The bells of Murchison Tower aren’t the only ones ringing on Trinity’s campus. Wedding bells can be heard as love blossoms and couples get engaged or married, often near the end of their senior year. Although many wait until after graduation to put a ring on it, many students choose to get married before.

Calista Deering, a senior psychology major, is married to Augustine Deering, a Trinity alumnus who currently attends medical school after graduating from Trinity last spring with a BS in biochemistry. The high school sweethearts met the summer after Calista’s eighth grade year. Augustine messaged her on Twitter, asking if she was also attending his high school. After asking her to be his girlfriend at Six Flags, the two dated for seven years until they tied the knot on July 16 of this year.

For the Deerings, marriage was a natural step, so the main concern was the timing of planning and hosting a wedding. They settled on this past summer, as Calista would be on break and Augustine would not have started medical school yet.

“I wanted him to be a part of the planning. I wanted to pick a time when we could both be involved and it just lined up to where my junior year was pretty easy for me and he wasn’t going to be in medical school yet … I actually booked the venue before we got engaged,” Calista said.

Calista also mentioned that there tends to be a lot of pushback from peers as marriage during college is not a very common path. She often gets questions asking why she got married before graduation and feels the need to rationalize it to them. However, she said that marriage seemed a natural fit and has not changed the nature of their relationship or life in general.

However, because her husband is very busy with med school, she said that she’s had to make some sacrifices in her social life in order to prioritize her time with him.

“He is so busy. My senior year I’m kinda chillin’. He can’t go out on Thursdays, so no Thursbays. It’s been really weird because I’m not used to going out without him and we’ve kind of had to adjust our schedule and find time, just any time we can get to do fun stuff,” she said.

Seniors Sofia Lee, a biology major with a minor in Spanish, and Aaron Lee, a biochemistry and molecular biology major, got married this past summer as well. They met in their sophomore year at Trinity when Aaron’s friends invited Sofia to join their study group.

“She walks in and I’m like, ‘Crap. I was not … really looking, but oof … she’s cute.’ It was pretty apparent that during those study sessions she and I would be pulling the most weight and actually be prepared to go,” Aaron said.

One night after a study session, Aaron was driving her home and asked her out for ice cream. After that, the rest was history. Aaron proposed to Sophia in the meditation garden outside of Parker Chapel and the couple got married on Aug. 13.

Sophia attributes their decision to get married to the fact that they were both looking for something serious and were coming into this relationship without much baggage from previous relationships. After three months into dating, they began to discuss the possibility of marriage.

“We were looking for dating-to-get-married someday. And so that was nice. We were both on the same page for that. I think it was … three months into dating we were at this place where we were like ‘Oh, we wanna get married.’ So, we were looking at rings just for fun,” Sophia said.

Since getting married, Aaron said that his social life has improved as he has more time to hang out with friends.

“Dating her, I felt like I was constantly being tested and so I would want to spend as much time with her as possible to make sure I was always on her good side. Now that I’m married, she kinda can’t get away,” Aaron said with a laugh.

Sophia mentioned that, since he’s “very introverted,” she encourages him to go out. However, Sophia, who’s taking 18 credit-hours and doing research, spends most of her free time with Aaron. Any time with friends must be planned in advance.

The Lees said that there is much joy to be found in marriage before graduation.

“[One of the best things is] being able to mutually support each other. Since we’re both taking similar classes, we understand how difficult they are and we understand the struggles associated with them. So, we’re able to empathize very well with each other and understand when the other is able to take up more responsibilities around the apartment. … We’re able to adjust to take care of each other better,” Aaron said.

The pair carpools to school together, studies together and is currently applying to medical school together.

Sophia mentioned that none of their friends are married and wishes that she was able to talk with peers who were also married. She’d like to go on double dates and discuss what it’s like to be married in college.

Both Calista Deering and the Lees recommended that those who are thinking about marriage in college go for it. After sharing their positive experiences, they say that, if there’s nothing holding you back, it’s time to tie the knot.