An MIT wedding by Mollie B. '06
Paper airplanes instead of rice and a reception at a science museum... what's not to like?
(For those of you just tuning in, I’m Mollie. I graduated from MIT in 2006 with degrees in brain and cognitive sciences and biology, and I’m now a second-year PhD student in developmental neurobiology at Harvard. When I was an undergrad, I UROPed til I dropped, participated in my dorm’s government, and was the captain of the cheerleading squad. When I was a sophomore, my friend Carl ’07 introduced me to a cute curly-haired aerospace engineering major named Adam, and we dated for the rest of our years at MIT. In August 2006, he asked me to marry him in Killian Court with a bunch of tour groups looking on. I think that gets you caught up.)
Adam and I got married September 15 (along with someone else you might know), which dawned drizzly and dreary in Cambridge. Our ceremony started at 4 PM, and the sun came out and the sky cleared around 3:30. (Whew!)
We were married at Memorial Church in Harvard Yard, with twenty MIT alums in attendance and two more in the wedding party. Mark ’07, our favorite houseguest, served as the best man, and Carl ’07, who introduced us to each other, was another groomsman. Laura ’06 and Tulasi ’06 performed the readings, which were by Adrienne Rich and ee cummings, both Cambridge poets.
Instead of throwing rice at us after we left the church, our guests threw paper airplanes. Adam designed the airplanes in Solidworks, optimizing for easy foldability and distance. The planes were a little bit pointy, I’m not going to lie.
Our friends had come in from jobs and graduate school all over the country — California (Seve ’05, Mark ’07, Carl ’07, Stephen ’05), Chicago (Swapna ’05), New York (Laura ’06), and of course, lots of people in Boston. We were so excited to see everybody.
Our reception was held at Boston’s Museum of Science, which has a great view of the city skyline. Apparently the museum is a popular destination for MIT alums, because the museum’s function coordinator asked for our permission to use a photo from our wedding in an ad in The Tech. The museum was always one of our favorite places — I mean, one, it’s a great science museum, and two, admission is free for MIT students — so when we found out that they held wedding receptions, there wasn’t much of a discussion about where we would be having our reception.
Our first dance was to “Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams. Adam sang to me (off-key) during the entire dance.
We got to take pictures in the museum, and we got this great picture of us with Daedalus, a human-powered airplane that was built and flown by a group of MIT students in the ’80s. Adam’s undergrad advisor and the CEO of the company where he works were two of the designers. Adam got really excited when he saw the picture — it’s basically a picture of the things in life he loves the most.
I have trouble conveying just how perfect the wedding was. It’s not that there weren’t minor snafus — the florist didn’t arrive until about 3:25, the officiant mentioned during the ceremony that I was a Democrat (news to my parents!), and Adam’s mom left our engraved cake-cutting knife in the car. But it was just such a joy-filled day with friends and family, and it went way too fast. I hate being schmoopy above all things, but it was probably the best day of my life.
There are a lot more pictures here (just sign the guestbook to view them), and all of the pictures there and here were taken by our totally awesome photographer, Connie Miller of Studio Atticus, whose pictures speak for themselves in terms of her amazingness.
A little on what we’re doing now
As I said above, I’m a second-year PhD student at Harvard. I picked a thesis lab this summer, and I’m working on neural development in mice — one of the big interests of the lab is to figure out which genes cause neural progenitor cells to become different types of neurons. I’m specifically interested a particular transcription factor that seems to be critically involved in the generation of two distinct cell types in the forebrain.
Adam is working for Aurora Flight Sciences, an aerospace company with a research and development office in Cambridge. Adam is the go-to guy for designing crazy stuff in the office, and pretty soon he’ll have two patents earned on ideas for the company. (Incidentally, we’re both working for MIT alums — the professor in charge of my lab graduated from MIT in 1980, and Adam’s CEO finished undergrad here in 1979, then continued on to do his master’s and PhD as well.)
So married life is great, lab life is great (although I’m preparing at the moment to defend my qualifying exam, which is not a great deal of fun*)… how’s life in your corner of the world?
*and which is the reason I have not yet responded to the email Ben sent me earlier this week about having lunch…
First!
Wow!
You had such a gorgeous wedding! Congrats! I love the fact that your reception was held at the Boston Museum of Science! Did they close down the entire museum for you? That must have been amazing!
I almost cried while reading your entry. Congratulations!!!
when i first saw the lady officiating the wedding I thought it was president Hockfield at commencement.
yay!! you are back!!!
Congratulations!!!!! Your blog was, by far, my favorite one to read during this whole admissions process, and congratulations on your happy wedding and picking a thesis lab and everything. Also, Solidworks is awesome, we have Inventor at school and it just doesn’t compare
Mollie, congratulations on a gorgeous wedding. It looks perfect.
Your grad work sounds awesome, too- your explanation sounds like the kind I give to my friends about my summer project (“I’m working on a transcription factor implicated in the inflammatory response.” “…”). That sounds really, really interesting. Good luck on your qualifying exam.
