For nearly 4 years, Michelle and Alyssa shared a brain. Once she left DC, Alyssa no longer had an entire brain, but thankfully, Michelle never left her life and her side. Michelle is the aesthetic drive behind the wedding, and this is the first test to see if she should quit her marketing day job and become a full time wedding planner. Like the bride, Michelle also hails from Scranton, Pennsylvania, went to American University, and now lives in Washington, DC. Throughout history, Michelle has regularly subscribed to Alyssa and Sissy’s shenanigans, including surprise trips to Annapolis, chasing each other around the apartment with fowl (turkeys, chickens, etc.), and staying up late watching episode after episode of Sex and The City. She has probably been planning her Maid of Honor speech for many years, but that likely won’t stop her from crying herself off the stage in the middle of it.

Andrea Kaplan is one of Alyssa’s first friends - and somewhere there’s a famous picture of them taking a bath that proves it. Most people aren’t as close with their second cousins, but Alyssa and Andrea have grown up to be there for each other. Andrea is adventurous and has visited more countries than most people have appendages to count on. She is the brains behind almost every family operation, from Hanukkah parties, to Thanksgivings, to Greece trips, and is not only a master planner, but a master bringer-together-er. Andrea’s specialties not only include matriarchal duties and she is also a marriage and family therapist in New York City, as well as an avid lover of Duolingo, Legos, and pasta.

Sissy Martinez, hailing from Saugerties, New York, is probably the most exciting person Alyssa (and Michelle) had ever had the surprise privilege to meet. She turned their world upside-down, and then shook it a few times before putting it back up right again, when they all moved in together in their sophomore year at American University. Sissy brought into Alyssa’s life a world of adventure, contributed well to their apartment’s library, and always made sure to offer up some of her cooking to her roommates. Sissy is one of those people who can stay up all night writing a 10-page research paper the night before it’s due, and still get the best grade in the class (which she did for just about every paper she has ever written). Someday, when she’s Secretary of Defense, she’ll probably still do everything last minute, but we can at least rest easy knowing that our country will be safe in Sissy’s hands.

When Hallela and Alyssa were in fourth grade they created a secret society called the “Jimmy Spoon Club,” named after the main character of a book they read in class. The Jimmy Spooners wrought havoc on the Wyoming Valley Montessori School for three years, not to mention both the Kristeller and Hinton-William families. But even Alyssa’s bad influence couldn’t sway Hallela too far, as her innate kindness and compassion seem to come straight out of a work of fiction. Maybe that’s because Hallela reads in one year more books than most of us have ever seen in our lives. In any case, Hallela today lives in Philadelphia and puts her energy towards helping uplift communities after recently receiving her Master’s degree in Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tradgon and Jared met on a hot, sweaty day in the swamp of Gainesville, Florida where they were both studying foreign languages before flying out to spend several months in Dakar, Senegal. They quickly bonded as broke, first-generation college students with goofy senses of humor and an affinity for Super Smash Bros. A Virginia Beach native with a generous heart, Tradgon embodies the “Virginia is for Lovers” slogan. He attended both Virginia Commonwealth University and Georgetown University to study foreign languages and cultures. Tradgon and Jared are now colleagues in the U.S. Department of State and he is studying Mandarin to prepare for his first tour in Guangzhou, China.

A true brother-from-another-mother, Jonny is one of Jared’s oldest friends having met in middle school band class. They would spend weeks at a time at each other’s home playing COD Zombies and flipping on the trampoline until 4am. As Jared moves further and further from home, Jonny is always up for a cross-country roadtrip to visit and/or help Jared move again. When apart, they spend much time on the phone planning their next annual ski trip to Colorado. He received two Associate’s degrees in Criminal Justice and Real Estate Management from Collin College. This part-time disc golfer, part-time home appraiser, part-time pool cleaner currently lives in Terrell, TX with his fiancée while they prepare to get married in July.

“LET’S GOOO,” Andrew and Jared collectively shouted after dominating every high school varsity tennis match they played together. Throughout high school, the two spent much time bonding over long bus rides to tennis tournaments, early-morning marching band rehearsals, and sharing many beers over a backyard fire. This super-hawk turned valedictorian turned A&M graduate now attends Princeton University to get his PhD in Chemistry. Even though Andrew and his fiancée now live in New Jersey, the two friends make an effort to travel to see each other every few months. During the downtime in between visits, Jared secretly trains to eventually kick his ass in ping pong.

Nick and Jared’s friendship also began in swampy Gainesville in preparation for our time studying foreign languages in Africa. The two became close due to their shared interests in endurance sports, useless trivia, and strategy games. In fact, Jared was there to bear witness and support crew Nick’s ankle-breaking first ultramarathon attempt. A man with no ascribed hometown, he lived in both Tennessee and Connecticut before moving to Alabama for his bachelor’s degree. Nick then studied math and linguistics in the U.K. at Oxford University. He is now an AI researcher for a public-interest non-profit but would probably rather self-identify as a yo-yo and Geoguessr enthusiast.