Mary Jane & Patrick
Our Favorite People
Pat McKenney
Groom
Patrick McKenney is the most fun person you could ever meet. He is an administrative assistant to a neurologist and loves the Kansas City Royals, trying involved new recipes, and can even beat the undefeated champ of Trivial Pursuit while making it look easy. The very best thing about Pat is that he is never “too cool” to tell you just how much he likes one of these new things he just learned about. Pat will call you to rave about how he just had the best biscuits and gravy in town, or to try to get you to text your mom to watch a show he just finished binging on Netflix. Pat is unapologetic about the things he loves and enthusiastic to tell you why you should love these things yourself. His enthusiasm for the things he loves is infectious until you find yourself loving those things as much as he does. To find yourself among the things that Pat holds dear is one of the happiest surprises a person can enjoy in this life, and everyone ought to be that lucky, I think.
MaryJane Mitscher
Bride
We'd been dating for maybe two months when I knew I was in love with her. Kinda soon, but I knew. But then I told Mary Jane, and she laughed at me. Joke's on her, Mary Jane is marrying me! She is without a doubt my best friend. There is no one I'd rather be with. We try new restaurants, we watch way too much Law and Order SVU and trashy TV. She's a fantastic social worker, who after torching UMKC's graduate program decided that she'd make the LMSW and LCSW tests look easy. Impressive, but possibly mean to other aspiring social workers. But she did. To anyone reading this that is looking at taking the licensure exams, sorry that she made it look easy, it's not. Her laugh is possibly my favorite thing about her. It brings me great joy to see her laugh at things aimed towards 12 year olds (things I laugh at too). Nothing makes my day more than watching her enrapt in a movie she really loves like Harold and Kumar. I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.
Trevor Mitscher
Man of Honor
Trevor and MaryJane met on a very important date in history – his birth, and her first day having a little brother. Since then, they have been the best of friends on any given day, and he has made every friend’s dinner party conversation a lot more animated and every long hike even more eventful with a hundred back and forth “would you rather?” questions on the way up and down the trail. It only makes sense that Trevor holds a pretty bouquet on another important day – the one where he got his first brother!
Shawn Carey
Best Man
I have know Shawn longer than any of my wedding party. I met him in fourth grade, and to be honest, I don't think we liked each other at that time. But then we realized that we both loved the GI Joes, and became friends. Right after that he moved down the street which kinda solidified us becoming such good friends. We were always great friends. He went off to Vermont for college, me to Chicago (Loyola University Chicago, expect to hear that again), and we remained great friends. To be honest, I always looked at my Lansing friends as great people that I felt lucky to have. Gates, Reed, Kristen, etc, but Shawn was always my best friend, and that's why he's my best man.
Jessica Brooks
Matron of Honor
Jessica and MaryJane met in fifth grade QUEST class – bored in regular class and bored with every run of the mill adventure in the decades since then. Jess knows the bad and the good – ugly outfits, cheap diners, trashy reality television, long drives, challenging Kanye West verses to memorize, growing up, and new adventure buddies young and old.
Gates Brown
Groomsman
Gates is with out a doubt, possibly the best person I know. It helps that his wife, Marty is just as good as him and they make each other better, hard to believe. Gates is interesting. He knows more about Eisenhower than anyone, though he claims that DDE didn't have a relationship with his driver during WW2. Gates has always been incredibly supportive, and he's always set an example. He's set an example as a married man, that I really look to emulate, and though I've been a good/decentish Catholic for my life, he's one I look to and think, man, I can be better.
Stephanie Alderman-Oler
Bridesmaid
Stephanie and MaryJane met in seventh grade at Indian Trail Junior High when they both wanted so badly to be “punk rock.” Since that moment they have rebelled against the system with vegetarian food and mix CDs where they still had their place in adulthood. They read wedding magazines at the dingy Dillons up the street in Olathe, Kansas and the rest was history – hello 2022!
Reed Brown
Groomsman
Reed, he's an interesting and interested guy. He's smart, he's athletic, he's a good husband and father. He's also the guy that finds something interesting about you. He's your friend and he will say why. The thing I really appreciate about him so much though is when he met MaryJane. He listens to the NPR, much like I do, but he used that to really try and connect with MaryJane, and really thought she was incredibly interesting. It's why she liked him best until she met Kristen.
