Sarah & Matthew -- May 27, 2018 -- San Francisco, California

Sarah's Family, by Sarah

Here is a rundown of my whole family clan for those that don't know them! First are my amazing, loving parents Debbie & David Utley who have always supported and inspired me to follow my dreams. Also present will be my wonderful Nan, who taught me to love baking since I was a young girl and who I can't imagine having grown up without.

I have three awesome older brothers: Chris, Eric and Ben. They are all hilarious and loud and the coolest oldest brothers a younger sister could ask for. I love you guys and can't believe I'm so lucky to be able to call you my best friends and brothers!

Their wonderful life partners include my amazing sister-in-law, Ariana (Chris's wife), a super cool brother-in-law, Rey (Eric's husband), and I can't wait to soon be calling Melissa (Ben's fiancée) my sister-in-law too! Melissa's wonderful daughter and son, Destiny and Bryan, are also joining the crew and we couldn't be happier.

We are all a bunch of huge nerds and I have very fond memories of our noisy, crowded family vacations and epic road trips, which were only complete with a full retelling of "Who's On First" by Abbott and Costello and listening to the Abba Gold Album on tape until it broke! I definitely don't get to see them all as often as I would like, but we keep in touch as much as we can with a sometimes overwhelming amount of WhatsApp messages.

Family Christmas 2015! Left-to-right: Matthew, Sarah, David (Dad), Melissa, Bryan, Debbie (Mom), Ben, Destiny, Ariana, Chris, Mary (Nan), Eric, Rey

Family Christmas 2016! Left-to-right: Melissa, Mary (Nan), Ben, Ariana, Chris, Rey, Eric, Sarah, David (Dad), Debbie (Mom), Matthew

Best picture of Sarah's dad, taken by Matthew

Sarah with her mom and her nan

Eric, Ben, Sarah, and Chris

Hiking with the family in Mammoth

Family Thanksgiving in our cozy apartment with 14 guests including Matt's mom

Chris photobombing at Christmas

Sarah with her nan

Mountain biking adventures with the family in Mammoth

Ready to go caving with Ben, Melissa, and the kids in north-eastern California

Breakfast with the family

Ariana, Chris, and their Kelpie-dog, Callie

Bryan, Eric, Sarah, and Ben

Matthew, Sarah, and Ben about to bike across the Golden Gate bridge, foggy as usual

Ariana and Callie having some quality time

Eric and his puppers Cookie

Matthew's Family, by Matthew

My immediate family is smaller than Sarah's, but no less awesome. My mom, Marilyn, has been a constant supportive force in the lives of my brother and I, tirelessly working to ensure our success and happiness in everything we do. We will never cease to be amazed by how she did it all. My dad, Wolfgang, has always been there to teach us new things about the great outdoors, how to build or fix anything, and the value of hard work. My dad's wife Carol is kind and always puts in the extra effort to make us welcome in their home.

My only brother, Anthony, is in a class of his own. When we were kids and I found the existence of a younger brother to be the most intolerable thing in the world my parents would always tell me that someday he would be my best friend. Of all the things they told me would happen, this has been the most true. Through good times and bad, and now across a great distance, Anthony remains my closest and most reliable source of humour and support.

I have also been supported and loved throughout my life by a large and inclusive extended family, many of whom will be making the trip to San Francisco to join us at the wedding. I can't wait to celebrate with everyone!

Matthew and his mom at Twin Peaks in San Francisco

Matthew with his mom and Sarah at Mike's wedding in Arizona

Matthew with his mom and Sarah in a Redwood on the Steep Ravine trail north of San Francisco

Sarah with Matthew's mom near her home in London, Ontario, Canada

Matthew with his Dad when he was a baby and at the height of his musical talents

Matthew's Dad and his wife Carol near their home north of Toronto

Matthew's brother Anthony on a visit to San Francisco

Anthony making poor life choices in dress shoes in France

Anthony running from or perhaps to something in France

Matthew and Anthony in their cuter days

Matthew and Anthony looking serious at our cousin's wedding in Ottawa

Anthony and Matthew with their mom in Honfleur, France

Anthony and Matthew with their mom braving the mist of Gullfoss in Iceland

Kate Marsh, by Sarah

I couldn't be happier that Kate is going to stand up as my witness the day of our marriage. She is a solid rock of support and joy in our lives. We originally met playing Ultimate Frisbee down in Los Angeles when I was at USC for graduate school and Kate was an undergrad. It wasn't until I moved to SF that our friendship really kicked off though. Kate invited me to one of her Open Studios art shows (she is an amazing artist and several of her paintings have a special wall in our apartment!). Following us reconnecting she invited me to join a group of friends for the weekly "Disney Club," in which they were watching all of the animated Disney films in chronological order. Kate and her husband Riley are fantastic hosts and made me feel truly at home in a new city after my move. She is an especially amazing cook and always has the best book recommendations. Many of my most epic book hangovers in the past few years have been due to her!

I ended up bringing Matt to a film night on our 3rd date, so she and her husband (and the whole film night crew!) has been with us through our entire relationship as Matt and I have gotten to know one another, fallen in love, and decided we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Kate and Riley, you truly are the best, we are so lucky to have you both in our lives!

Kate with one of her amazing paintings

Kate ready for skiing with her super awesome frog hat

Sarah and Kate at a Frozen sing-a-long screening

Sarah and Kate dressed up as Princess Bride characters

Kate and her super awesome husband Riley

Kate, Sarah, and Matthew dressed up for Halloween (with special guest, Sir the dog)

Kate at one of her gallery showings

Kate with a crazy statue

Mike Jutan, by Matthew

I met my "best bro" Mike in Cub Scouts in 1991 in London, Ontario, Canada when we were both 9 years old and we've been close friends ever since. Over the years we've shared many things: Scouting, camping, movies, computers, travel, candy, food, music, and whisky. Mike's family always treated me like an honourary member and my parents did the same with Mike. Despite not going to the same schools, we grew up together and shared everything.

We both pursued computer science at the University of Waterloo sharing a passion for computer graphics particularly as it applies to film. Straight out of school Mike moved to San Francisco to work at Industrial Light & Magic while I went to work on 3D animation software at Autodesk in Toronto. In 2014 I finally gave in to Mike's badgering and left Toronto to join him on the R&D team at ILM in San Francisco. I'm so happy to be living down the street from one of my oldest and closest friends and it's super fun to be sharing an office with him at work!

In 2016 I was honoured to be Mike's best man at his wedding in Arizona and I can't imagine anyone else standing up with me as I join my life with Sarah's. We're so happy that Mike and his wife Michal can be a part of our lives!