Dan & Katherine
Wedding Party
Conor O'Brien
Best Man
Conor has known Dan since freshman year of college where they lived on the same freshman dorm floor. Conor has forced Dan to live in his basement on multiple occasions on both the east coast and west coast, but has since abandoned him in Oakland during the pandemic to take up residence in beautiful Mundelein, IL (outside of Chicago). Conor is passionate about browsing imgr and responding to group email strings. In his spare time he also sources raccoon .gifs for dear friends. Conor has only known Kath since the beginning of the pandemic, but she’s been such an amazing addition to our group of friends that he feels like she’s always been a part of it. Aunt Kathy don’t play.
Lizzy Bairstow
Maid of Honor
Lizzy lives in Philly with this gorgeous golden, Cricket, two little kids who run the household and a nice guy named Mike. Lizzy has the best pajamas. Lizzy met Kata (her nickname for Katherine) in 5th grade when they were assigned to write a story together in class. Things escalated quickly when they realized they both loved dogs and also didn’t have any other friends. They then bonded via Entenmann’s Pop’ems and weekly (yes weekly) trips to Six Flags. What a time to be alive! Lizzy originally knew Dan as “dog dad” and will continue to only refer to him as such. When Lizzy finally got to meet Dan last summer she was floored to find that there was another human who loved having a drink and reading a good book as much as Kata.
Ryan Laudermilch
Groomsman
A true renaissance man- crew coach, management consultant, apparel entrepreneur, artificial intelligence innovator- Ryan can do it all. Dan and Ryan met in college on the crew team. Ryan is also very tall. He is a father of 2 and lives in Colorado where he enjoys the many bounties of the great outdoors, including hiking and bow and arrowing. He also has a 4 Runner, so I surmise he still wears plaid shirts, orders IPAs, and prefers breakfast food to all other mealtime food types.
Hayley Moller
Bridesmaid
Hayley is a communicator, strategist, and entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience finding innovative – and inclusive – ways to tackle the climate crisis. Hayley now lives in Paris like a badass, but hails from a landscape architecture dynasty and grew up in Dan's dreamhouse in Marin. She has a keen attention to email detail and a flair for banter. She knows Kath from their most awkward high school days (and volleyball), and knows Dan through her mother being his landscape architect.
Ben "The Jaguar" Baldner
Groomsman
Ben hails from El Paso, Texas where he is the proud Principal at Paso Del Norte Elementary School. He has 2 daughters and enjoys wood fired pizza. Ben know Dan through their mother Barb. They grew up together as "townies" in beautiful State College Pennsylvania and have many fond memories of the Grange Fair, Disney sing alongs, pies, and Penn State.
Hannah Jane Mayer
Bridesmaid
Every group of hooligans need a lawyer. Thank goodness for Hannah! When she's not fighting for privacy & civil liberties and wearing the heck out of a blazer, Hannah enjoys her time in DC strolling along the Potomac and having cocktails in Georgetown. As it's quite a small world after all she may have gone to law school with one of Tracy's childhood neighbors (per the interweb).
Shawn Giest
Groomsman
Shawn has known Dan for the past 6 years, since they met one faithful day in Conor's backyard. Shawn has since been lucky enough to be housemates with Dan, climb mountains and swim with dolphins together. The best thing to happen to Shawn and his wife in the last 2 years was being in a covid bubble with Katherine. Shawn lives a few blocks from Dan and Katherine in Oakland and thoroughly enjoys a Williams-crafted Old Fashioned. Shawn builds rockets, has 2 dogs- Riot and Greg (pictured above), is pretty darn handy, only responds to texts when necessary, and rarely checks his email.
Devon Chapman
Bridesmaid
Devon currently lives in Honduras with the true loves of her life- Pippa and Mako, her "street dog" breed pups. Please give Devon wine and then only speak to her in Spanish and French. Devon honed her language skills during memorable summers in Europe at her Dutch Grandmother's house. Devon is very difficult to find on the internet, so I must assume this is her: https://www.devonchapman.com/biography (editors note: that is not Devon, and she does not have a Dutch grandmother). Kath was the very first person Devon met at UCSB. They shared a dorm room, and her parents took them to Chilis on their first night of college. They then spent the next five years living together in very small spaces.
David Day
Groomsman
Dave Day is a legend already. We must protect Dave Day. In addition to being a full time nursing student, Tolkienite, dog dad to Hank (squishiest of all squish faces…see above), he CARRIES group email strings. God speed Dave. Dave has known Dan since they were 2 years old and met in strollers at the mailbox. Between their mailbox meet-cute and that elaborate prank that got Dan lectured by the federal mail police, they’ve had a bundle of good times. Think Stand By Me meets The Goonies meets Ferris Buellers Day Off. Speaking of movies, some of Dave’s favorite moments include films- like when Dan put on his favorite movie at the time, Red Dawn. They were about 14 at the time, and Dave spent the first 20 minutes cracking up laughing at the film, mistakenly thinking it was a comedy/parody. Dan got so upset. Don’t mess with Dan’s movies. An ever caring friend, Dave also gave Dan a heads up on the ending of the Sixth Sense because he didn't want him to be afraid. As far as Dave is concerned Katherine is unbeatable. She loves Hank and Dan as much as Dave does.
Lauren Fallat
Bridesmaid
Lauren doesn't have a dog or speak any foreign languages but there are a lot of feral cats in her neighborhood. She is a BOSS and doesn't mess around. Her emails are too the point with all of the pertinent information one needs to know with none of the fluff. RESPECT. I gather she is a woman of discerning taste and likely prefers brown sugar cinnamon PopTarts over those trash strawberry ones. Per the interweb she is either 41years old and competes in crossfit games [https://games.crossfit.com/athlete/506189] or graduated in 2007 from Marin Catholic High School. (editor's note: it's the latter)
Tracy Norman Geist
Officiant
Tracy has known Dan since their Penn State days when Tracy was a boss upperclassman and Dan and Conor were lowly Freshman scrubs. She was the first of Dan's close friends that Katherine met while they were dating and Tracy's tall stature, enthusiastic demeanor and biting wit confirmed what Katherine had suspected - Dan has excellent taste in human beings. Throughout the pandemic Tracy kept the couple in high spirits with taco dinners in her impeccably designed backyard oasis (Shawn helped a little) accompanied by delicious drinks with purple gin. She is the mother of two dragons/Australian shepherds - Riot the Lemon and King Gregory.