Wedding Party
Debra Beyer (Ruark)
Bridesmaid
Debra and Rachel met in the dorms freshman year at Oregon State and their friendship blossomed with a shared love of board games and interests. Through college, Debra and Rachel stayed close, even living together for a few semesters, and spending time both inside and outside of school. Since college, Debra has become the Dungeon Master of the shared DnD group that includes Rachel and James and has become the go-to cat sitter of Rachel's parents cats! Rachel will also be one of Debra's bridesmaids in her wedding June 2024 and is super excited to be able to share planning tips and go through this same life period with someone else.
Jack Beyke
Best Man
James and Jack first met on the 10 year old Little League Allstar team. They became close friends throughout middle school, high school, and eventually becoming housemates during college at Oregon State University! They even had the same degrees (Chemical Engineering) and started their very first full-time salary jobs together at Wafertech in Camas, Washington. Jack lives with his partner Cate, and his two cats Ghost and Poe!
Allison Burns
Bridesmaid
Allie became friends with James and Rachel at Oregon State, through their shared struggle of getting a Chemical Engineering degree. Allie always brings the fun to whatever room she's in, whether it is in a group of friends through compliment time or on nights out when she brings Fireball shots to start off a night correctly. Allie is almost always up for whatever shenanagins James and Rachel invite her too, and also helped Rachel pick her wedding dress! Allie and James like to go on jogs together and are planning on training for a large race to run off some wedding jitters right before the wedding, like they did the engagement.
Ryan Doyle
Groomsman
James found Ryan while helping Jack search for his college dorm roommate. He immediately noticed his facebook profile picture was in front of the SF Giants park and I knew he would be a good fit for Jack. We ended up moving into the same house during college and spent many nights studying, playing mario baseball, and shooting ping pong balls into red solo cups in the garage. He now is living in Virginia working as a Mechanical Engineer.
Megan Davidson
Bridesmaid
Megan was one of Rachel and James' first new friends in Livermore, starting the same day that James did at LLNL. Since then, she has become a very good friend of both of them, joining us in board game nights, exploring new wineries and chatting with Rachel during work days to liven up a dull work day. Megan was a key part of planning Rachel and James' engagement and really helped to make the event fun and a surprise for Rachel. Megan and her partner Alec work at LLNL together and have a labradoodle named Leo that loves to go on hiking adventures with Alec and Megan, but refuses to join them on their kayaking adventures.
Parker Helm
Groomsman
Parker and James became friends in middle school and stayed friends through college (even though he went to the rival school Oregon Ducks). He lives in Portland with his partner who happens to also be named Rachel. He is a verified 5 star-sitter on rover in his spare time while also working for Lululemon.
Emily Meeuwsen
Bridesmaid
Emily is Rachel's sister and has been supporting the wedding effort so far with great enthusiasm, making Rachel and James even more excited for the big day. Emily currently works in Marketing at Hoffman Construction. Emily and Rachel grew up with very different personalities which was beneficial to Rachel, as she never had to talk to strangers - Emily did that all for her. She and her partner Joshua have a very cute cat named Kiwi that brings a lot of "color" to their lives in a mostly good way. She is also into DnD and is always friendly to anyone you meet. If you're looking for someone to talk to that provides engaging conversation and cute cat content, Emily is the one to go to.
Chris Lallemand
Groomsman
Chris has been friends with James since elementary school. He also is part of the Crew that went from Scotts Valley High to Oregon State University and was one of James’ housemates throughout college. He is now working as a Mechanical Engineer in the Bay Area and gets dragged out from his many home/boat/car/truck projects to go on adventures with James and Rachel.
Kellie Meeuwsen
Bridesmaid
Kellie is Rachel's youngest sister and is excited to be a bridesmaid for the first time! Kellie is studying kineisology at Pacific University with a goal of becoming an Occupational Therapist. She is super passionate about helping others, and worked with kids with learning challenges last summer, including at the Jenkins Estate! Kellie and Rachel have long bonded over a shared love of animals and stay in contact these days mostly through sending TikTok videos to each other. There's a good likelihood that you'll find Kellie with Thistle most of this ceremony, because in truth, she probably likes Thistle better than Rachel half of the time. Kellie also took some time out of her busy school schedule to go shopping with Rachel for her wedding dress and did a great job dialing in Rachel's future mother-in-law so that she could be there for that experience even a state away.
