Groomal Party
Bestman
Ryan Howe
Friend of the Groom
At the first recess on the first day of the first grade, Aaron met Ryan. Ryan was a skinny kid with a stutter. Aaron was a chubby kid who never shut up. Naturally, they became friends. Thirty plus years later, he will head up this crack squad of loveable miscreants.
Ryan has a PhD in theatre and, (unrelated) knows more about health care policy than anyone except his wife, Sara. He is also the father to Jane, who is Aaron and Danielle’s godchild and thus we now have an excuse for a gratuitous baby photo:
Boatswain
Aaron met Brendan in high school when Brendan was a small fellow that Aaron could repeatedly throw across the stage in their high school production of Sweeney Todd (a non-musical version…not the one you know).
Brendan continued to act, and also grew much larger, and now can sometimes even be seen on your television set. He is also a spectacular singer/songwriter, and a sports fan.
Here is a song Brendan sings about boats:
Ensign
Aaron and William became friends sometime in their first week at Drew University. William approached everyone in our dorm by saying “I’m Bill Addis, who are you?” Despite Aaron’s unfortunately long hair at the time, they hit it off.
Many years, they co-founded a theatre company together.
William (you can call him Will) is a theatre educator and all around pleasant individual. He is often in the company of Jeff, a dog.
Coxswain
Michael Kilbourne
Friend of the Groom
Michael and Aaron were enemies from the 1st through 6th grades. This was largely due to Michael’s obsession with sports, Aaron’s refusal to be interested in sports, and their mutual love of Ryan Howe. This animosity is thinly fictionalized in a short story “Iggy Rausch’s Sworn Enemy.”
Fortunately, in the sixth grade they shared a bag of ‘Tato Skins on a field trip to the Eisenhower Farm and have been friends ever since.
Michael lives in Seattle with his wife Mitzi and his two kids, who make spectacular social media.
Ushers
Usher
"Yeah!" featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris
James and Aaron became friends in high school and spent much of their time watching (good and bad) and making (mostly bad) movies.
When James married his wife Liz, 8+ years ago, having a wedding website seemed like such a hilarious novelty that we all made fun of it by singing about it at their wedding. Resurrected for your pleasure here: StilesBeirne.com
Stiles/Beirne live the West Coast lifestyle on the beach near Los Angeles, and a visit is highly recommended.
Usher
"DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" featuring Pitbull
Scott Ehrenburg
Friend of the Bride
Danielle met Scott through his cousin Justine, who is featured in the Bridal Party. Danielle and Scott misspent tremendous amounts of time and their youth driving about and singing at the top their lungs.
Scott currently lives somewhere very cold and studies for a PhD in something that we think is either gender studies or literature. Or both. It would be difficult for us to be 100% for sure, because he takes all of his classes in Spanish. Short version: He is very smart.
The Ringsmen
