Title: Love Stories From Alumni Who Got Engaged or Walked Down the Aisle at Georgetown

Since its founding in 1893, Georgetown’s Dahlgren Chapel has hosted generations of alumni weddings. 

Jim Wickman, director for Catholic Life, estimates that thousands of couples have gotten married there over the past century. He wants that number to keep growing.

“There’s the myth out there that there is a years-long waiting list for Dahlgren Chapel when the opposite is true,” Wickman said. “I think it’s made up. I really do.”

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, we’re telling stories about alumni who got married or engaged on the Hilltop. Take a look at their happy moments over the years — and, if you’re a Hoya on the hunt, take a look at Dahlgren’s wedding calendar too. 

Joshua Raftis (SFS’16) is an associate attorney at Mayer Brown LLP and Dr. Kelly Kimball (NHS’16), is the founder of Agape Family Chiropractic. 

Our originally planned wedding was too large for Copley Crypt and was scheduled to take place in Dahlgren Chapel. But after the pandemic hit and Georgetown limited the size of the ceremony to 10 people, we decided to move to Copley Crypt. The change in venue was a silver lining among the other pandemic-related wedding changes.

It was very special for us to get married in Copley Crypt. 

As students, we would attend nightly mass there throughout the week and would sometimes stop in during the day for quiet prayer, so it has always felt like the spiritual heart of Georgetown to us. Copley Crypt has been part of many spiritual highs and lows throughout our time at Georgetown.

It was both a comforting and fitting space to hold our both difficult and joyful pandemic wedding.

A memorable moment was Fr. Schenden’s homily, where he advised that marriage is all about saying yes to each other and to love every day. That advice has served us well over the course of our marriage!

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Adrianne Attanasio Hamilton (SLL’90) and Jeff Hamilton (C’90) at a picnic during Senior Week after they got engaged in May 1990. They were married two years later after Adrianne returned from working in Georgetown’s Villa Le Balze in Florence, Italy, and completed her master’s in Italian literature at New York University. 

Jeff: I proposed on stage in Gaston Hall during senior week. Every year, a student-run organization formed a band, and everyone on campus auditions to sing with that band. They did a big show. Most of the senior class was there. Probably 3,000 people. 

Two or three days earlier, I had gone into one of the jewelry stores that used to be there on M St. and said, ‘What do you have for a hundred dollars?’ I had very little money. I got this itty bitty ring that I carried around in my pocket. I kept feeling it to make sure it was still there. I was shaking. I was really nervous.

Adrianne: I almost didn’t go [to the concert]. It was senior week and we were all busy. I’d seen the band a million times before. [But] I went and he sang Erasure’s song “A Little Respect,” which goes “I’m so in love with you / I’ll be forever blue.” He finished the song and pulled me upstage. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I thought he was going to ask me to sing something. He proposed, and I thought, he’s lucky I didn’t say no! [laughs]

Jeff: Why do you think I did it in front of a crowd? [laughs]

Adrianne: No, I was very happy.

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Deanna Blackwell (C’14) and Jordan Blackwell (C’15) met after a Georgetown Gospel Choir concert when Deanna was a first year and Jordan was visiting for Hoya Saxa Weekend. They married in 2017 and now live in Philadelphia with their two-year-old son. Deanna is a UX designer and the founder of Gloria Becca, a bridal and custom clothing company, and Jordan founded SIAH Labs.

Deanna: In 2013, my best friend set us up on a one-way blind date. I didn’t know who she was setting me up with, but Jordan knew he was going on a date with me. I was completely surprised to find out, especially since Jordan and I had been planning a conference for one of our student groups. We had meetings every day for two weeks straight, and I had no inkling that it could be him!

We ended up walking along the Georgetown waterfront and visiting the Kennedy Center to see the National Symphony Orchestra. That night, they featured Icelandic composers in a program titled Nordic Cool and replicated the Northern Lights on the side of the building. It was perfect. I even kept the playbill from the show!

How they got engaged:

Jordan: It almost didn’t happen! It was a hot and humid August morning, and I told Dee we should head to campus. The White Gravenor koi pond holds a lot of significance in our relationship, so I thought it’d be the perfect place to propose. However, when we arrived, there were tons of gnats, mosquitos and other critters that made sitting on the bench less than ideal. Dee was ready to leave, but I convinced her to stay just a little bit longer as we reminisced about our relationship and our time at Georgetown.

