Vanessa & John
Wedding Party
Victoria Marinas
Maid of Honor
As the younger sister of the bride, Victoria is thrilled to be Vanessa's maid of honor. Victoria is currently a medical student in Idaho and is aiming to become a doctor of osteopathic medicine. When she isn't studying, she enjoys playing tabletop and video game RPGs, going to anime conventions, listening to songs from musicals with her sister, and taking pictures of their family's dog, Potato.
Michael Kulesza-Pinger
Best Man
John and Mike met in MSU fencing during a travel tournament to OSU. Since John fenced a different weapon than Mike, they were from completely different worlds and did not know each other well. It was not until Mike invited his carpool over (including John + Tory) to drink and watch anime did John and Mike hit it off. From then on, John and Mike continued to hang out more and more as their friendship developed around video games, anime, and just outright shenanigans like opening doors and certain unspoken projectiles. Currently, Mike is working as an automotive Mechanical Engineer and just recently celebrated his marriage to Tory to which John was best man. Mike is very honored to be John's best man for his wedding and wishes the fantastic couple the best for their wedding and beyond!
Madison Bondoc
Bridesmaid
A biomedical engineer by trade, and an artist at heart, Madison has been long-distant, childhood best friends with Vanessa since the 2nd grade. Even now, Madison still enjoys watching anime, disneybounding, and having 5+ hour long Skype sessions with Vanessa. Though she may appear shy and reserved at first glance, she loves to meet new people and freestyle on the dance floor.
Anthony Nordman
Groomsman
Anthony has been friends with John since high school and has known Vanessa since the first New Years Eve before they started 'officially' dating. Though Anthony and John attended two different colleges quite a distance apart, they remained best friends throughout. After they both finished college, John lived with Anthony up until he finally moved in with Vanessa. Today, though Anthony is busy with a toddler and John & Vanessa have moved almost an hour away - they still spend the free time they can on board games, video games, combat sports, and music.
Claire Foxworth
Bridesmaid
As the younger sister of the groom, Claire has known Vanessa since 2014 and is extremely excited to welcome her into the Foxworth family! She is currently studying animation at Laguna College of Art and Design in California. In her free time, Claire loves to do traditional film photography, spend time outdoors, and read.
Vincent Marinas
Groomsman
Vincent is the younger brother to Vanessa and soon to-be brother-in-law to John! He first heard of John after John and Vanessa started dating in 2014 and thought, "Huh, Vanessa's got a boyfriend? Neat." Over time, John left a great impression on Vincent as the two had the opportunity to travel and talk engineering and other nerdy stuff together. Vincent is honored to be a groomsman and is greatly looking forward to the wedding couple's future! In his free time, Vincent enjoys playing video games, collegiate fencing, and eating chicken nuggies. He is currently a sophomore at Michigan State studying Computer Engineering.
Tory Kulesza-Pinger
Bridesmaid
Tory and Vanessa met on MSU's fencing team back in 2012 and became fast friends despite being completely different majors and weapons thanks to shared nerdiness and sushi double dates. Tory is now living in Boston working on her Master's in International Business at The Fletcher School. Outside of that, Tory loves traveling, learning new languages, cartoons, hiking, and having ridiculous Beats Sabre parties at John/Vanessa/Jpop's place!
Michael Japowicz
Groomsman
Michael first heard John from across a very large room during a fencing practice at MSU. Looking to see who was speaking, he saw John, who was talking excitedly and moving around in a very animated fashion. Who was this character? Through more practices and trips to tournaments, he got to know John as an eccentric, goofy, and fast-paced individual. Through befriending John, he got to know him for his kindness, readiness to help others, and his talent for all things technological. Michael regards John and Vanessa as two of his closest friends, and has spent many happy times with them from their time together in school to today, where they live together in Grand Blanc.
Megan Frayer
Bridesmaid
Megan has been best friends with Vanessa since second grade and was her roommate for four years at Michigan State. Megan currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin where she is working on her Ph.D. in Genetics. When she isn’t working, she enjoys walking her dog with her husband and reading.
Dan Summers
Groomsman
John and Dan met on the MSU fencing team, quickly bonding over friendly rivalry and multiple layers of nerdery. They became friends through the club, but they truly hit it off when they came to the slightly drunken realization of “Why not start our own company?” Then came nights of heavy brainstorming, experimenting, pitch crafting, gaming, and inventing. Within a few months, Cutting the Cable LLC had been founded and launched with seed money from The Hatch competition. The company is still pending a patent, but now that both John and Dan have graduated and found employment, they are more about the weekly boardgame nights and anime binging. Dan currently works as a mechanical engineer at FCA and is very honored to be in John’s wedding party.
Chelsy Stephenson
Bridesmaid
Chelsy and Vanessa became very close friends when they both attended Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is currently a 1st year family medicine resident at Metro Health Hospital-University of Michigan in Grand Rapids. On her free time, she enjoys taking care of her two cats, Sparty and Reese, as well as play Pokemon Go with her husband, Luke. She is also expecting an upcoming new addition to the family this summer. Vanessa is beyond excited for her!
Joe Latham
Groomsman
John and Joe met at MSU while at fencing. They really started to notice each other at friend's parties and when John joined the saber squad. Their friendship blossomed around intense late night conversations, heart pounding fencing bouts, and mutual advice on where to go and what to do in life. Currently Joe is working as a field technician for the state of Michigan and lives with his girlfriend Michelle Dereski (who John helped him meet). Joe is happy to be part of the wedding party and happy to see two good people spend their lives together!