My husband-to-be attended school at the University of Alabama, and I attended LSU for my undergraduate degree and am currently pursuing my Masters here.  Both of us adore college football.  Our house, usually loving and harmonious, divides along loyalties on the one day a year when our two schools meet on the football field.  (The rivalry became more heated when a certain coach returned to SEC football to offer his service to another team.)  During the course of our relationship, we have looked forward to the BAMA- LSU game, placing a small bet, which included bragging rights for a year.  This year, however, we plan to make game day extra special by officially uniting our house on the day which it is normally divided.  We scheduled our wedding early on that Saturday morning so that we can get all of our friends and family to campus to the tailgate reception in celebration of our vows.  We want to share our love of each other, football, rivalry and LSU tailgating with everyone around us.  After we say our “I do’s”, we plan to move our party to the Parade Grounds where everyone who loves us and appreciates a good tailgate is welcome to join.  (I also want the magnificent oak trees as the backdrop for my wedding photos.)  To cap off the memories of the day, we plan to attend the game in full wedding attire, cheering and chanting with the rest of the fans.  This football game day is very important to our soon-to-be-united household, and we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the happiest day of our lives than with 93,000 of our best friends. 

–Stephanie Gauthier, ’05 & ‘09