Michelle has the auspicious role of Maid of Honor for introducing Paul and Andrea to each other on a blind date on July 13, 2002.  Michelle is a longtime Seattle friend of Andrea’s from Microsoft and a former colleague of Paul’s. Michelle worked with Paul at his first job in Seattle at Microsoft in the Mappoint team and seven years later remembered Paul as a “good catch” to refer to Andrea.  Michelle is a giving person who lovingly shares her warm home with her friends and family- both new and old!  Because of her caring and loyal nature and that she helped us find each other, we instantly thought of Michelle when planning our wedding.  Michelle is also creative, smart, has lots of ideas and experience hosting lovely events, and provides an anchor for us through the planning pandemonium. We imagine Michelle to be the one to administer the beatings and whip people into shape if something goes wrong on the wedding day.

Cheryl is Andrea’s only sibling and younger sister, one year apart in age.  Cheryl lives in Philadelphia with her husband Rob and her two daughters Caitlin and Zoe.  Cheryl loves animals and has a home full of them to care for. Cheryl is also the most confident and courageous member of the family.  There are funny stories to be heard of her embarrassing high school bullies who tried to tease her for wearing her four inch bleached Mohawk hairstyle to class in 1987.  Besides being fortitudinous, Cheryl can be counted on to follow through on her promises earnestly.  Though she was criticized in her teen years for spending too many hours on video games, she proved our parents wrong in trendsetting the hottest pastime of the modern day with her unsurpassed Ms. PacMan high scores, and passed the gaming chromosome on to her oldest daughter Caitlin. Cheryl and Ann were close growing up, we’d never dream of not including her in our day.  Cheryl is most likely to tell off, and be eloquently poignant while doing so, anyone who causes something to go very wrong on the wedding day. 

Caitlin is the eldest of Cheryl’s two daughters and Andrea’s God-child. Caitlin is gifted in academics and currently choosing her college preparatory school for attendance next year.  In fact, she recently earned a 97% on the entrance exam for her first choice school – Nazareth Academy.  Caitlin has interest in track, music, video games and science.  She plays the saxophone well and with luck will hear a sample during her visit next summer.  Caitlin recently attended catapult camp and also and won a prize for her project at her school’s Science Fair. We look forward to Caitlin’s visits in her lovely demeanor and for her provision of enjoyment for Paul in video games.  We love Caitlin and look forward to her relaxed approach to fun and telling us “not to sweat the small stuff” and find other entertainment as Andrea loses her head when something goes wrong on the wedding day.

Irene is a friend of Andrea’s who met each other on a winter ski trip to Mount Hood in 2000. The weekend was full of fun, too much fun in fact that Irene spent one evening away from her date in order to help Andrea recover from many Hot Toddies. Irene is a kind, thoughtful person who loves to travel the world and continues to touch Paul and Andrea with her generosity of heart as well as keep us company with her fun-loving presence and stories from abroad. We remember Irene fondly for the surprise dinner she took us for at the Kingfish Café for our engagement, always being up for long summer bike rides, and always remembering to include us in for fun.  We wanted Irene to be a bridesmaid in our wedding because we knew she would ground us in our senses as well as whoop it up and bring life to the party before, during and long after.  Irene is going to be the one having fun and telling us to blow off anything that goes wrong on the wedding day.

Karen is a new friend of Andrea’s who met while working together at Microsoft in the Windows Networking group.  Andrea was instantly attracted to Karen for her sense of style, as it is generally not accepted to look like an urban fashion model on the job amongst the sneaker clad engineering community (brains vs. beauty debate usually stops the average male in his tracks and work ceases to continue, need to “reboot” said male engineer).  Not only did Karen help liberate Andrea from her in-the-closet sparkly clothing addiction, but she proves to be a jewel in the crown of people we know in Seattle. Karen’s unique ability to accept sarcasm as an acceptable form of communication not only made Andrea feel at home, but her steady selflessness, creativity and her willingness to share her talent with others continues to amaze us.  A day without Karen is not a good day for us; Karen is likely to be patiently negotiating immediate change with the offending administrator of the thing that went wrong on our wedding day.

Nick and Paul met when Paul started work at NextBase Ltd. Nick's sense of adventure and his unfailing ability to stay cheerful, even in through the most stressful times, has been an inspiration. Their friendship has been cemented over the years by several memorable trips: To Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, New York, France (to witness the solar eclipse of '99), and even an excursion North of the Arctic Circle - just because!

Of all the groomsmen, Martyn's friendship with Paul goes back the furthest. They met at Solihull School as teenagers and their shared passion for computers, electronics and engineering brought them together on many occasions. Martyn soon became a regular guest at The Old Rectory for supper. Soon after they were taking car-camping trips and Inter-Railing around Europe. Their friendship continued at Cambridge, where Martyn still lives.

As well as an old Johnian, like Paul, Ed is a fellow Midlander. While Paul doesn't really follow any particular soccer team, believe it or not, the one thing that Ed and Paul can be assured to mention when they meet is Aston Villa F.C. It has to be said that Ed knows a thing or two about sports. In particular, he was a baseball and American football fanatic long before he came to live in the United States. Ed is currently living in San Francisco with his newly wed wife, Miriam.

Mark and Paul met at St John's College, Cambridge as undergraduates in 1990. Late night conversations often turned to physics while accompanied by a persistent rock soundtrack. Mark had a lot more hair back then and played the electric guitar with flair. When you get a moment, ask Mark about a summer trip to Banyuls sur Mer, France. After Cambridge, Mark and Paul worked together at NextBase and shared a flat briefly before relocating to Seattle. Mark now lives in Redmond with his wife, Lexi under whose expert tuition he has taken up horse riding. Paul played the piano at their wedding. Let's hope Mark leaves the electric guitar at home.