Wedding Party

Maddie Mertens

Bride

James Markus

Groom

Jack Mertens

Man of Honor

Jack (or Tate) and Maddie have been friends since the day she was born. Being only a year, a month, and 7 days apart they were always treated as twins and they secretly pretended they were anyway. They shared a home, friends, school, and childhood and have always been each others partners in crime (although it was usually Maddie's idea and almost always ended up getting Tate in trouble). There is no one more worthy of being Maddie's Man of Honor, the choice was easy when life gave Maddie a built in best friend.

Bryan Lindsay

Best Man

Bryan and James first became enemies in 5th grade. Shortly after, they reconciled and became best friends when they formed a two-person guild. They bonded over their affinity for nerdy things, like fantasy (hence the guild). Their friendship continued through middle school, high school, and beyond. Even though their guild has long since dissolved, Bryan and James still love each other's company and enjoy playing video games, talking about movies, and bonding over nerdy things, like fantasy.

Vincent Doung

Bridesman

Vincent and Maddie met in grade school at Holy Trinity. Vincent is one of Tate's best friends that slowly also turned into Maddie's as well. They have maintained a friendship with Vincent living in California for grad school with facetimes and home visits on holidays.

Jordan Poelker

Groomsman

Jordan is James' younger brother. They've shared many years of friendship and brotherly love. The first memories they have of each other are of playing Donkey Kong Country on SNES. They still have not beaten it. Since then they've played many more video games and have continued to grow together. They are both very proud of each other.

Teresa Kayser

Bridesmaid

Teresa and Maddie met in kindergarten at OLP. They have managed to keep in touch from grade school, middle school, high school, college in different states, and now big kids with real jobs. In middle school they spent their time watching youtube videos in Pat's office and pretending to be old people. Even now with Teresa living in Minnesota after going to school there, they have frequent Facetime dates to watch Hunger Games and Degrassi and catch up on life.

Ryan Keeven

Groomsman

Ryan is James' older brother. They shared a childhood of (mis)adventure, pranks, and joy. These days, they love to talk about Zelda, spend time with each other and Ryan's beautiful family, and make each other laugh. They're always excited to share new hobbies, ideas, and stories. They each love the memories they've made together over the years and the person their brother has grown to be.

Mackenzie Spurlock

Bridesmaid

Mackenzie and Maddie met in middle school playing sports together. They quickly became close friends bonding over their love of Adventure Time and creating Stick Man comics. They have remained close despite the distance between them, Mackenize living in Canada, Washington, and now California. Their friendship has endured countless sleepovers, homemade scary movies, and 24hr greyhound bus trips to Canada from St. Louis. No matter how far they have always taken time to meet and catch up.

Jordan Ingram

Groomsman

Jordan and James met in Mr. Matheny's 6th grade homeroom. They've remained best friends since. Like most of James' friends, they were both nerds. They've enjoyed many bad horror movie nights (their favorite is the V/H/S series). They also enjoy video games and the occasional good movie. Despite Jordan's best efforts, James has always felt welcome and loved by the Ingram family, as have many of the Ingram children's friends.

Tony Deluvia

Bridesman

Tony and Maddie met in high school and became close attending UMSL, where they both graduated from Nursing. They have experienced D'Urso classes, frat parties, boy troubles, and Tony was even Maddie's first patient she practiced blood draws on. Tony and Maddie are now both successful nurses and always make time to talk about their health care horror stories and all of the life in between.

Scott Gmoser

Groomsman

Scott and James also met in 6th grade. Scott is one of the few friends that is still allowed to call James "Timmy." In high school, they ran cross country (along with Jordan) and played tennis. Now they enjoy game nights and playing video games together. And Scott likes to try to get James to join his cult - I mean exercise group.

Brianna Leschner

Bridesmaid

Maddie and Brianna became friends after graduating college. They both realized making friends in adulthood was way harder than they thought, but were determined. There was an immediate connection and they have grown close despite the short time they have known each other. Brianna got married November 2023 with Maddie as one of her bridesmaids. They have matching tattoos that they would be happy to show off to anyone that asks.

Ainslie Streeter

Groomsman

Ainslie and James also met each other in 6th grade. The years have been filled with memorable run-ins, and their friendship has blossomed wonderfully. Ainslie and James enjoy chatting and playing video games. James likes to visit Ainslie at the restaurant where he is the chef.