Kara & Travis
Wedding Party
Megan Mora
Matron of Honor
Megan is Kara’s Matron of Honor. She loves bagels, donuts, soft pretzels, and mac and cheese. She lives in Grand Rapids with husband Austin and doggos Harvey and Raven. She participates in multiple small groups with her church and makes a mean guacamole. Bonus fact: Kara was Megan’s Maid of Honor in her wedding last year!
Tim Ward
Best Man
Tim is Travis’s Best Man and oldest friend. Tim’s mom was their teacher in preschool and they lived about a mile away from each other. They would often walk to each other’s houses to play Magic: The Gathering, computer games, or D&D in the woods. Bonus fact: Tim once convinced Travis to build a boat out of fresh cut trees. It did not float.
Stephanie Olson
Bridesmaid
Stephanie is Kara’s high school BFF. Kara even followed her off to Hope College after high school, and they were roommates senior year. Stephanie works for the City of Raleigh, North Carolina where she lives with her husband Kevin and their two pups, Bentley and Brady. Bonus fact: Kara and Stephanie were co-captains of the girls’ swim team in high school, along with Jordan!
Drew Hickel
Groomsman
Drew is Travis’s brother-in-arms. They met in middle school and spent many late nights playing Battlefield, eating chips, and drinking too much pop. They also spent a ton of time and money on paintball and snowboards over the years. Bonus fact: Drew is working for Amazon in Virginia making sure you can always get to their websites.
Jocelyn Sloan
Bridesmaid
Jocelyn is a fan of wine, hamsters, and Beyoncé. She works in the medical field and spends her free time eating sushi with her friends and knitting socks for her rock-climbing boyfriend Robel. Bonus fact: Jocelyn studied abroad in the Netherlands for a semester in college.
Eric Bates
Groomsman
Eric is a wicked drummer and guitar player, as well as a movie buff. He was also Travis’s roommate for 2 years in college and together, they helped keep Qdoba in business with their tradition of eating it every Sunday while watching Game of Thrones. Bonus fact: Eric makes an excellent chicken tikka masala.
Kristina Howley
Bridesmaid
Kristy is an amateur water-colorist and professional plant enthusiast. She and Kara have been tight since high school and she is helping design the floral arrangements for the wedding! Bonus fact: Kristy’s husband, Troy, will be officiating! Their dogs Cedar and Cypress will not have a role in the wedding, although we are hoping they will be in attendance.
Tony Pugh
Groomsman
Tony is a dedicated engineering genius and will be helping with the sound equipment at the wedding! Tony was the frontman to Winston Smith, the band they formed in high school, and he was also Travis’s roommate for 3 years in college. Bonus fact: Tony can play more instruments than most people can dream of.
Rachel Voyt
Bridesmaid
Rachel is Kara’s dearest travel buddy—they spent 3 months traveling through New Zealand together in 2015, living in their car, adventuring, writing, hiking, and eating lots of oatmeal. Rachel is currently studying primates at University of Texas, Austin. Bonus fact: Rachel and Kara share the same birthday!
Todor Gadjev
Groomsman
Todor is a true man’s man. He once helped Travis change the front rubber of his first motorcycle where they both lost a lot of religion. He also helped Travis rob a ton of banks in Payday 2 and finally get a ski day in from Ann Arbor. Bonus fact: He used to experiment on mice at the University of Michigan as like, a job.
Morgan Beeler
Bridesmaid
Morgan is full of opinions and good ideas. She makes the best vegan sausage gravy Kara has ever eaten. She is currently studying environmental policy at the University of Michigan and is probably going to change the world one day. Bonus fact: Morgan was the one showing up to high school parties with a homemade cheeseball. Clutch!
Noly Nowocien
Groomsman
Noly entered Travis’s life in Engineering 100 at the University of Michigan when their professor put them on the same team for the semester. Noly and Travis also worked together as student painters, where Travis became VERY comfortable on ladders. Bonus fact: In college, Noly invented a game called Turkiball.
Zada Harris
Bridesmaid
Zada is an artist, future architect, and dog-mom to sweet Watson. In the past, she has lived in Detroit, France, and Mexico (among other places), but she is currently living right here in Grand Rapids, where she studies at Kendall College of Art and Design. Bonus fact: She spent a year living in Traverse City, MI working for an organization advocating to close Line 5 because she is kind of a badass.
Colin Nordman
Groomsman
Colin was Travis’s long-term weightlifting buddy and beer-pong teammate in college. Colin and Travis worked for Colin’s parents for a couple of summers for their bounce-house business where Travis got to run mechanical bulls. Bonus fact: Travis and Colin were known as “Leather and Sparta” in college, a reference to some unfortunate Halloween costumes sophomore year.
Jordan Crandell
Bridesmaid
Jordan is possibly Kara’s oldest friend—they attended preschool together! Jordan is currently in graduate school at Grand Valley State University, after spending three years teaching abroad in Vietnam. Bonus fact: Jordan was on the rowing team for GVSU in undergrad and they were kind of a big deal.
Katie Pikaart
Bridesmaid
Katie is a red-head who loves adventure and smiles! She works at Perrin Brewing Company in Comstock Park and bought a house last year like a proper grown-up. You go girl! Bonus fact: Katie was on the bowling team in high school, and recently bowled in a league where her all-women team, All Rack No Balls, took eighth place!