Dream Wedding Winners to Say “I Do” in College Park

Remy Shaffer ’00 was visiting Casey Gomes ’02, her fiancé, when she received a very important phone call. “We are calling to congratulate you..., said the voice on the line. “Oh, my God!” Shaffer responded. They had won.

The caller was Linda Roth ’84, director of corporate and community events for the Maryland Alumni Association, letting the couple know that they won the alumni association’s Dream Wedding contest.

On June 25, 2005, Shaffer and Gomes will walk down the aisle of Memorial Chapel and then celebrate with friends and family at a reception in the new Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center—compliments of the Maryland Alumni Association and many participating sponsors.

As the couple says in their winning essay, “Our journeys have taken us to many places, but we can’t imagine a better way to come full circle and celebrate our Terp union than a red tie affair!”

Their courtship began in the fall of 1999 when they were students at Maryland. Gomes asked Shaffer to a Halloween Hayride (their first date). Their relationship grew, even when Shaffer graduated and moved to work in Boston, and Gomes completed his last two years at the university. In 2002, they reunited in Ohio where he was working for General Fraternity Headquarters of Beta Theta Pi (his fraternity) and she was pursuing a master’s at Miami of Ohio. This past year, they began making plans to get married.

They knew they wanted to be married in 2005; the problem was where. Home for Shaffer is Baltimore, and for Gomes, it is Rhode Island’s coastline. When they saw the announcement about the Dream Wedding contest in the winter issue of Terp magazine, a solution presented itself:

“College Park is us,” says Shaffer. “It’s the only place that we both share, and we both love, love, College Park. We’re really proud to be alumni. It felt right.”

It felt right, too, for the committee judging the contestants. In May, Gomes and Shaffer were selected the winners out of 24 couples. Contestants wrote a 500-word essay and were interviewed by the committee.

Today, Shaffer and Gomes are back in Maryland. She works for the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, and he is in his first semester of graduate school at Johns Hopkins University. Next June, they will return to College Park, where it all began, to marry in Memorial Chapel, a favorite stop on tours they led as campus tour guides; to inaugurate a new landmark on campus, the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center; and most of all, to start a new chapter in their lives.

“We are humbled, excited and honored,” says Gomes. “There’s a reason this happened to us, and we need to make the most of this.” —BAM

Read the couple’s entire essay and learn more about the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center at www.alumni.umd.edu/Riggs/. For information about Memorial Chapel, visit www.weddings.umd.edu.

Cast Your Vote
Be a part of planning Remy Shaffer and Casey Gomes’ Dream Wedding! Over the next few months, visit www.alumni.umd.edu to help them choose their caterer, wedding cake, band and flowers.

For Association Members, It’s the “Big Tent Party"

IT'S GAME DAY and you’re rushing out of the house. No time for a meal—you’ve got to make it to campus early if you’re going to find that elusive parking space.

Once here, safely parked in Lot 1, you’re wishing you had grabbed a Twinkie. The smell wafting from tailgaters’ barbecues is driving you crazy and it sounds like a capacity crowd is roaring in your stomach.

Thankfully, you are carrying your Maryland Alumni Association membership card. In the past, it has brought you discounts on services and merchandise. Today, it is your free pass into the association’s exclusive members-only tent, where you’ll find a full buffet, beverages and a place to relax with fellow university graduates.

“It’s our way of bringing alumni together for some Terrapin spirit—and buffalo wings—before kickoff,” says Sonia Huntley, the association’s director of membership.

Visit the tent on Homecoming (October 16) for even more fun, including an open bar and live entertainment.

If you have family or friends with you on game day, bring them in with you for a nominal fee.

So relax, enjoy, then cheer the Terps to victory. —MW

The alumni association’s members-only tent is located on Ludwig Field, next to Lot 1. Not a member? You can sign up today by visiting www.alumni.umd.edu.

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