Congratulations Mollie.I wish you the best for your new life
“…the officiant mentioned during the ceremony that I was a Democrat (news to my parents!)…”
That’s hilarious. =)
The bride is absolutely beautiful !
100 bucks on ur offspring disproving special relativity!!!
Congratulations! I’m glad to hear that everything is going well for you and Adam! Your wedding photos look amazing!
Congratulations!!! My corner of the world is not nearly as exciting. =—–
You’re awesome. Congratulations!
COMMENT:
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DATE: 12/02/2007 12:31:11 AM
COMMENT_BODY:
Congratulations, Mollie! And throwing paper airplanes instead of rice was a very cool idea!
i just dont know what to say……….. i always wished for a successfull life like this
Well, isn’t MIT amazing?
beautiful
Oh, wow! Mollie, your wedding looks like it was amazing. I’m so glad you updated…I loved reading your blog entries.
mollie forgot to mention in her entry that she used to be the most amazing blogger of the admissions office. according to, me.
Ooo, but Inventor is so much better than Solidworks…
Congrats, your wedding looks absolutely amazing
Such a pretty wedding. You looked gorgeous..and the entire thing was so perfect….
Such a pretty wedding. You looked gorgeous..and the entire thing was so perfect….
<3
I’ve never been so happy for anyone in my life like I am for you.Congratulations and may your life be filled with happiness!
Awwwwwwwwwww…! That looks like the bestest wedding ever!
Aww… it looks perfect!! You looked fantastic.. i hope my wedding will be like that someday!!
I am really happy for you – all the best for you and your husband!
Congrats on your wedding! Everything looks absolutely amazing…it makes me go all dreamy
Good luck with everything!
I sometimes wonder if MIT can be more perfect.
Not only does it provide an ideal education, but the opportunity to find an ideal partner (educated, passionate,etc…) =)
“mollie forgot to mention in her entry that she used to be the most amazing blogger of the admissions office. according to, me.”
–I second that!
Thank you very much for your update!!
Happily ever after!!!
To make these comments like a broken record .. Congratulations!!!!!
Though when I first read it I was like *facetious voice* those nerds!! */voice* for you guys having you reception at the museum .. I looked at the pictures and realized it actually looks like an excellent place if I happen to find that special someone at MIT (presuming that I myself am at MIT)
speaking of which .. I have an insidious secret plan that I shall now foil by publishing on the internet… if I were going to propose on Killian Court .. imagine this http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2001/the_one_ring/
.. but an engagement ring .. and these banners http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2007/ihtfp_commencement/ saying “Will” “You” “Marry” “Me?” .. while its entirely unlikely I will ever go through with this insidious deed .. (both for logistics/policy sake) .. I think it might be the most epic romantic thing ever…
anyway .. back to my regularly scheduled homework and you regularly scheduled comments…
and again, Congratulations!!
~Donald Guy
Congratulations – wishing you continued success in the future!
I wrote a longer comment .. but because of some links (dealing with an insidious hypothetical plan of proposing to a special some one that I could theoretically meet at MIT by hack) or maybe just the length.. it went to the moderation queue.
so, in short, Congratulations!!
~Donald Guy
awww… it all looks so beautiful! Congrats, by the way!
Congratulations Mollie! I wish you and Adam the best of luck in married and MIT life .. It sounded like a totally romantic wedding! (And the proposal was really sweet)..
Thank you, Mollie, for posting your wedding info and fabulous pics! I’m one of the moms who has been following your blog and looking forward to the “sequel”! Congratulations to both of you wonderful, brilliant young people! Please keep us posted on your continuing adventures. Oh and by the way, many years ago at my wedding, as we exited the church, people pelted us with hard candy–you know, the almonds with hard candy shells? They really stung! So I can empathize with your suffering a barrage of sharp-pointed paper airplanes!
09 Mom
such a beautiful wedding!
Hello, wedding ideas! A reception in a science museum is the embodiment of what any good marriage should be– unabashed dedication! Congrats and best wishes, and AWESOME pictures, btw– esp. the “Daedalus”.
Hey this person is the geek who posted, like, 10000 times on college confidential!!!!
HAHA Geek wedding!
Good wedding, though.
I was here surfing for info on college admissions, my ‘chances’ in MIT and here I am witnessing a great wedding of MITians. This is why I love MIT, no other college does this. Its crazy, nerdy, tough but still humane.
This is what makes MIT a different cup of tea, and this is what propels my mind to wish myself as a MIT frosh.
Your wedding pictures are so beautiful. CONGRATULATIONS!
So romantic ! Looks like you had a great wedding ! And you two look great in the museum ad picture. Too bad we don’t have the “kiss” photo !
I wanna be just like you… creepy as that sounds.
Your life just seems so perfect.
Wow, what a beautiful wedding! I was “aw”-ing so much in my computer lab that the people around me got annoyed. :] I hope the both of you live a long and happy together. CONGRATULATIONS!
CONGRATULATIONS!
CONGRATULATIONS!
CONGRATULATIONS!