They were joined by 230 guests.
Kate grew up in a clan of Phillies fans. The night before their wedding, the Phils hosted the New York Mets. "We scrapped the traditional rehearsal with everyone walking down the aisle. Instead, we bought about 80 tickets to the Phillies/Mets game," Kate said. They also held a pregame dinner for family and friends at the stadium before game time.
Kate and David love kids, and their ceremony included a parade of 14 of them, all 11 years old or younger and collectively called "The Flower Children." Most were Kate's cousins. The girls all wore polka-dot dresses in burgundy, robin's-egg blue, or pale pink. The boys wore dark taupe suits with burgundy bow ties. They walked down the aisle in twos and threes, the girls tossing rose petals.
The son of one of the couple's friends was the youngest. No one knew if Silas, not even 2, would make it down the aisle. "He walked all by himself - he waddled and toddled," Kate said. But when almost at the front, Silas turned and started walking toward the back of the room. The groom left his spot to catch him and retrieve the ring pillow.
Kate's sister, Kristin, a high school senior, and her cousin Marken sang the Aimee Mann and Michael Penn version of the Beatles song "The Two of Us."
Awestruck
Kate is not sappy. (Her dad, in his wedding-day toast, described her as "tough.") But when the couple got to the part of their vows where they pledged "To love and honor you with all that I have and all that I am," the tough girl got all choked up. "I really couldn't hold it together," she said.
This was unexpected
It was time for the couple's friends and family to gather at the baseball stadium for the pre-wedding dinner and game. Rain poured down in sheets, and Kate and David were stuck in the resulting traffic. Unfortunately, they had all the tickets. David called his sister, Deborah, who was standing outside a gate. Deborah flagged down someone who looked official. Not only did the Phillies organization let everyone in without tickets, but they moved the dinner indoors to the High & Inside Pub. Kate's Uncle Dave has been best friends with the Phanatic since they went to college together. And much to the joy of all the kids who were in the wedding, the Phanatic paid the party an unexpected visit.
Discretionary spending
A bargain: The Flower Children's apparel. The polka-dot dresses and the boys' suits cost $49 each.
The splurge: Kate took her bridesmaids, her mother, her grandmother, and a couple of her aunts to Toppers Spa for a massage, manicure, and pedicure.
The getaway
The couple went to Playa del Carmen in Mexico, but only for a few days - Kate had to get back to work. They are planning a longer trip in January.
Behind the Scenes
Officiants
The couple had a self-uniting license, but two judges for whom David clerked performed the ceremony and signed the license as witnesses:
The Hon. Jed S. Rakoff of the federal district court in New York
The Hon. Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York
Venue
The Water Works, with assistance by Sophia Agorastos, Philadelphia
Catering
The Water Works
Photography
Danielle Crawford Hopkins, Robbinsville, N.J.
Music
CTO Park Central, Philadelphia
Dress
A Romona Keveza sample, purchased at Bridal Reflections in New York
Invitations
Signature Plus, Langhorne
Planner
Donna Strug of Married by the MOB, Philadelphia
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