Leah Hogan
Bridesmaid
Leah was MaryJane’s reluctant ride-along trainee in the Community Assistance Program at TMCBH, and for better or for worse MaryJane was never shy about anonymously complimenting Leah’s pretty red hair in front of the whole entire universe and everyone at Leah’s first team retreat. Since then, they have never found a problem a pizza, a bottle of wine, and a rescue dog couldn’t solve.
Kristen French
Groomswoman
I've known Kristen since I was 16. I think the first time I met her, she was showing off toe socks, which I thought was kinda weird, but charming. As I got to know her better, (we did date, like 20 years ago) she got to know my friends better, who became her friends. I have to say, in the long time I've known her, she's always been loyal, but honest...compassionate and empathetic. She's stronger than she knows, and she has one of the best senses of humor I've come across, plus she has some decent pipes. Pipes she uses to sing happy birthday every year. Last year, Mary Jane and I had our engagement party, and of course, I invited Kristen to come from the east coast. I asked not realizing she'd come. She not only came but helped out a ton and right away became fast friends with my favorite person...Omar...I mean Mary Jane. It meant a lot to me that she and Mary Jane became friends, but they became really good friends. Plus that makes it easy for us to have couples weekends with me, Mary Jane, Kristen, and Shawn. But, anyways, Kristen is a person who I've always felt is in my corner. And that's why she's a groomswoman. She's one of the top five people I've ever met, and I'm a lucky person to know her.
Willa Billingsley
Bridesmaid
Willa and MaryJane met in Mrs. Lightener’s kindergarten class at Havencroft Elementary School and somehow came out in adulthood with mutual passions for celebrity gossip conspiracy theories, social justice, and all of the good food Kansas City has to offer.
Pat Crame
Groomsman
Pat and I have kind of always been close I think. Not like him and Alan, but close. We just kind of got each other, which I think was that we were in Chicago, but he was from Kentucky, and me from Kansas. Pat's always been a great friend. He's loyal, but not blindly loyal, he'll call you on your mess. He's fun, really fun. You'll have a great time hanging out with him. I don't know if I've ever met anyone with such a great sense of humor. And when he knows he’s being funny, he erupts into laughter. Jimmy Fallon should take lessons. Pat laughs when he knows he’s funny. He's also a pretty mature guy who has great insight into whatever you need. Some of that, or most might be due to Joanne, but not all. I can say that I've always had a great time with Pat, and I'm glad he's going to be here with me when I get married.
Amanda Elliott
Bridesmaid
Amanda and MaryJane met through friends of friends in the tangled web of post-Olathe-high-schools and became attached at the Marvel film hip. They maintained a friendship across oceans and seas and terrible comic book adaptations with a healthy love of craft beer, 2000s emo jams, and rose gold that the years couldn’t tarnish.
Ben Lamb
Groomsman
QAT - First thing I remember is coming over to MaryJane's house for the first time and they were playing some weird scrabble game. I told her to use the word QAT, a plant that gets people high in sub Saharan Africa. Ben seemed impressed when I explained it. Since then, I've gotten to know him, and he's one of the most fascinating people I've ever met, but more importantly, he's one of the most compassionate people I've ever known. He's also just fun to hang out with. He's charming as hell. I look up to him, because he is such a kind man who really shows that he cares about people. He's a good man who I'm grateful to say is my friend and groomsman.
Art Marcelo
Groomsman
Art was my college roommate. Art is a forceful presence when you meet him. He has a giant personality and you get the brunt of it when you meet him. Speaking from personal experience, I think that's how you have to decide right away if you like him, and I did. And we were friends right away. We didn't always agree, but we could always talk about our differences. He's a smart, even wise man, who makes sure that he will get to know your background. He reaches out to people and when he does, it really makes a difference. And he's the guy that just makes friends.
Omar Little Mitscher-McKenney
(Honorary) Dog of Honor
Omar is the happiest girl in town, whether she's greeting you at the door or sneaking bites out of your trashcan. Omar rules the roost in the Mitscher-McKenney household, and she does so with little white slippers as paws. She has never met a bandana or Halloween costume she won't grudgingly accept, and loves attention during parties even more than her mama. She is at both her best and worst when the mailman who knows her name delivers the days' updates. Omar loves nothing more than a good blanket and your favorite snacks. Omar makes even the happiest house more of a home, and she isn't afraid to remind you to know it. To know Omar is to know Pat and MaryJane, and to always know someone who is happy to see you.