Christopher & Carrie
Wedding Party
Carrie Johnson
Bride
A native of Yankton, SD, Carrie attended college at American University in Washington D.C., focusing on public policy and economic development in rural and tribal communities. After graduating, she served as a staffer to U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (no relation!) for six years, also finding time to finish her MBA at Johns Hopkins University. Following Senator Johnson's retirement in 2015, Carrie moved back to South Dakota to work on government relations for SDN Communciations, a regional broadband provider based in Sioux Falls, SD. Carrie met Christopher at a mutual friend's wedding in her hometown Yankton. In 2017, Carrie started a new job with AT&T and moved back to Washington, D.C. She and Christopher live in a cute -- but very tiny -- carriage house on Capitol Hill.
Christopher Vondracek
Groom
Christopher grew up in Wells, MN, and went to college at the University of South Dakota, studying journalism. Playing in a band, he stayed in Vermillion and picked up his M.A. in English before entering the family business: education. (One Christmas, his dad's family added up over 300 combined years of teaching!) Christopher taught college English in Winona and St. Paul. He did other creative "things," like write poetry and release music. Last spring, he finished his MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline and landed a job as reporter with a legal news service. After moving to D.C., he accepted a reporting gig with the Rapid City newspaper on the education/features beat, though he's covered a bit of everything, including fires, prairie dogs, and infectious waste!
Amy Johnson
Maid of Honor
Amy graduated from Creighton University in 2015. Before moving out to Los Angeles, she and Carrie met Christopher for the first time at a Yankton wedding for Ryan and Mallory. After three years as an accountant for a real estate company in Bel Air, CA, Amy is entering the physician's assistant program at the University of South Dakota. When Amy was still young, she was saddened thinking her twin sisters--Leslie and Laura--would likely pick each other for maids of honor, so big sis Carrie promised her youngest sibling she would pick Amy as her maid of honor. After Christopher proposed to Carrie, Amy was the first person to learn about the engagement and was the first invited to join the wedding party.
Leo Vondracek
Best Man
Leo is a musician based in Los Angeles. A University of Minnesota graduate in English, Leo played in Minneapolis with various bands, including an infamous all-male Britney Spears cover band. In 2017, Christopher's only sibling moved out to LA where he continues to release indie-pop songs and tour behind his pseudonym, Joey Joey Michaels. This last year, he toured America and Europe as the keyboardist for singer-songwriter, Dent May. Leo will tour again this summer right up until the wedding. The brothers have made music together since high school with hometown friends. The Golden Bubbles (currently recording their third album!) will perform at the wedding reception.
Maxine Behm
Matron of Honor
A native of the Twin Cities, Maxine is Carrie's first cousin and often appears in photographs--as the one brunette--amongst the four blonde Johnson sisters. She is lovingly referred to as Carrie's sister cousin. Maxine and husband Jon have daughter, Lila (a flower girl!), and make their home in the Twin Cities. They are avid travelers and music lovers. An Occupational Therapist (OT) with Park Nicollet and a yogi, Maxine is a graduate of Hamline University and St. Kate's. She is expecting the couple's second child this fall.
Michael Soma
Groomsman
Michael and Christopher have been friends since childhood, when their mothers taught English together in Blue Earth, MN. Growing up, they did music, theatre, and sports together. After college at St. Olaf (where he played on the baseball team and double-majored in math and religion), Michael received his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Minnesota. Michael now lives with his wife, Britt, and three children in Duxbury, MA (as charming as it sounds), where he works as a senior data analyst for Medtronic.
Altman Studeny
Groomsman
Altman is an artist and art professor at Black Hills State University. A proud native of little Plankinton, SD, Altman received his MFA from the Maine College of Art, and then he returned home to teach (and become a city councilmember!). Altman and Christopher befriended each other while appearing on Rock Garden Tour (a late night radio show) and have since enjoyed exploring and talking about things like where the west actually begins (White Lake, SD). An avid reader, cultural anthropologist, and journeyman humorist, Altman recently put on a gallery show at the SD School of Mines and his Last Supper ...with Jell-O salad paintings are local legends.
Laura Johnson
Bridesmaid
Laura (Carrie's sister) is an artist, singer, a former NYC PR publicist, a Peace Corps volunteer of two years in Lesotho, Africa, and a recent graduate of the Carlson MBA program at the University of Minnesota. She attended college (with her twin sister, Leslie!) at the University of Oregon, where many of her father Dan's family lives. A resident of Uptown Minneapolis, Laura was commissioned to paint a mural for the Carlson Business School, under the title, "Business: A Force for Good."
Tom McGill
Groomsman
Christopher's uncle Tommy is a longtime storyteller living in Vermillion, where he graduated from USD. Called "News from Pierre" by lovers of the Rock Garden Tour, Tommy tells tales of a runaway miniature pony, an illegal shearer in Hot Springs, and the etymology of "loose meat sandwiches" (i.e. "taverns"). A book of his renditions on South Dakota stories--The Owl Is Great at Being Silent--was published in 2016, and he continues to tell stories on KRGT (The Rock Garden Tour's Internet radio station).
