Esther & David
Wedding Party
Esther Siegel
Bride
Esther is a lover of vintage fashion as well as a fascinator and baking enthusiast, hiking ethusiast, personal chef, a foodie, and madly in love with David. She enjoys making wedding attire in her spare time and she made the bridesmaid dresses and fascinators for her best friend’s wedding (which she is wearing in the photo). She even made the bridesmaid dresses for her own wedding!
David LeBlanc
Groom
David is a musician, concert producer, event planner, long distance runner, avid hiker, and inspired by all things outer space. He is an avid Beatles fan and a lover of 1960's music. Known to surprise, he has won Esther's heart over many times from taking her to see her favorite band, Radiohead, at Madison Square Garden the first summer they were together to orchestrating a surprise tea-cup piggy party in their apartment for her birthday.
Elisabeth Greenfield-Myers
Maid of Honor
Elisabeth was Esther's best friend. An aspiring event planner, Liz used to be in charge of the kitchen staff at many banquets for Esther's hometown synagogue and she even had a sommelier certification! She is still my maid of honor in spirit and will remain in my heart forever.
Ethan Green
Best Man
Best friend of the groom, a food-loving badass and world traveler, Ethan and David have been best friends since Ethan's first day of college at the University of Rochester. When Ethan is not busy making the world a better place, he is watching Ina Garten while preparing his signature meat sauce ... and no, store bought is NOT fine!
Hannah Siegel
Bridesmaid
Twin sister of the bride, aka her other half. Hannah is a lover of bubble tea, llamas, and Japanese stationary. A very passionate teacher, she used to teach ESL in Taiwan and she now works in the DC public school system.
Brian LeBlanc
Groomsman
David's brother Brian is a programmer, gamer, web designer, performer and world traveler seen here on the Lord of the Rings tour in New Zealand. He is also the only member of the family that has traveled to all seven continents!
Gaia Visnar
Bridesmaid
Gaia is not only David’s Slovenian cousin, she is also an actress, model, and close family friend. She is more like a sister to David and now Esther too! In addition to acting, Gaia is also a producer and is working on projects in Europe and the UK.
David Sampson
Groomsman
David (Sampson) and David first met working the box office for the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival in 2014 and immediately became friends. David is a music industry expert, film enthusiast, colleague, friend and mentor and the two Davids have shared more crazy experiences working concerts together than can be recounted.
Kat Tingum
Bridesmaid
Super cool actress, singer and fellow thrift shopper whom David introduced to Esther when he worked at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Kat also makes music videos with her band, Glitch Cake, and she just completed a web series about her life in New York!
Kagan Turkman
Groomsman
Kagan and David were in the same Kindergarten class at age 5 and have been friends ever since. Kagan is a soccer enthusiast, beer aficionado and overall sports savant. David's bar-hopping days in New York were largely spent at Kagan's neighborhood bar in Hell's Kitchen, and yes - he is actually Turkish.
Katie O’Rourke
Bridesmaid
Esther’s childhood friend from Syracuse, who also happens to be an animal whisperer (how cute is that lamb?). A lover of animals and nature, Katie now works at an environmental camp off the coast of Seattle on Orcas Island.
Big D (Eric Odorczyk)
Groomsman
Friends since middle school and high school golf teammates, Eric is a handyman, cartographer, golfer, comedy fan and craft beer specialist. When he is not fishing his ball out of a pond on the golf course, he is busy building all kinds of structures from homes to furniture to rock climbing walls.
Li Jin
Bridesmaid
Esther’s honorary Chinese sister (jie-jie) and a former grad student of Donald Siegel. She now teaches geology to college students at SUNY Cortland! Li is such a close part of the Siegel family that she got married in the living-room of Esther’s childhood home in Syracuse.
Li Wei
Groomsman
David's high school friend, Li was a regular fixture at the card table playing hearts and spades with David, Kagan and Eric throughout their high school years. He took up golf after school and joined David and Eric on the course, leading to many poor shots and memorable rounds. Today he can be found traveling the country telling people how much their stuff is worth.
Caleb Siegel
Ring Bearer
Adorable older nephew of the bride and son of her brother and sister-in-law. Caleb loves helping his mom bake and is a glorified chocoholic, and he also loves rainbows, sprinkles, unicorns, and jewelry. He better not keep the rings to himself! 😆
Ezra (Ezzie) Siegel
Ring Bearer
Younger nephew of the bride, expert thrower of things (future baseball star?) and tumbler (future Olympic gymnastic star?) Son of the bride’s brother and sister-in-law, he is always on the move, loves dragons, spooky things (skeletons, ghosts and spiders galore) and also loves to climb and jump on things.
Micah and Rachel Siegel
Ushers
Brother and sister in-law of the bride. Greatest parents to the cutest nephews and the best power couple. Esther is very grateful that they allow her to practice parenting skills by babysitting for her nephews and is very influenced by their accomplishments as two working parents with young children.
Adam Chernick
Ceremony Guitarist and Groomsman
One of David's best friends and a former roommate, Adam will be playing acoustic guitar as the wedding party goes down the aisle. He and David are members of the 90s cover band Topanga, and he runs his own music agency while also teaching a full roster of private music students.
Dr. Donald Siegel
Father of the Bride
Goofiest father ever, jazz guitarist, earth science expert, professor emeritus & former chairman of the earth sciences department at Syracuse University as well as former president of Geological Society of America. He is now an environmental consultant, and avid pickleball player. Don will be playing jazz guitar during the cocktail hour (and maybe pickleball before the wedding - kidding, although we wouldn't put it past him). 😆🤫
Bette Siegel
Mother of the Bride
Bette is an award winning baker; she’s actually making her blue ribbon challah bread for the wedding! A woman of many talents, Bette has been the head of the kitchen and managed many catered events at the local synagogue. She is now retired from her job as the editor of the Jewish Observer of Central New York.
Dr. Thomas LeBlanc
Father of the Groom
David's father, Tom, has built his career in higher education, culminating with most recently, the 17th president of The George Washington University. He is now a happily retired, and is an avid golfer (which he taught himself to play by reading every book ever written about the sport). He’s also bilingual; he speaks English and Portuguese, which he learned in high school when he spent a year living in Brazil.
Anne LeBlanc
Mother of the Groom
David's mother, Anne, former First Lady of George Washington University, a weather goddess, lover of clouds, and the former mayor of Four Fillies in Pinecrest, FL. Esther and Anne have bonded over crossword puzzles and their mutual love of sappy romantic comedies like Love Actually, In Her Shoes and The Holiday. An avid traveler, it is Anne's adventurous spirit and planning that have allowed her family to go to places such as Antarctica, South Africa, Iceland (where Esther joined the family on an amazing Nat Geo trip in 2019) and most recently Alaska!
Eric Zahn
Man of Honor
Eric is the bride's best friend from college. Esther knew they would be fast friends the moment she met him. He is an architect, painter, and also plays the piano! Eric was also a close friend of Elisabeth and will be speaking on her behalf during the reception.
Tyrone Shaw
Officiant
Tyrone has known the bride and her family since they were undergrads in college together. He even stayed on for grad school and would go to the bride's parents' house for holidays and Shabbat dinners. He is now a high school social studies/history teacher in Washington, DC. A true Anglophile and wine enthusiast, he and the bride share a love of British period pieces, fashion, and good food (and wine!).