Chloe & Ben
Wedding Party
Carly Tunison
Matron of Honor
Once the president of the MSU geology club, Carly, and her geologist husband, Chris, were Ben's colleagues back in college. We reconnected with them both when we realized we all settled down in TC after college -- but our real friendship began when the pandemic hit! We formed our own little COVID bubble and spent our time inside watching the Bachelor, playing board games, and laughing way too much at our dumb inside jokes. Their friendship made 2020's isolation FUN. Carly's unconditional support, love, and kindness has helped me through the pandemic and later through a surprise lupus diagnosis. She is such a rare person and friend, and she has made Traverse City feel like home to me.
Eric Bochert
Best Man
Eric has been my best friend since I met him in High School. He came to Northville in 2013 as an exchange student, and we met during soccer tryouts. That whole year we spent hanging out, enjoying life as sophomores and planning our future adventures. Once he headed back home we kept in contact and over the years we've continued to meet up as much as possible. We've gone backpacking through Europe, surfing in the US and shared our passion for books. Now he'll be my Best Man and help me kick off my next adventure!
Priscilla McCarthy
Bridesmaid
Priscilla is the lone sister in the McCarthy clan! She is joining us all the way from Argentina for our special day. Growing up, Pri always took care of her four reckless little brothers. We would constantly look for new and innovative ways to do something stupid, and she managed to keep us from serious harm many times (for more information, please direct all wine and questions to my sister.) She has been living in Argentina basically since the rest of my nuclear family moved to the states, and has blazed her own trail. She has always been a great source of wisdom and comfort when needed, and she's the first person that I message any time I'm either thinking of home or planning on visiting. When you see her at the wedding, make sure to congratulate her and Guaro on their new coffee shop!
Katie McCoy
Bridesmaid
I hardly have any good college memories WITHOUT Katie. Katie was an essential member of my college friend group - we named ourselves the "J-School Killaz" because we were the gangsters of MSU Journalism School. Or at least we thought we were. We were definitely our broadcasting professor's favorite. Katie and I spent many, MANY late nights together, whether we were up editing video for our student newscast, or enjoying a Wednesday night at Harpers, or "studying" for our 400 level wine class (horticulture 430 - good times). In any case, Katie has always been a girl's girl, always up for anything, easy-going, loving, and a thoughtful friend.
Chris McCarthy
Groomsman
Chris is one of the most caring and loyal brothers in the group. He is always looking to cheer you up, if you need something he will do it, and he's selfless to a fault. For the last year, Chris has been working with my family to build the Brava empanadas empire where he's in charge of running the teller and keeping the customers happy. If you need proof of his goofy charm, just come down to our food truck or stop and say hi at the wedding. He's always got smiles to share for friends and strangers alike.
Cassidy Minghine
Bridesmaid
Cassidy is an OG. We go wayyyy back! We first met playing middle school volleyball and we were later teammates on Varsity. We went to the State quarter finals in back to back seasons! Although we lost both those times, as the saying goes, the real prize was our friendship that we made along the way. We were known as the team "cougars" because we both dated "younger" men and took juniors to the Senior Prom. Turns out my prom date is now my future husband. Being a cougar paid off! I love and appreciate Cassidy for her quick wit, compassion, loyalty, and kindness.
Patricio McCarthy
Groomsman
Patricio is the second youngest brother in the family. Out of all the siblings, we all agree that he has the best sense of style. Even when he was a kid, he'd always go for uncommon or bright outfits and rock them with ease. He's also an incurable socialite. When we first moved to the US we had very basic english skills. Patricio decided that he should go around the neighborhood, knock on every door and introduce himself to our neighbors, all alone. He is a great guy to hang around with, and one of his favorite past times is to make up ridiculous stories about himself or the family and wait to see how long it takes people to figure it out. You've been warned.