Leslie Johnson
Bridesmaid
Leslie (Carrie's sister) is a resident of Minneapolis and a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota's landscape architecture master's program. Leslie was awarded the School of Design's Scholar of Year and completed a final project on water conservation techniques that were put into practice in India. Before graduate school, Leslie lived in DC while interning for the Smithsonian and taught English at a primary school in Korea. A watercolor wiz, writer, drone operator, and voracious reader, Leslie (along with Laura) will sing along with The Golden Bubbles as official "Bublettes" for the night's entertainment.
Bill McGill
Groomsman
Christopher's uncle Bill went to South Dakota State University and had a successful career as a business-owner in the talent search industry. Now a resident of downtown Minneapolis with his wife, Mary, Bill is an avid reader, cyclist, and world traveler. Bill also was a 2X runner-up in the famous "State B" HS basketball championships in South Dakota with the Beresford Watchdogs (Bill is modest, though, so you may need to ask News to tell the story). One of Christopher's greatest joys was introducing Carrie to Bill and Mary the night of his birthday party in St. Paul and seeing them hit it off.
Amy Bush
Bridesmaid
A native of New Hampshire, Amy and Carrie met thanks to American University's Housing and Dining Program. They were matched as roommates and became friends, along with their other roomies, Vicky and Laura, in their cramped quad dorm room. Amy now works as a federal fact-checker with the Government Accountability Office, and she has been known to bike long distances and tell stories at open-mics around D.C. Carrie and matron of honor Kate agree Amy is the funniest person they know. Although she won't be officiating this wedding ceremony, she has married five other couples!
Ted Heeren
Groomsman
Christopher's cousin The Flowerman owns an ad agency on the prairie, Fresh Produce. While majoring in horticulture and journalism in college at SDSU, he created the Rock Garden Tour, a rock n' roll/gardening radio show that is regularly featured on South Dakota Public Broadcasting. In addition to being a talented storyteller, vocalist, and ideas guy, Ted's show is responsible for many friendships and romances celebrated at today's wedding. With his wife, artist/teacher Liz, and son, ring-bearer, Sylvester, Ted lives in downtown Sioux Falls (the Queen City).
Erin Fitzgerald
Bridesmaid
Erin met Carrie in D.C. as a fellow Dakotan living on Capitol Hill and a confidant working on rural broadband policy. A native of North Dakota, she worked for Senator Kent Conrad, got her law degree from UW-Madison, and now works and lives in D.C. with her husband Mike (They got hitched in January 2018 by fellow bridesmaid Amy Bush!). When Carrie would return back to the Hill after night class at Johns Hopkins, she would often pick up a bottle of wine and share a nightcap with Erin on her way back to Amy and her shared apartment a few blocks away. Erin is a greyhound enthusiast (the dog, not the bus system...though she's fine with that, too).
Jared Fette
Groomsman
Longtime friend of Christopher's from Wells, MN, Jared is not just a good friend of Christopher and Leo's, but sort of a third sibling. He has drummed nearly since the inception of The Golden Bubbles and would often continue hanging out at the Vondracek household long after everyone had gone to sleep. Now a resident of northeast Minneapolis with his super awesome partner, Caroline, Jared works for MetroTransit, helping people get from Point A to Point B. He also played trumpet in the HS band directed by Christopher's father, George.
Carrie Kranz
Bridesmaid
Carrie Kranz has been a friend of Carrie's since childhood. They became friends in middle schools and have been bosom friends ever since, as Anne of Green Gables would say. Carrie K. lives in Yankton, with her husband, Matt, and their two children. She loves the outdoors and is always up for a run, bike ride, hike, or picnic. The bride Carrie had an unfortunate, yet not serious, rollerblading accident while blading with Carrie K. and has since retired rollerblading. Carrie K. works in sales for a local manufacturing company and uses her Spanish skills on a daily basis working with international customers.
Brandon Mutschler
Groomsman
Brandon is another longtime friend of Christopher and Leo's from home. After playing in bands with Leo and Jared in high school, Brandon served in the US Navy for four years before arriving in the Twin Cities just in time for The Golden Bubbles to be looking for a guitarist. After graduating with a degree in geology from the University of Minnesota, Brandon met his wonderful wife Katie and landed a job as a compliance officer with a local car dealership. In April, they welcomed their first child, Lorelai, into the world.
Jessica Mathison Srstka
Bridesmaid
Jessica and Carrie became friends while attending Lincoln Elementary School in Yankton. Jessica and Carrie were an odd friend couple -- with Jessica tall for her age and Carrie short for her age. Being friends with Jessica had many perks, including protection from the occasional bully on the playground. In the "dog eat dog world" of elementary school, it helps to have a tall friend when you're a pipsqueak. At the fifth grade graduation, Jessica played piano, while Carrie recreated the scene from the movie "Big" and danced upon a set of flattened cardboard boxes painted to look like piano keys. Now an M.D. in Charlottesville, VA, Jessica and her husband, Mike, are raising their daughter, with another babe on the way this fall. Jessica remains a beautiful and talented pianist and trumpeter.
