Bethany & Joel
Wedding Party
AJ Doty
Man of Honor
AJ and Beth's friendship developed mostly by passing notes on graphing calculators in choir and French class at Pullman High School. As fellow PKs (pastors' kids) they spent hours contemplating life together whilst working out and tagging along to each other's church youth groups. These days AJ travels around Latin America for the US Forest Service and lives with his wife Lee in Washington, D.C.
Jason Kwok
Best Man
Jason is a San Francisco native and has been one of Joel's best friends since their elementary school days at Stuart Hall School for Boys, when they played Magic the Gathering and junior league basketball at the Olympic Club. Now decades later, they still intensely play Magic the Gathering as often as possible, and still play basketball even more intensely in the Olympic Club C league. Some things don't change!
Malica Mantrala
Bridesmaid
Malica and Beth grew up two doors apart in Pullman, Washington. They spent 12 years in Girl Scouts together and generally tried to make Malica's play time extend as much as possible before someone came to tell her it was really time to go home. Malica is finishing up her pediatric residency in Phoenix, Arizona, where she lives with her husband Sarath, daughter Ananya, and son Arjun.
Rob Alward
Groomsman
In Eagle River, Wisconsin, everybody knows the Alwards. Joel learned to water-ski with Rob's family and spent his summers in high school and college tending bar with Rob at the Chanticleer Inn. Rob is a commercial pilot (You can blame all of your travel woes on him. We do.) and lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife Ann and their three kids: John, Kate, and Elizabeth.
Jenny Saperstein
Bridesmaid
Beth's older sister. There are many words to describe her (especially when playing MarioKart64...) but where do I begin? Among many other nerdy things, Jenny introduced Beth to Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog, which is how Beth earned brownie points with Joel for recognizing his Dr. Horrible costume at that Halloween party, so in a way this is all kind of her fault. Jenny recently finished seminary in Austin, TX and is soon moving to Michigan with her husband Patrick and 2-year old son Jake.
Mike Cools
Groomsman
Joel's college roommate and fraternity brother at Duke. Dr. Cools is finishing up his residency in neurosurgery - pretty impressive, except he's doing it at UNC. We love him anyway. (GTHC!) Mike lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife Dr. Katie Cools (also a surgeon. yeesh.) and their daughter Henley.
Katie Buckner
Bridesmaid
During their first week at Carleton College, Katie and Bethany were randomly in a winning library scavenger hunt team together, and have remained close friends ever since. Some friendships were just meant to be! Now Katie is a lawyer and lives in Columbia, South Carolina with her two cats, and is next up to be the bride herself!
Thomas Burkland
Groomsman
As fellow Duke basketball Line Monitor, you can guess what shared passion brought Joel and Thomas together. We have met up with Thomas all over the country, from Durham to Final Four in Indianapolis, and California to Seattle, Thomas has shared many memories and fabulous meals with us.
Vicki Parker
Bridesmaid
Vicki grew up with Joel in San Francisco and is one of his best friends since high school. Days before Joel was planning to propose, Vicki sneakily took Bethany out to get her nails done for her "birthday". Vicki and her husband Colin are Ironman triathletes and some of our best adventure buddies. From dragging us out to yoga on Sunday mornings to cross country skiing in Tahoe, she keeps us both on our toes. Literally. Vicki is a lawyer here in San Francisco.
Sean Solberg
Groomsman
Sean and Joel met at a business dinner with Joel's dad back in 2009. However it quickly became very unprofessional between them. From celebrating St. Patrick's day in Sean's hometown in Iowa, to very poorly sneaking beers into Iowa State football games, to drinking das boot in Des Moines, Sean apparently makes us spend a lot of time in Iowa. We remain close via Sean's daily morning pictures of his feet via Snapchat. Sean is also a lawyer. We seem to have a lot of lawyer friends.
Alex Kivelstadt
Usher
Joel's friend since kindergarten. Magic the Gathering aficionado and Dungeon master. Probably rolling his eyes as he reads this.
Ross Kornberg
Usher
Joel's friend from University High School. Another Magic the Gathering regular. Strong opinions, loosely held. We encourage you to test them.
Alex Quan
Usher
Joel's friend since kindergarten. Magic the Gathering regular. Seeing a pattern here?
Jacqui Gooding
Assistant to the Bride
Bethany's cousin who loooooooves weddings! Jacqui will be keeping Beth looking good all day long!