Wedding Party

Lindsey Ericson

Bride

Elias Szabo-Wexler

Groom

Chloe Hawker

Maid of Honor

Chloe first met both Lindsey and Elias during her college years in Pittsburgh and she cannot really remember her life without either of them. In Lindsey, Chloe found a soul sister of the most important kind. They have spent countless hours in prayer, tears, harmony, laughter, encouragement, and talking on the phone while grocery shopping from various states and countries away. Elias’s friendship was a beautiful surprise upon spending many evenings in Boston post-college, eating excellent food and debating ethics, faith, dating philosophies, and whether Chloe’s profession could be replaced by a really good computer. Chloe is overjoyed by Lindsey and Elias’s pending marriage, as it accomplishes one of her life’s greatest objectives: hanging out with all the people she loves at the same time.

Mark Wilkening

Best Man

Mark has seen Elias through many stages of life, from middle school to marriage. Growing up together, he introduced Elias to a miracle drug more important than penicillin: the “chill pill.” Elias, in turn, inspired Mark to grow his ambitions. Their paths diverged for college, but upon Elias’ return to Boston they settled down into a nice bachelor pad, where they would be mistaken for a gay German couple at the candle store. They had to redouble their supportive efforts as Elias’ chill pill prescription proved inadequate for his new dating and young-professional life, while Mark had to endure the motivational marathon of grad school. Although they have given up their shared home in favor of stable relationships with clean and tidy non-bachelor-pads, they will always be there for each other.

Kirah Hopkins

Bridesmaid

Lindsey and Kirah met in high school where their love for musical theater, Glee, Harry Potter, and tossing weapons in the air bonded them instantly. They spent hours creating costumes and going on school-night adventures to concerts, musicals, and movie premieres. The transition to college only strengthened their bond. The pair have spent the past 11 years supporting each other through college, career, relationship, and personal joys and woes. They have traveled the world together, attended family funerals together, and have remained close despite Lindsey constantly moving to different cities, states, and occasionally countries. Thankfully Kirah’s love for Lindsey will always traverse time and international borders, and she can’t wait to see where Lindsey and Elias’ journey takes them.

David Fryer

Groomsman

David has known Elias since middle school, and they have been good friends since high school. After falling out of touch during college, David and Elias reconnected in 2015, when Elias moved back to Boston. Since then, they have only grown closer, bonding over a mutual love of food, scotch, technology, and board games. David would frequently visit Elias at his old apartment in Cambridge, MA, where they would talk about life and personal struggles until the wee hours. When Elias introduced Lindsey to David, it was clear that they were a great match. They pushed each other just outside of their comfort zones, and their mutual adoration was clear. When Elias left Cambridge for Philadelphia at the onset of the pandemic, it was clear that nothing would get in the way of their relationship.

Chesna Hinkley

Bridesmaid

Lindsey and Chesna met in their college campus ministry and had mutual friend-crushes on each other for a year before finally deciding to hang out. Once they did, they meshed immediately and became inseparable, spending countless evenings doing homework, cooking dinner, & watching Parks and Rec on Chesna's couch. Lindsey was Chesna's closest confidante and beloved supporter through the tumultuous years of college, graduation, and launch into the world. They have traveled together, cheered for each other, and loved each other through rocky ups and downs. It has never been easy to convince Chesna that anyone is good enough for Lindsey, but Elias sees her for all she is and loves her like she deserves to be loved. Chesna is thankful to God for their relationship and for a new friend in Elias.

Kelsey Dietz

Groomswoman

In 2012, Kelsey and Elias formed a friendship by spending way too much time hanging out in the same dorm due to a common acquaintance. It turns out they had lots in common, and kept in touch through their time at CMU. Kelsey moved to Philly after college, where in hindsight she swears she got the feeling Eli’s future partner-for-life was nearby. Eli and Kelsey became even better friends after he helped her land a job in Boston, where they spent many nights playing board games with friends, climbing, and snacking on delicious tacos. In 2018 Kelsey moved to SF to be with the aforementioned common acquaintance. Luckily, visiting Boston that year, she had the opportunity to meet the incredible, smart, compassionate Lindsey, and is over the moon for Elias & Lindsey to celebrate their wedding.

