Love, Tommy's Style

Matthew J. Peed '00 knew he'd found a keeper in Sarah G. Ellis '99 when, after getting dressed up for a more formal outing that ended up being canceled, she still had great time just going to Tommy's with him for a slice of pizza, then renting a movie afterward.

The Facts. Matthew, originally from Columbus, Ga., lives in Adams House and is a biochemistry concentrator. Sarah, from Mount Pleasant, Mich., also lived in Adams House and concentrated in Slavic Languages and Literatures. She has been working in Cambridge for the past year. They will be married Sept. 9 in a Methodist church in Mount Pleasant. They plan to honeymoon somewhere quiet and free of tourists--perhaps, they say, some small islands off North Carolina.

At Sunset. When Matthew flew to Sarah's hometown last winter vacation, her friends and family suspected he was about to propose. Matthew's plan was to pop the question at midnight on New Year's Eve, but he found the perfect moment a little earlier, and decided to get down on one knee during the last sunset of the millennium.

Chivalry Survives (Barely). The couple's first date was back in October 1998, when Matthew took Sarah to hear some jazz at the Bay Tower Room. Matthew had underestimated the cost and almost came up short on cash. Luckily, he had enough to scrape by.

"I didn't realize how expensive the place was until after we got there. I barely had enough to cover it," he says. "But of course, I didn't tell her that."

Physic-al Attraction

Matthew Nis Leerberg '00 met Kelly A. Perry at a summer science program after their junior year in high school. They hit it off pretty quickly, and Kelly had little trouble convincing Matthew to drop his physics class to spend more time with her. He later made up for it by becoming a physics concentrator.

The Facts. Matthew, a roommate of groom-to-be Matthew Peed, lives in Adams House. Kelly graduated this May from Wake Forest University with a degree in biology. The couple will be married in a Catholic Mass on June 24 in Pittsburgh, their hometown. They will spend their honeymoon in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Perks of Long-Distance Love? While Matthew admits that distance caused some tension in the relationship, he is quick to enumerate the benefits of having a girlfriend hundreds of miles away.

"In some ways, it's the best of both worlds," he says. "I never had to jump into the dating scene, worry about what I looked like, or anything like that."

"I could focus on school and being with my friends," he says. "It was actually very freeing."

Thank Dorm Crew. As a first-year Matthew forgot about Valentine's Day until the last minute. Late in the day, in a panic, he ordered so many roses to be delivered that he was still paying off the debt by year's end. In fact, he says, those flowers were the reason he decided to stay and earn some money working for dorm crew.

Couple of Entrepreneurs. "Kelly and I ran a good scam when we were still in high school," Matthew says. "She convinced her parents to pay me to come over and tutor her in calculus once a week."

Plans. The pair will live in North Carolina, where Matthew plans to find a job in business. Kelly will study law at Duke University.