My best friend from Yard House and the funniest person I know. Alison drunkenly swore an oath at her own wedding to be my maid of honor one day, and also to roast me heartily in front of my friends, family, and loved ones at my wedding. Alison enjoys moving rocks, eating bacon from a mason jar, sleeping in tents, getting lost, yelling at strangers, and making our friends and neighbors feel welcome in our apartment. She appreciates an opportunistic desert scream and has a special interest in horticulture.

Weslynn is my dear friend, roommate, and coworker. We share a deep love of fried okra and crowd surfing. Weslynn enjoys a good two-step, whether her partner enjoys it or not. Our friendship dates back to our time in the Air Force together, which is why neither of us can hear a darn thing.

Emily and I met waiting tables at Civic Kitchen and bonded over our shared disdain for people who come to a restaurant with a party of 9, order the special but modify it 19 ways, split the bill by individual consumer, tip 5 bucks on a 200 tab, and then complain about the rising menu prices. Neither of us are very good at using drink trays, but Emily is better. We share a love of charcuterie and fine cocktails. Emily loves dogs and hiking. I can't stand either one but I sure do like listening to Emily tell me about them. We also love Costa Rica and we enjoy getting hit the head with surfboards. Emily is my favorite person to talk about boys with and she was a supporter of Sean since day 1.

Rachel is my oldest friend. We've been besties since a hotly disputed race at church camp when we were 6. We have often settled things via wrestling match, and we spent our teen years seeing who could wear more eyeliner. We've been known to share clothing, and dates. We spent most of the early 2000s pretending to be pirates and I'm not actually sure we stopped. Rachel and I have seen every cringe worthy phase of one another's life and I'm looking forward to all the new and noteworthy dumb things we'll accomplish in our 30s. Rachel is living her dream of being an English teacher and has the patience of a saint.

Casey and I have been friends since highschool. She's kind, brilliant, and absolutely adorable. We share a love of comic book conventions and techno music. Casey approaches every interaction with her signature sense of empathy and humor. We've crawled home from many late nights spent dancing in shoes that don't fit, and we've shared many nachos at Denny's. I accidentally bullied her once when I was trying to be funny and we really became friends when I made her a greeting card apologizing for my absolutely criminal tendency to put my foot in my mouth. Casey forgave me and rest is history. Casey does not try to be cool. Her coolness simply is. Casey and I swap clothing and I'm pretty sure she still has my pants.

Mari and I have known each other for 10 years. It was love at first sight when she walked into that house party on base and we started talking by the fire. Mari is an absolute treasure trove of weird ideas and useful knowledge. We bonded over my willingness to make jokes in poor taste and her willingness to laugh loudly at them. Neither of us can stand liars and we happened to know quite few around the time we were getting to know each other. Mari always gives me the truth, even when it's hard to hear, and she makes me laugh until my mascara runs. She has more class in her pinky than most of us will have in a lifetime and I'm proud to know her. Mari and her husband, Adam restored my faith in real love. They're the best smelling people I know.

Lynn is my friend and coworker. She's the very first friend I made after moving to mass. She's absolutely a crazy cat lady and I love her for it. Lynn is tenacious and street-smart and she always finds a way to get things done. She never gives up and she stands up for herself and others. She's an incredible friend and I love it when she has few drinks and dances at our parties. Lynn loves animals and gives her cats the most luxurious life you've ever seen. She's rock solid reliable, but you will see her Worcester side if you cross her.

Alyssa is the first friend to ever smooch me the first time we met and I had no idea how to handle that. She's a wonderfully warm and affectionate person in spite of me having the social skills of a plank. When I was a broke teenager, she would to take me out for nice sushi dates and ask nothing in return. She told me she likes to dress up on Valentine's day (which is also her birthday) and hand out flowers to strangers because "the world is her valentine!" Spending time near Alyssa is a lot like laying across a beach in a Bahamas and listening to the waves while the sun shines on you. She's also an incredible seamstress and gives amazing hugs. I 10/10 recommend getting a hug from Alyssa. Same town or different countries, Alyssa has always been there with a kind a word and an encouraging smile, even when I didn't deserve one.

