Wedding Party
Veronika
Asthetic Director
My sister has been my unofficial Aesthetic Director my entire life, and by that I mean that even though I’m the eldest, I spent most of our youth borrowing her clothes. She has always been the cooler one, in an avant-garde, effortlessly-iconic way that my aesthetically challenged self can’t even comprehend. She’s not just an artist and art teacher, she’s the person who can take a feeling, a moment, and translate it into color, symbolism, and atmosphere to elevate a vision into something cinematic and unforgettable. As my only sister, she knows intimately my shortcoming, and how left to my own devices, there would probably be no decorations at all, so her contribution quite literally ensures this wedding will look fabulous. Vernie also protects me from my tacky choices in art and in life, and she does it with a level of dry humor and sisterly accuracy I will never recover from. She makes everything artful in an utterly unique and incomparable way. She’s also here to keep me humble every chance she gets. ;)
Ananda
Beauty and Atmosphere Director
No one has helped me to look and feel more beautiful throughout my life than this goddess. First in middle school, where we first met, mainly because she was still the ugly duckling who hadn’t become her swan-self yet and that just made me look better by comparison…lol. But later because her glow up was so unmistakable & dazzling that to even feel comfortable in her modelesque presence, I’d need her aid. I look my best in photos because she was seeing to it that I did, doing my makeup better than anyone else could, knowing my best angles, styling me in a way that has always brought out my best. She has an otherworldly ability to see the ephemeral beauty inside people and moments, and then draw it down into form. She styles, enhances, and reveals, reflecting the radiance that was always there. Her relationship with Beauty itself is devotional, which is why she is our Beauty, Styling & Atmosphere Director. And none of those things are even remotely the reason she’s my best friend. They’re just the icing on top of a soul-deep, many-lifetimes-long connection that’s been a constant through the past 27 years.
Katita
Guest Experience and Music Director
Katita and I go way back, like before-we-lost-our-first-teeth in Kindergarten back. We have witnessed every awkward phase in each other’s lives. One of the most magical things about having a friendship this ancient is that we can’t help but see each other’s inner child. That toothy little soccer girl is still who I see when I look at her. Not because she hasn’t evolved into an extraordinary, capable, and frankly indomitable woman, but because that little girl is still in there, alive beneath the surface in a way most people would never notice. To most of the world she is Kathryn: the badass who can execute a goal with precision, command a room, lead teams, and problem-solve like a general. But to me, she is and will always be Katita, empathic, intuitive, and attuned to the emotional field around her but with enough boundaries to keep big Pisces/Cancer heart from drowning. Equal parts backbone and heartbeat, she somehow manages to be both the emotional center and the structural support beam. She’s basically the HR director in my life, tracking the pulse, noticing what’s off, making sure everyone feels held without making a big deal of it. She’s the Heart and Hospitality Director, intuition and execution, all entwined in one woman, bringing all good vibes and zero BS.
Anna
Logistics and Systems Director
God bless Anna for her continual dedication to helping this hot mess try to keep her life organized. In the almost 20 years of our friendship, I’ve always been a disorganized, 100,000-unread-emails kind of person, and Anna has always had her shit together…or at least could convincingly pretend she did. And in all this time, Anna has never given up on me….although there were definitely moments she needed a tactical retreat, lol. This woman is the embodiment of devotion, is legendary with her to-the-ends-of-the-Earth loyalty, yet fortified with bulletproof boundaries that straighten your ass up. We’ve always been so attuned that neither one of us could shed a tear without the other feeling the urge to cry. She has been my model of both integrity and forgiveness in friendship by demonstrating what honest self-love looks like in practice. On top of all that, Anna knows her way around a spreadsheet like no one’s business. She creates systems where there was only chaos before. And as I catalyze beautiful chaos, she always has a role with me, keeping it practically contained. Which is why she is, of course, my Systems and Logistics Director, the one who can add realistic timelines to my vision, bring clarity where I am hopelessly confuddled, and turn organization into a love language.
Jessie
Operations and Flow Captain
Jessie has always given me permission to take up space, to be loud, messy, opinionated, even downright disagreeable when needed. A Sag and an Aries together… of course we spelled trouble. But we also clocked each other instantly, reading the other’s real motives with painful accuracy, and calling each other out. Everyone needs a friend willing to be that honest to your face and still pour you a drink after. I’ve always trusted Jessie to keep order inside the chaos without snuffing out the flames we both thrive on so much. She’s the one who can wrangle the wild, keep the momentum, and continue to laugh ridiculously loud in the midst of it all. This is exactly why she’s our Task Captain, the one who fixes things before anyone notices, puts out fires while starting new ones for fun, solves every micro-crisis with unhinged efficiency, and and somehow keeps the whole operation moving forward, even if it requires threats, charm, bribery, or sheer will.
Jessica
Ceremony and Children's Guardian
Jessica and I found each other at a time when we both desperately needed family. In Humboldt, where I landed in my 30s, she became home for me. She has taught me (and keeps teaching me) what real Mother-strength looks like, what devotion looks like, and what it means to show up for someone through their initiations. She has loved me through some of the hardest thresholds of my motherhood. She moves through the world sensing what is unspoken, tending to the unseen layers of any space. She advocates for those without a voice, she reads the emotional landscape with near-psychic clarity, she honors “the village” through the way she loves that could reorient all of us back to our hearts if we let it. This is why she is our Ceremony & Children’s Guardian. Because no one creates sacred space as naturally and humbly as Jessica. Because she holds children the way they deserve to be held. attentively, intuitively, and with dignity. And because she carries the kind of presence that blesses everything she stands near.
Carlo
Sacred Masculine Guardian / Best Man
I’ve never really used the word brother to describe a male friendship before and meant it with this much honesty. But with Carlo, it’s the only word that fits. Somehow, over the years, through some of life’s most real and raw moments, we’ve become mirrors for each other’s strength. He’s seen me in my darkest, most unravelled places and never turned away. Instead, he’s met me with acceptance, and a steadfast loyalty that knows how to sit with you in the underworld and still believe you’ll rise. I hope I offer him the same. There are only a handful of people in my life who have held me with that kind of steadiness and he’s been one of those anchors for me since 2004. I know having a best man as a bride is unusual, but this role was made for him. No one carries Sacred Masculine Guardianship the way he does. No one has tracked my evolution with the same clarity, or protected my life with the same humble, unwavering care. Having him stand here as a pillar of strength feels like honoring the truth of who we are, and the family we’ve chosen to be for one another.