Katie + Kevin
Our People
Allison Davis
Best Woman
Katie's beloved little sister + lifelong bestie; to say the absolute least, they are bonded forever by their shared love of the following: God, Wawa, humans, social justice, singalongs, Delco accents, and each other.
Jared Thomas
Best Man
Jared is Kevin’s best friend. Where Kevin ranks in Jared’s estimation is anybody’s guess and nobody’s concern. However, it is probably pretty high, for Kevin was the best man in Jared’s own wedding recently. Everyone agrees that Kevin’s speech was the most compelling part of the whole day. Jared and Kevin met something like twenty years ago, though both are quite cloudy about exactly when or exactly why. Jared and Kevin were roommates through the better part of their 30s and played an awful lot of FIFA on the Xbox. They can finish each other’s jokes and still laugh at them. They will learn to forgive their wives for breaking up their happy home.
Christina Van De Castle
Team Katie
Katie's bestest frand from high school at Merion, her college roommate/partner-in-crime (and by crime, I mean campus ministry) at Catholic U, + her forever duet partner; they truly have been through everything together! Katie feels blessed to support Christina and Thomas' daughter Charlotte as her (fairy) godmother.
Rory Parilac
Team Kevin
Rory and Kevin have been like two peas in a pod since a mutual love of the Beatles, and more importantly, Beatles trivia one-up-man-ship brought them into each other’s universes something like a decade-ish ago. When not trying to prove the superiority of their brains to each other, Kevin and Rory have fun talking over life and not taking each other’s advice. But mostly it’s about intellectual competition. Rory is basically the sister Kevin always wished he had: funny, challenging, self-reliant. Kevin and Rory have had many fine adventures and will end up having many more than you.
Phil Cooke
Team Katie
Katie's dear friend from CUA + former roommate at "the Lakewood house"; from musical theater (and eating wings) in DC to pursuing their vocations (and eating Thai food) in Chicago, they've walked with each other as soul-friends for over thirteen years! They await the day when Phil + JC's dog Tinkin (after Mandy Pa-) becomes best friends with Katie's future dog, Patti LuBone.
Annalise Nelson
Team Kevin
21 years ago Annalise drew sketches on Kevin’s walls in his off-campus apartment that he shared with a zillion other people, very few of whom ever put their signatures on the lease. Annalise is a brilliant artist and Kevin did not worry about losing the security deposit because he was honored to have her work on his walls. Also, he was a spoiled brat and his mom was paying the rent. Annalise is a kind, creative, amazing individual and Kevin bets she’s going to have the coolest hairdo at the wedding.
Tara Lane-Sears
Team Katie
One of Katie's favorite humans since their Merion days when they sang "Corner of the Sky" together in religion class; thankfully, their friendship continued to flourish as they gallivanted around Houston together while Tara was in TFA and Katie was in JVC...and through every phase since!
Tony Crowder
Team Kevin
Is Kevin’s cousin on his father’s side, which is why his last name is Crowder. There’s a twist though, he’s actually Kevin’s second cousin, because he’s Kevin’s uncle’s grandson. Or maybe that’s first cousin once removed. Kevin can never figure that part out. Whatever the actual relation, Tony and Kevin really met on My Space when Tony was just a little tyke. Now he’s a big tyke. Tony would come to Chicago during his collegiate and post-collegiate days to explore the city, and have Kevin and Jared show him what debauchery means. Tony was once a good Southern Baptist and maybe someday after the wedding he will be again. Kevin is glad Tony is his cousin.
Regina D'Avella
Team Katie
Katie's incredible friend from Merion; Katie longs for the days of car rides, watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice, and trips to the shore together! Despite living in different cities for over a decade, however, Regina and Katie have remained loving, supportive companions throughout each step of the journey!
Stacy Severson Geiger
Team Kevin
Is Kevin’s cousin on his mother’s side, i.e. the side that he actually grew up with. Kevin has known Stacy since she was born, and remembers distinctly deciding to act sad because Stacy’s birth meant that no one would pay attention to me anymore, and there was this McDonald’s commercial where this kid acted that way when his parents brought his little sister home, and that kid got McDonald’s out of it, and Kevin thought Stacy’s existence would be worth it if he could get McDonald’s too. It didn’t work. Since then, Stacy and Kevin have both grown up into people who could undeniably pass for adults, with the only difference being that Stacy is actually an extremely smart and responsible person. Kevin is glad Stacy is his cousin. And Kevin has had McDonald’s plenty of times since then.
Meaghan Whalen
Team Katie
Katie's community member during JVC in Houston (Chuck Norris forever!); Meaghan and Katie have visited each other and deepened their friendship in each new city since! One of their favorite memories is eating ALL THE GELATO while exploring Italy together in 2015.
Donovan Braud
Team Kevin
Dr. Braud is killing it in a brilliant academic career and is the only person Kevin knows who wears cufflinks. Kevin and Donovan have been friends since the earth cooled, and for a long time formed the triumvirate, along with Jared, who ruled (ironically) the People’s Republic of Farwell. That is to say the three of them lived together and had a wonderful time. Then Donovan sold them out and moved in with his future wife just because he loved her or something dumb like that. Nonetheless, Kevin has forgiven him and let him be in his wedding party because he is such a nice guy and he has great hair.
Steve Krupa, S.J.
Officiant
Katie's former professor from Loyola Chicago turned dear friend; they share a deep love of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and, naturally, Stephen Sondheim!