Dorothy & Theodore
Wedding Party
Jasmine Li
Maid of Honor
Dorothy first met Jasmine at an AACF ladies event during their freshman year. Freshman Jasmine had long, red hair and wore cool, edgy outfits, which Dorothy found intimidating. However, they found that they shared the same music taste and their polite Facebook messages quickly degraded into obnoxious, caps-filled exchanges. Dorothy attributes her increasing weirdness (or rather, the unveiling of her weirdness) to her friendship with Jasmine. Over the past years, they've used a hair dryer to defrost chicken, adopted a bag of coffee beans from Heart Roasters, and sang "Come Thou Fount" in Whale (like Dory from Finding Nemo). When Theo called Jasmine to ask about Dorothy's feelings, she told him, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take," starting this whole #dorodoor business. Thanks dude.
Teddy Hsieh
Best Man
From finding how difficult it is to write platonically appreciative lyrics for the sisters in our campus ministry, to spending countless hours recording in the basement of UCLA's School of Music, to pathetic attempts at tossing roti in Kuala Lumpur, to sharing Martin Luther's favorite beverage and America's (arguably) best cheese in Madison, and soon to marrying their respective fiancées within weeks of each other, the brotherhood shared between Teddy and Theo has been and always will be a precious privilege to Theo. Finding a Teddy-like friend of one's own is highly recommended, as the companionship greatly augments one's enjoyment of life.
Crystal Hsieh
Bridesmaid
Dorothy first met Crystal during UCLA freshman orientation. Dorothy was hanging out in her friend's room before festivities started when Crystal arrived. Crystal's actual roommate happened to be in the bathroom when Crystal walked in, so Dorothy quickly introduced herself as "Hi, I'm Dorothy! But I'm not your roommate." (Crystal was naturally weirded out that someone who wasn't her roommate happened to be in her room). When school started in the fall, they met again at the very first AACF large group. Though they ended up committing to different local churches, they hung out regularly (Bcafe smoothies!), co-labored in homeless ministry and AACF, roomed together during junior and senior year, made an AACF parody of "Sunday Candy," and took on nighttime building projects. Good times.
Matthew Lee
Groomsman
"Sleeves raggedly ripped off a button-up shirt at the shoulder seam, deltoids and accompanying upper arm muscles bulging out of the forcibly enlarged armhole, and a bow-tie," thought Theo, "Does not a close friend make." He was wrong. Beefy's (don't be deceived by the peculiarly tame moniker "Matthew Lee," his spirit name is Beefy Hams) idiosyncratic style and mannerisms promptly charmed their way into Theo's heart, as their bond was strengthened at a leadership training conference through an extended conversation on doctrine and feelings. And it just kept getting better: working through student ministry struggles, a mutual love and passion for Dino's chicken, Beefy teaching Theo how to be a man's man––the list goes on. Have a conversation with Beefy, it'll be great. Money back guarantee.
Jamie Yi
Bridesmaid
Dorothy first met Jamie through Jasmine but didn't get to know her better until they started living together in junior year. The apartment often teased Jamie about her Easy Mac diet but tbh she got Dorothy into it too (Easy Mac kind of has its own special charm...sorry Theo). Easy Mac aside, Dorothy appreciates Jamie's small stature (so cute) and enormous heart (so kind)!!! During their senior year, the two friends made a major decision in their lifestyle choices – to commit to buying only one boba per week and going on shopping fasts for months at a time (bye bye Madewell T_T). Jamie is also quite quotable; Dorothy picked up "hnngghh" from Jamie, and her favorite phrase from Jamie is "dum dum go chew gum gum." Jamie's quotability, intentionality, accountability make her a keeper.
Mark Iskandar
Groomsman
Two worlds uncomfortably (but rather enjoyably) and repeatedly bump into each other. Mark keeps Theo grounded with his abundance of chill. Theo introduces vegetables into Mark's diet. Mark inspires Theo to be adventurous in anything from cooking with hands only to walking outside of clearly marked boundaries. Theo tries to get Mark out the door on time for worship practice. Mark takes Theo's training shorts and flannel shirt and turns them into a scandalous outfit. Theo takes Mark suit shopping. Mark listens to Theo talk about things and helps him process. Theo listens to Mark talk about things, but there isn't much to process because things are usually chill. It's a good friendship.
Merry Lee
Bridesmaid
Merry (or Mariaaaa, as some like to say) is a rockstar nurse-to-be who is widely known for her fantastic puns (they blue me away!), on-fleek brows (do people even say that anymore?), and arguably the best K-pop playlist around (search "K-M" on Spotify! Even Theo listens to it sometimes which, if you know Theo, says a lot). Dorothy had the pleasure of getting to know Merry during discipleship in college, and has been extremely blessed to witness God's faithfulness in growing Merry's faith and dependence upon Him. If you're looking for a book suggestion, they both recommend "The Discipline of Grace" by Jerry Bridges (they read it together for dship). And if you get a chance, ask Merry about her K-pop playlist or her infamous picture collages of her friends. They're almost as great as she is.
Winston Hsieh
Groomsman
The exclamation, "I'm so glad you understand me!" can often be heard multiple times in one conversation between Winston and Theo. Subject matter varies per the occasion, but food, drink, and mortification of sin are all equally likely to incite that happy, sometimes heavy-hearted, but always thankful yell. Thankfulness is the only right response, really, since it's so hard to find a friend who mulls over and struggles with essentially identical matters, but also enjoys similar things. What Theo admires most about Winston, though, is his expansive shoe collection, which aptly embellishes his (deservedly, but not actually) award-winning long legs. This message was not approved by Winston.