Felicia Barnes
Groomswoman
Felicia Barnes--a childhood friend of Carrie's and a college buddy of Christopher's--is how Carrie and Christopher met! Carrie and Felicia had many similar interests while growing up, including debate, choir, theater, environmentalist club, and oral interp. Christopher and Felicia became good friends while working on the college newspaper staff at USD. Felicia went to Georgetown Law and after stints clerking for federal judges in Kansas and West Virginia, Felicia is back in DC working with a law firm. When not doing important legal things, Felicia loves to travel and is active in the DC improv community (where she runs into Bridesmaid Amy's boyfriend, David!). Getting to mutually hang out with their good friend Felicia has been a joy of Christopher and Carrie's time in DC.
Dan Johnson
Father of the Bride
Dan worked as an orthopedic surgeon in Yankton before his retirement in 2017. He now occasionally picks up shifts and covers call in Aberdeen, SD. A native of Edgemont, SD in southwestern South Dakota, Dan enjoys time at the family cabin, Highmark, south of Hill City in the Black Hills. He is an avid distance runner, bird watcher, and fly fisherman. He has joined dozens of mission trips to Haiti and is involved in Helping Hands for Haiti, a local nonprofit based in South Dakota. On more than one occasion so far, Dan's deep wealth of knowledge on ecology and the medical arts has come in handy for Christopher ("on background") as he's filed stories from Rapid City.
Mary Milroy
Mother of the Bride
Born in Winnipeg and a native of White Bear Lake, MN, Mary recently retired as a general surgeon specializing in breast disease in Yankton. She is a consummate student and lover of learning. While raising four daughters and leading a medical practice, she learned Spanish, dressage horseback riding, and piloting planes. She most recently added Master Gardener to the list, so talk with Mary if your houseplant is looking droopy. She is an expert at keeping orchids alive, a feat that amazes Carrie, who buys orchids from the grocery store with the expectation they have a shelf life of a week or two. Mary met Dan in medical school at USD and loves to travel -- both abroad and within the U.S. to visit her sisters Dee and Vivian in Minnesota and sister Cathy in Alaska and brother Jim in Omaha.
George Vondracek
Father of the Groom
A native of Verdigre, NE (just an hour down the Missouri from Yankton), George did two years at University of South Dakota--Springfield (now a prison) and graduated from Yankton College (also now a prison!). After meeting Rita as a fellow teacher in tiny Hurley, SD, they moved to Minnesota, where he taught high school instrumental music for over 30 years in the United South Central school district (including teaching both his sons). His bands could be seen in the summers from California to Rhode Island to Florida before his "retirement" in 2015. Now a principal of a Catholic school in Montgomery, MN, George enjoys spending his summer months up on his family's cabin in northern Minnesota.
Rita McGill Vondracek
Mother of the Groom
A graduate of Beresford, SD, Rita won the state's speech competition in high school (She can be bashful, so you'll need to ask her sister Pat for the story!). Rita was an English teacher in Blue Earth, MN for many years. A law school graduate from William Mitchell, she now is a school administrator in Wells. With her free time, Rita starred in local theatre productions, sings in the church choir, plays piano, and enjoys traveling with George. An avid reader and connoisseur of family heritage, Rita enjoys re-telling stories passed down through her aunts and uncles, including grandmother, Delia, born in 1889 who helped raise Rita in their large, sometimes chaotic Irish-American family.
Lila Behm
Flower Girl
Lila is the delight of parents Maxine and Jon and a joy for Grandma Vivian. Carrie is Lila's Godmother, and Carrie and Christopher love to see Lila whenever they're back in Minnesota. Ask Lila how her stuffed animal Biscuit is doing. After receiving a toy veterinarian kit, Lila nursed the lovable pup Biscuit back to good health, and he's now the apple of little Lila's eye.
Sylvester
Ring Bearer
Son of Ted and Liz Heeren, Sylvie lived down the street from Christopher and Carrie in Sioux Falls for two years and his laughter in the park could often be heard. He has gone through many ever-curious phases--rockets, black holes, lasers etc.--keeping his parents on their toes. He lives on the wild side.
Kayleigh and Bella Pizzute
Flower Girl
Kayleigh and Bella are joining Lila as Flower Girls for Carrie and Christopher's wedding day. Kayleigh and Bella are sisters and live in Fairbanks, Alaska, with their older sister Noelle and Mom Brandie (Carrie's cousin). Since retiring and becoming an empty-nester, Carrie's mother Mary has enjoyed more regular visits to Alaska to see her sister Cathy (Carrie's Aunt). Carrie and Christopher are thrilled Cathy, Gary, Brandie, and the girls made the trip down to the Lower 48 for the wedding!