Matron of Honor
Abby and I basically became friends instantly. We met through our involvement with the Marion Home School plays during my junior year about 9 years ago. Come to think of it, we never really interacted on the stage together, but Abby invited me to join a group of people who were going to McDonald's after play practice one night and I got roped into the weekly McDonald's hang out. Abby convinced me that following spring to get involved in the Marion Home School Mock Trial team. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I absolutely loved it! Since then, Abby has always been my go-to-girl. Whenever something exciting or terrible happens in my life, I go to her and always know she's there to provide a listening ear and solid advice.
Bridesmaid
I met Kari at Olivet's orientation in 2014 where we were awkwardly clumped with the rest of the girls who were transferring to ONU that coming fall. We played a lame ice breaker game to get to know and choose our future roommate in less than 24 hours (wow, no pressure). I don't remember the info that we had to share, but I distinctly remember Kari saying, "People say I remind them a lot of Tinker Bell and I love that. My favorite color is pink, but only because I don't think that sparkles is a color." If you know Kari, that's a pretty accurate description of her personality. We both graduated with our B.S. in Elementary Education. Kari, thanks for always helping me with our assignments and I'm sorry for making you mad when I procrastinated projects, but still managed to get good grades.
Bridesmaid
Abby and I met when we were both camp counselors at East Iowa Bible Camp in 2015. I was pretty intimidated by "Bakes" when I first met her. I mean, come on, what kind of person is known for going by their last name? My nerves were quickly put to rest when I got to know her, though, working at a camp with hundreds of different kids every week for an entire summer will push you to get to know people. That was the summer she started being called "Bae-anna," but Tyler has yet to catch onto that trend. For most of our friendship, Ab-bae (girl, did you think I forgot??) has lived in Texas, which has been so hard! But every time she comes home to visit, we pick up where we left off and get right back into our old shenanigans.
Bridesmaid
Alyssa is another one of my high school friends. She was part of the group that made the weekly McDonald's trips after play practice (but seriously guys, how are we still alive after all that McD's?). Alyssa is one of my constants. Always up for coffee, hanging out, a spontaneous road trip. Always up for the adventure of life. She has also always been willing to humbly ask for advice and also provide me with some much needed advice in return. She is fiercely loyal and a deep thinker, which is why I love having her around because I know that she is always ready and willing to help me or anyone else. Thank you for being you, Al. And for being slightly more indecisive than I am. ;)
Best Man
(GHOSTIOWA) Ben's father (duh) that I met when I was in Noelridge's youth group through Ben. I would occasionally go over to Ben's house to play video games with him and I found out Arlan also played Call of Duty, which gave me the initial avenue to have a friendship with him, too. But when I was going through some of the darker time of my life, he was able to step in as a father figure and provide a lot of guidance on who I wanted to be. We've been through a fair amount together, but that's one of the most important reasons why he's my Best (old - oh wait, did I say that?) Man.
Groomsman
(MissingGrave) Arlan's son (...Duh) that I met when I was young and in Noelridge's youth group. We both like games and watched a couple of the same shows, so we got along well from the start. That just naturally carried onto a lasting friendship that hasn't really gone away at all over time. We don't play as many games together as we did (HINT HINT), but we still attend the same GURPS session with my friends from high school. (Ben, if you're reading this, just remember the Infected shenaniganry)
Groomsman
(VVaffle) In my high school years, I played Uncharted 3 multiplayer a whole heckuva lot. So much so, that I was good enough to join a team and play it competitively for a couple years. But before all of that happened I was playing a normal match when I heard banter from two players on an enemy team. One of these players was Adrian and the other was Clonecat (who was talking the most out of the two). I remember having enough fun with that that I set a friend request to Clonecat after that match and then proceeded to play with the two of them for a couple hours. I sent a request to Adrian at the end of that session and to my surprise, he accepted. That was around 8 years ago. We've been gaming together since then, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon.
Groomsman
(Beowolf) Adrian's cousin. We didn't get off on the best foot at first, looking back on it. I was the competitive guy who wanted to win and David was the guy who really was just having fun and really had little interest in whether or not we ultimately won. But eventually, (after an incident with a Minecraft seed ban) we did become friends, much like how I did with Adrian. We've shared some deep conversations and just generally had a blast over the years. Definitely the guy you want for a complex (but not really) Minecraft mining network.