Not many people can say they met their bestman and best friend on craigslist, but I can. It was 2011 and I was looking to get back into playing music, I stumbled across an ad for a cover band looking for a guitarist on craigslist, that’s how I met Don. Walking into the try out, I remember being a bit intimidated by Don because of his sheer size but quickly found out he was a gentle giant. Over the years and countless shows, Don has always been the one to keep the band on track and focused on whatever goal/next show we have coming up. Always the voice of reason through countless shows, trips to the Cape, and cross-country band excursions to Montreal and San Diego. Don is also always quick to come to my defense (whether its at the Lucky Dog or outside of the Salty Dog) and stand up for those in need. Don is an inspiration to me as a wonderful Husband to his incredible wife Romiya and a loving father to his two children. In addition to being an incredibly talented musician Don is a consummate hobbyist and can fix anything including recently, when our band space flooded and nearly ruined our PA system (which he built by the way), Don was the one to keep everyone else cool and took it home to fix. I love traveling with Don because he is very much like me when traveling, just open to new experiences. I’ll always remember our San Diego trip when Aadam and I tagged along on his business trip and we spent several days exploring San Diego including going to Warped Tour, ocean kayaking, and swimming with sea lions in La Jolla. Hey Don, are you active? Always looks out for me, whether I’m singing Brian McKnight’s “Back at One” in line waiting to get into the Chatham Squire or fixing the door to my bedroom that someone who shall not be named in the wedding party broke (Cole). Don has really been an older brother to me and so naturally when I met Hannah, Don was the first of my friends I wanted to meet Hannah in person. I won’t ever forget it was peak pandemic (April 2020) and only a few places finally started opening up for “Take-out only” so Hannah and I met up with Don to grab some beers from a few different breweries in Western Mass. Since you couldn’t eat or drink at the breweries because of restrictions, we took it to-go and found a good spot near a river and just hung out for hours talking and drinking beers, it was really the first day in a while that things started to feel normal. Whether it's Thursday nights at the Lucky Dog, weekends at the Cape, shows with the band, or traveling around the country, Don is always there for me and I am honored he accepted the role of Bestman.

While living on the 3rd floor in the Pierpont all-freshman dorm at UMass Amherst, my close friend and neighbor (later to be my roommate) Nate told me about this guy from the second floor he thought I’d get along with since he also played guitar and liked similar music. Nate was right and when we finally met, Blaine and I became fast friends connecting over music, guitar, and videogames. I would hang out in Blaine and Valade’s room and watch them get into heated bouts of Guitar Hero (especially the song Beast and the Harlot) and jamming with Blaine on guitar in between partying nights with occasional night of studying. Anytime I hear the song “Collide” I will think of Blaine with his JamMan looper pedal playing his rendition of it in dorms at UMass. When I needed help on an original song I was working on, he would always listen and give input. He probably doesn’t remember this but I had been working on an original song and was stuck on the chord progression for months, so I interrupted him playing Playstation 3 in his room one day and as soon as he heard it, he gave me the idea for the right chord change in 2 minutes...my only regret is we never started a band together. We moved into the first floor 27 Phillips Street Junior year with Blaine and a bunch of friends including Nate and Dave, which was an absolute slum of a triple decker- so much so that my dad put up additional smoke alarms when helping us move in and my mom left move-in day in tears, crying all the way from Amherst back to Worcester. At Phillips Street we’d take turns, keeping the heat on late at night, and make runs filling the kegerator (with our favorite beer: Keystone Light), and taking out the mountains of trash left from the parties on Sunday - it was a slum but it was our slum. Many nights we would spend playing Rock Band, throwing parties, watching football and Entourage, or playing Halo 3. Fat Tuesday burritos at Bueno y Sano with Blaine and Valade (Dave providing the Frank’s Red Hot). Blaine was known for having the loudest sound system in the house and to this day there are many songs that will remind me of how he would blast music during cleaning day Sunday- Panic at the Disco, Hellogoodbye, and Yung Joc. Blaine was always in charge of creating the CD for the parties or for the party buses that would drop us off to our spring dances. I could always count on him making me a good party mix if I needed it (and inevitably it would always have Yung Joc “it’s going down on it” and Soulja Boy on it). One of things I really admire about Blaine is how much he loves and cares for animals. From Dozer and Kona to Cooper, Blaine always treated them like his children. I’ll never forget the day we had to give away our beloved college dog Cooper and Blaine and I cried the entire way back to Phillips Street…a true bonding moment in our friendship. From the senior year cruise (where we met our friend Gallo and Ben Miller and I almost got kidnapped in Belize) to Phillips Street, and the Cape, Arizona, and Newport, Blaine has been there for a lot of important and favorite moments in my life and I am honored to have him as my groomsman.

