Noah Collier and Emily Bamberry, both graduates of the UMass Amherst class of 2018, have been selected as winners of UMass Hospitality Services’ 2024 Win a Wedding essay contest.

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Collier and Bamberry met while dining in Berkshire Commons in September 2014. They shared their love story via an essay contest hosted by UMass Hospitality Services, a subsidiary department of UMass Auxiliary Enterprises. After a nine-month campaign inviting couples to detail how UMass was an important part of their love story and why they wanted to get married on the 1,450-acre campus, Collier and Bamberry were selected from among the more than 100 couples who entered to have their wedding on campus in 2024, 10 years after they started dating.

The wedding, worth up to $25,000, includes the option to host a ceremony and reception at the venue of the couple’s choice and have it catered by the award-winning UMass Dining Catering team. The couple will also receive floral centerpieces, a wedding cake and a photographer package.

It’s appropriate that Bamberry and Collier have their wedding catered by UMass Dining Services, as both are former UMass Dining employees. Emily worked in the meal plan office while Noah served burgers and fries out of the Baby Berk food truck. “UMass proved to be the perfect environment for us to flourish, both individually and as a couple,” they wrote in their submission essay. “Outside of school and work, we found time to immerse ourselves in the diverse culture of UMass, competing in intramural sports, frequenting the Fine Arts Center and soaking up the sun by the campus pond.”

“The roots of our relationship is UMass. It’s cool that we get to come full circle and make it official here,” Noah says.

“It was meant to be,” Emily says. “The Old Chapel is really classic. I think with all the florals it’s going to look really beautiful. And the Student Union Ballroom with the floor-to-ceiling windows is a jaw-dropping space. It was the obvious choice for where we’d like to have the reception.”

As for who is invited to the big day, the couple smiled and said, “It will be a big UMass crew making their return.” Both Emily and Noah come from families filled with UMass Amherst alumni, the most recent of whom is Noah’s brother, who graduated in May.

“It took winning the contest for me to realize how many people in my family graduated from UMass,” Emily says. “We should have a UMass alumni checkbox on our RSVPs,” she jokes. “We’ll have to get a group photo of all UMass alumni on the big day,’ Noah says “There will be a lot of Minutemen here. I can’t imagine a better place to get married. We’re super thankful and excited more than anything else.”

View a video of the couple telling their story here.