Bruk & Tif's Vow Renewal
Wedding Party
Almaz Kebede
Mother of the Bride
I am the biggest mamma's girl and aspire to be more like my mom. She has given me the best life, the most love, and the greatest opportunities. If I feel down, my mom's words are the greatest source of comfort, encouragement and strength.
Fran Hoffman
Mother of the Groom
I've known this lady my whole life. She's great. She cares a lot about a lot of things—her delicate baby boy most of all. She made her career protecting the environment, and that work continues today. She's stubborn and iron-willed in the best ways. My Mom was feeding us organically grown food in the '80s(!) and still stays up late baking cookies any time my sister or I visit.
Senayish Addis
Bride's Sister
Hardly a day goes by that I don't talk to my big sister, at least for a quick minute phone call walking between meetings during my workday. She is incredibly grounding and nurturing to me. She's that plus more, as a superstar mom to my nieces and nephews. When I was younger, she co-parented me with my mom, watching me after school or when my mom worked on weekends, and made lots of big choices as a young adult to set my mom and me up for bigger and brighter futures. I am so lucky she's my best friend and sister!
Bob & Sharon Slama
Father & Step-Mother of the Groom
My Dad is the kind of guy who appreciates simple things done right. He's curious, hard-working, and unflappable—the last helps both as a cardiologist and when your son does a couple really stupid things in high school. He's a member of the clean plate club, who's used the same glowing tone to describe a nice bottle of wine and a sandwich he's made countless times at home. Sharon entered my life in elementary school, and stayed put through all the loud fights and farts my sister and I unleashed. From those early days, Sharon's been part of the family. She's loving, incredibly hard-working, and always looking out for other people.
Alemayehu Addis
Bride's Brother
I often seek my brother's counsel on all things career, and for general "adult-ing" advice. He sets a high family bar for intellect and ambition, and simultaneously prioritizes family and loved ones above all else. He always reminds me of what is most important in life. Before I met Tif, he told me to envision a partner who is first and foremost kind, and who would stop and help if they saw our mom, a stranger in need of help. I thought back on that advice as I was first getting to know Tif and pretty immediately knew he was that kind of person and partner.
Hilary Seeley
Groom's Sister
Hilary's long been a role model of mine, even if our lives and careers are fairly different. She's been my earliest friend, bully, and friend again. We easily quote Adam Sandler movies and one particular Ren & Stimpy episode with each other ("A ROCK?!"). If I have a sense of humor and an above average pain tolerance, it's because of her. She's a great big sister. Nowadays, we live close by and that means a lot to me.
Michelle Morales
Maid of Honor
We first met in a registration line at ADOCH (A Day on College Hill), an accepted students day at Brown in the spring of our senior years of high school. Although we had different freshman hosts, we spent the weekend joined at the hip, and stayed in touch until reuniting on our first day at Brown, having our families sit together at our welcome lunch at TWTP! We've lived together, gained the freshman 15 together, traveled together, and shared some of our greatest successes, adventures, heartbreaks, and loves! I am so lucky to have her as a best friend, and Maid of Honor.
Sara Merriman
Best Person
Sara's a friend who's basically a second sister at this point. We met early in our SF days, became roommates with Gino, and hosted parties while helping each other through all the dramatic and awkward growth of our twenties. Now in our more fully adult thirties, Sara's still fun to be around, has way too much energy for one person, and is a master organizer. She's someone you can count on, especially if need a ringer for your coed softball team.
Courtney Clark
Bridesmaid
Courtney and I have been friends since meeting in our Freshman dorm, unit 007 in Keeney Quad. We book-ended our college years by living together again senior year! We spent winter breaks visiting each other at our respective childhood homes, hanging with each other's siblings, and going out in our cities. I always went to Courtney for personal and academic advice, particularly for French, even though she wasn't even studying French, because she's just that smart and generous with her time and intellect!
Gino Click
Groomsman
Gino's one of the first friends I made in SF. Our friendship began in the basement (writing program) at Miami Ad School and reached the heights of a weekly YouTube series where we reviewed movies! Talk to him and it's obvious he's funny, smart, and charming, but what reveals itself over time is that Gino's got the heart of a champion beating in his chest. We can sometimes share a brain, yet he somehow got all the cool dance moves? Not fair.
Nicole Taykhman
Bridesmaid
I've traveled to more countries with Nicole, than any other friend. She's one of my favorite travel companions and roommates. We don't even notice when we are just reading street signs to each other! When we studied abroad together in Paris, we formed a close bond, relating our own parents' immigrant experiences in the United States to our taste of living temporarily in a different country and culture. We commiserated about not being able to check out library books from the Sorbonne university libraries, and our homesickness for Brown. We did a weekend trip to Prague then Rome, where I got bed bugs in a hostel bunk bed we shared with other travelling students. Through it all, Nicole has been such an empowering and loving friend!
