Patti & Leon

the wedding party

Parents Wedding Party Other Family & Friends

Parents
	Parents of the Bride: Marge & Ken Klein Mom & Dad recently moved out to Lincoln, California in January of 2005. They are busy these days getting comfortable in their new digs, meeting new people, Dad playing pool and Mom swimming in the pool, both becoming California wine experts and enjoying the company of their west coast-based children. They're glad to be welcoming two wonderful son-in-laws to the family and having fun with plans for our wedding as well as Allyson & Ed's.
	Parents of the Groom: Fay & Ainsley Bayross Mom & Dad live in Mumbai (Bombay), India, Leon's country of origin. They are both retired and enjoying it. They spend time with family and Mom enjoys cooking while Dad hits the Gymkhana (a social club) visiting with friends. They've become computer whizzes, conferencing into web-calls with their sons twice weekly. They will be gaining two daughter-in-laws soon, busy planning Sean & Michelle's wedding which will be taking place in India in December of 2005 and helping to coordinate some fun surprises for our wedding to add an ever-important Indian touch.

Wedding Party
	Maid of Honor: Allyson Klein Sister of the bride; Allyson lives in San Francisco, California where she is pursuing her M.F.A. in Writing and Consciousness at The New College of California. She is also applying for a Fulbright Fellowship to write a book of short stories in Mongolia.
	Best Man: Sean Bayross Brother of the groom; Sean lives in Toronto, Canada where he works for Pratt & Whitney building aircraft engines. Sean is enjoying the end of his bachelorhood with his recent marriage to bridesmaid Michelle Ezekiel Bayross.
Bridesmaids
	Andrea Brady Friend of the bride & groom; Andrea lives, works and goes to school in New York. Patti and Andrea met at Fair Lawn High School and renewed their friendship when they both took up residence in NYC 10 years after leaving Fair Lawn. Andrea is an extremely talented graphic designer - check out her website - and she is helping us design some very special parts of our wedding.
	Diana Cohen Friend of the bride & groom; Diana just got married recently and lives up in Boston, Massachusetts. Patti met Diana when they were just 9 years old, when Patti joined Lyncrest elementary school, and they've been long-time friends ever since.
	Arlene Creado Cousin of the groom; Leon grew up with Arlene, the sole female amongst him and his first cousins. She has a special place in his heart like a little sister.
	Michelle Ezeikel Bayross Sister-in-law of the groom; Michelle just moved from Vancouver, Canada to Toronto to join her brand new husband, and our Best Man, Sean. We are looking forward to getting to know her even better and to sharing our lives and families together.
	Cindy Klein Friend of the bride & groom (really, not a relative); Cindy is a newlywed living in Boston, Massachusetts. Patti has known Cindy since their first year of college where they shared many late night chats in the dorm stairwells.
	Lori Koval Friend of the bride & groom; Lori is living in Delaware where Patti and Lori first met. Patti met Lori her very first day of college at the University of Delaware and they've been the best of buddies ever since.
	Orly Shemesh Friend of the bride & groom; Orly is another fellow New Yorker. Patti and Orly have been friends through thick and thin since they were 9 years old and attended Hebrew School together at the Fair Lawn Jewish Center.
Groomsmen
	Dylan Creado Cousin of the groom; Dylan lives in Mumbai, India, but you'll rarely find him there. Dylan is in the Merchant Navy and is often out at sea for long periods of time. We're really hoping he can make it here to America to help celebrate our big day.
	Jordan Klein Brother of the bride; Jordan lives in San Francisco, California. Jordan works in the non-profit sector, and spends lots of time playing music all around the Bay Area. He also maintains a blog on his own website - check it out. And, he built this website for us as well - thanks, Jord!!
	Ed Ritger Future brother-in-law of the bride; Ed lives in San Francisco, California where he is a photographer. His website has lots of incredible photos he's taken, including many from his 2 year trip around the world with Maid of Honor, Allyson Klein.
	Jason Szamreta Friend of the bride & groom; Jason lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he works in advertising. Jason is also an actor; we've had the privilege of seeing two absolutely fantastic performances.
	David Thornton Friend of the bride & groom; David lives in Chatham, New Jersey. David has worked with both of us for several years. He and his family came here from Melbourne, Australia and they've already lived on both US coasts since arriving.
	Daniel Weiss Cousin of the bride; Daniel lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he is in his second year as a medical resident at Hahnemann Hospital. Daniel loves medicine in general, but is especially enthralled by the Emergency Room, where he will be an ER doctor.
	Jon Weiss Cousin of the bride; Jon lives in New Jersey where he is a commercial real estate lawyer for Aerosoles and organizes annual sports fantasy leagues.
	Russell Vaz Friend of the groom; Russell lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his family. Leon & Russell first became good friends in college and have continued to be long-distance buddies ever since they both moved on from India.
Flower Girls
	Maria Lewis Cousin of the groom; Maria is the daughter of Walter and Felba Lewis, very wonderful first cousins of Leon's. Leon grew up with Walter in India, sharing many happy memories at their grandparents' (Nanna Jepsy and Pappa Freddy's) place. Maria is the resident ballerina in the Lewis household and gave us a special performance at our last visit.
	Cassandra Berlin "Niece" of the bride and groom; Cassandra is the daughter of Scott and Jenny Berlin, very special friends of Patti & Leon's. Patti went to grad school with Scott and they feel like family. Cassandra, along with brother Thomas, are like the niece and nephew we don't yet have and they have a very special place in our hearts. Cassandra's well on her way to becoming a veterinarian.
	Mary-Jepsy Lewis Cousin of the groom; Mary-Jepsy is Walter and Felba's other daughter. Mary-Jepsy loves to play the piano and sing lots of fun tunes!
	Téa Lewis Cousin of the groom; Téa is the daughter of Edward (Teddy) and Lorraine Lewis, other first cousins of Leon's who are extremely special, since Leon also spent many of his childhood years growing up with Teddy. We had so much fun finally meeting Téa this past September during our trip to Canada.
Ring Bearers
	Emanuel Lewis Cousin of the groom; Emanuel is Walter and Felba's son. Emanuel is one of the happiest babies we've ever seen-always smiling and sweet.
	Joey Weiss Cousin of the bride; Joey is the son of Jon & Terri Weiss, very special first cousins of Patti's. Patti & Jon grew up together, building fond memories of lots of wonderful Weiss-Klein family gatherings which now live on, with special monthly dinners and family get-togethers as adults. Seeing Joey, the most adept crawler we know, grow up is a terrific part of our get-togethers.
	Michael Weiss Cousin of the bride; Michael is Jon & Terri's other son. While Leon and Patti both love playing trains and running around with Michael, Leon seems to have landed an extra-special role as one of Michael's favorites.
Readers
	Kim Smith Friend of the bride & groom; Kim lives in Somerset, New Jersey, but works in New York. Patti and Kim first met a number of years ago working together at JP Morgan. Kim has a special place in Patti's heart-like the big sister she never had.
	Chris Mendes Cousin of the groom; Chris lives in Montclair, New Jersey; he is a hot-shot cameraman. Chris, his wife, Beena and their dog, Montana are a very special part of our lives and we love spending time with them just chilling out and enjoying some delicious wining and dining!
Ushers
	Michele Todman Cousin of the bride; Michele lives in Hershey, Pennsylvania where she is beginning her third year of medical school at Penn State University. As a side note, Michele won the much-coveted award for "Library Live-in" last year.
	Steven Todman Cousin of the bride; Steven lives in Stonybrook, New York where he is a second year resident at SUNY Stonybrook hospital. Steven is going to be a Pediatrician.