Reilly Merlo
Groomsman
Reilly is James’ younger brother who embodies the ocean lifestyle that James envies. He is still shorter than James in his mind, even though he is at least 2 inches taller than him now. He used to be better than James at skiing, but now he cannot stand cold weather. He is currently going to the University of Hawaii in Manoa for Graduate school.
Zhane Richardson
Bridesmaid
Zhane and Rachel met each other in middle school band and grew into even better friends sharing a dorm in the first year of college. Zhane became a essential part of Rachel's life in those times, providing support and reality checks for Rachel during college. Zhane is currently teaching kids in Seoul, South Korea, and has been since graduating Oregon State in 2019. Even while living apart, Zhane and Rachel have kept up through watching shows together and chatting to Rachel being able to visit Zhane in Seoul in June 2023. Zhane loves working with kids, and has fully embraced living in Korea, including going to KPOP events and shows both in Korea and in nearby countries. We hope Zhane will be able to make it to the US for the wedding, but even if she doesn't she will be mentioned as a honorary bridesmaid for Rachel.
Thistle
Canine of Honor
Thistle was adopted by James and Rachel from the SafeHaven Humane Society in Albany on July 22nd, 2020. They went to the shelter to look for dog’s to take home and Thistle was just being dropped off when she caught their eye. They took her home that day! Thistle is a senior dog as she was born June 19th, 2012 and will be 12 years old when James and Rachel have their wedding ceremony. Thistle loves chasing balls, squirrels, and cuddling. Don’t be afraid if she comes to try and give you doggie kisses because she is very friendly!
Kurt Meeuwsen
Father of the Bride
Kurt works as a Project Manager for the Beaverton School District, which has come in handy as he has been able to drop off and coordinate info with the wedding venue while James and Rachel are in California. Kurt is always up to go do something, whether it's kayaking, going on hikes, attending Beaver football games or working on his "boat" that he crafted from a raft and a sail. Kurt is very handy around the house and has made beautiful garden beds in their new backyard and built a new fence so that Thistle could run around the backyard without escaping. Kurt and James have similar interests and like to talk about their bikes, matching watches, and new projects whenever they meet. Growing up, Kurt coached some of Rachel's sports teams and also drove her to band a lot when she decided sports weren't for her. Kurt is ecstatic to be going to the wedding, especially since there's a rumor there will be pie instead of cake served, which is one of his favorites.
Laura Meeuwsen
Mother of the Bride
Laura is a teacher at Park Academy, a school that focuses on helping students with dyslexia, and is passionate about the students she works with. Laura was born and raised in the Portland area, and met her husband, Kurt at Oregon State, just like how Rachel and James met. Recently, with her four kids all off in college or jobs, she's been going to Portland Thorns NWSL games and attending more musicals. Laura was a partial stay-at-home mom while Rachel grew up and so was the main person bussing Rachel around to all the fun summer camps and band practices that she helped her get involved in. Rachel and Laura share many similarities - both are readers, enjoy camping, musicals, played the flute growing up, and Rachel inherited her curly hair. Laura is also very excited about her first child getting married and has been helping the couple by using her local contacts and helping to figure out the details of the big day. She also, will be excited about pie, but maybe not as much as Kurt.
Scott Merlo
Father of the Groom
Scott lives in Scotts Valley, CA where he spends his time spearfishing, working on the boat, working on his vegetable garden, and volunteering to run the Little League Baseball Umpire Crew. He coached James’ sports teams growing up (Baseball, Hockey) and they keep playing together as adults whether it be tennis, diving, or skiing. He also is a very eager dog grand-dad to Thistle who is happy to have him chuck a ball across the beach for her over and over and over and over again.
Agnes Merlo
Mother of the Groom
Agnes is a pediatric nurse living in Scotts Valley, CA who loves cultivating her jungle of houseplants, jazzercise, and traveling. She took care of James and Reilly while they were growing up by always volunteering to take them to their various sports games, field trips, and boyscout trips. She is excited to have Rachel as her first official daughter.
Nathan Lacuesta
Ring Bearer
Nathan likes to spend his time training in tae-kwon-do, biking, and playing Pokémon Go. He visited cousin James while James was an intern in Portland where he was taken to see OMSI, Multnomah Falls, and Herman the Sturgeon at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. His birthday is September 16, 2015 and he will be going into 3rd grade by the wedding day.
Ally To
Flower Girl
Ally is James’ little cousin who has known Rachel and James since her first big trip to Hawaii for Reilly’s graduation. She was born on Feb 6, 2021 and is super excited to carry flowers down the aisle for her new cousin Rachel.