Vira & Maxim
Wedding Party
John Miller
Best Man
John Miller has known Maxim since their time in Leach Hall at UC Davis. Max’s first interaction with John was watching the Warriors playoffs on a bootleg stream. As their freshman year progressed, they would cross paths in the late night dining hall. They quickly learned they had a lot in common, including movie tastes. Many goofy exploits around town led to them becoming good, if not best, friends instantly. Despite being in LA, Max always calls to catch up or fly down to see John and his Dad, Mike, in Palo Verdes. John works for Lamba Legal, where they work to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV, through impact litigation, education and public policy work. John and Max have cats that share the same mother, Spanky, who still lives in Cupertino.
Kateryna Fomenko
Maid of Honor
Kateryna (Katya) is Vira's little sister, best friend and co-maid of honor for the wedding. Katya and Vira have lived together as roommates not only as young children in Mountain View but also became even closer as young adults in Newport and back in the bay area. They love to spend time together at weekly dinners, Sunday family brunches, walks, runs, hikes, and Shoreline summer concerts. Though Katya works as a Software Engineer at Oracle, she is also skilled in writing and artistic pursuits (contributed much DIY to the wedding and Vira's bridal events for example, thank you!). She is wise beyond her years and Vira is always grateful for her advice. Katya lives in Mountain View with her husband David and is also a devoted cat mom to Franklin and a new puppy mom to Charlie.
Whitney Bone
Groomsman
Whitney has shared a cubical wall with Maxim for 6 years while they worked together at Northrop Grumman. Whitney, being the seasoned veteran manufacturing engineer, saw Max’s eagerness to learn and always to say the right thing. They worked on many projects together; spending late nights troubleshooting the steam plant test facility and writing procedures for their mechanics to follow. Through the years, their friendship grew stronger with every program and office prank they worked on. Whitney, like John, gets repetitive calls, both work and non-work related, throughout the week. Although they have always been close proximity coworkers, Max considers Whitney one of his closest friends. Whitney lives in Niles, Michigan with his wife, Kelly, their three children, four cats, and dog, Booker. Whitney loves working on his cars and various garage projects.
Sarah Magruder
Maid of Honor
Sarah has been Vira's best friend since high school and is also a co-maid of honor for the wedding! Though Vira met Sarah at Walden West in 6th grade, they became inseparable during their years at MVHS. From their traditions of Chipotle Thursdays and exploring SF as teenagers, to visiting each other during college, to now building countless new recent memories at girls' weekends, wine tasting trips, and brunches, walks, Sarah and Vira's friendship has remained strong over the years. Sarah is a skilled planner and helped Vira tremendously at planning events such as their trip to Mexico, and Vira's Bachelorette party. Sarah works at Broadcom as a Briefing Manager and is also a certified Life coach! Sarah now lives in San Jose with her husband Ryan, their cat Declan, pup Shadow, and son Callan who's about to become a big brother!
Andrew Towstopiat
Groomsman
Maxim’s brother Andrew is three years younger than him. While growing up, Max and Andrew looked nearly identical; when people saw family photos, they thought their mom had twins. Currently, Andrew enjoys playing volleyball in San Diego where he lives and works. Andrew and Max spent their childhood playing sports and watching each other compete in various Bay Area leagues. Andrew is considered the “sportsman” of the family; competing in baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, rowing, track, and cross country. He is a biomedical engineer and also works for the VA hospital, like his oldest brother. Max hopes to spend more time skiing with his brother during their winter and spring breaks in the years to come.
Carine Black
Bridesmaid
Carine is one of Vira’s closest friends from her years in Newport. They lived next door to each other for several years and shared a tradition of weekly brunches with Katya, as well as regular nights out dancing in Newport. Often called the honorary third sister, Carine always has a smile on her face and brings a positive energy to the group. Vira fondly remembers their travels to Costa Rica and camping trips in Socal. Though Carine now lives far away, when they do get to see each other, Vira and Carine love spending time together - camping, hiking, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking and of course brunching together! Carine works as a chemical engineer and now lives in Huntington Beach with her fiancé Jeff!
Karen Gee
Groomswoman
Through her mutual friends John and Dylan, Max met Karen Gee in his senior year at Davis. Karen lived on the opposite side of the train tracks and would bike to their house to watch movies, play video games, and cook dinner. She shares the same humor as Max and can eat just as much as him on any given day. One fond memory in college is when they got kicked out of ‘Juscos’ for the all you can eat lunch buffet…for eating too much sushi. Karen still lives in Davis with here partner, Daren, and giant German Shepherd, Tank. Karen is from Arcadia, California, and has a younger sister named Brenda (who Max refers to as Blender). Karen loves to garden and cook like her celebrity crush, Guy Fieri.
David Rosen
Bridesman
David is Katya's husband and one of Vira and Maxim's closest friends. Some of Vira's fondest memories with David include traveling adventures to Costa Rica and camping in Joshua tree with Katya, Carine and a few other friends. One of Max and Vira's favorite memories with David is their first Cruise experience which David expertly planned. The couple shares many hobbies with David including their love for gardening, aquariums, and food. David has amazing hosting skills - from making delicious dinners, to pizza in his Ooni, and making homemade wine. David enjoys developing new hobbies and encouraging everyone around him to join in - such as CrossFit and tinkering with cars. David works at Google and shares cat-dad and puppy-dad duties with Katya for Franklin and Charlie.