Wedding Party
Meg McPhee
Officiant
Meg met Alex freshman year of college at Northeastern University. The second she realized what an incredibly genuine, supportive, and just plain fun human being he was, she claimed him as one of her dearest friends. Over the years, they had so many great times together, but Meg did eventually grow impatient waiting to meet the woman Alex had fallen head over heels for. When Meg finally got to meet Eli at a New Year's Eve party in 2018, her expectations were exceeded. She adored Eli immediately and continued to bond with her over many things including their shared nature of wearing their hearts on their sleeves, loving art, dancing, and having a damn good time with friends. At this point, Meg and her husband Rory have visited the beautiful couple in their homes in Dublin and DC; and, Alex and Eli have returned the favor by visiting every apartment/home Meg and Rory have had. Most recently, they spent a New England summer weekend together tearing up a dance floor, sharing good drinks, and cracking each other up. Meg is so honored to serve as an officiant for these friends of nearly 10, and nearly 5 exceptional years!!!
Corbin Smith
Maid of Honor
Corbin and Elizabeth were first introduced on bid day at their sorority and forced into a picture together because they were both “NC girls”. A year and a bit later, they sat next to each other at a screening of “The Hunting Ground” and ended up being two of the founders of an organization created to educate fellow students about sexual assault on college campuses in hopes of ending it at the University of Mississippi and beyond. They remained really close throughout college and after graduation, even after Eli moved to Namibia and Corbin moved to France. When Alex and Eli moved to Dublin, Corbin invited herself to sleep on their couch during St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Alex and Corbin became besties and Corbin and Alex’s dad also became besties. Corbin and Eli see each other as much as they can and now they are back on the east coast in the same time zone, and are as close as they’ve been physically since college!
Zach Graves
Best Man
Zach and Alex have been best friends since sixth grade at Cary Academy, and have a shared love of sports, Star Wars, video games, and movies. Through middle school and high school they went to just about every Harry Potter or Marvel midnight movie premiere and mastered Wii Sports and Mario Kart together. Alex is quick to point out that he is 30 minutes older than Zach, and asking either who has traveled more leads to a lengthy debate. In true Zach and Alex fashion, they communicate exclusively through sending links to sports articles and screenshots with snarky captions back and forth until it is time to schedule a trip to see the other.
Kathryn James McGraw
Bridesmaid
Kathryn technically met Liz Bitz on the University of Mississippi roommate finder (97% match!), but they didn’t live together (it literally came down to what type of bathroom they wanted). They met in-person at the Honors College and Croft Institute for International Studies orientations and became fast friends. Kathryn dropped Croft by the end of freshman year, but is very thankful Elizabeth kept her around. They attended pretty much every football game in undergrad together (Kathryn had to teach Elizabeth a lot about football and taught her the important life lesson that even though football and basketball share some referee hand signals, they do not mean the same things) and reprised the act this September, when their partners got to meet!
Nicole Ackman
Groomsgal
Alex and Nicole met on the first day of sixth grade at Cary Academy, when they were placed in Mr. Rothrock's advisory together. They became best friends (along with Zach) and struggled through math classes, worked on theater productions, and generally caused chaos together. After graduating high school, they continued to see each other whenever possible including some memorable trips for Alex to visit Nicole at Elon University and in New York and her to go to Boston. Perhaps most notably, Alex visited Nicole in London on the way back from seeing Eli in Namibia and she realized that this girl that she couldn't wait to meet might just be the one. Nicole is so thrilled and grateful to call Alex one of her oldest friends and to get to stand by him as he marries one of her favorite people, Eli.
Allyn Hollingsworth
Bridesmaid
Allyn honestly can’t remember a time that she wasn’t friends with Elizabeth. They must have met some time in kindergarten and have been friends ever since! Elizabeth is Allyn’s oldest friend and has been a constant presence in her life, from celebrating birthdays and dance recitals to going to prom and getting into college. Elizabeth is one of the most thoughtful, vibrant, and fun people Allyn knows and she can’t imagine my life (or having made it through high school) without her! They’ve been through a lot of different chapters of life together and they can’t wait to be by each other’s sides for so many more!
David McDevitt
Groomsman
David met Alex in the same place that Alex met all of his C+ friends - playing ultimate frisbee at Northeastern. From that point forward, David made sure that Alex couldn't shake him. They both became RAs, but Alex did a great job at making sure that they didn't have to share a physical staff together at any point. When Alex was in Dublin, David came by to raid the Jameson factory at 10 in the morning. Their senior year, when they were tired of babysitting freshmen in exchange for food and shelter, David and Alex and a few others rallied together for an apartment on the Hill. That apartment had two A+ cats - RIP to the real ones Beau and Elsa.