Chase is the younger brother I never had, and one of my very best friends and certainly the best wing man I could ask for. Perpetually forgetting where my basement is when at my parent’s house in the Cape, Chase is one of the very funniest people you will ever meet. Chase has a fondness for his Disney DVD collection and when we were roommates would barge into my room constantly looking for his cherished Aladdin DVD at all hours of the night. One year for Halloween, me and Chase went as a pair of old men. Chase has a rule during Halloween (Still to this day) to never break character and so we would go out to our friends party as these old men and pass out classic candies such as werther's originals and some of our best friends had no clue who we were. To this day, ten years later, people will still remember us as those “old men from halloween 2013”, that is the type of impact Chase makes. Chase is a huge video game fan and requires a crispy internet connection and is known to get upset with roommates who hog the internet bandwidth. Chase is incredibly generous and always willing to put all the drinks for the entire bar on his tab. Not the most talented homecook, Chase prefers to come up with ridiculous diets in order to avoid cooking, a few of my favorites include- the milk diet, the beef jerky diet (tasty but expensive), and the baby food diet. A great husband to his incredible wife Annette and a wonderful father to two wonderful children, Reese and Alanna. Chase has become an incredible inspiration in his old age juggling being a husband and father all while attending law school at night. As Proud as I am of him pursuing a career in law, I will always feel he missed his calling as a mover of priceless family heirlooms and there will always be a place for him at Liberty Movers if he ever wants. As one of my very best friends and the only friend I would ever trust to help me rearrange my pool furniture, I am grateful to have Chase as a groomsman.

Garrett is the oldest of the Leblanc brothers, Garrett is my perennial number 1 pick for flip cup, we form such a team as it is now illegal for us to be on the same team. Garrett and I initially bonded over our mutual love of Shaquille O’Neal back when he was a rookie on the Orlando Magic. Over the years, he has been like an older brother to me, whether it is hanging out at Westside BBQ or at Cotton’s grandmother’s house, he was always the one making sure everyone was having a good time. The only guy who could compete with me in MVP baseball 2004 on Playstation 2 and also would be my go to emo concert buddy at the Palladium circa 2004. Many nights in the summer playing videogames with all the Leblancs, Garrett is still the only one that can handle the Barry Zito curveball in MVP Baseball. Many drives to te Cape in his 2006 Mustang (which he still has, and somehow only has like 40k miles on) listening to classic emo tunes. Speaking of Cape Cod, we had many incredible times together there whether it was at Frost Lane or in Harwich where I hear “there are sharks in the water”. Garrett is always willing to request his favorite song by yelling at the band to “play Jessie’s Girl”. Always up for an adventure Garrett has always been there whether it is visiting our friend John Ebrecht in Boston or being there on the best Tuesday of my life, Garrett does not miss an opportunity to “make memories”. Garrett is my longest tenured roommate from Baxter Street and was there through all of the incredible times we had both there and at Mystic Street. Much like Blaine at Umass, Garrett was always the playlist provider at Baxter Street and to this day when I hear certain songs (Kesha, 30 Seconds to Mars Kings and Queens) I'm instantly transported back to Baxter 1.0 circa 2010 when Chase would have to wait for us to get back from the bars on the orange couch. Always very competitive in everything (his video game rants are epic). Fiercely protective of his brothers and friends, he always looked out for us and was always a great bouncer at various parties whether it was Phillips St, Cotton’s Grandmother’s house, Mystic Street or Baxter Street. But as tough as he is, he will always be scared of my sister Kara, who put the fear of god in him during the walking line at Flagg Street Elementary. Now seeing him married to his fantastic wife Gina, I look forward to continuing to make memories with them throughout the years and am honored to have Garrett as one of my groomsmen.

