{"id":9176,"date":"2022-05-09T08:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T12:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=9176"},"modified":"2024-01-31T15:15:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T20:15:39","slug":"colgate-love-stories-john-13-and-blaire-safir-12-tinkham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2022\/05\/09\/colgate-love-stories-john-13-and-blaire-safir-12-tinkham\/","title":{"rendered":"Colgate Love Stories: John \u201913 and Blaire Safir \u201912 Tinkham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Party’s Just Getting Started<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"John
Photo courtesy of Katherine Marchand Weddings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Where John \u201913 and Blaire Safir \u201912 Tinkham\ngo, the party follows.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been that way for the couple, who married last summer, since their Colgate days, when they planned a joint Delta Upsilon-volleyball event honoring community members with breast cancer. John was on the DU social committee, and Blaire led planning efforts on behalf of the volleyball team. \u201cI watched her operate and run the whole thing, and I was just like, \u2018Wow, this girl really has it going on,\u2019\u201d John remembers. The 2011 event was a success, raising thousands of dollars for breast cancer research, thanks in part to the couple\u2019s teamwork. It also rekindled John and Blaire\u2019s romance, which had been briefly put on hold months earlier: \u201cWe got back together after the event and never looked back.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now habitual hosts, the two fall into an easy rhythm when they\u2019re planning parties, a knack that\u2019s stuck with them since that fateful night at DU. More recently, John and Blaire have hosted wine tastings, a murder mystery, and their close friends\u2019 engagement party at their Chicago condo. \u201cWe have different talents that kind of feed into [hosting],\u201d says Blaire, who spends her days as senior product manager at Hudl, a sports technology and analytics company. She likes to be organized, prepping the food ahead of time, always sure to cook enough to satiate the guests. John, who works as an investment banker, is an audiophile in his free time, always curating a playlist for the evening and setting up his many speakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even throughout the pandemic, with stricter guidelines and a dose of resourcefulness, the Tinkhams were able to keep their party planning muscle strong: \u201cI don\u2019t know anyone else [who] could bring back Monopoly as a mildly entertaining quarantine activity,\u201d Blaire said about John in her vows. \u201cI\u2019ll try to make new things more interesting than golf and driving a stick shift,\u201d he vowed in turn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John and Blaire first noticed each other in the Curtis Hall elevator in the summer of 2009. They were on campus early for preseason training as members of Colgate\u2019s football and volleyball teams. \u201cLittle did I know, I had witnessed love at first sight \u2014 apparently this is a real thing,\u201d said Josh Hasenberg \u201913 during the wedding ceremony. (Josh was also in the elevator, and he served as the couple\u2019s wedding officiant.) John and Blaire began their relationship later that year, and throughout their time together, they\u2019ve weathered a short breakup and made it through a stretch of long distance while working and going to school in different cities. \u201cI knew pretty early on that he was who I wanted to be with,\u201d Blaire says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practical and intensely supportive of one another, the couple waited until John wrapped up business school before tying the knot. \u201cWe were really in tune to each other\u2019s long-term goals,\u201d Blaire reflects. They moved to Chicago so John could earn his MBA from Northwestern, a lifelong aspiration for the Evanston, Ill., native. Blaire concentrated on developing Hudl\u2019s volleyball product and growing other aspects of the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally the time came, and the couple held their most important party on July 10, 2021, when vaccinations were prevalent and they felt safe hosting their guests. Tapping into their party planning know-how, Blaire and John collaborated with their wedding planner to create an elegant ceremony in Colgate\u2019s Memorial Chapel. \u201cWe were pretty hands on with the wedding planning process,\u201d John says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In front of their friends, family, and\n16-person, wedding party, on the chapel\nstage, they vowed to love one another\nforever. The Curtis Hall elevator was a 2-\nminute walk away.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John and Blaire\u2019s top party planning tip:\n\u201cAsk people to bring things that you think\nthey are going to enjoy themselves,\u201d John\nsays. For example, if a guest is passionate\nabout wine, ask them to bring a bottle. If\nthey\u2019re a baker, ask them to bring dessert.\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Their Day\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When: <\/strong>July 10, 2021
Where: <\/strong>Colgate Memorial Chapel
Reception: <\/strong>Peaceful Pines B&B
The Dress: <\/strong>Custom Ines Di Santo gown
Soundtrack: <\/strong>Director of Music Dianne McDowell played the organ during the ceremony. The Metropolitan Players kept the tent bumping during the reception.
Wedding Bells: <\/strong>The couple rang the chapel bell 13 times following the ceremony, a Colgate tradition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John \u201913 and Blaire Safir \u201912 Tinkham found love through a common interest: event planning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1222,"featured_media":9418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,6],"tags":[354,880,76,879],"coauthors":[168],"class_list":["post-9176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-news","category-alumni-updates","category-colgate-love-stories","tag-alumni","tag-colgate-love-stories","tag-love-stories","tag-love-story"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-2o0","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/05\/KMW-07102021-Blaire-John-Wedding-Sneak-Peek-47Featured.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9176"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14437,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9176\/revisions\/14437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9176"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}