Wedding Party
Shelly Johnson
HBIC/ Maid of Honor
I know exactly who to go to when I need someone to strategically plan, negotiate, or tell someone off in the most professional manner. Shelly’s had my back since the day we met and has become my closest friend despite the “borrowed” clothes and constant little sister annoyances in our younger years, and our different lifestyles as we grew older. They say you will never understand anyone the way you and your siblings understand each other, and I couldn’t agree more (though I may never understand her desire to run 5 miles at 4am every morning). She may be the Maid of Honor but the honor is all mine.
Alondra Reynolds
Emotional Support Human/ Bridesmaid
Sorry Travis, Alondra will always be my soul mate. We met when we needed each other most and have been inseparable ever since. Even though we’re on opposite sides of the country these days, our hearts are connected and we always seem to know when one of us needs the other. Alondra is the most compassionate, affectionate, and loving person, and I’m so grateful to have her as my emotional support human on my wedding day (and really every day).
Jonnie Kawcak
Mischief Manager/ Bridesmaid
Separately we’re pretty good people, but together we’re a monster. According to our HS English teacher that is - thanks Mr. Dunnels! It’s a name we’ve taken quite seriously through the years and treasured dearly. Jonnie has been my ride or die since high school - we just love getting in trouble together (and we’re so good at it!). We may have slowed down as we got older but we can still stay up all night drinking white claws in her garage. I can’t wait to start some mischief together at the wedding - watch out everyone!
Kristi De Vita
Wine Connoisseur / Bridesmaid
When Kristi moved to NYC, I was stoked to have another Boulder City native around to talk about how cool we are for living in the city. Little did I know, we’d spend the next 10 years attending punk shows, visiting Kristi’s accounts for free wine, and spending hours on the phone talking about every aspect of our lives. Kristi has my back in every way, including talking up Travis to my very protective father 🙏. She ties my two worlds together and I’m so excited to have her on my team as Travis and I tie our worlds together!
Jimmy Yan
“Brother” of the Bride / Bridesman
From roommates who constantly annoyed each other to the closest of friends, I can’t think of anything Jimmy and I haven’t talked about, and I can’t remember ever feeling judged. Jimmy is one of the most caring people I’ve ever met, and has been there for me through the toughest times without hesitation. He also introduced me to Dim Sum which might be even more impactful than the whole being there for me thing. He’s like the brother I never had and I can’t imagine getting married without him by my side!
Jillian McCabe
Bridesmaid Consultant / Bridesmaid
Work bestie for life! I don’t know what I’d do without our mid-day chats, happy hours, and bitch sessions. Jill was the first person I called when I decided to come back to Roivant and is the first person I call when there’s some juicy work drama. She’s had to listen to A LOT of Travis talk and probably has a better understanding of our relationship than I do at this point. Beyond being the best coworker, Jill is the kindest, bubbliest person, and holds everything together flawlessly and with grace. (No wonder everyone wants her in their bridal party!) Truly my source of sanity at work, and likely my source of sanity throughout this wedding. (Oh yeah, and she’s recently engaged! So much love in the air - congrats Jill and Ryan! 🤗♥️)
Adina Fainglas
Creativity Coordinator/ Bridesmaid
Adina and I met early on in my Jersey life, before I blossomed into the extremely responsible adult that I am now ;). Whenever I forget about what's important, Adina brings me back to earth and helps me stay true to myself as life pulls me in new directions. I love how close we've grown, and how much we've been able to open up and connect on real life stuff. I also love making random friends at breweries with her and then staying up in her living room giggling about anything and everything til 4am. But at the core, what draws me to Adina is her ability to find beauty in everything and make beauty out of anything. Her creativity and compassion emanates and I feel so fortunate to have her in my life and in my party.
Mike Tanzini
Best Man
There aren’t too many people I can say that I’ve known for over 33 years (which actually might be 39 years as we may have met as babies being both born in Princeton Hospital 7 days apart). I met Mike after the first bell and before nap time on our first day of Kindergarten and we quickly became best friends. We stayed close throughout grade school and even competed on the high school math team, although we pretty much joined the team only for the free doughnuts they would give out at the meets. After graduating from Carnegie Melon undergrad and Cornell for grad school, Mike moved out to Hermosa Beach, CA where we talk pretty much every day over chat. Although at the time I was deathly afraid of earthquakes, he convinced me to come out and visit him. I quickly got over that fear once I realized how much I enjoyed the Hermosa beach and bar scene. A few years later, Mike convinced me to move out there and we got a place together two blocks from the beach in Hermosa. Although I only lived out there for a year, when I moved back to NJ I continued to visit Mike so much that I was probably in Hermosa longer during visits than I actually lived there. As we’ve both gotten older we’ve traded our beer pong and bar crawls for golf trips and wine tastings. Don’t let his quiet demeanor fool you, Mike is one of the funniest guys I know.
