At morning break on May 7, chairs lined the Upper School quad. A student band played a questionable version of a wedding march.
Students and faculty gathered to watch, studying printed programs with curiosity. Heads turned as seniors dressed as bridesmaids and groomsmen filed down the walkway between the Upper School and Science & Math buildings.
As senior Ramsey Kissack appeared and started up the aisle, many students took out their phones to record. When he reached the steps of the Forbush building, donning a lei, classmate Elaina Pearce entered, escorted by her dad. Applause swelled as she walked up the aisle to stand opposite Ramsey.
Classmate Vanya Gurachevsky, the officiant, began the ceremony. When she asked the crowd for any objections, fellow senior Ronan Healy yelled: “I OBJECT!”
Audience members giggled as Ronan ran up to stand between Elaina and Ramsey, sporting a “RAMSEY” neck tattoo in Sharpie marker.
“I’m pregnant,” Ronan proclaimed – with Ramsey’s child, “a seahorse baby.”
But that unexpected announcement did not stand in the way. The couple, who have been together since their sophomore year at Friends, soon exchanged ring pops and said their vows.
During the vows, Elaina peacefully licked her ring. Soon, Vanya proclaimed the couple married.
Cheers roared from the crowd as they kissed and started back down the aisle. The band began to play “Get Lucky΅ by Daft Punk, and the crowds dispersed to head to class.
Many students couldn’t decide if the engagement and wedding were real, after the unexpected scene in Collection a few weeks prior – and the convincing job many seniors had done in the interim, persuading underclassmen that it wasn’t just a prank.
On April 25 at Collection, after a stunning performance from the orchestra, senate co-president Henry Turner had come on stage and announced that Ramsey had something to say. When he got to the stage, he asked longtime girlfriend Elaina Pearce to come up also.
As she climbed the steps, students whispered about a possible “prom-posal.” Prom was just days away.
But when they reached the middle of the stage, Ramsey got on one knee and asked Elaina to marry him. Multiple students in the front row described the ring he presented her with as “very nice” and “with a big diamond.” Many in the crowd exchanged shocked looks.
When Collection ended and people got back to their classes, the proposal was the talk of everyone. Teachers tried to get back to their agendas and teach their classes – to no avail.
Afterward, at lunch, many underclass students approached seniors to ask if the proposal was real. Some said yes, and added that the couple’s parents were supporting the match.
By the time of the wedding, the ceremony was widely seen as a terrific prank. But to this day, no one but the seniors and their families truly knows if the proposal was real.
Some insist that both wedding and proposal were fake. But some students continue to speculate about whether the couple plans a 4-year engagement and a real marriage after college.
Either way, we wish them well!
