Andrea & Eric
Wedding Party
Enrique Roberto Blanco, V
Junior Groomsman
16 years old. Confident, and for good reason. When you're used to being the biggest, strongest, best-looking guy at every school you've ever gone to, that tends to lead to a little bit of confidence. He's often picked up some sport or game, for the first time, and within minutes, he's better than you (the guy that's been practicing for *years* and just showed him how to do it in the first place!). Needless to say, he picks up things very quickly, he's good at everything he does, is incredibly (like, superhero) strong, and--believe it or not--always right.
Aiden James Mangin
Junior Groomsman
14 years old. Gifted (some would say *unfairly*) with that rare combination of athletic ability and intelligence, Aiden stands out. Maybe the most winsome personality you'll ever come across, he's a well-spoken, good-looking (takes after his Dad, I hear) young man too. Also strong. Pat this guy on the back. Solid like an oak, right?
Vincenzio (Vinny) Duece Blanco
Junior Groomsman
14 years old. Movie star good looks. Very funny. Like the "still making you laugh when you think about it hours later" kind of funny. Intelligent, courageous, rebellious--but in the sticks-to-his-guns, authentic kind of way. Not afraid to go against the grain--and make it work. Vinny's always been able to converse with any age group. Very "Executive Branch".
Gabriel Cruz Blanco
Junior Groomsman
11 years old. Gabriel's in a category to himself. That category has also been named "Gabriel". He has a very interesting, and interested, depth to him. Gabriel is genuinely curious, in an endearing way. He's whip-smart in wit too (the truest measure of intelligence, some might say), always ready with a hilarious quip, or an interesting story about an interesting topic. Always enjoys cooking, plants, and (some) anime.
Tayla Jordan Ballou
Junior Bridesmaid
17 years old. Tayla's always stood out as beautiful on the outside. However, those who know her well, have also seen her as that rare talent that's capable of learning how to do anything that she sets her mind to. She's also expressively creative and gracefully artistic in performing arts. She's responsible, reliable, while at the same time fun-loving, funny, and loves to laugh. She immediately brightens any room she enters into, and is an immediate asset to any social circle. Naturally talented in both skill and determination, she's amazing to watch, as she's achieved goal after goal so far in her very promising young life. She just gets it done. Tayla's a treasured gift and great source of pride as our eldest, wisest daughter.
Yzabella Teresa Bilducea
Junior Bridesmaid
Yzabella, Goddaughter of the Bride. She's always been wise beyond her years, and is a great source of pride for the entire Family. Yzabella is the daughter of Andrea's brother Roman and his lovely wife Cathy. She has her fathers quick-as-a-whip sarcastic sense of humor and her mother's charming beauty and insight. She gracefully shines in any situation, whether it's overcoming the many challenges created by the pandemic, or navigating the potentially precarious transition from High School to College. Yzzabella is presently attending Arizona State University (with a dual major, no less) while also being a primary source for all of us to brag about.
Dahlia Grace Perdomo
Flower Girl
Dahlia, as the daughter of the Bride's niece, Celeste, and husband Jose, very likely has already realized her regal status. She merely has to point with her little finger at what she wants, or where she'd like to go, and she has complete command of the Family, as the rightful center of attention. Dolly loves Mickey and (especially) Minnie Mouse + she's also a Coco Melon fan. Dahlia has a core belief that all living creatures--herself included...along with any animals, pretty much all humans--should wear flowers in their hair at all times. She is undoubtedly correct in this belief. Whenever you're looking to brighten your mood and enlighten your day, just sing "The Wheels on the Bus" to her. She may very well grace you with her world-renowned smile.
