And to quote Yasiin Bey: without further ado, let me introduce you to the rest of the crew.
Bride’s Party
Adrianne Mishal Kolano (bride)
Attendants: Rebecca Birnie, Christine Jegadesh, Meredith Lee, Nadia Afifi, Braedi DeLong
- Rebecca Birnie is the bride’s eldest sister, and obviously a Jersey girl, but now calls western Maryland home. Music education professional by day (technically “doctor” or “Professor” if you know what’s good for you), avid cyclist and Italian cookie hunter (🍪🤌) by night. (The salutation, “Becky”, is reserved for the bride and the bride alone!).
- Christine Birnie Jegadesh is the other Jersey sister who was the pharmacy trendsetter (yes, we have 2 sisters in the industry – but Tine is cooler, by far). After leaving the bride behind in Florida during college, she has since called Rochester, NY home for the last 15 years. Christine is always looking for an opportunity to travel, domestic or internationally, now with her husband George and her daughter, Priscilla.
- Braedi DeLong and Nadia hail from the land of ski slopes, Subarus, climate-induced hellfire, and boutique cannabis, a.k.a. the burgeoning Front Range corridor. A native of Florida, Braedi is a classically trained musician and now works in the sales world. An avid cyclist and enthusiast of colorful eyewear and Bengal cats, she lives in the Boulder area with her husband Marco.
- Nadia Afifi hails from Bahrain originally with a stint in Missouri. An MBA and technician of the federal bureaucracy by day, and author in her other life, having recently published her first sci-fi novel (with the sequel being released May 17th, 2022!), which noted Rust Belt blogger Nat Zorach has called “stellar– you know, no pun intended.” www.nadiaafifi.com
- Meredith Lee and the bride go way back– like, New Jersey back. A fellow crazy dog lady, a topic on which she and Adrianne no doubt relate, Meredith is currently working as a therapist in Birmingham, Alabama. She lives in nearby Wilsonville with her husband, Stephen (“Rabbit”), surrounded by dogs, a pet possum, and a brand new baby girl (as of April)!
Groom’s Party
Nathaniel Meriwether Zorach (groom)
- Brady O’Rourke met Nat when they both transferred into Grinnell College in the bleak midwinter of January 2008. The next few years were filled with hijinks, road trips, B-movie nights, innumerable loud guitar rock concerts, and an entrepreneurial approach to funding their college dreams through a well-executed, though perhaps ill-advised, scheme to collect cans and return them for a deposit at McNally’s Supervalu. Brady
- Sarah Gawn and Nat go back to the early 2000s, in the dark days when they both attended Lancaster Country Day School before transferring to real schools that weren’t awful, like McCaskey, where they were both music and music theater nerds. The adventure continued on ski slopes and across the greater Midwest, where the two actually lived together for a brief while in Chicago. Sarah now lives in Lancaster and is in nursing school.
- Jenna Ipcar is, in Nat’s words, a “brother from another mother– as it were,” Nat’s 2nd cousin (by way of parents Bob and Jane, also attending) and main partner in crime since forever. The two have made road trips across these United States, traversed the streets of a New York that only exists in memory, and even went to Ireland to go to a wedding in a castle. Jenna is a design strategist, artist, and film critic in Brooklyn.
- Raju Rayavarapu and Nat go back to high school, when, Raju comments, he noted that “this dude has a really big head!” Raju and his wife Kimbra join us from Wheaton, Maryland, where they work as technical something or others with the Food and Drug Administration (“taking away my menthol cigarettes,” Nat grumbles), and have graciously allowed Nat to sleep in their basement guest bedroom.
- Alex Zorach is a brother from the same mother, a statistician and enthusiast of native plants, birds, and tea. Alex lives in sunny Newark, Delaware, with their partner and as-of-recently-fiancée, Heather.
- Noel D’Eon, honorary groomsman who is unlikely to be able to make it to the wedding, met Nat at trivia night at the ancient and honourable Victoria Tavern in Windsor, Ontario in 2016. Noel’s Facebook declares that he has a job. He lives in Windsor, Ontario with his wife Zahra and baby Marwan.
Support & Co-Conspirators
Flower Girls: Priscilla Jegadesh (Adrianne’s niece)
Emotional Support Dogs: Luna “Princess Moona” (or “Moon Dog”) Kolano-Zorach (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel); “Princess” Jack “Spacesnacks” Kolano-Zorach (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel + Garbage Terrier Mix), and Rupert “Woofybear” Kolano-Zorach (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel).
Vendors:
Photographer: Holly Kangas, Haven Photography
Caterer: Ashley White, The Enchanted Fork