Margaret & Charlie
The Crew
Margaret (Marge) Stein
Bride
A loving daughter, loyal friend, caring physician assistant, and the bride-to-be. In Ann Arbor, Charlie’s classmates generally prefer spending time with her over him. On top of that, she’s credited for keeping Charlie organized, expanding his food palette, and frequently sending him down the road to pick up ice cream in sub-freezing temperatures. She can’t wait to celebrate her wedding day with her family and closest friends by her side.
Charles (Charlie) Thomsen
Groom
Consultant turned graduate student. Charlie is currently obtaining his Masters in Business Administration at the University of Michigan and is proud to be able to shout "Go Blue!" at everyone he meets wearing Michigan (& sometimes Ohio State) garb. He is looking forward to celebrating his wedding day with everyone, but specifically the acts of walking down the aisle and dancing after breaking his right leg last fall. Go blue!
Mallory Jonikas
Maid of Honor
Bride's best friend for 15 years and counting! Deserves almost all the recognition for introducing Margaret and Charlie! Resides in Hoboken, NJ with her wonderful fiancé, Alex (see Groom's Crew) and works at Bloomingdales. She is basically Rachel Green from the show Friends. Words one might use to describe Mal: go-getter, fierce, passionate, and baby-holding extraordinaire. Expect to see Mal on the dance floor the minute Dancing Queen comes on.
Drake Thomsen
Best Man
Charlie’s younger brother and best man. Drake attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and now lives in Minneapolis where he helps build homes as a Carpenter. While Drake and Charlie grew up doing everything together, Charlie has opted to keep this short description short – Drake has a reputation for executing thoughtful, detailed, and likely embarrassing (for Charlie) speeches in which you’ll get all the information you need. Lastly, with love certainly expected to be in the air, Charlie would also like to shamelessly plug that, at the time of writing, Drake is a single man.
Gina Franta
Bridal Crew
Big sister/cousin/role model of the bride. Lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, Dustin, her daughter the sweet, sassy Gabrielle Margaret (middle name included here, obviously), and pup, Ginger. Gina works as an ICU and trauma nurse and has helped save countless lives throughout the pandemic. Margaret named Gina as the person she admired most in sixth grade, and this has remained true ever since!
Joey Borowicz
Groom's Crew
Charlie’s oldest friend. Charlie and Joey met in Kindergarten and were inseparable growing up. Joey currently lives in Bloomington, MN with his wife, Annie, and works for RBA as a software engineer. Some of Charlie’s greatest memories with Joey include their summer trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the fear of talking to Papa after tipping the family go-kart, going to the Choo Choo bar after finding the perfect Christmas tree, and many more.
Rachel Reifenberger
Bridal Crew
Cousin of the bride. Resides in St. Louis Park, Minnesota with her forever plus one (fiancé-Aspen) and pup, Rosie. Rachel works as a therapist for all ages, which is good because she often provides free sessions for her extended family. Being only 6 months apart in age, Rachel and Margaret have always been close, but have continued to grow even closer in recent years bonding over many things-most importantly Half Baked Harvest. If you know, you know.
John Dreher
Groom's Crew
Another one of Charlie’s oldest friends dating back to elementary school, John currently lives in Minneapolis and works in commercial real estate for the Johnson Financial Group. Charlie and John both attended the University of Minnesota, joined the same fraternity, and lived together in Uptown after graduating. Don’t be fooled by John’s warm and friendly nature – he’s a Badger at heart and may or may not be known to sport a hidden flask in his tie at other formal events.
Allie Ryan
Bridal Crew
Best friend of bride since high school. Lives in San Francisco, CA and works for Doximity. Allie is a natural born leader, and passionate friend (the type you want and need on your side). She was a large inspiration for Margaret attending the University of Minnesota. Without her, Margaret and Charlie may have never met.. Fortunately, Charlie quickly received the important stamp of approval from Allie by giving Margaret a "Charlie's a Gem" frosted cake.
Alex Otto
Groom's Crew
Alex is currently a Medical Student and Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and resides in New Jersey with his fiancée, Mal Jonikas (Marge’s Maid of Honor). Alex and Charlie lived on the same floor in T-Hall freshman year, and he is largely responsible for convincing Charlie to join a fraternity. While you’ll notice his calm and confident demeanor, Alex has an uncanny ability to light up a wedding dance floor.
Claire Ryan
Bridal Crew
Best friend of bride since high school. Currently lives in Boston, MA with her fiancé, Ben, and pup, Gouda, and works for an explosive company called Catapult. Claire and Margaret have spent many hours together over the years driving to high school, eating Tino's pasta (RIP) and matching clothes (mostly not on purpose)! Both are looking forward to a future of many double dates with their extremely competitive fiancés.
Nick Janssen
Groom's Crew
Nick attended the University of Minnesota and was in SAE with Charlie. Currently, Nick works for Stryker and lives in in San Francisco, CA with his fiancé, Alyssa Gaio (Marge’s Bridesmaid). A couple things to know about Nick: he grew in Bloomington, MN (he’ll probably mention this to you several times) and there’s a strong change he will try to convince you that the Gophers are future Rose Bowl contenders. Once the band starts, Nick can be found front and center by the band submitting one-too-many song requests.
Stephanie Groth
Bridal Crew
Best friend of bride since freshman year of college. Steph lives in Boston, MA with her fiancé, Michael (see Groom's Crew), and works as a Nurse Manager in a NICU. Charlie likes to take some credit in Steph becoming a nurse as she frequently practiced nursing procedures on Charlie while obtaining her nursing degree.
