Otisgiving. A yearly gathering of members of my old, long-retired improv team, Otis.

A good chance to catch up on what everyone is doing.

Marc talked about his recent engagement. In this picture he’s talking about how he made the ring himself (while Duffy and Sarah are apparently in mid-swoon). He took a metalsmithing class and made a ring out of silver and moonstone.

Marc: So, yeah, I made the engagement ring, and I’ll buy the wedding ring. [laughs] Because one of them has to look good, right?

Marc had also grown a thick beard. It was originally part of a plan involving First Look photos for their wedding. His fiancée wanted to get First Look photos, which are pictures taken before the ceremony, of the bride and groom seeing each other in their wedding attire. It’s easier to capture that moment of seeing each other for the first time, that first look, under controlled circumstances. Marc was against it but finally agreed under the condition that he could have whatever facial hair he wanted in the First Look pictures.

They eventually dropped the idea of the First Look photos entirely, but this had been Marc’s plan:

Marc: I was going to have a crazy British poofy mustache, where the mustache goes all the way over and connects with the sideburns. So, she’d turn around and… SNAP, the pictures catch her reaction. Oh, and I was going to be in a wheelchair.