Shirley & Calvin
Wedding Party
Emily Li
Maid of Honor
My arch-nemesis in childhood, Emily also happens to be my sister. Sometimes I joke that she's my favorite sister, but she reminds me that she's also my only sister. We mostly bond over petting our dog and sending pictures over text of our dog and missing our dog (me from 8 hours away, Emily from 30 minutes away). Sometimes snarky and sometimes sweet, Emily's everything that I could've wished for when I first drew the card, "Happy 0th birthday!" to welcome her into the world.
Sean Webb
Best Man
Sean and I met in during our freshman year of college. When I first saw him in the dining hall, he (like me) was very skinny, but also (unlike me) he was a little short. I naturally assumed that he was one of those child geniuses who started college at age 15. It turns out I was wrong and he was actually older than me. Go figure. Our friendship grew, propelled by a mutual love of Doctor Who and need to work on economics problem sets. (Let's be honest, Sean helped me a lot more than I helped him.) Sean is the one who told me, "Hey I have this friend Shirley that you should meet! You guys would definitely be friends." He says that he wasn't trying to set us up, and given that it took him a year to introduce us, we think we believe him.
Jen Lee
Maid of Honor
Jen and I have been bffs since middle school, when our friendship mostly consisted of living an hour away from each other in suburban NJ and lamenting that we couldn't drive so couldn't hang out with each other. Since those auspicious beginnings, Jen and I have spent exactly 1/14 years living in the same state. We call our friendship a "star crossed" one. Our dynamics are very healthy: I spend lots of time trying to get Jen (who's the nicest person in the world) to be meaner to people, and Jen criticizes my clothing choices (mostly kidding).
Andrew Min
Groomsman
Andrew and I knew about each other through the homeschooling grapevine before we were both accepted at Princeton. Andrew emailed me to ask if we could "meet up or something." We did just that at the accepted students weekend at Princeton and have kept it up for nine years. We spent two years as roommates, with me keeping Andrew awake by talking before bed, and Andrew waking me up by talking in his sleep.
Yue-Yi Hwa
Bridesmaid
Yue-Yi was two years ahead of me in college so wayyyy cooler, so it took a couple years of my trying to be friends with her before we got anywhere. Finally we were both stranded abroad in England (me for study abroad, her for her master's) so, lacking better options, Yue-Yi acquiesced. We bonded over books and Britishness and boys (as these things go) and a shared love for long Whatsapp texts (full paragraphs, pages and pages of feelings).
Max Inman
Groomsman
Max married my sister Camille two years ago, and when he and I first met, we spent hours nerding out about video games while Camille rolled her eyes at the table. Pizza making parties, dessert making, helping each other move, and more has kept me, Shirley, Max, and Camille hanging out.
Erica Ridderman
Bridesmaid
Back in spring 2018, Erica and I schemed together to throw our grad professor a Star Trek themed going away party, only to discover that he wasn't a Star Trek fan after all. Whups. The embarrassment of the endeavor meaningfully bonded us (kidding, kidding), so much so that we're still friends a couple years later. In true PhD student fashion, our friendship consists primarily of unplanned study breaks and walks. Shirley loves teasing Erica about her fear of scary movies and her super sportiness, and in return Erica is nice to Shirley.
Kevin Roux
Groomsman
Kevin met me on the day I was born, and 26 years is a good long while! Things have continued pretty seamlessly since then, with weekend visits to see me in Durham, hangouts in Uptown Charlotte, and far more. We've known each other for so long that I sometimes forget that Kevin's not actually my brother. A piece of advice: definitely don't call him K-Mikey.
Charlotte Bolster
Bridesmaid
I met Charlie when studying abroad in England, and 8 years later I still can't pronounce the name of her hometown: Torquay, England (bet you can't either). I like my PG tips tea very dark, and Charlie likes hers very light, so Charlie spent most of that year recycling my teabags for her tea! True friendship. We also adventured in Beijing, where I got us lost and Charlie successfully reoriented us (despite the fact that I speak and read Chinese and she doesn't), and in Williamstown, where we climbed a tree and acquired matching college sweatshirts.
Steven Roux
Groomsman
Steven and I also met on the day I was born, so it's been a long 26 years of knowing each other. Several years ago, Steven visited me while I was living in Chicago for a famed "Chicago-bro weekend" where my friends kept telling me how wonderful it was that I had a friend like Steven. I, slightly confused, replied, "Friend? I've known him my whole life, so he's more a brother that I can't imagine not being close to him. Even if I didn't like him, I couldn't get away from him." Good thing we actually do like each other.