Michael Serwa
Groom's Crew
Michael also attended the University of Minnesota and was a member of SAE. Currently, he lives in Boston with his soon-to-be wife Steph Growth (Marge’s Bridesmaid) and works for Grant Thornton. Charlie and Michael first met during freshman year at one of Michael’s infamous dorm room parties when they thought it was cool to squeeze twenty plus people into a closet. Although a very polished and friendly young man, be prepared to give Michael some space on the dance floor when the song Mr. Brightside comes on.
Alyssa Gaio
Bridal Crew
Best friend of bride since freshman year of college. Alyssa lives in San Francisco, CA with her boyfriend (hopefully fiancé by the time we get married *cough cough*), Nick (see Groom's crew). She works in Advertising for Argonaut and has to be the best coworker ever during stressful/upsetting times. She had a lot of practice (and was once caught on TV) supporting Nick through many Gopher football losses. Update: They are engaged!
Cole First
Groom's Crew
Another Gopher and SAE brother, Cole lives in San Francisco where he works at Schellman & Co. as a Cybersecurity Consultant (essentially a professional hacker). You’ll likely be able to discern this quickly, but Cole is one-of-a-kind. The reason for Charlie’s many pre-pandemic visits to San Francisco, Cole is adventurous, uncomfortably funny, and most often the life of the party. As a talented musician, Cole played an instrumental role in helping the bride and groom select the band and is credited for being the first person to ever ask for an encore at the band’s free rehearsal event (they obliged). If you’re reading this, make a mental note to talk to Cole during the wedding – you won’t regret it.
Ady Stein Ocotoxtle
Bridal Crew
Sister-in-law of bride. Currently resides in Excelsior, MN with bride's brother, Alex, and their two dogs, Oso and Nagi. Ady will be completing her bachelor's degree this spring and we are all SO excited for her. Ady is known for making incredible Mexican food, keeping all of our hair on point, and most importantly keeping us all in check. She is the coolest of the cool and the best addition to the Stein Family. Sorry, Charlie...
Grant Potts
Groom's Crew
Grant recently moved to Chicago after starting his career in Minneapolis. As fate would have it, Charlie was assigned to be Grant’s Onboarding Advisor (OBA) when he started at Deloitte. An eclectic young man, Grant will most likely be found with a glass of red wine in hand. Although you likely won’t need any conversation starters with him, be prepared for a thought-provoking discussion, particularly if you bring up any topics related to economic policy, airplanes, and/or international affairs.
Madeline Schutte
Bridal Crew
Graduate school bestie of bride. Lives in Duluth, MN and works as Gastroenterology Physician Assistant. For about 14 months, Margaret and Madeline spent approximately 50 hours a week sitting next to each other in a classroom (less than 6 feet away from each other RIP pre-pandemic life) and naturally picked up many habits from each other. Margaret now nods frequently in agreement to things and Madeline has a new found appreciation for expensive wrapping paper and greeting cards. They also learned a lot about medicine and stuff. Rumor has it, Madeline will also be joining Mallory on the dance floor the moment Dancing Queen comes on.
Ben Stein
Brother of the Bride
Margaret’s oldest brother, Ben, currently resides in Seattle, WA with his girlfriend Warindi and works as an immigration attorney. Charlie earned Ben’s approval to date his baby sister through unnecessarily competitive games, including, but not limited to, pickup basketball, cribbage, ping pong, rummy, and/or beach spikeball. You can expect to find Ben near the dance floor with a rum and coke in hand entertaining a lively debate on the latest topic du jour.
Addie Nord
Bridal Crew
Graduate school bestie of bride. Lives in Robbinsdale, MN with her husband Tyler and pup Luka, and works as a Cardiology Physician Assistant. Addie completed the frequent study aid making trio along with Madeline and Margaret, therefore deserves recognition for allowing Margaret to actually complete grad school. Margaret and Addie quickly bonded over shared interest in fancy food and exercise. Most importantly, Addie chose to remain friends with Margaret after dealing with her on many cranky mornings during PA school.
Alex Stein
Brother of the Bride
Margaret’s second oldest brother. Alex currently lives in Excelsior, MN with his wife Ady and two dogs and works for Medtronic. Alex is a worldly traveler, a naturally-gifted musician, a talented chef, and is known for his insatiable energy. Alex and Charlie have a shared passion for enjoying the outdoors, biking, and history. Come our wedding night, you’ll likely find Alex hanging around the band looking for his next chance to get on stage.
Christine Stein
Mother of the Bride
Matriarch of Stein Family, public health nurse powerhouse and mom/lovey to many.
Michael Stein
Brother of the Bride
Margaret’s third oldest brother. Michael lives in Minneapolis, works for YWCA Minneapolis and spends lots of time with his girlfriend, Enyioma. With Ben and Alex living out of state when Charlie and Margaret started dating, Michael was the de facto eldest brother. Although slightly intimidating at first, it didn’t take long for Charlie and Michael to hit it off – whether it was playing horse in the driveway or helping mediate the typical brotherly dispute, Michael went out of his way to make Charlie feel welcome and a part of the Stein family.
Lori Thomsen
Mother of the Groom
Matriarch of Thomsen family, amazing and patient kindergarten teacher and lover of dogs (see picture)!
David Stein
Brother of the Bride
Margaret’s fourth oldest brother. David lives in Northeast Minneapolis with his girlfriend, Erika and works for United Health Group. David was quick to welcome Charlie into the family, excited at the prospect of no longer being the youngest brother and having someone to beat up on the basketball court. A self-taught guitarist, an excellent chef, and lover of dogs, David lights up a room with his smile and witty jokes.
Daniel Stein
Father of the Bride
Patriarch of Stein family, Geriatrican/internist, amateur comedian and calmest person you will ever meet.
Rob Thomsen
Father of the Groom
Patriarch of Thomsen Family, entrepreneur, avid outdoorsmen and grill guru.