Mariah Luv Rojas
Flower Girl
Mariah is the youngest member of our Wedding Party, but she's already shown great leadership in both sitting for photo shoots, and also in allowing her adoring Tias to make her the center of attention. She's very adept at lighting up a room, as she waves her wand of cuteness, adding sparkles to her adoring fans' eyes. She's very content as the only child of the Bride's cousin, Lissette Padilla and Steven Rojas. She's always been a beautiful baby, and is excited to take this next step in her maturity with her well-earned feature role as Flower Girl. If you're ever unsure about "the next Generation" you need only spend one invaluable moment in the same room as Mariah to instantly be filled with hope and joy for the future. The Bride and Groom are so grateful that she's in our lives!
Aurelia Guadalupe Neff
Flower Girl
It's official: Aurelia has agreed to join us, foregoing her tour of the Northwest and her home State of Washington, to grace us (her fans) here in Arizona! She is the perfectly precocious niece of the Bride, a wonderful gift to/from Andrea's first cousin, Angela Gurney and her husband Jesse Neff. It is well-known that Aurelia loves art, music, dancing, and playing on the swings. However, we've also recently discovered that she has been developing a green thumb in helping her Mother with gardening (with occasional breaks to dig for worms, of course). We can't wait until her tour bus arrives!
Iliana Raquel Bilducea
Flower Girl
Iliana is our Flower Girl Captain, due to her wisdom and experience, along with her graceful dealings with her older brother. She is the niece of the Bride, and reflects many similar qualities as her Tia: she's a trend-setting fashionista, nurturing, kind, and always finds a way to get what she wants. She also has a charming candidness about her, rounded off with a sarcastic wit that reveals her as her father's daughter. Destined for the runway of her choosing, she's also a well-regarded, photogenic record-holder, having never once taken a bad photo in her remarkable young life. We're so excited to have her in our Wedding Party!
Celina Rae Padilla
Bridesmaid
Celina is the Bride's niece, daughter of Andrea's brother Robert, and Dahlia's favorite Tia. As the competitive performance athlete of the Family, Celina's always been a great source of pride for us. Adding to that, she's worked her way through college courses while also coaching, graduating from ASU in 2021 with a degree in Liberal Studies. Celina has an unpretentiously engaging brilliance on full display in her (often hilarious) accounts of otherwise mundane situations. Seen and heard through Celina, these every-day events become endlessly interesting. Her engaging smile, and effortless storytelling makes her both fun to be around, and an invaluably vital spark to any conversation. She loves spending time with her dogs, teammates, friends, and Family (in that order).
Roman and Cathy Bilducea
Padrinos
The Bride and Groom both have always looked up to this happy couple. They've built a beautiful family as well. These two project strength and solidarity, and they're the kinds of people that you want to be around, with the kinds of kids you want your kids around. They're both much too humble to agree, but either way, they've given us a lot to aspire to in our own relationship. It's nice to have such a strong "good influence" in the Family. And we're honored to have them as our Wedding's Padrino's.
Lissette Marie Padilla
Maid of Honor
Lissette is the Bride's cousin, on her Mother's side. Growing up, and going through everything together, they quickly became best friends. These days, whenever they go out, Lissette and Andrea are often mistaken as sisters--which they don't deny, of course. Lissette has a sparkling twinkle in her eyes, stemming from her reliably generous, kind-hearted spirit. Her career as a Social Worker, coupled with a love to get everyone in the room laughing, and it's easy to see why she's the Family's jewel. Seeing how amazing she is with children, and how wonderful she's been for all of her nieces and nephews, we were all overjoyed when Lissette recently became a Mother to her own sparkling-diamond daughter, Mariah, who has captivated our hearts, just like her Mother.
Jesus Fransisco Bilducea
Groomsman
Jesse is the Bride's younger brother and a proud, active Tio for our boys. "Tio Jesse" brings a confident philosopher's perspective, first to things he's interested in, and then to his nephews. Jesse is rock-solid, mature, reliable. In fact, you have to look very close to notice that he's still the baby of the family. (ex: as shown whenever he *laughs* after his big sister sneezes--instead of just saying "bless you"). He was also Andrea's first best friend, because of his loyalty, and the fact that he's passionate about everything that catches his interest. Including, but not limited to: MMA, most sports in general, his friends, family events, cooking, grilling, Espresso, Writing, craft beers, conversation. Jesse's a valuable addition to any group, and invaluable to our Family.