After a few minutes, we walked onto the grass, knelt down and prayed together. At the end of the prayer, Dee opened her eyes and saw the ring in my hand.

Deanna: I remember being in shock and overcome with emotion. I had no idea he was going to propose that day, and it was so special and thoughtful that he created a full-circle moment by choosing such a meaningful spot on campus. When he told me he had flown to Portland to receive my parents’ blessing, I didn’t believe him. He knew I wouldn’t, so he made sure to record his travels as proof!

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Jonas Claes (G’09) and Laura Blanco (G’09) met while in the Security Studies Program in the School of Foreign Service. They married in November 2013 and recently moved to Ghana. Blanco works as a senior consultant for the World Bank. Claes serves as deputy head of the European Union Delegation.

Laura: Even though we had been together for more than three years at that point and had conversations about the future, the proposal totally caught me by surprise. After a lovely Christmas Eve dinner, we decided to go for a drink. Jonas hailed a cab, blindfolded me and gave written instructions to the cab driver so I wouldn’t hear where we were headed to. 

I remember getting out of the cab and walking quite a bit in the cold. When I was finally able to remove the blindfold, we were on the stairs of Healy Hall and Jonas was on one knee. He said really meaningful words, asked me if I wanted to join him in this journey for life, and popped open a little box with a beautiful ruby engagement ring.

Jonas: Georgetown is where we first laid eyes upon each other. Healy Hall is also a location that epitomizes the solemnity, significance and romance that our engagement very much deserved. At the time I was relieved that the surprise worked out and, of course, that she said “YES!”

Laura: The wedding day brought together our families from Belgium and Colombia in beautiful Washington, DC. It was a great match and created a lasting bond between our families. A visit to the Georgetown campus was among the first stops for wedding pictures of course.

We are proud to be a Belgian-Colombian Hoya family and are extremely grateful to Georgetown University for all the wonderful things it has brought to our lives.

***

Arianna Pineiro (SFS’13) and Lisa Frank (C’13) met while living on the Justice and Diversity in Action Living and Learning Community at Georgetown. They married in 2018. Arianna is a master’s of divinity student at United Lutheran Seminary. Lisa is the executive director of Environment America. 

Lisa proposed at sunrise on the beach in St. Augustine, Florida, in February 2017. I counter-proposed with a cookie cake and an “Are You Sure?” banner the following week. While we were living in Florida at the time, we were excited to go back to where it all started for our engagement photos.

The campus and the community we had there had played such a big role in our love story. As someone who wrestled a lot with questions of faith and LGBTQ identity, I am grateful for the fact that there were supportive spaces at Georgetown, though the experience was not without its challenges. 

We felt incredibly lucky that our good friend and sophomore-year RA, Joseph Graumann (SFS’11), had become a Lutheran pastor and was willing to marry us. Since he was there from the beginning of our relationship, he was able to plan and officiate a deeply personal ceremony that recognized both our different religious traditions.

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Casey Kozak (H’20), is a third-year medical student. Richie O’Reilly (C’18) is the director of social and content at DAZN Football. They met when Kozak was a pitcher on the softball team and O’Reilly was a catcher on the baseball team at Georgetown. 

Richie: I knew she wanted to be proposed to in a special place for us surrounded by the people she loved, so naturally, I picked Georgetown as the location. Here’s where I may or may not have fumbled the surprise. I asked her out of the blue to go on a vacation back to DC with me. At the time, I thought I had gotten away with it, but little did I know, she was onto me.

Casey: I can’t say the proposal itself was a surprise. We spent the first day in Georgetown revisiting some of our favorite spots like El Centro and T. Sweets. In the morning, we took a walk down to the waterfront, my favorite spot in the city. I knew if it was going to happen anywhere, it would be there.

Richie: I fumbled through asking her to marry me, noticing halfway through that she clearly knew what was coming. But I was able to surprise her with our families, who were waiting for us around the corner. Thankfully, she definitely hadn’t seen that coming, making for an emotional celebration surrounded by loved ones.

Casey: That made our engagement incredibly special because we got to celebrate all weekend with both our families together.

Richie: Georgetown will always be home for us, no matter where we are in the world. Our relationship began eight years ago on campus, and we wanted to go back to the place it all began to celebrate the permanent joining of our two families. We loved our time on the hilltop dearly.