While some of her classmates were attending the summer weddings of older friends and relatives, Chris Cordova ‘09 was picking out a wedding dress for her own walk down the aisle.

Cordova, who married Ilder Andres Betancourt ‘06 in Los Angeles in August, said she never envisioned getting married in college.

“We were actually talking recently about how about a year ago we’d never thought we’d be getting married,” she said in an interview five months ago. “We weren’t together a year ago, either.”

Many Stanford students complain that there isn’t any dating at Stanford or they are too busy to date; for them, marriage isn’t even in the picture yet.

“Committing myself to marriage this early on would limit the experiences I could potentially have in college,” said Garrett Dobbs ‘11.

For a handful of undergraduates, though, married life has become a reality.

“We met almost exactly a year ago through a mutual friend at the Law School,” said John Woolley ‘08, who is married to Ashley Isaacson Woolley J.D. ‘09. “We were actually on a double date — who says there’s no dating at Stanford?”

Some had been dating since before their arrival at Farm. Katrina Benjamin ‘09 married her high school sweetheart, Mike Benjamin, this past summer. Before she arrived at Stanford, Benjamin had already talked with Mike about the possibility of getting married.

“We had talked about the idea before freshman year and decided that we wanted to get married. It was more of a question of when we should get married.” she said. “There were a lot of arguments put forward for getting married after [college] graduation. Yet for us, those arguments were irrelevant — we felt that it was more important for us to be together instead of waiting.”

Woolley agreed that for him, it didn’t make sense to hold off.

“I think the thought of being here together, but living apart, didn’t seem appealing to us,” he said. “We knew we wanted to be married so we figured, why wait?”

Most married undergraduates found that their friends were supportive of their decision. In fact, according to Cordova and Benjamin, their friends were actually expecting the news.

Dean of Religious Life Scotty McLellan said that while not many undergraduates come to talk to him about marriage, he tries to help those who do with their problems when they do come.

“It’s often a contemplation of marriage if that’s somewhere in the picture, but actual marriage is fairly rare,” he said.

According to Mary Gallagher, the Memorial Church wedding coordinator, undergraduate marriages comprise less than 10 percent of weddings at Memorial Church.

McLellan pointed out that before committing, undergraduates should ask themselves whether they are actually in love and want to spend the rest of their lives with their partner.

“They’re going to be thinking about the similarities between them,” he said. “Are their differences complementary differences? Do they have a real friendship? Is this just a romantic relationship or is this something that can grow for a life time with one’s best friend? There are realistic issues about families and so on, but you just start with the deep committed, ‘I want to spend the rest of my life [with this person].’”

Students commented on how marriage affected their lives in important ways, particularly by living in Escondido Village (EV). EV provides housing for couples, as long as one person is a registered Stanford student.

“Since I am living in Escondido Village with my husband, the biggest difference that I find is not living in a dorm community. But apart from that, the classes, et cetera, are still the same.” said Benjamin. “There are a good amount of events in our building, so there are over 64 couples we get to meet. However, the undergraduate community for couples living in Escondido Village is not very present. I feel like I’m some kind of hybrid between an undergrad and a grad student, since I’m invited to most events.”

Woolley agreed that the biggest difference was living in EV.

“It’s fun though, because it feels more like a home than a room in a dorm or a house,” he said.

McLellan added that getting married might affect some undergraduates’ social lives.

“Undergraduates [who are married] are looked at as sort of strange,” he said “Within their cohort of friends, they’re out of sync with what people are generally doing. On the other hand, people can adjust to that fairly quickly.”

Woolley admitted that his social group shifted slightly after getting married.

“I still hang out with my same friends, but not as much as I used to,” he said. “A lot of times I would rather just spend time with my wife at home.”

“I am less likely to party now than I was before I was married,” Benjamin added, “even though I didn’t really party that much before anyway.”

Students did not seem to have a problem with administration, though Benjamin said the thorniest administrative issues she has faced were with the financial aid department.

“When you are married, the government usually offers support for married couples,” she said. “However, at Stanford, the school assumes that parents are going to pay. When that is not the case, it can be difficult.”

Despite these issues, married students appeared happy with their decisions and did not feel limited by their spouses.

“Life feels much more stable now,” Woolley said. “It’s good to have someone as a teammate who can help me out, and whom I can help out in whatever way we need.”

“I’m just not going to have to worry about a roommate anymore,” Cordova said. “I’ll live with my husband, who I really want to live with anyway.”

— Ellen Truxaw contributed to this report.