Wedding Party
Edel
Bridesmaid
Edel and Rachel met their freshman year at JMU and have solidified their friendship over the years through numerous roadtrips to national parks and thrifting adventures! "In 2022, Rachel and I were at the beginning of our West Coast road trip and we had just reach the campground and decided to dilly dally over to the beach after the long journey. Making our way down the path, the costal greenery surrounding us began to reveal a view that stopped us in our tracks. Through the opening in the trees, we were met with a birds-eye view of the Pacific horizon just a little before sunset. Rachel audibly gasped at the sight like we just discovered a hidden magical world. Seeing Rachel’s reaction to the view and what followed is one of many of my favorite memories with Rachel. The kind of memories that in the moment you think to yourself “this would make a great scene in a movie”. Whenever I think of the California coast. I think of Rachel, that road trip, and how incredibly lucky I am to have found a friend like her to galavant whimsically through life with and share these mems with."
Elena
Bridesmaid
Rachel and Elena met their freshman year of High School and continued being friends through their time at JMU, and into adulthood when they become roommates! "My favorite memory with Rachel was a few weeks after we became roommates. Rachel wasn’t home, but our fire alarm went off and I couldn’t find my cat. I ended up having to go downstairs without him. Rachel came home to me crying outside of the building and brought me to sit in her car to eat melted ice cream and listen to music while periodically going to harass the firemen about saving my cat (he was never in any danger). I was so grateful to have such a sweet and reassuring friend by my side to make a fun memory when I needed her the most. She also downloaded Hinge so I could play on her phone and stop crying. That’s how she met Ethan, so they’re both welcome for that."
Kaci
Bridesmaid
Though Rachel and Kaci met their freshman year of high school, Rachel didn't win Kaci over as a friend until their junior year. Soon after, Kaci became the go-to friend to gab about dating adventures with. "My favorite memory with Rachel is either our catan game nights or when her family invited me over to celebrate Hanukkah. I always have the best time with her!"
Katie
Bridesmaid
Katie and Rachel met freshman year of high school and quickly became besties. Though Rachel often makes her cringe with her corny jokes, Katie has always stuck by her side! "My favorite memory is either waking up at like 6am and calling you on skype crying and watching the little things music video [by One Direction, for those unfamiliar with the greatest boy band of all time] together and eating Oreos with Nutella. OR it's when we went on a trip together to Portland, Oregon and all the adventures we shared (like watching Frozen 2!)"
Nicole
Bridesmaid
Rachel and Nicole met freshman year of high school and bonded over their mutual undying love of One Direction. "My favorite memory with Rachel is my first memory of meeting her. It was basically the perfect example of an extrovert adopting an introvert. On the first day of school in gym, Rachel looked at me while we were all lined up in alphabetical order and said “Epstein. Encinas. We should probably be friends since we’ll be next to each other a lot…”. I couldn’t say no to that but i was taken aback by how forward she was. I’ll always be very grateful she made the first move 🥹"
Stephanie
Bridesmaid
Rachel and Steph met freshman year of high school and bonded over their mutual hobbies, from making friendship bracelets to mixtaping pop songs on Audacity. "Rachel and I have always bonded over being the crafty friends in the friend group, but my favorite memory with her was when my friend Jenny brought rescue puppies she was fostering to my apartment for Rachel and Ethan to meet, and puppy Eevee immediately crawled into her lap and fell asleep. Watching Rach blossom as a dog mom and be so doting and caring with Eevee has been so joyful and heartwarming."
Victoria
Bridesmaid
Rachel and Victoria met freshman year of high school while auditioning for the school musical (and we were the cutest tea cup & napkin)! "If you haven’t had the pleasure of attending a festival with Rachel, I highly recommend. Her hands are in the air the entire time and for the entire set, people move out of your way to give you more room — not because you’re encroaching on their space, but because they see two women having the time of their lives dancing to Alison Wonderland, and want to keep it going! By the end of the set, you’re out of breath, your feet hurt, and someone has wandered over just to tell you that your energy is contagious and that watching the two of you dance is like free therapy. So go to a music festival with Rachel. I highly recommend it."
Cyrus
Groomsman
Cyrus and Ethan met when Ethan's sister decide she liked Cyrus enough to meet the family, and now they're brothers in-law! "Fav memories: Zedd concert in Miami - who knew matching hats would make us so many new friends! 🤠; and going to the soccer game at FedEx field was awesome! Also of course you tolerating me constantly putting Eevee in air jail"
Sean
Groomsman
Sean and Ethan met when Rachel took Ethan up with her to visit Sean in NYC back in 2022, and after the wedding they'll be brothers in-law! "Favorite memory of us: Zedd concert in Miami, specifically all of us wearing the same hats and strangers coming up to us complementing the hats!"
Danny
Groomsman
Danny and Ethan met when their families had dinner for the first time, before they moved down to Florida, and after the wedding they too will be brothers in-law! "Favorite memory was probably when we were at BTSM & Kai Wachi at EDC and Ethan told me he'd never had a brother to rave with before"
Avi
Groomsman
Avi and Ethan met sometime in middle school, back in the days of the JDS Lions JV Soccer team. Despite Avi constantly being on the move (from Africa to Boston), they've been close friends through it all! "Some of my favorite memories are the drive to/back from Brian Shorr's wedding when you were going through introducting me to Griz and some other DJs; the morning after the rager you, Robbie, and Ely threw when we were talking about the Way of Kings; JDS soccer; and the time we went to Dog Daze with Eevee"
Robbie
Groomsman
Robbie and Ethan met a long long time ago, in their early days at JDS and the JCC Tamir Linhart soccer league. Fast forward a couple decades, Robbie and Ethan lived together B.R. (Before Rachel) and Ethan will occasionally even pretend to like baseball when watching the Orioles with Robbie. "My favorite memories of us are our late night talks in Israel talking about girls and our Supahot JDS Zimriya skit junior year"
Adam
Groomsman
Adam and Ethan met on their first day at Capital One, and became close friends soon after when they ran into each other at Moonrise music festival in Baltimore. Their fest crew grew fast and large from there, with zany costumes (such as the 2019 Al Dente Chefs) across many a Moonrise, Project GLOW, EDC, even an Electric Forest; and that one random time at Imagine where it was just the two of them (peep the photo). "My favorite memory is when we first met at onboarding and immediately clicked on EDM and other interests - was like aight bet! 🤝"