Dave McCall - Our Officiant!!

From the very beginning, Russ and I knew right away that we wanted a friend to marry us.  It wasn't a difficult decision b/c we love going to Bel Air Presbyterian Church, but we're not members.  We thought it might be a bit strange for a random person to marry us and paying him/her.  Besides, we wanted someone who could be humorous and make the ceremony feel really special.  ;)  We had a few friends in mind immediately.  Dave McCall was one of them!

Dave McCall is known for many things, and of those, Dave is most notable for his singing with the Hullabahoos at the University of Virginia.  A song he is famous for is “Celebration” – most appropriate for our wedding officiant!

Here's what Russ has to say about Dave:

Russ and Dave first met at UVA while they were each members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (“FCA”).  They hung out at retreats, where Russ and Dave would be the last ones to sleep, having put everyone else to bed after tons of card games, stories, and fun.  Russ says, “It is awesome to see someone who came to school strong in Christ to lead others, to pray with him, and to be a part of an organization that fostered so many fantastic relationships in Christ and with each other during our years at UVA.  Dave is one of a kind!”

Prime time ground for growing relationships at FCA was beach week!  Every year after finals, FCA would venture down from Charlottesville, VA to the North Carolina coast, where the group would rent a set of houses and have 300+ people storm the icy cold waters, and brave the windy 60 degree weather before the summer season got into swing.  "It was awesome; Dave and I saw Star Wars Episode 1 down there when it first came out… we both fell asleep through half of it… and one year swimming out to the sandbar Dave and I almost drowned… you can’t beat memories like that!"  Russ may have set a record with the number of beach weeks he attended… the memory is faded, but his guess is 7 or 8.  This was a record quickly shattered by Dave McCall, whose beach week attendance is measured in the double digits, across several generations of FCA’ers, and we’ll peg the estimate at 12.

It’s rare to find someone exhibit such a genuine love for the people around him, and Dave is exactly that rare person.  He’s always been great at keeping in touch, always going the extra effort (and road tripping miles) to visit his friends.  He’s always been an encouragement and a joy to be around.  His smiling face has led many, including Russ, into happy days.  Russ had the privilege of living with Dave in Virginia (and at this point it’s appropriate to talk about Hutch, who is the third pillar of their friendship… the Wood, the Next Level… the stories could go on and on…).  Together they took many treasured trips back to UVA and beach weeks.

Here's a picture of us that Dave took at Hutch's wedding at UVA:

For me, Dave is just a funny, cool and calm guy.  He has THE FUNNIEST story on the face of this earth!  Ask him to tell you about how his car was stolen twice in one day!  Yes, that's not a typo, he car was stolen TWICE in ONE DAY!

Dave is now a doctor at Stanford.  And we're so tremendously glad that he will be our officiant at our wedding and is willing to subject himself to bossy little me!  ;)