Another legend of the basketball court at Flagg Street Elementary School, Alex has always been down for adventure. Whether it’s late night adventures with Chase trying desperately to find an ATM machine in Hyannis at 3 A.M. or heading to Boston to visit our friend John E, Silk’s timeless motto is that he “must take advantage”. Alex loves Cape Cod and will always be willing to head there for weekends in the summer on a moment's notice. One of our favorite places to go in the Cape for years was the Improper Bostonian in Dennis Port. One day a bunch of us were there during one of their daytime summer parties, it was out the door packed so we kind of lose each other in the crowd. After a few hours hanging out, we decide we wanted to head over to get some burgers at the Red Nun, but we couldn’t find Silk anywhere. Finally we decided to go outside and look for him and we see an ambulance pulling up and a commotion of people gasping in horror. Sure enough, Alex comes out of the back door on a stretcher bleeding profusely from his head, it was quite the scene. Alex turns to us and doesn’t say a word, just gives us a wink and a thumbs up as if to say “you just keep going”. Fast forward a few hours and about 12 stitches later, Alex rolls up back to the house, positive as ever, looking to keep the night going. Unfortunately, he walked in right as the Hot Stuff was hitting hardest and several of my other groomsmen were already in various states of disarray. Not wanting to let him down after this horrifying event, I called my friend Nate from umass, who happened to be in town, and we met up for some late night food and drinks. I think this story just highlights the determination that Alex possesses and is still evident to this day. One thing I really admire about Alex is his determination and will of steel which is especially evident during the yearly Charity event he participates in. Every year Alex raises thousands of dollars for local charities by marching 100 miles (not a typo actually hikes 100 miles) over the course of 4 days with a 40 pound rucksack with proceeds going to local charity Why Me and Sherry’s House. This is something he trains for months before the event and really puts his heart and soul into and really is another reason I admire Alex and couldn’t be happier that he agreed to be part of my wedding party. We highly recommend supporting Alex by donating to his 100-Mile Ruck March benefitting Why Me and Sherry’s House- a non-profit organization created to help families cope with childhood cancer. If you would like to donate and support Alex click here: https://whyme.org/event_campaign/alex-silkman-100-mile-ruck-march-athlete/?empty-cart=true

“That’s a big dog”. Johnny, what can be said about the man that hasn’t been said, the man is a legend at Umass and a Worcester legend. Always coming to my defense and willing to stand up for the right thing, known for taking out walls with his head and asking “who wants to fight club me”. One time we were throwing a party and this random guy was there and offended one of our female friends so Johnny asked him politely to leave. Well this guy didn' take kindly to being kicked out of the top party house at UMass so he tried to swing at Johnny, who promptly ducked and said punch landed right on my nose. Needless to say that didn’t sit well with Johnny (or Blaine for that matter) and an all out epic brawl broke out at Phillips Street (even Nate getting involved with some of his patented soccer kicks) because of Johnny not liking the fact I got punched in the face. Always quick to his friends' defense and fiercely loyal, Johnny would again be there (somehow he always is at times like these) when I got punched in the face outside of the Salty Dog bar in Worcester. Johnny at the time had just come back from deployment and was on crutches when said incident occurred. All I remember is getting knocked in the head and then just seeing Donny (also always quick to my defense, what can I say? I got some great friends) and Johnny come out of nowhere, Johnny throwing down his crutches and this guy couldn’t have run away any faster from this hobbled crazed maniac out for blood. Johnny has also been there for so many times in my life that I will never forget- taking him to the hospital with Cole after he cut his hand open, the car crash with Nate (first time in Worcester, almost dies), “That’s a big dog”, KDP, Hungry like the wolf- Duran Duran, the trip to visit the UMass crew in CA, too many memories together, but as Johnny would say “details, details”.  Always fun loving, caring, and full of stories, Johnny is the type to get along with anyone from any walk of life, he has a way of finding common ground with anyone and I am honored to have him as a groomsman.“That’s a big dog”. Johnny, what can be said about the man that hasn’t been said, the man is a legend at Umass and a Worcester legend. Always coming to my defense and willing to stand up for the right thing, known for taking out walls with his head and asking “who wants to fight club me”. One time we were throwing a party and this random guy was there and offended one of our female friends so Johnny asked him politely to leave. Well this guy didn' take kindly to being kicked out of the top party house at UMass so he tried to swing at Johnny, who promptly ducked and said punch landed right on my nose. Needless to say that didn’t sit well with Johnny (or Blaine for that matter) and an all out epic brawl broke out at Phillips Street (even Nate getting involved with some of his patented soccer kicks) because of Johnny not liking the fact I got punched in the face. Always quick to his friends' defense and fiercely loyal, Johnny would again be there (somehow he always is at times like these) when I got punched in the face outside of the Salty Dog bar in Worcester. Johnny at the time had just come back from deployment and was on crutches when said incident occurred. All I remember is getting knocked in the head and then just seeing Donny (also always quick to my defense, what can I say? I got some great friends) and Johnny come out of nowhere, Johnny throwing down his crutches and this guy couldn’t have run away any faster from this hobbled crazed maniac out for blood. Johnny has also been there for so many times in my life that I will never forget- taking him to the hospital with Cole after he cut his hand open, the car crash with Nate (first time in Worcester, almost dies), “That’s a big dog”, KDP, Hungry like the wolf- Duran Duran, the trip to visit the UMass crew in CA, too many memories together, but as Johnny would say “details, details”. Always fun loving, caring, and full of stories, Johnny is the type to get along with anyone from any walk of life, he has a way of finding common ground with anyone and I am honored to have him as a groomsman.

