The wedding

Saturday, February 18, 2017

4:15 pm

Attire: Cocktail / Semiformal

Ceremony and reception

The Ahwahnee Hotel

1 Ahwahnee Drive, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389

The ceremony will be outdoors on the Ahwahnee wedding lawn, a short walk from the hotel. Yosemite is gorgeous in winter and February may bring snow, so dress appropriately (particularly when choosing shoes)!

Other events

Yosemite is a spectacular, natural place. To honor the deserved enjoyment of all who visit here, quiet hours in Yosemite Valley begin at 10:00 pm. Thus ends our reception, but the Ahwahnee Bar will be open until 11:00 pm for those who’d like to revel a bit more with us!

Our story

How we met

Emily and Jim are high school sweethearts. We can’t remember the first time we met (likely some time in the 5th grade), but we’re longtime friends who started spending more time together after our Spanish “profesor” sat us next to each other our sophomore year of high school. Emily was drawn to Jim’s sense of humor – in fact he’d get them in trouble in class making her laugh – but it took until junior year summer for him to finally ask her out!

We fell in love over long drives through the Central Coast in Jim’s maroon Audi station wagon. Happily, we were just across San Francisco Bay from each other for college – Jim at San Francisco State University and Emily at UC Berkeley. In the summer of 2014, before we both went off to graduate school, Jim asked Emily to marry him (at a favorite restaurant of her father Greg’s in Port San Luis, with a ring Jim had had custom designed).

So Emily began her PhD in Genome Sciences at the University of Washington with a gorgeous ring on her finger. We’re again lucky to be relatively close together, with Emily in Seattle and Jim at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon for his master’s in Computer Science. In the past two years, we’ve burned up Interstate 5 between the two cities and put thousands of miles on our cars. Though it’s been a lot of fun, we’re ardently looking forward to Jim’s June graduation and finally being together in one city!

Yosemite is one of our favorite places, and Emily always knew she wanted to get married there – especially because of her happy memories of being there with her father (who we lost to cancer in 2008) and family. We’re so excited to be married after almost ten years together, and to have you there to share in our joy!

Wedding party

Bridesmaids

  • Sarah Killingbeck – Maid of Honor, and Emily’s identical twin!
  • Stephanie Schneidereit – Bridesmaid
  • Whitney Cary – Bridesmaid
  • Hannah Chase – Bridesmaid
  • Alisha Ellis – Bridesmaid
  • Meara Foster – Bridesmaid

Groomsmen

  • Nick Ellis – Best Man
  • Phillip Carter – Groomsman
  • Matt Duhon – Groomsman
  • Ed Evans – Groomsman
  • Justin Greene – Groomsman
  • Spencer Hubbard – Groomsman
  • Jeff Hunter – Groomsman
  • Alex Lepinski – Groomsman