University hosts first 'College Colors Day Wedding'

Nervous groom. Blushing bride. The guests are clad in maroon and silver. The UM Marching Band plays the Griz fight song. Monte is the ring-bearer. The reception is a tailgate.

Sound like the dream wedding for die-hard Griz fans? Well, that’s exactly what UM alumni Kristine Kennedy and Stephan “Dico” Dicomitis will get Aug. 31 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in the first official College Colors Day Wedding, hosted this year by UM and the Collegiate Licensing Company.

College Colors Day kicks off intercollegiate athletics nationwide, and fans, alumni and students are encouraged to wear apparel of their favorite teams.

This year CLC, the Atlanta-based organization that regulates UM and Grizzly logos for the University, decided to launch an official wedding to help make college sports history. Each year a different college around the country will host the wedding.

Because they are such loyal Griz fans and were engaged to be married this summer, Kennedy and Dicomitis were chosen for the Griz-themed wedding. Susan Murphy, UM trademark and licensing director, was tasked with making the wedding as Grizzly as possible.

“It’s been fun coming up with creative ways to use the logo and working it into a traditional wedding theme,” she said.

The wedding party will dress in UM locker rooms. Kennedy will walk down the visiting team’s tunnel to meet her groom, and University photographer Todd Goodrich will shoot the wedding photos. The couple’s wedding photo will be displayed on GrizVision the next day during the Montana Grizzlies’ Sept. 1 season opener against Southern Utah.

In addition to planning the Griz wedding, Murphy has been planning her own, which takes place a week earlier. “It’s been a busy summer, but it’s been fun,” she said.

Kennedy, the official Grizzly bride, said all the attention has been a bit overwhelming, and she doesn’t even know what’s in store for her yet, with all the media hype that awaits. “I never really had any idea of what I wanted my wedding to be like,” she said. “It’s hard for me to be in the limelight, but this is perfect for Dico, so why not?”