Karly grew up in the cabin next door to Juli, which means she's known the bride longer than pretty much anyone. This gives her special privileges (e.g., dibs) and titles (such as "empress," "Dave," and honorary mother). It's taken a decade for Juli and Karly to recover from the glory of their last international trip, but they've begun talks for the next one—after the honeymoon, of course. Until then, Karly's the account coordinator at Iron Creative in San Francisco.

Jesse and Ryan met in a class about comic books while at UCSC (because of course Santa Cruz has a class on that). Once Ryan got Jesse to wear an actual belt instead of an extension cord, they were able to become friends. They quickly bonded over their shared passions for comics and trying every Mexican restaurant in Santa Cruz (no small feat). Once they grew up (sort of) Jesse went off to attend law school at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, where he now works as a public defender.

Liz has known Juli since elementary school, but it took them till the post-college years to form the 15th street crew. This fearsome group held many a serious brunch, taming hoards of foster kittens and roaming the streets on piggy back. Liz now lives in New York, where she is getting a doctorate in piano wizardry, but from time to time she and Juli return to SF to check on their city.

Patrick was the TA for several courses Ryan took as an undergrad at UCSC. He tried to get Ryan to learn all the bones in a fish's skull, but Ryan still did very poorly on that quiz. Soon after that course, Ryan wound up working in Paul Koch's lab, where Patrick was getting his PhD. They wasted a lot of hours discussing other people's science instead of working on their own, and watching trailers for upcoming movies, even if they rarely ever saw the movies once they were released. It was Patrick's idea to funnel this energy into doing a podcast, called Science… sort of, which they started together in 2009 and have been doing ever since. Patrick currently works for the department of defense in Virginia not far outside Washington, DC. Unfortunately, Patrick is not able to attend the wedding, but he'll be there in spirit.

French American International School. International High School. UC Berkeley. Rocket Lawyer. That's right, Sasha and Juli not only went to the same schools, they worked at the same company after graduation—in fact, Sasha got Juli her job. If anyone's put in the time and effort and deserves to be part of this wedding, it's Sasha. And if four years at Cal weren't enough, she's going back this fall for a masters in Information Management and Systems.Fun fact: Juli once dyed her whole head blonde just for Sasha, because the latter insisted that the former had been blonde as a child (clearly she was confusing Juli with Zander).

Charlie and Ryan first became friends when Charlie gave Ryan some juice when he wasn't feeling well. Ryan has never forgotten this small kindness. When Patrick suggested that Charlie be brought in as a full time co-host for Science… sort of, Ryan eagerly agreed. Charlie is one of the coolest cats Ryan knows, and currently works as an assistant professor of environmental science at Western Washington University.

Abe was one of the first people Ryan met when he visited Vanderbilt University to interview for their Masters program. Ryan decided to attend anyways. The two bonded over craft beer, mountain biking, and staying up late to converse over fine tequila on the back patio. Ryan often hits up Abe for help whenever he needs to write something in Spanish or make a quick friend in Iceland—and Abe is always right there to help. Presumably, Abe gets something out their friendship too. Abe just finished his PhD studying volcanology at Vanderbilt University.

Tanya and Juli met in high school and quickly bonded over musicals, Prairie Home Companion, dancing, and staying up late drinking tea. Yeah we're dorks, deal with it. In the years since, we've always kept in touch despite a number of big moves—after stints in China, France, and NYC, Tanya's now based in Chicago. Seriously, catching up with her is like playing "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego." Anyway, Juli's thrilled that Tanya's taking one more big trip to Sveadal to be part of this wedding.

Dan and Ryan met in 11th grade when Dan's family moved to Charleston, WV from Utah. They became fast friends based on a mutual love of doodling in physics class (for which Dan was praised and Ryan was yelled at based on the overall quality of the doodles) and laughing about how funny it would be to uppercut a spitting cobra. Dan was the first person to take Ryan climbing, but neither of them thought to get Ryan climbing shoes. Ryan kept climbing though, and one time with the help of Justin convinced Dan to climb into the school's ventilation system, but that's a story for another day. Dan currently works as a software engineer developing code for electron microscopes.

Justin asked Ryan to run for student council in 10th grade to kick out a dude he didn't like. Ryan said sure and proceeded to develop a campaign, mostly around rewriting the speech from Braveheart to give during the campaign assembly (in a makeshift kilt with blue face paint of course). Ryan won and he and Justin have remained close friends since. Their antics around the halls of George Washington High School are legendary (in their own minds at least), including that thing where Dan wound up in the ceiling. Justin is a PK^2, because both of his parents are Presbyterian Ministers, works at a tour guide in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and has won several golden shovels from the West Virginia Liars Competition (seriously), so Ryan and Juli could think of no one more qualified to stand at the altar and declare them husband and wife.