Wedding Party
Rick & Marilyn
Bride's Parents
Dad, you are the reason I am a nerd. You were the original nerd-- calling the Nintendo hotline for guidance on Donkey Kong, showing me how to do a triple jump, wall jumps, and long jumps in Mario 64...and seeing you and mom play Bomberman into the wee hours of the night. These are my most cherished memories, and know that my upbringing is what led me to the love of my life, David. I am forever greatful for that. I adore the Mario "Question Block" that you created together with Mark, and have it hanging in my house where I get to look at it everyday as a beautiful memory of our families coming together. Our coins wouldn't have been hung without your ingenious way of securing them (and without glue!) and the wedding sign would not be effortlessly lightweight and elegant without your expertise and input. I love to hear you think out loud whether you are solving a problem or project, explaining your thoughts, or pronouncing "STATICHAIR" and am grateful when we communicate and I get to hear your honest input. Mom, you are a kind, bubbly, personality, who always puts everyone else first. Thank you for the delicious spring rolls and cut fruit, and giving your time to the fairies, flowers, and rolling with the endless craft ideas I had. I love how you express yourself through both your actions, your food, your words, and your hugs. Your delicious cooking, your work ethic, your determination to get things done right... I hope to be even 1/2 of the wife to David, that you are to Dad.
Mark & Karin
Groom's Parents
We truly appreciate you allowing us to host all our Crafting Days at your home, as well as storing all our wedding props/supplies for the past year. We know it wasn't easy dealing with new additions Val kept adding every couple weeks, but looking at the end result I hope you can agree that it was worth it. Mom, thank you for being overly detailed and preparing all the assets into individually marked boxes and creating a checklist for both the ceremony and the reception. It helped keep us on track to make sure we weren't forgetting anything as well as made the setup flow very easy for all involved. Thank you Mark for all the times you came to my rescue when I broke something or needed troubleshooting. The speech you gave at the reception was by far my favorite part of the whole night. Marriage is truly another kind of Project where we are all working together to build a beautiful life together. This wedding could not have happened without you and Karin graciously opening up your home to hosting our craft days and storing everything while we counted down the days. Karin- I'm so happy that this wedding happened under your guidance, as I've now experienced firsthand that you give 1000% attention to logistics and details. I know where David gets his hyper-focused way of getting into the nitty gritty now. Like mother, like son...you both go above and beyond what's asked of you, taking it to ANOTHER LEVEL! Proud to call myself a Raitz.
Kelly
Bridesmaid
KELLY! I'm so excited for you to post your MASTERPIECE of the welcome stained glass art and brag all about it, because that was ALL YOU! If I didn't marry David... I would loooove to marry you!! I will protect you at all costs, you are my precious nature-loving, bird-watching, art-making queen. I am SO happy this wedding is finally over, so that I can start focusing on adding to YOUR LIFE and adding to YOUR HAPPINESS in the way you have done so selflessly for me. You and Bob have been such ride-or-dies, going out of your way nearly every single Monday to spend time together to create this beautiful day! I love how close we all are, that you can keep me honest and IN CHECK when my creative ideas need to be reigned in and critiqued (I guess you're so good at that because we went to art school together!) while creating our origami cuccos, assembling fairies, creating stained glass art, applying extra dye and paint to florals, signs. While I'm glad that it's over, I'm forever greatful we did it, as I feel closer to you both KellyBob. Excited for more dinners together and chatting Japan Honeymoon!
Winnie
Groomswoman
Winnie, you are the mother who created ALL the Pirhana plants at this wedding and brought your artistic personality and sass to each and every one!! Despite you and Steve under a time-crunch and pressure, you made sure our collective work of the zelda fairies and mario coins were properly detangled and ready to display....You were the self-appointed project manager and glue that held this wedding together. I love getting the random welfare checks and calls from you. You are a REAL ONE, giving me me reality checks reinforcing the points your "work-husband" (and now my husband) would tell me, because at times, you both know me more than I know myself. I admire your tenacity and love your get-up-and-go mentality when it comes to your loved ones. I am honored that I get to be in your life.
Emma
Bridesmaid
Emma - one of the few who truly understood all my videogame references and appreciated all of my music choices in the Garden and Pie Shop. I hope you heard FF Queen's Blood in there! Thank you for the carpools, thank you for picking up the grass wall in SJ, it ended up looking so badass and set the vibe. Thank you for doing all of the tall people tasks every single time I need your statuesque self. Thank you for coming out of your way from SJ to the craft days, I know the commute and the act of crafting itself is draining and appreciate you being consistent. You are beautiful and wonderful at connecting people, thank you for introducing me to so many people who have also in-turn shown me kindness. Thank you for hosting many events over the years that has inspired me to host my own event here-- I'm definitely not anywhere near as good as you as being a good host of get-togethers and parties, but I had a team of people to help me make an attempt-- thank you for being apart of it.
Sarah
Maid of Honor
Sarah, I am so thankful that we were recently reconnected, so that we could re-establish our sisterhood and bond through this wedding process and beyond. (Thank you Mom for bringing us back together!) I am so proud of the woman you have become over the years with you husband Elmer and can't wait to see both our respective marriages and family bond together. I am so happy you've been present with me physically multiple craft days throughout the wedding process, and emotionally when I needed it most through our phone calls and dates. I will be there for you always and forever, sister.
Dane
Best Man
Thank you for accepting the Role as Best Man. From checking in each week and asking what you could assist with from afar, to taking the reins and setting up the ceremony before our arrival. Our 25 years of friendship continues strong no matter the distance. Your immense experience in event production (and theater production degree) was greatly utilized and put to it's paces. We look forward to getting together with both you and Michelle in your new home. We are overdue for a visit up your way.
Alex
Groomsman
The morning of the Wedding, you were informed with little knowledge on how the Reception should be set up and without question, you took control, roaming around the venue with a map and delegated out everything that needed to happen. It came together so fluidly it gave us a sigh of relief that we could focus on ourselves a bit.
Krystia
Getting Ready Host
We truly appreciate you hosting our Getting Ready in the morning. It was wonderful to be at a familiar warm and loving home to provide a relaxing environment for everyone. No matter what we needed, you were there to assist. We are happy to be your only friends you reach out to in the Bay when you are in town 1-2 times a year. Looking forward to seeing you again Holiday.
Chicken Pie Shop
Ceremony Venue
They were absolutely incredible to work with in giving us creative freedom to do anything we wanted to do with the store. We had multiple visits over the past year to take measurements, photos, and plan our vision. Not only is it a great venue, we heard many wonderful praises from the food that was made. We encourage you to come back and visit and try their full menu selection.