Wedding Party

Alex DeGeorge

Groom

(This is Rachel speaking. Ahem! - just imagine me doing an Alex impression) Hello, thank you for your attention to this matter. Welcome to our wedding. Family is very important, so we are glad you are here to celebrate with us. 10 years ago, I dazzled Rachel and she had no choice but to fall in love with me. This is still true today. What can I say, I'm awesome. However, so is she. So, what better way to spend your life than with someone awesome. Alright, see you at the party.

Rachel Georges

Bride

Hello, there! Thank you for being a part of this wonderful day! I met Alex nearly 10 years ago. I first saw his name at work, not knowing who he was, and thought it would be funny to change my name to DeGeorge. Once I met him, I realized I was doomed. It didn't take long for me to realize I was comparing everyone I met to him. It wasn't until a Halloween party in 2021, a persistent friend, and a chicken costume that our story started taking off. Our first date was December 5th. It consisted of dinner, cocktails, and decorating a Christmas tree until 3am. On December 19th, he proposed at the Overland Park Arboretum. Once I said yes, the Christmas lights celebrated with us by a gust of wind making two Asian lanterns thwack us in the face. He's my favorite person in the entire world and today will forever be one of the best days of my life.

Brian Egan

Best Man

I'm Brian, Alex's best man. I'm also Sarah Egan's husband, so I'm technically in the wedding party twice. The story of how Alex and I met is both interesting and inspiring: we were assigned to sit next to each other in high school because our names were close alphabetically. Anyway, we're still friends after like 18 years, so it worked out. My favorite memory of Alex is from a Fourth of July party many years ago, where we drank too many Tank 7's and 'grilled' up a very 'rare' steak, which we ate while convincing ourselves it wasn't raw.

Tori Duggins

Matron of Honor

I live in Atlanta, GA with my husband, Reagan, and our 2 cats. I am a sign language interpreter. Rachel and I met around 2013 in the KC Swing Dance community and became close friends very quickly. We bonded over our love of being active with dance and rock climbing, our love of animals, chocolate cake, and most importantly our love for Jesus. I have so many fond memories of being in the car after dancing chatting about everything going on in our lives - the exciting, the pain, and the mundane. These special conversations have continued over the years, still usually when we are in our cars, but now across the states from each other. Rachel honored me by being in my wedding 8 years ago and now it is my great pleasure to be by her side on this special day to support her and Alex.

Patrick Shannon

Groomsman

Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Then, when examined more closely, each beginning, middle, and end has its own beginning, middle, and end. Stories are built with stories which in turn are built with stories. On and on in an infinite fractal of comedy, romance, and horror. But let me direct you to a particular frame upon this sprawling web of tales we call 'Life'. It is the story of Alex and Patrick's beginning. In those days, I was employed at the distillery that my parents founded. Among the handful of investors that believed in my parents' vision was a man named Mike DeGeorge. Much of my audience probably knows this man. While he is a man with many worthy stories of his own, he is not important in this one except to facilitate The Meeting between me and his son, Alex. It came to pass that Alex DeGeorge, beloved by all, worked at that distillery side by side with the humble, but deserving, Patrick Shannon. The moment our eyes met I felt Destiny hold out its hand and offer a future so crystalline and fine it would crumble to dust at the slightest misstep. Well, I can recognize an opportunity when I see one and someone somewhere once told me that fortune favors the bold. So I reached towards fate with conviction. I looked Alex in the eye and said... "'Sup?" "'Sup?", he replied. And thus concludes the story of our beginning. This is not the greatest story in the world. No. This is just a tribute.

Sarah Egan

Bridesmaid

My favorite memory of Rachel and I is going to Family Tree Nursery in Shawnee. It was a wonderful plant oasis, complete with a coffee shop. We just wandered around, chatting and enjoying all the different plants, dreaming of our dream gardens. Rachel’s excitement was contagious and made us both feel like kids in a candy shop!

Liz Watkins

Bridesmaid

I met Rachel 12 years ago on the KC Swingsters. We shared a love of dance and Jesus, and quickly became good friends! One of my favorite memories is going out to Denny's and eating way too much while we talked about relationships, dance, and God.

Ashley Lind

Bridesmaid

Rachel and I met in 2014. I'm a lazy cat mom who loves Korean Pop music. My fave memory with Rachel: getting over a fear of rock climbing is easy if you "just fall up."

Holly Burmaster

Bridesmaid

Hi there! My name is Holly Burmaster, and I have a passion for my work in cybersecurity. My favorite memory with Rachel is the fateful Halloween night when I convinced her to go to a party and I would tag along with her - where I got to meet Alex for the first time and see their love story unfold. I love crafting fantasy stories with Rachel, and sharing my religion with her. I wish her the best, and cannot wait to be a part of her special day.

Dave Diefendorf

Officiant