WITNESSES/SIGNORS
We will be having a unique artistic marriage certificate made, based loosely on the Jewish version called a "Ketubah", and we will be asking two people who are very dear to us to serve as the "official" witnesses to our marriage and to sign this important document commemorating this special event in our lives.
	Richard Creado Uncle of the groom; Uncle Richie lives in Bombay with his family where he works in the airline industry. He was such an important part of Leon's life growing up, especially the special fishing trips which are some of Leon's most treasured memories.
	Stephanie Gendell Friend of the bride and groom; Stephanie is a fellow NYer who lives on the Upper West Side. Stephanie and Patti became instant friends after meeting at work over six years ago. Ironically, Stephanie and Patti were at sleep-away camp together at the NJ 'Y' Camps many years ago, but never met back then.

OTHER FAMILY & FRIENDS
We just wanted to take the opportunity to tell you all how extremely lucky we feel to have such a wonderful group of family and friends who love and care for us. In addition to the global representation in our wedding party, we have many other people dispersed all around the world who have a very special place in our hearts.
INDIA	A lot of Leon's family remains in Bombay, and though he doesn't get to see them nearly enough, he has fond memories of his life there shared with everyone he misses - the Bayrosses, Creados, Mendeses, Pauls and Valladareses - especially his Auntie Vanessa's delicious pies.
NEW ZEALAND	Leon has cousins all over the world, as far reaching as Warren & KimAnne in New Zealand!
CANADA	Aside from the obvious brother and future sister-in-law in Canada, Leon's special Aunt Hazel, cousin Teddy & family, and the Aranjos all live up north.
ENGLAND	That Valladares crew seems to have representation all over, and England is no exception. Leon's also got an aunt and uncle from his Dad's side over there in the UK.
UAE	Cousin Clyne, along with his new fiance, give the family a presence in Dubai.
OHIO, USA	There is a whole crew of folks in the Cleveland area who warmly adopted the role of "second" family to Patti during her years in graduate school out there. We enjoy spending time with the Berlins, the Schossers, the Williams family, Andy and others every time we visit.
FLORIDA, USA	Patti's got two special lifelong friends residing down in the sunshine state, Jeanette (Malka) Chichester and Jennifer (Cunningham) Cotter, along with their families.
NEW JERSEY, USA	Patti's Uncle Herman is just one of the many, many special people residing in her home state of New Jersey. We've got a Montclair crew including Chris, Beena & their dog, Montana, as well as friend Lea. We also cannot forget the Salkas, Irwin Palefsky, several cousins and lots of other wonderful friends as well.
CONNECTICUT, USA	The whole Dias family is very special to us and we love visiting them up there in Norwalk.
MASSACHUSETTS, USA	Leon's cousins, Clint and Kalina, and other close friends and family live in the Boston area, where we visit as often as possible.
DELAWARE, USA	A couple of Patti's best college friends stuck around down there in the nation's first state.
PENNSYLVANIA, USA	Mark and Arefa, along with new baby Connor, hold down the fort out there in PA.
CALIFORNIA, USA	So, basically Patti's entire immediate family has migrated to the west coast, but we've also got Leon's cousin Walter and his family out there, in addition to some other special family and friends, like the Snitkoffs, as well.
NEW YORK, USA	New York, our current home, has lots of folks who are important to us. Patti's Aunt Gail & Uncle Ike, the whole Blau crew, Leon's Brooklyn-based cousins with little guy, Rohan, and other family live here in the BIG APPLE. We also have lots of friends-Verdu & Joe, The Flynns and lots of others here are such a special part of our lives.
VIRGINIA, USA	The Leonards, another college connection, live down there in VA.
PENNSYLVANIA, USA	Mark and Arefa, awaiting new baby, hold down the fort out there in PA.