On their wedding day, Julia Sterr and Seth King returned to the classroom at Monmouth College where they had first met in Spanish class and exchanged a “beso.”

MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS (August 12, 2024) — The “Spaghetti Kiss” in Lady and the Tramp is an iconic moment from a love story on the big screen.

For 2021 Monmouth College classmates Julia Sterr and Seth King, ravioli was the most memorable pasta.

Julia explained how the Italian dish fits into their love story, which they celebrated with a wedding on June 8 on the campus where they met.

“After we graduated, I began medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Rockford,” she said. “Seth moved there with me and found a job as an insurance salesman.”

While Julia completed the first two years of medical school, Seth earned a master’s degree in education and found a job as a social studies teacher at a middle school in the Stark County School District in Toulon, Illinois, about 100 miles south of Rockford.

“I was sad that he was leaving,” Julia said. “I got a bowl of ravioli, sat down and cried. He came up to me and proposed to me.”

The moment was exactly as Julia had imagined it – or rather, almost as she had always wanted a small, personal and private marriage proposal.

After she said an emphatic “Yes!” Seth countered, “You smell like ravioli.”

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Before there was Italian, there was Spanish. That was the class Julia and Seth both took in the spring semester of their freshman year. It was there that they met and their classmate Emma Johanns helped to further their relationship.

Johanns was already dating another member of the 2021 graduating class, Alex Houseal, at the time. During the rest of their time at Monmouth, the couples met regularly and played board games. They became so close that Johanns was one of Julia’s bridesmaids and Houseal performed the wedding ceremony, even wearing a kilt for the occasion.

“It was a little silly, but very much us,” said Julia.

Julia and Seth then attended Johanns and Houseal’s wedding, which took place three weeks later on June 29 in Ames, Iowa.

Highlights of the day

Before Houseal conducted the ceremony at the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium, Julia and Seth did a first look photo shoot in front of Wallace Hall.

The photographer captured Seth King’s 180-degree turn when he saw his future bride Julia Sterr for the first time on his wedding day.

“I hid in a classroom at Wallace, then went outside, stood behind him and tapped him on the shoulder,” Julia said. “He jumped and did a full 180-degree turn, and we laughed. Those are some of my favorite pictures, and Wallace Hall is just amazing.”

In addition to Houseal’s kilt, the influence of the Fighting Scots was felt, with Emeritus Professor Tim Tibbetts playing the bagpipes.

“That was actually my wedding march,” Julia said. “Seth wanted bagpipes at the ceremony. I’ve never been to a wedding with bagpipes. It was very Monmouth.”

The couple also liked that Dahl Chapel offered a compromise between a church wedding and an outdoor wedding at a “vacation location.”

Julia and Seth spent their honeymoon in Door County, Wisconsin, where they enjoyed the small-town feel, exploring the area, shopping for antiques, and playing lots of miniature golf.

Julia Sterr and Seth King are pictured outside Monmouth College’s Dahl Chapel and Auditorium, shortly after their ceremony on the campus where they met

Julia and Seth spent the rest of the summer in the house they purchased in Wyoming’s Stark County community, but depending on where Julia is placed during her fourth year of residency in family medicine, they may spend even more time apart in the future. Nearby Peoria would be ideal, but the couple successfully navigated the distance issue for two years and are ready to face that reality again.

They can now look back on many great memories as a couple, including a very special trip back to campus.

“Our wedding was amazing,” said Julia. “I’m so grateful that we had the wedding in a place that means so much to both of us. It was everything we wanted. All of our friends and family said it was a beautiful ceremony.”