Jason Kurtzman
Groomsman
What a pal this guy is huh? Jason and I met early freshman year of college and became best buds. We played football together, lived together, even budgeted to share huge bags of Costco taquitos together. He's a thoughtful guy who's only serious when he needs to be. Throughout college, were both down for whatever silly thing the other one wanted to do. And we got silly all the time. He's a doctor now.
Jenna Harris
Bridesmaid
In some ways we share two alma maters, we met and became friends early on in our Freshman years at Brown, but it wasn't until the end of that first year that we discovered we both attended Sacred Heart high schools. I shouted "Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat!" and she shouted "Conge!" and we immediately burst into fits of laughter and our friendship was sealed with our unique shared experience and shared language that comes from attending an all girls Catholic Sacred Heart network school!
Zach Kubin
Groomsman
I have no idea who this man is. A quick googling told me he is the one-time starting quarterback of the Horace Mann Lions and graduated Hamilton College in 2005. Hmm. Does he own a basketball team? The volume he uses in daily life is like how a normal person would order drive thru from the back seat. He is loud, loyal, and has little time for what you think you want to tell him. Can you love a person and be really annoyed by them at the same time? Meet Zach. You're going to love him.
Nic Mooney
Bridesmaid
We shared an apartment in Astoria that rattled every time the N & Q trained rolled into the Broadway stop. The train's platform was just outside our living room window so we knew exactly when to leave the apartment to catch the next train. After a couple false starts, this was my first "grown up apartment" with friends in New York, and Nick was by-in-large a big part of making it home. We'd go to all the free events - from art gallery openings, outdoor concerts, and day trips to Brighton Beach, to taking the tram to Roosevelt Island - together and have the best time! We traveled to Mexico and China together too, every trip is so fun, care free (because Nick does an amazing job of planning every detail!), and full of adventure!
Brandon Shea
Groomsman
Brandon crashed the social fabric of Lincoln Elementary as the cool kid from Chicago. He introduced me to Nas and guided me into a lifetime of listening to rap music. We've gotten into a bit of trouble together, and I guess sometimes those are the friends you have for life. Him being one of the older kids in our grade, I was heavily featured riding shotgun in his car pretty much everywhere. Years later, he told me that he first thought my name was actually Tiffany AND WAS STILL MY FRIEND. We've had each other's backs through all of this and we're old now.
Marielle Mondon
Bridesmaid
Marielle remembers the day I transferred into our first grade class, and giving me a welcome drawing! I simply remember her in my earliest school memories. We both remember being called "the old married couple" by our first grade teacher, who would find us always sitting next to each other and bickering. She is one of my oldest and best friends who has been there through it all, from loosing baby teeth, playing the cello in 2nd grade and spice girls sleepovers to awkward tween years, shared first crushes, and so so many proms! She is simply my sister for life.
Neil Slotterback
Groomsman
This is my guy. Neil and I have one of those rare friendships that formed in adulthood and continues to grow from there. He's a sensitive listener, a reliable friend, and gosh dang smarty pants. We toured New Zealand in a van together (also with our friend Geraldane, Hi GG!), had more flat whites than showers, and survived a drive through a cyclone. If you ever need a STRATEGY built or a javelin thrown, Neil's your guy.
Brice Peterson
Bridesmaid
When Brice posted his freshman room assignment in the Brown Class of 2011 Facebook group a few weeks before we arrived in Providence, I quickly friended him and excitedly messaged that I would be his neighbor in Mead 316! We went from freshman dorm hall-mates, to suite-mates for the next two years! We've supported each other through first loves, the Ratty and Sci-Li challenges, and career starts, and pivots. He's one of my dearest friends, with whom I share almost all of my favorite and formative college memories.
Pinar Buyukkurt
Groomswoman
Another dear friend I met in the bowels of Miami Ad School, Pinar and I quickly began geeking out about everything! Fast forward ten years and we still talk about books, movies, and play boardgames together—as well as family, work, and other not-as-fun-as-movies topics. Pinar can chop it up about any number of things and has an infectious laugh to boot. We have one of those friendships where her friends became mine and vice versa, that includes Bruk.
Dan Roskowski
Officiant
Dan is Bae. What I mean is Dan is a good friend and teammate and tentmate of mine on the SF Baes, our team for AIDS LifeCycle. Riding 545 miles on a bike is impressive, but my fondest feat of physical strength was Dan helping us carry a massive sleeper sofa up our stairs into our apartment. He shares an Alma Mater and a career field with me, Bruk. We often seek each other's career advice and joke of starting a yet-to-be-defined business together! He is also a wonderful weekend getaway travel companion! We've spent a Labor Day Weekend boating and BBQ-ing in Tahoe together, gone wine tasting in Sonoma, and kayaked 10 miles along Russian River together! And he has been the official portrait mode photographer of several trips and of our 2018 holiday card!