Wedding Party
Alexia Lekos
Bridesmaid
Favorite moment with Mingyi: I can confidently say that Mingyi is one of my oldest friends, considering we’ve known each other since the third grade. Of all the moments we've shared, it might seem strange that one of my fondest memories is the time she taught me how to use chopsticks. Her family was hosting several of our friends for a dumpling-making party. We gathered into the kitchen, folded dumplings, and Mingyi noticed I was struggling with the chopsticks. Without making a big deal of it, she came over to help and demonstrated how to use these utensils. This day inspired my love for Asian cuisine. Even as I’m writing out this memory, I’m preparing marinated Korean eggs to eat with rice and kimchi. What I find particularly special is that this seemingly simple moment turned into a life-long skill. In fact, it’s something that has connected me to other important people in my life. Early in my relationship with my long-term partner, I found myself passing on the same lesson, showing him how to use chopsticks while sharing this exact story When I think back to that experience, I’m especially grateful for Mingyi’s patience, kindness, and lack of judgment. Even now, as adults, she continues to teach and inspire me. Whether she’s introducing me to her favorite hobbies like ice skating, skiing, or golfing, she brings the same gentle encouragement and inclusiveness to everything she does.
Peter Morgan
Groomsman
Favorite moment with Matthew: During one of our roadtrips, we came upon our sordid accommodations. Just as Mingyi must’ve been surprised when she found out Matthew was “6 feet tall” (whose feet he used are up to anyone’s guess) we were astounded to see the amenities such as a world class fitness center consisting of two ellipticals stashed in a storage closet, an Olympic size swimming pool filled with what one could only hope was green Kool aid from St Patrick’s day 5 months earlier, and world class artwork that had been tastefully turned into a terrarium of sorts. When we tucked in for the evening each of us threw down a towel over the perfectly sterile bed we were about to lay down on and clocked out for the night. At 9am, Matthew’s alarm went off. Continental breakfast, checkout, and begin driving into North Carolina… though unlike our previous morning of Matthew springing out of bed, he groggily reached across the gap in our beds and tapped me on the shoulder. “Its time for breakfast.” I rolled over to meet his eyes and replied “I don’t want to eat a cockroach.” Matthew pondered this idea for a moment, then both of us- without further communication- turned back over to sleep with the bugs we had come to meet that evening. Why do I love Matthew? He has always has a detailed plan that I can use to premeditate intricate jokes for hours, if not days, then deliver with seamless timing as though I’m a man of wit.
Kathy Luo
Bridesmaid
Favorite moment with Mingyi: (In what has become a legend at this point), I will never forget feeling sad that we were both moving to new schools after 1st grade, and then on the first day of 2nd grade, in the Frenchtown cafeteria, turning around and being like--"Isn't that Mingyi??" 😂 The rest of our friendship is full of too many inside jokes to count--Kami (Wharton quaking at our business prowess), Henry "vill" (sorry I'm never letting this go) 2,000+ Facebook pokes (*poke*), sneaking me into ADOCH as another "Mingyi Wu" (a precursor to then continue to sneak me into Miller), our DIY graduation photoshoot (after we watched Pride & Prejudice in your apartment the night before), COVID survival and hyper-fixations (for a hot second, you loved owls...), and endless sleepovers--from dorm rooms, to Bowen St, to Chicago, to New York, to Jersey, to Boston, to Philly... all sponsored by saving money, living better, and Shin Ramyun.
Scott Mulligan
Groomsman
Favorite moment with Matthew: Matthew and I made a game called Tony Hawk’s Existential Nightmare, which is a musical about skating legend Tony Hawk. We made it in a week. I don’t know if I’ve laughed harder in my life than in that week. Matthew’s creative, sometimes whacky, genius is on full display in that fever dream of a game. He worked nonstop on crafting the game, caring about little details like the animations of a character skating on the ceiling to making sure all the songs were as catchy as they could be. I hope everyone gets a chance in their life to work with someone as talented and witty as Matthew.
Anoush Calikyan
Bridesmaid
Favorite moment with Mingyi: “Do you want to be friends?” “Sure!” And that was that. We’ve been friends for life since the age 7, since uttering those 7 words in the cafe line. I have so many memories from our friendship - like our performing in our figure skating show, our EOY performance in HS where we painstakingly recorded a moving performance of “One Day More” for our parents, or our trip to Orlando where we came home with a suitcase filled to the brim with toiletries, jams, and just about anything else the hotel would send to our room. I could mention all of those—and more—but my fondest memory is the very first time I was invited over for to her house. You see, she told me she was a princess and that she lived in a castle. And I believed her, of course—she frequently showed up to school in a poofy pink princess gown. I was surprised to discover that she, in fact, lived in a house just like mine. That day, we played dress-up, creating outfits for each other from her closet. The outfit I made was wildly mismatched, and somehow she still made it look fabulous. The one she made for me was perfectly coordinated, complete with a cherry-red headband. That simple afternoon has always stayed with me. It showed me how little Mingyi needs to make others feel special, and I realized how special that made her- a princess, even. And now, I’m proud to say, that little princess from second grade has found her perfect match. She’s found her prince.
Ryan Nigro
Groomsman
Favorite moment with Matthew: I remember the last day I ever doubted Matthew. We were in middle school, hanging out with a day overflowing with greasy snacks, relentless trash talk, Halo 3 (objectively the greatest game ever made), and, as fate would have it, a thousand situps. Somewhere between rounds on Sandtrap, Matthew casually claimed he could do 1,000 situps in a single day. Naturally, skepticism filled the room. I was one of the skeptics. Amidst the doubt, Matthew hit the floor and locked in. For the next hour, he cranked out situps with all of us watching. At 100, I was impressed but not convinced, 500 amazed but disbelieving, and finally at 1000 shocked but convinced. Pain, fatigue—none of it mattered. He powered through, and by the end, there was no doubt left in the room. Since then, Matthew has gone on to do the equivalent of 1,000 situps in every aspect of life. Build an app that could save lives? Done. Get into Stanford? Of course. Co-create a game with our brilliant friend Scott Mulligan that would reach and move millions? Easy. Doubting Matthew isn’t just unwise—it’s a losing bet.
Thedita Pedersen
Bridesmaid
Favorite moment with Mingyi: One of my favorite memories was staying up until 2am breaking lightbulbs to get tungsten for a science project! The perfect blend of the magic, wonder and intelligence Mingyi poses in spades
Michael Paul O'Connell
Groomsman
Favorite moment with matthew: I have way too many favorite moments to choose from but what I think comes back to me the most were those long, rainy, nights during covid where I would just barge into Matthew’s room and try not to annoy him. Matthew would usually always be sat rotting behind a monitor, seeping down into his chair, and my job was to make sure he wasn’t going to turn into the next Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, and the way I did that was easy, board games. The one thing that Matthew secretly loves more than Mingyi and tofu are board games. Dixit, Tapple, Deep Sea Adventure, Can’t Stop, you name it, we played it. To this day each year Matthew’s Christmas wishlist is guaranteed to have a board game on it, and I think why he loves them so much is because of his creative nature. Whether it be listening to audio books on max volume in the kitchen at 2 times speed, writing and adapting a whole script for the family play, or stepping into the world of Cthulhu and trying everything he can to make sure me and my siblings don’t get ourselves killed, I’ve never met someone quite like Matthew, always wanting to learn, try new things, and lean into their creative side so much. I’ll never forget all those late nights playing together. Thanks for those memories, Matthew.