Rachel Anderson
Bridesmaid
Rachel and Elizabeth met in their first year at the University of Mississippi and spent a lot of time together after getting bids from the same sorority. They bonded over their shared loves of travel, Spanish, and the inevitability of living abroad for (at least) a little while after graduation. Rachel and Elizabeth did a lot together and kept in contact during study abroad (Rachel to Spain and Elizabeth to Argentina) and still stayed in touch after Elizabeth moved to Namibia and Rachel moved back to Spain after graduating in 2017. Due to travel and the pandemic, Elizabeth and Rachel did not see each other in person for almost 6 years. But they reunited when Elizabeth and Alex moved to DC and got to attend Rachel’s wedding in March 2023!
Chris MacDonald
Groomsman
Alex met Chris in college the year they started playing Ultimate Frisbee together at Northeastern. Over time, they found many common interests in movies, games, hockey, and being injured. Chris and Alex lived together in the Great Zoo of Jamaica Plain after college and Alex graciously allowed Chris to become a cat uncle to Ash and Misty. Now Alex runs a homebrewed Dungeons and Dragons game with Chris, Katy, Sunshyne, and the bride-to-be herself and are always looking for opportunities to visit each other.
Toni Batha
Bridesmaid
Toni and Eli met when they both started as Peace Corps volunteers in Namibia. Toni was placed in the north, and Eli in the south, but they still kept in touch with one another and met up as often as they could for various committee meetings and camps. Even though they lived 14 hours apart, they still became close friends! They went on a month-long close of service trip where they bonded even more. When Alex and Eli moved to Dublin, Toni came to visit to see all of the sights. Toni knows too much about Taylor Swift, loves hiking, camping, and rec sports and she just recently moved to Washington DC so she can bother Eli and Alex more. Toni and Eli attended the Eras tour together in May 2023 and have found various fun activities to do together such as watching the Eras tour movie together, making friendship bracelets, and running on the mall (hey, something not about Taylor Swift!)
Rory McGloin
Groomsman
Rory and Alex have been friends for over ten years after meeting as freshmen at Northeastern University. Besides living on the same floor in their freshman dorm, the two also quickly signed up for the ultimate frisbee team and soon were practicing their throws on the campus quad constantly. They worked closely together and within a few years were co-captains, making large organizational decisions like which BBQ restaurant the team would go to after the tournament. Both Rory and Alex have a strong tie to Dublin and have enjoyed several nights of playing "Guinness Golf" in Ireland.
Stephanie Cervi
Bridesmaid
Elizabeth and Stephanie met at the beginning of high school and realized they lived right in the same neighborhood, which was perfect for sleepovers, hanging out and carpooling to school! We bonded over movies, books, music, eating cookie dough (never got sick!!) and taking almost all of the same classes together. After high school graduation Stephanie was able to visit Elizabeth at Ole Miss and go to a couple football games! Even after they hadn’t seen each other in a while, when they talk or get together it’s like no time has passed at all. It is truly so special to have a best friend Stephanie knows she can call anytime and pick right back up where they left off. After meeting Alex a few times and seeing him and Elizabeth together, she is so excited that they have found each other and cannot wait to celebrate their love! And Elizabeth is extremely excited to stand by Stephanie’s side at her wedding in June!
Katy Wardzala
Groomsgal
Katy and Alex met during freshman year at Northeastern and bonded over photos of Alex's cat Livingstone and spicy foods so hot nobody's intestines were happy. An impromptu trip down to NC that summer led Katy to finally meet Livingstone in person (and Bart!). Their friendship continued through the rest of college, from Katy being the "fourth" roommate in Willis, to coincidentally living across the hall from each other during a study abroad in Dublin, to not so sneakily trying to kidnap one of his kittens, Misty, from his apartment in JP. When the friendship became more long distance, they mostly communicated in memes and *very* sporadic D&D sessions. Luckily, Alex and Eli decided to move to DC just about a year after Katy did! However, much of the communication still relies on memes.
Levi Bevis
Bridesman
Levi (he/him) is a law student at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona. He is originally from Florence, Alabama, and he met Elizabeth at the University of Mississippi. Leviand Elizabeth were both involved in student government, and Elizabeth quickly became Levi's mentor and close friend. Through the years, their friendship has only grown, and Levi could not be happier or more excited for this fantastic couple!
Alex Wilson
Groomsman
Velto and Sunshyne met on their first day of college as they were in the same major. While they hit it off immediately, they quickly realized that between them, Velto’s roommate Alex, and another classmate Alexa, there were going to be too many Alex's around for us all to keep using the name. After an intense battle for who would get to keep the name, it was decided everyone would go by a nickname: Velto continued his trend of going by his last name, and Sunshyne went back to an old childhood nickname. Velto and Sunshyne have been in each others’ lives ever since - roommates for a time in Boston, taking many of the same classes together throughout college, and even working with each other at the same co-op. After college and while Velto was in Ireland, they still stayed in touch regularly, primarily by playing D&D online. Now that they’re both living outside the DC area, Sunshyne gets to see Alex and Eli even more often. When Sunshyne first met Eli, he could tell right away how happy she makes him and how perfect they are together, and he’s thrilled to be part of their special day as they start their next chapter together.