Griffin Wasik
Bridesman
Griffin, Griffin, Griffin...I'm so lucky to have such a loyal, go-for-it kind of friend in my life! Griff and I were classmates back at Northville High School and became friends in our broadcasting class, where we were tasked with putting on the morning announcements. Our goals was to film and air the most over the top, ridiculous videos that we tried to pass off as essential updates for the student body. We once shot a legendary music video but that tape is thankfully lost forever. We later continued our broadcasting career at Michigan State, where we joined the student newscast. In college we got sushi at least twice a week, spent long days in the news studio, and cheered on the Spartans from the "Izzone" student section at bball games. I'm lucky to have him in my life to this day!
Felipe McCarthy
Groomsman
Felipe is the youngest of the brothers. He's got a great passion for fixing things, or figuring out different ways to solve random daily inconveniences. Once, he set a series of strings around his room just so he didn't have to get up to turn the lights off. He's also a great cook, which I'm guessing he takes after my mom. He's a key player in the Brava food truck business, where he helps prep the food and cooks it onsite whenever the truck is at an event. He's also got jokes for days, which is pretty great.
Regan Blissett
Bridesmaid
Regan is one of the most cheerful, sentimental, thoughtful, loving, kind people in my life. She always knows how to make you feel special, and she makes any event feel like a real celebration! When I met Regan, we immediately clicked. We had both just graduated college and we were hired on as reporters at a news station in Northern Michigan. It meant so much to have a friend right beside me to navigate the world of breaking news for the first time! Through our journalism careers and personal lives, Regan has always been so supportive and loving, and I'm lucky to have her standing with me on my big day.
Ignacio Brarda
Groomsman
Nacho is one of my closest friends, and we share a background that, up until I met him, I never shared with anyone outside of direct family. Nacho moved to the US from Argentina in 2014, and we met through our parents. We became really close in 2016 when he and I moved into Snyder-Phillips as roommates for our sophomore year of college. Man, we had some really good times. We would share our favorite shows with each other, go out to partys, check out the different parts of campus, go bother Keri, play music and tons of other great moments that I happily look back on. He's a really great, caring guy and I'm happy to have him in my wedding.
Keri Masserant
Groomswoman
Keri is a really great friend of mine. We met in college through our mutual friend Ignacio, and from the beginning we just clicked. She has a great sense of humor, ridiculous memory, and will never run out of a conversation topic. Keri, Nacho and I would meet up for lunch at least once a week at MSU and catch up with each other, we'd go out together and every year she would guilt trip us into joining her at Dance Marathon. We had some great times in college, and she's been an amazing through it all. She's also one of two other people that I have ever gone on a 150 mile canoe race with, so that's pretty cool.
Chris Tunison
Groomsman
Chris is an all out good friend. He and I met in college, we were both in the same department at MSU but it wasn't until after college that we reconnected and became great friends. When I moved up to Traverse City, we got back into touch with Chris and Carly, they are our best friends up in this city. In big part thanks to them, we went from wanting to leave the town to having a great group of friends that are caring, loyal, hilarious and just fun to be around. Chris has been a super helpful friend through many things during our time here in TC, and I can't be happier with this guy :}
Andrés Ordóñez-Merizalde
Groomsman
Andres has been my friend since high school, but It wasn't until the end of senior year that we really started being good friends. Since then, our friendship has grown stronger and stronger every year. Especially during the pandemic, Andres was one of the people that I would talk to the most and we would either call each other for hours or play video games and escape from the crazy for a bit. He's been a huge part of my life in the last few years, all while living his best life in D.C. and kicking ass in the political scene. I couldn't be more proud of all he's accomplished and I couldn't be happier with the friendship we've developed :)
Kevin Callahan
Groomsman
Kevin is a great guy. He and I met our freshman year of High School during summer conditioning for soccer. I was a shy little freshman and he was a shy little freshman. We had to jog like 5 miles for a warmup and I asked him if he wanted to jog with me. Since then, he's been a huge part of my life and continues to be so. We've gone to homecoming, prom, college games, parties, spring breaks, and hung out with each other to this day. Those kinds of friendships are hard to find and even harder to keep. When you meet him you'll know what I mean when I say he's a great guy and a nice person. Cheers to Kev!