Celeste Rose Padilla
Bridesmaid
A protege of our Bride, Celeste has an invaluable insight into the Bride's perspective, and she's used that to be supportive of the Family, whenever there's a need. In that regard, the Bridesmaid and the Bride are very similar, in their approach. Celeste, while staying physically and emotionally present--living the closest to us of any relatives--she has however, also gone on to blaze her own trail. Her reliable support has made her both a great Tia to our 4 boys and daughter, but also a great Mother to her (first?) child. Celeste's and her husband Jose's precocious daughter, Dahlia, is the Flower Girl for our Wedding as well.
Robert Anthony Padilla
Bridesman
Robert is the bride's older brother. Loyal Eagles fan, Robert's always been athletic, active, and is always keeping an open door, and open heart, to anyone that's Family (or even just with Family). Robert loves to have a good time, and he's gotten very good at it. Impressive, as you can imagine, to his nephews--even moreso due to Robert's consistent involvement in their lives, always ready to take them somewhere, or have them over to swim, watch UFC fights, or just to get out of the house. A solid leader in the Family, and a constant winner of any games that give an edge to a competitive nature.
Amy Elizabeth Malloy
Bridesmaid
Amy is the bigger sister (in every sense of the word, well...except for stature) of the Groom. She's "President of the United States" quality human. You could place Amy into pretty much any situation--the more difficult, the better--and she'd quickly become the nominated-by-her-peers-and-newfound-friends' choice as their Leader. I'm fairly certain she's already been christened "Future Matriarch" (there were no dissenting votes). Amy has one of those never-before-found-in-nature natures: she's both incredibly prolific in getting things done, but also extremely empathetic and caring. She makes some people incredulous and suspicious. She makes the rest of us feel very fortunate to share space within her fantastically wide orbit and strongly supportive, bolstering gravity.
John Malloy
Groomsman
John Malloy, husband of Amy Malloy, and brother-in-law to the Bride and Groom is perhaps the most winsome person in this entire party. Even his name sounds like a winner's name. John's Family had a saying, growing up, "Who better than us?" (the answer, of course, was "Nobody!"). He even has a very clever, but self-effacing sense of humor, for good measure. He's the type of person that's worth talking to at an event or Family gathering--even if you're fairly introverted and don't even like talking to people. You'll leave that 5 minutes (or however long--no rush from John's side) conversation nodding your head, admitting that it *was* in fact worth it to go and talk to someone. If John is present at your Event, that "someone" worth meeting (aside from you, ofc) *is* John.
Abby Arumboro
Bridesmaid
Abby is the sister-in-law of the Bride and Groom, married to the Groom's younger brother, David Mangin. She's got a beautifully welcome, loving heart, as evidenced in her constant, tireless cooking for Gary Mangin, her Father-in-law. Abby doesn't need to announce her good deeds, she just does them. Gainfully employed, and caring for her husband, and their growing population of (rescued) puppies. She's the type person that you root for good things to happen to. Having a great eye for style and design--and having been through a Wedding of her own--Abby's insight and genuine care about everything that she does are a welcome addition to our Wedding Party. An added bonus with Abby is that she comes with a great Family, where you can quickly see where her priorities and values were instilled.
David Mangin
Groomsman
David (or, "Uncle David" as the kids call him), is the young Brother of the Groom. He's the type of Brother that would go on to be a lawyer (just so that you wouldn't feel too bad about losing all those arguments to him growing up). His intelligence is akin to an athlete with an elite-level of both fast-twitch and slow-twitch fibers. He raises the bar in every conversation--even his text messages are well thought-out with cited articles, tweets, and posts. He's also the kind of lawyer that's been defending otherwise defenseless children in Family Court for nearly a decade. The Groom is (now) proud to have been David's initial "sharpening stone" growing up, and--like all who know him well--proud to be associated with him, and grateful to have him in this Wedding Party.
