This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
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Love blooms on UB Stampede

UB students Stephanie and Christopher Sova pose with their wedding party on a UB Stampede bus.

  • “I first saw her while she was sitting inside the bus stop at Lee Loop and thought that she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen.”

    UB student Christopher Sova

By SUE WUETCHER
Published: August 23, 2012

Freshmen Christopher Sova and Stephanie Bauer had finished their classes for the day on the North Campus and were headed back to their respective residence halls on the South Campus.

“I first saw her while she was sitting inside the bus stop at Lee Loop and thought that she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen,” says Sova, recalling that fateful day at the start of the spring 2008 semester when he first met Bauer. “When the bus arrived, I decided to sit next to her on the bus, and after about five minutes of working up the courage, I finally spoke to her.”

Bauer recalls that the first time she and Sova made eye contact, “I was enchanted by his eyes and when he sat down next to me I was secretly hoping that he would talk to me, although I thought he was out my league and would never consider me.”

“We couldn’t stop talking and smiling at each other on the whole bus ride back to South and decided to go to dinner together when we got off the bus,” Sova says. “We spent a lot of time together that week and by Saturday we were officially a couple.”

Love bloomed after that chance meeting on a Stampede bus more than four years ago. UB played such an important role in their romance that when Sova and Bauer decided to marry, the university was the natural spot to have their wedding photos taken. After their July 21 wedding ceremony in Potters House Christian Community Church, the couple and their wedding party traveled to the North Campus. Photos were taken on a Stampede bus parked in Lee Loop, as well as at Baird Point—a favorite picnic spot of the couple.

The couple even chose UB’s colors—blue and white—as the wedding colors.

“When it came time to figure out where we would take our wedding pictures, UB seemed like such a natural choice,” says Sova, who is studying for his MA in clinical psychology at UB after earning a bachelor’s degree from the university in 2011.

“It was at UB that we met, grew together and fell in love with each other,” says Stephanie Sova, who this fall is starting the second year of UB’s three-year doctoral program in physical therapy. “We decided to do the pictures on the bus and at the bus stop, as that is how we met, and we decided to do other pictures at Baird Point, as it is very scenic and we often ate together there.

“Our pictures, both on the bus and at Baird Point, turned out beautifully and we will forever cherish them,” she says.

The photo shoot on the Stampede bus was a first for UB, according to Christopher Austin, assistant director for parking and transportation services.

“We were excited about the request and pleased to play a role on their very special day,” Austin says. “Working with our operator, First Transit Inc., we were able to provide the bus at no cost to the couple.

“It was our pleasure to accommodate them.”

UB will always be a special place for the Sovas.

“We both love UB. Not only do we think our programs are great, but we also love that it brought us together,” says Christopher Sova.