Wedding Party
Katie Melville
Maid of Honor
Loren is not only my sister, but my best friend. We are the definition of the stereotypical older/younger sister duo. Whatever Loren did, naturally I had to do too. She joined marching band, so I joined marching band. She went to Mizzou, so obviously I was going to Mizzou. She chose nursing as a career, and suddenly nursing sounded like a great idea to me too. When Tripp came into her life, I’ll admit I was a little unsure about having to share my sister. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that he not only lived up to every expectation, but exceeded them. Watching the two of them together has been so special, and I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate this next chapter with them.
Catherine Brown
Maid of Honor
I met Loren over 10 years ago in the high school marching band. Through every performance, competition, and Tuesday late-night rehearsal, she has always been the most supportive, joyful, goofy, and brilliant person to be around. Tripp is the luckiest guy in the world to be marrying my best friend. Congratulations to you both!
Lucy Tobey
Bridesmaid
Hi I’m Lucy! I’m Loren’s future sister in law and Tripp’s sister! Loren and I met when she started dating Tripp. At the time, she and I were both in nursing school, and we bonded over our love for nursing, along with the stories that came out of it. We’ve been on a handful of family vacations together, and every time, her and I are squarely on team “chill vacation”. A cute memory was from a trip to Mexico. Loren and I stopped at the resort taco stand to grab tacos and pet the resident resort dog as we headed towards the beach. As we descended the stairs and approached the huge crowd of people, Loren exclaimed “Bubba!” and Tripp instantly swiveled his head around and found her. In that perfect sunny moment, it was apparent that the two of them were truly each other’s person. Here’s to a lifetime of more beautiful moments together!
Caroline Peters
Bridesmaid
I met Loren in college through our Theta Sorority during the peak of Covid when we all desperately needed a little fun and connection. What started as me needing an escape quickly turned into me becoming the unofficial third roommate - and the rest is history! We made unforgettable memories together, met amazing friends, partied our way through college, and truly had the best time. After graduation, we both ended up in St. Louis and have stayed inseparable ever since. I’m beyond excited to celebrate Loren and Tripp’s big day!
Sydney Taylor
Bridesmaid
Loren and I first crossed paths during our freshman year at Mizzou when we both pledged Kappa Alpha Theta. Some of my favorite memories were made during our sophomore year, when we lived just down the hall from each other in the Theta house and spent countless late nights sharing snacks, laughs, and memories. After graduation, we traded Columbia for St. Louis, where our friendship has only continued to blossom. From apartment moves to job changes and everything in between, it has been amazing experiencing adulthood together, and an even greater joy to watch Loren and Tripp’s beautiful relationship grow over the years. I am so incredibly honored to stand by her side as a bridesmaid, and I can't wait to celebrate their next chapter!
Kaitlin Hartig
Bridesmaid
I met Loren on my first day of Mercy onboarding classes. We did not see much of each other until we were on our own in Mother Baby. We became friends through shared experiences and 2 a.m. nursery crash-outs. We frequently went on “sodie-pop o’clocks.” Around 10 p.m., she would call my work phone and ask if I wanted to get a soda, and it became a frequent occurrence. We then started hanging out outside of work and going to different restaurants and places together. She quickly became a close friend of mine. Loren is the type of friend who is always down to sit on a patio, get drinks, try a new restaurant, or go on a girls’ trip. She is someone I can always talk to or ask for an opinion. I can truly say that my life has benefited greatly from having Loren in it. I value our friendship so much and cannot wait to watch her walk down the aisle and marry her other half.
Lydiah Russell
Bridesmaid
Loren and I met when I transferred to Mother/Baby at the hospital where we both worked at the time. True to her kind nature, Loren welcomed me with open arms and showed genuine interest in my life. We became fast friends, taking our lunch breaks and rounding on our patients together. It was plain to see that I had met my match! Since then, our friendship has grown leaps and bounds from where it all started. We’ve walked through many major life events together, but her wedding is bound to be the most exciting one yet. We certainly know how to liven up a room together- and I can’t wait to help bring the energy on the wedding day.
Andrew Iram
Best Man
I met Tripp in college as a sophomore and we quickly became fast friends with shared interests like the outdoors, history, and fishing. Even when our careers took us to different states we stayed in close touch and made several weekend plans. Tripp is my closest friend and someone I've always admired for his hard work and dedication to all he does. Some of my favorite memories of Tripp are when spilled an entire box of chips ahoy in my college bed while I was away and when he dressed up as Garfield for halloween.
Andrew Barton
Best Man
Tripp and I first met after spending 3 years in the same class everyday and never speaking to each other the entire time. Then after completing our junior year service event together we spent the last year of high school mostly arguing over pointless and ridiculous things. Like that time he called a bakery to try and prove I was pronouncing fondant wrong (he was wrong). After his last minute decision to switch the S&T for college and the immense challenge of convincing the fine gentlemen of the Sig Ep recruitment committee he was cool enough join. We then spent our college days mostly getting drunk in a garage with the occasional adventure leaving us stranded in the wilderness and Tripp always failing to catch any fish.
Alex Heinonen
Groomsman
Tripp and I met sophomore year of high school after randomly sitting next to each other in geometry class and hitting it off. One of my earliest memories with him is there being a very serious moment of silence in that class and us looking at each other in the middle of it and bursting out laughing for no good reason and everyone in the room turning to look at us. Pretty quickly, similar shenanigans ensued in our other classes and after school. Our friendship early on was particularly disastrous for the rubber on his parent’s tires and the conveniently located retirement home that happened to have a nice lot to drift out of. I guess that turned out to be a pretty good foundation for a friendship.
Alex Touami
Groomsman
Tripp and I met in college and we instantly hit it off. We bonded over everything. Some of my favorite memories with Tripp were when we would go to the gym, and go back to his apartment and cook an amazing meal.
Nick Hepburn
Groomsman
I met Tripp my freshman year of college, when we both received the Sigma Phi Epsilon Balanced Man Scholarship. Despite that early connection, we didn’t become close friends until our senior year. Between the two of us, we had so many internships during the school year that we only actually lived in Rolla, Missouri for about 1.5 of our 4 years in school. Looking back, I think we shared a mutual admiration for each other’s work ethic and intelligence. Senior year, Tripp and I had the privilege of living together. Some of my favorite memories are the dinner parties we threw around a rickety table I’d found on the side of the road, paired with a mismatched assortment of folding chairs and office chairs. We shared a lot of laughs in that kitchen.
Keyvan Parsan
Groomsman
I met Tripp in Flight Sim at Boeing. He noticed I was eating Quest protein bars and chips and we started chatting about lifting and cooking. Eventually, we went on pudding runs to the Boeing cafeteria, and started meeting at the gym. Soon we started cooking some meals together since that was a shared interest, even bringing in our friend, William. One of my favorite memories of Tripp is him asking for help making some sausages out of a deer he and his friend shot. We came over and then, having underestimated the time it would take, spent the five hours grinding meat and filling casings.
Eric Westhoff
Groomsman
I’ve known Loren since high school, we met in 2015 at marching band practice and eventually became close friends. I didn’t meet Tripp until much later, in the summer of 2021, when Loren brought him by one of our group hangouts at my parents’ house for about five minutes, shortly after they had started dating. A few months later, I was sitting in my first C++ class at S&T when some random guy greeted me by name and started talking about my high school friend group. It took me a minute, but I eventually realized it was Tripp. From there, we started talking and working on assignments together, eventually becoming good friends ourselves. Five years later, I’m grateful to call Tripp one of my best friends.