Gary Mangin
Father of the Groom
Gary is the Father of the Groom. He is the epitome of a Father too: (re)set-your-watch-to-it honesty, consistently hard-working, tough, an experienced lover of the classics, a passionate teacher, warm, and kind-hearted, with unconditional love. He's the exact kind of true-north Father you'd want to have in order to have faith in the existence of good fathers. Especially if you're say, strong future Mother considering Fathers, or a lawyer navigating the depths of poor fathers in Family Court, or a future father of five "blended" in at just the right time. Gary has also always been impressively sharp with dates and times, and novels, and travels, and road trips, and baseball (literally pitching, left-handed for his grandsons to this day!).
Bertha Alicia Padilla
Mother of the Bride
Bertha is the loving and beloved Mother of the Bride. She loves being present. She's always extremely generous with her time, which she thoroughly enjoys making the most of. She's also a forever young, fun-loving, and free-spirited Nana. She never misses an opportunity to show and share how proud she is of her children and grandchildren. Quick to socialize, take long car rides, and visit distant relatives--even if it's just to social distance. Bertha's a warm, welcome addition to any social gathering, family function, and celebration. We're honored to have her.
Antonio (Tony) Jesus Bilducea
Father of the Bride
"Tata Tony", as our kids call him, has always been generous with his time, and his home. The boys have spent the night countless times with the Father of the Bride after swimming all day, and roasting hot dogs at night, during the long, hot Summers. Everybody knows that boredom's bad for boys, and Tata Tony wouldn't let it happen to the boys, often even coming by to pick them up. He's also passed down his great, mechanically-inclined mind and skills to the boys, showing them what's possible in areas they otherwise would never have known directly about.
Anthony Bilducea
Usher
Anthony is the older brother of the Bride. Otherwise known as "Tio Anthony" to our kids. His eldest son, Joe, is a close cousin and friend of the boys, and a great nephew to the Bride and Groom, along with Anthony's youngest, Illiana, our beautiful niece. Anthony's been a huge help in getting us established, fixed-up, and countless other helps that we've asked him for while we've built up our home. He's got a rare combination of passion and talent that shine the brightest towards nearly anything mechanical or structural. He's also capable of holding a conversation on nearly any topic, and has a wonderfully infectious thirst for knowledge, We're so honored to have him in our Wedding Party.
Andrea Bilducea
Bride
The Beautiful Bride. I was immediately attracted to her thru both her photo (you can see why), and in something that she wrote. She's beautifully expressive with her words, conversation, her laugh. I think we both knew that it was love-at-first-sight when we literally could not stop laughing whenever we spoke--and throughout our entire first date. I could (also literally) feel my heart warm up around her, to the point where I was like, "This is what they mean!" ("they", being poets, song & sonnet writers, etc). I've now grown to learn that the Bride has always had an easy, effervescent regality to her. Andrea's a confident decision-maker. She's developed her God-given (royal) leadership abilities for her Family's benefit, as well as attaining success in her career (multiple times over).
Eric Paul Mangin
Groom
It's difficult to express what its like to be Erics bride. He is constantly making my world feel magical. Whether its flowers for no reason, coffee on my night table when I wake up every morning, or have the bed turned down with pillows propped up the way I like it every night. Hes made my life a fairy tale. Eric is the most thoughtful person I know. He has a nearly psychic empathy, and a genuine interest in getting to know people. He is quick to identify a person's talents and slow to judge any deficiency. He is funny, in a very smart but still relatable kind of way. Many would agree that he always knows the right thing to say and gives the best advice. Eric is a good provider of many things but especially as a spiritual tether to God for our home. His strength in character brings peace to our lives and steadies my anxious heart. Whenever it gets stormy we all know we can count on him to right the ship. He is the man a mother hopes her sons will grow into.