Ally & Josh
9.6.2014
Bloomfield Hills, MI
The Wedding Party
Groomsmen
Andrew Giles
Scott Merz
Pete Keeley
Mike Raspatello
Sean Condon
Mike Alkaraki
Adam Fuller
Andrew Giles
Best Man
Andrew’s been Josh’s friend for 20+ years. Andy and Josh played lacrosse and worked together on the coolest high school news program in the country. Andy continued working in video production and now lives in New York, where he effectively watches TV for a living. Well, maybe slightly more complicated than that (but not much).
Scott Merz
Groomsman
Scott and Josh met as adversaries on the High School lacrosse practice field after Scott beat Josh repeatedly with the same move. Josh accused Scott of cheating, and Scott knowingly laughed in his face. They’ve been friends ever since, trying their best not to cramp their significant others’ styles while driving them crazy with their entrepreneurial efforts (comanaging fantasy baseball teams). Scott works in commercial real estate, and he and his wife Jess will be accompanying Josh and Ally on their upcoming Vietnam adventure.
Sean Condon
Groomsman
Sean and Josh have been friends since playing soccer together in high school. Josh likes to think that he introduced Sean to his wife Liz, but he’s probably just making himself sound more important than he actually is. A younger, handsomer Josh is pictured above with Scott as a groomsman at Sean’s wedding. A CFP, Sean’s slightly skewed form of reality has been a source of never-ending amusement. When Josh and Sean took a road trip to Tennessee, Sean assumed he could drive Josh’s stick shift because he had always chosen manual mode when playing “Rad Racer” on Nintendo. After 24 hours straight of driving in 100 degree heat, that argument began to make sense to Josh as well.
Mike Alkaraki
Groomsman
Mike and Josh met while playing Freshman soccer in High School. He manages a successful career as a P.I. Attorney and serves with several charitable organizations. One of Josh’s closest friends, he also considers himself the greatest non-competitive swimmer in the history of Oak Park High School, and boasts a lifetime record in one-on-one basketball that is (nearly) unblemished.
Pete Keeley
Groomsman
Pete has been Josh’s friend since Junior High School, and Josh was the only one of Pete’s friends who wasn’t pretending to like him just to get to his mom’s legendary cooking. Pete lives in LA now, where he and his wife just had a beautiful new daughter, Marceline. When Pete isn’t correcting celebrity tweet grammar at the Hollywood Reporter, he spends his time preparing his “When I say have Marceline home by 8, I mean 7:30” face in the mirror.
Mike Raspatello
Groomsman
Mike and Josh first met as kids on an Oak Park Park District Floor Hockey team, which Mike somehow managed to join despite not actually living in Oak Park. They would meet again years later, when each were emerging from their insufferable middle school angst phase and entering their insufferable, overcompensating high school student phase. Mike and Josh have been through near death auto-accidents, countless concerts, and enough post-midnight Mexican Food to start an army of Gremlins. When Mike isn’t developing innovative new ways to peddle swill with his new position at Budweiser in Palo Alto, he and his wife Shira are training the jealousy out of their dog-son Cosmo so that their soon-arriving human son will have an easy transition.
Adam Fuller
Groomsman
Friends since high school, Adam and Josh worked for a college painting company/pyramid scheme where we spent each day coming up with new ways to make our friend Colin regret hiring us for his crew. Adam has transitioned from being the President of his fraternity that was kicked out of Western Illinois for being way too awesome, to VP of Risk Management for his 2 sons and, on occasion, his better half Lori when she puts on her dancing shoes.
Bridal Party
Bryn Coan
Patrice Fino
Katie Coan
Colleen Coan
Katie Windisch
Mary Beth Welch
Charlotte Coan
Lillian Coan
Bryn Coan
Maid of Honor
Bryn is the undisputed youngest and tallest Coan sister. Bryn was put on friendship probation in mid 1989 after she bit Ally on the nose with a newly cut tooth. Bryn was taken off probation about 18 years later and is now one of Ally's best friends and someone Ally truly admires and (literally) looks up to. Bryn currently lives in Boston.
Patrice Fino
Maid of Honor
Patrice and Ally have been best friends since their days at Mercy High, even living together for four years at the University of Dayton. Though they live in different cities, they are still as close as can be and (generally) keep each other out of trouble. Patrice just moved to Dallas, Texas.
Katie Windisch
Bridesmaid
Another friend from high school, Katie is Ally's Gemini Twin, fellow Chicago transplant, and future star of HGTV. Her laugh is contagious, her personality is sparkly, and anything hip/cool/fun in Ally & Josh's future home will no doubt be something from and/or made by Katie Windisch.
Mary Beth Mahtaney
Bridesmaid
Ally and Mary Beth go way back to the ripe old age of five when they started kindergarten together at Holy Name. Highlights of their decades long friendship include handbell choir, a stirring (and thankfully lost) performace of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, ski club, lacrosse, a year as roommates, and singing along to the Les Mis soundtrack (Stars is their jam). Mary Beth lives outside of New York City.
Katie Coan
Bridesmaid
Separated by only 15 months, Ally doesn't (and nor would she want to) remember a life without Katie. Together they often took on their neighbors in epic soccer and street hockey games, wandered the streets of Chatham, Cape Cod every summer, covered for each other when needed, and always made up after the very occasional argument. ;)
Colleen Coan
Bridesmaid
Colleen is a budding graphic designer living in Grand Rapids, MI (the beer capital of the US!). Fun facts: You may recognize her voice from her "Limerick Challenge" winning performance on NPR's Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me...; She is dog-mama to the most cuddly and loveable pitbull in the world, Guapo; Is graduating next year and is (most likely) moving to beautiful San Fran; Does an inspired imitation of a signing Stevie Wonder that always makes Ally laugh!