Cole is my oldest friend, we initially met back in kindergarten in Ms. Andersen’s class at Flagg Street School circa 1991. We connected first over our mutual love for the cartoon Captain Planet. Over the years living on the same street (Richmond Ave crew), we would spend summers at each other's house either at my pool (with my mom life guarding) or going over his house to play Playstation or heading down the street Mad Murphy’s Ice Cream or Dollar Video to rent even more video games. One time in the summer of 7th grade I brought over my Playstation so that we could connect two of them to play some Command & Conquer. I ended up leaving the Playstation at Cole’s house….big mistake. He ended up frying my Playstation (it was sparking like a scene out of Frankenstein by all accounts) but always being the generous person he is, we settled on him paying me back by giving me a dollar everyday from his lunch money…for three months. So for three months I got an extra bag of 3D-Doritos at lunch….those were the days. Cole and I would go to different high schools but still stay best friends playing basketball at Flagg Street in the summers, swimming at my pool (my mom still life-guarding all the neighborhood kids), and hitting Westside BBQ regularly (good size, good size). Cole would make a habit of coming up to UMass to hang out with me and the UMass crew at the dorms and at Phillips Street. Cole spent many summers with me in the Cape from Frost lane to Harwich and visiting the UMass crew (Blaine, Ian, Miller, Valade, Nate, Gallo) at their favorite bar (and place of summer employment) the Woodshed. Always coming in like a young buc fresh off the cattle train (credit Joey Lalos). From the many nights visiting our friend John Ebrecht in Boston, who had to have had the best spot in all of Boston right on Tremont, to the Colonial Inn Cape Cod to the Princess Suite in Hyannis to Frost Lane and Phillips Street, Cole has always been there for the important moments. I’m glad I could be part of important moments in his life too, like when he proposed to his lovely wife Brittney in Cape Cod. I have made so many memories with Cole it is hard to fathom how much we have grown up together. Some of the many memories together-the Frost Lane Carson parties at the Cape, Cotton’s Grandmother’s house, UMass, to Baxter Street to Mystic Street to meeting John Ebrecht randomly at a seminar, to Breathe Carolina on a Tuesday, johnny on crutches memorial day in the Cape, and winning a karaoke contest together singing NSYNC and Boyz 2 Men. There are just too many memories between the two of us, and I look forward to making many more with him and couldn’t be more thankful to have him as a friend and in my wedding party. If you see him, tell him he’s a top tier.

I met Aadam 8 years ago when the band was looking for a new singer. He ended up winning the job and completely changed the direction of the band for the better. No longer were we an 80’s cover band, we transformed overnight into an all emo cover band thanks to Aadam. Aadam turned out to be a talented and versatile singer and since he joined the band, we have really gone further than I ever thought possible and a huge part of that is thanks to Aadam. Aadam is always up for countless concerts (the TBS weekend in Boston and the Warped Tour San Diego with Don are a few standouts) and is always down for band trips. On one particular band trip to San Diego, Aadam met me and Don out there and he was dead tired after a particularly grueling cross-country flight. Even with just getting in from this brutal cross-country flight he decided to come out to the bar with me and Don. Needless to say he didn’t last all that long but instead decided to put his head down and take a nap on the bar, fortunately this moment is forever immortalized as “when you at the bar, but you stugglin”, A for effort Aadam! Over the years there have been many memorable Chase the Past shows with Aadam (and Don, Nick, and Dave of course) a few that stick out to me are the Boston Emo Night, Salem show (where Aadam bought the world’s most expensive 12-pack of Bud Light for the after party), outdoor show at Ralph’s, and the Frat Party show at UMass Lowell. For two years straight Aadam and I had date night at the Fix in Worcester where we both had a yearly burger subscription card that entitled us to a burger a day,everyday, for two years… We went there so much that the staff knew our orders and would always have Aadam’s signature after dinner shot of Chartreuse at the ready. Unfortunately, the one of the only times he didn’t come with me to the fix, he missed seeing Bill Murray. I am pretty sure we went there so much that we are probably the reason they have since stopped selling the burger subscription because they certainly were losing massive amounts of money with how much we went. There is not a day that goes by that I don't miss having that burger card but fortunately I still have Aadam who is always down to go to the Fix for a burger. An excellent roommate, singer, and friend, I couldn’t be happier to have Aadam in my wedding party.