Katharine Carlson

Bridesmaid

Katharine has had the joy of Lindsey’s friendship for nearly a decade, and they’ve weathered the world together. The two met at a worship-filled hymn-sing, found each other delightful, journeyed into to a relationship, then celebrated the decision to simply be best friends with a trip to Paris. It was Katharine’s privilege to stand beside Lindsey as she grew in faith, confidence, grace for others and a will for what is right. In a friendship even older, Katharine and Elias were kindred spirits in a freshman German class. After years of individual friendship, travels, snuggles and stories, she is beyond delighted that these beautiful friends found each other & found love. In clear serendipity, Katharine's fiancé Christophe is Elias’s groomsman! May the celebrations continue for a lifetime.

Christophe Combemale

Groomsman

Christophe was first introduced to Lindsey and Elias by his fiancée (and Lindsey’s bridesmaid) Katharine in the 2018 holiday season during a weekend stay at Lindsey’s family home. He quickly found a common enthusiasm with Elias for wide-ranging conversation when the two found hours of entertaining (and refreshingly inapplicable) debate over the limitations of preference modeling and the merits of AI-generated music. He has since been delighted to both follow and lead conversations down many bizarre rabbit holes, always learning something from Elias along the way. Since that meeting, Christophe has enjoyed three wonderful vacations with Lindsey and Elias (always with the treat of Elias’s excellent cooking) and looks forward to many more hikes, board games and quality tumblers of scotch.

Colleen Parrish

Bridesmaid

Colleen and Lindsey are cousins, friends, and unofficial sisters. They had so much fun growing up together and have a lifetime of fond memories with each other, being just two years apart. As kids, they spent countless hours playing outside with Colleen's neighborhood friends and they both packed a toothbrush to every family party with the unspoken knowledge that a sleepover was inevitable. As they got older, they attended their Christian musical theater camp every summer and made many road trips to New York City or a local theater to see Broadway musicals together. They have spent a lifetime laughing together and supporting each other from near and far through each new season. Colleen is so happy to stand beside Lindsey on her big day and welcome Elias into the family!

Matt Wilkening

Groomsman

Matt has been a close friend of Eli's since high school. Whether it be having fun on the beach or slopes, kicking butt at Karate or gaming, or driving to school or a party, Matt and Eli have shared countless memories with each other, each and every one precious in its own right. Since the Corona times, Matt has lived inside Eli’s computer, and joined him for intermittent bouts of noobslaying during socially distant weekends. And while that’s all well and good, he looks forward to the days when he’ll be able to swim and ski and party with Eli once more like the good old days.

Lauren Parrish

Bridesmaid

When 7-year-old Lindsey walked into a hospital room and met a tiny baby with a head full of dark hair, little did she know that this baby cousin of hers would become her honorary little sister and friend for life. Lindsey and Lauren have been close from that day on. Despite their age difference, the two have always shared a deep bond through their love of Jesus and their Christian musical theatre summer camp, and always seeking to better understand themselves, the people around them, and what it means to be human. They, along with Lauren's actual sister Colleen and Lindsey's mom Kathy, have spent countless hours talking and supporting each other through the weird, challenging, joyful waters of teenage years and young adulthood. Lauren is thrilled to stand beside Lindsey on her big day!

Grant Della Silva

Groomsman

Grant and Elias met as roommates during a shared summer internship at Intel while enduring the mutual pain of a computer science education at Carnegie Mellon. The intrepid explorers entered the bold new world of cooking with a high bar: don’t blow up the kitchen. They also developed a good workout regime together, though Grant retains the dubious honor of being the only person to motivate Elias enough to throw up at the gym (lesson: don’t compete with varsity crew on rowing machine). They adventured, explored cocktail making and spent a lot of time talking about computers and the meaning of life. At one point they joked that they were becoming the same person: same apartment, laptop, classes, and hobbies. Now they live on opposite ends of the country, but they're still fast friends.

Kathy Ericson

Mother of the Bride

Tamar Wexler

Mother of the Groom

Stan Ericson

Father of the Bride

Bernard Szabo

Father of the Groom