Wedding Party
Karin Torrey
Best Man
"Minus only four years, we’ve been a constant to each other. There are just some people in your life you’re attached to by a tether, and he’s that to me. The way he is now is the way he’s always been. Please permit a big sister bragging, because he doesn’t do it for himself. My brother will analyze an album with the raw love of a fan and the earthy poetry of the music critics of the 70s. He’s a doctor who treats his patients the way they want to be treated, and the way he would want to be treated. I’m not sure they teach the Golden Rule in medicine; it’s just innate to him. He’s a son who did everything he could to care for his parents and create a place where home and family were one and the same. He’s a father who loves his kids so much that you feel when you’re with them what unconditional means, and now he has Ada and Esther, and you can feel when you’re with them what limitless means. When he said he loved her, there was no doubt. It was in his heart and his eyes and his walk and his breath. In the midst of some of the hardest times in his life, he looked like the lightest man imaginable. This is life, in all its big surprising changes, with people you love who come in and out. The foundations, they’re the ones others fly away from, sometimes. And the ones you can always fly to and depend on. He’s a constant. So he’ll be the last one. It’s a rare and important position, and it’s who he is and what he chooses. I say this so you know he’ll always be there for them."
Valerie Raedy
Maid of Honor
"It was a cold day in 2011 in Chicago when Esther and I arrived from different cities to interview for the same competitive scholarship at the same law school. We weren’t supposed to become friends. Most candidates were cold or rude. But not us. I felt a spark right away and knew we’d become close friends. 14 years later, after choosing the same law school (we both “won” that scholarship), rooming together for two years, traveling Central America for a month, and seeing each other through heartbreaks, successes, and setbacks, the thing I love most about Esther is this: there are very few who can live so fully and passionately in so many different roles like her. Most people are good at only a few. She can go from dancing her heart out to talking you through your hardest moments without missing a beat. She’s been by my side at my lowest points and a constant in my highest ones. She listens without judgment, laughs without reserve, and shows up fully. When Esther became a mom, she became even more herself (somehow with an even bigger heart), and so did I. The first time I heard about Chris, Esther's face was full of light, and I knew this one was important. Last year, we spent two weeks in Puerto Rico, exploring everything from mountain coffee farms to city streets to beaches. What stood out, though, was Esther talking about Chris. Their connection is easy, deep, and full of admiration. I could not be happier for this incredible next chapter and their beautiful love story."