Ryan Gibbs
Groomsman
My only friend I’ve known longer than Tanz is my brother Ryan. Growing up together we had similar interests which led to a bit of a competitive rivalry between the two of us. Whether it be sports or video games we were competitive in everything. He liked the Bulls, I liked the Knicks. He liked the Mets (and then White Sox), I liked the Yankees. He liked the Giants (and then somehow the Eagles), I liked the Jets. He liked the Rangers, I hated the Rangers. But after all the rivalry, I still loved my brother and followed him to Villanova for college. As we got older the rivalry faded and we enjoy talking Villanova basketball and he’s become my go to for advice on the best craft beers.
George Tillinghast
Groomsman
On my first visit to Hermosa, I was staying with Mike who mentioned his roommate George would be getting home from work before he was so I should go introduce myself to him. We quickly realized we both graduated from Villanova the same year. Not once in the two years he knew George, did Mike ask either of us if we knew one another, we didn’t but had very similar interests both liking the Yankees and Jets. On my second trip out there, a bout of food poisoning to Mike put him out of commission and George so kindly offered to keep me company and suggested we ride bikes down the Strand. The bike ride pretty much cemented our friendship and we’ve been close ever since. We’ve since traveled the country on golf and camping trips, celebrated a Villanova national championship together in San Antonio and he somehow convinced me to backpack the Teton Crest Trail with him. George is a meticulous planner, and he knows the right music to get a party raging.
Brian Pagnotta
Groomsman
Brian and I first met when I was 11 and he was 12 on the Distefano Plumbing A league baseball team. We weren’t that close on the team but reconnected in high school in Accounting class. We bonded over fantasy baseball and Seinfeld quotes and soon became great friends. We would spend afternoons after school playing wiffleball or basketball at his house and nights driving aimlessly around Central Jersey trying to get lost although we would always find our way back. We also were in Spanish class together and got teamed up on a project to film a movie in Spanish for which we put together the greatest Spanish language film of all time, a remake of Rocky in all Spanish. To this day I’m disappointed that El Rocky did not get an Oscar nomination for the best foreign language film of 2002 as well as only getting a B for Spanish class. Brian and I still get together pretty often but we’ve traded driving around aimlessly for getting wings and a beer. Brian is one of the most loyal and charitable people I know.
Andrew Pagnotta
Groomsman
I met Brian’s younger brother Andrew during the B League Baseball Championship game when our teams faced off and ended when I had a walk off suicide squeeze bunt to knock in the game winning run. We got close in high school when I started hanging out with Brian. Andrew and I hung out pretty much every day the summer of 2002, playing 1 on 1 basketball and ping pong while listening to Linkin Park cds on repeat. Andrew has a never give up attitude and always wanted to play more even as I tallied my records against him in my AIM profile, basketball 102-2 and ping pong something like 400-30. Other than playing sports together, Andrew and I would pass the time talking about old TGIF shows. One year for Christmas he surprised me with a full CD of him covering his favorite songs, if you listen close enough you may hear a track from “Ham for the Holiday’s” at the wedding. Andrew is one of the most caring and loyal people I know, and runs our Sunday morning basketball league which has been going for over 10 years now.
Mike DeBlase
Groomsman
I met Mike in high school through Brian and Andrew as we shared a lunch table my junior year. We quickly bonded as one of the rare Yankees and Jets fans in the group who would both wind up at Villanova. We roomed together in Villanova two years and he somehow forgave me for spilling an entire bottle of laundry detergent in the back of his Jeep, sorry! Mike moved out to San Francisco and during a visit there to see him he treated me to a Giants Padres game in which I got my 15 minutes of fame see this link for the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7wraP3Rwuw&list=WL&index=3 . During the pandemic, Mike moved back to NJ and right across the parking lot from my apartment. We later started a golf team The Sharks with Jeff and with myself and Julie founded the famous Wednesday Night Supper Club. Mike’s one of my favorite people to watch a game with and you can find us most Sunday’s during the football season watching the Jets disappoint us once again.
Jeff Dzuranin
Groomsman
Jeff and I first met when we were 6 years old when our dad’s helped coach our T-Ball team. This would be the first of three different teams we would be a part of including a rec basketball team and The Sharks golf team along with Mike D. I got a chance to tell my favorite Jeff story at his wedding and I’ll give an abridged version of it here. When we were seniors in high school, we were staying at a friend’s beach house in Long Beach Island that was right near the famous Chicken or the Egg wing restaurant. We were both single and we both wanted to impress one of the single girls that was at the beach house, so we decided to have a wing eating competition. We were neck and neck after the first few wings, but Jeff’s competitive spirit kicked in and he pulled away and won the contest and won the girl who would later become his wife. Jeff is one of my favorite people to golf with or just sit around his fire pit while having a beer or bourbon.