Drum Roll, please...

and we have the groomsmen!

While I was super psyched about asking the ladies, JB took his time about asking the guys. We finally have all of their answers, so I figured I'd take this opportunity to introduce them (although I lack pictures for these introductions).

Groomsman - Brian
Jokingly, I like to refer to Brian as JB's boyfriend. I can't even begin to imagine the kind of trouble these two could get into!

Groomsman - Thomas (Ted)
Ted is Johanna's cousin. He teaches high school in the neighborhood.

Groomsman - Robert
Robert is JB's brother-in-law. He works as a doctor and is great father to JB's 3 nieces and 2 nephews. JB and Rob met a few years back when JB's older sister was in college.

Groomsman - Drew
Drew was JB's roommate for several years during college... and even after college. Drew is another one of those computer magicians! (this seems to be quite common amongst members of the bridal party!)

Groomsman - Eric
Eric was also JB's roommate for a few years during college. Since then, Eric has gone to Cornell and is working on a PhD in physics. I couldn't even begin to explain what he is actually working on!

A Junior Bridesmaid and a Flower Girl

This post is long overdue! I posted it as draft and it got buried under a list of other posts. This one dates back to June 20th.

In keeping with the way I asked my bridesmaids, I paid the Build-A-Bear shop another visit. This time I went with Mom and Veronica. We picked out creatures and outfits. I have chosen to ask JB's older niece "Francie" to be a junior-bridesmaid and his middle niece "Sally" to be flowergirl. (those are their blog-pseudonymns)

I really wanted to build a pony for "Francie" but when I picked up the B-a-B pony, we thought it looked possessed. Since it was kinda creepy looking, I decided that I'd build her a tiger instead. All three of us liked that one... it was Veronica's first choice. The tiger's outfit matches the color of the dresses that the bridesmaids' creatures are wearing.


We picked the creature for "Sally" because it is cute and girly... just like her. Her creature is wearing a top with flowers sewn on the front.


The girls both seemed pretty excited when I asked them. I'm thinking they were excited more about the creatures than the whole being in the wedding deal. Anyway, I'm glad that they will be joining us in the wedding party.

... and the lovely ladies...

Bridesmaid - Chrystina

Again, I can't exactly put my finger on when we first met. However, Chrystina and I met through choirs of all sorts... Drexel Chorus and St. AJ's church choir. I can't even begin to imagine how many gallons of bubble tea we have consumed together!!! Should I ever need an "ice breaker activity," I know just who to call... or if I need someone to make a card, or arrange an a capella song, or to eat cuppycakes, or someone who totally understands what it means to be over-involved in life...

Why a monkey? Chrystina is sweet, silly, crazy, hyper, and happy just like her monkey... who has since been named Lily :-)

Bridesmaid - Julia

I'm not really sure when I first met Julia. Julia is JB's younger sister. We met at least once before JB & I actually started dating... at The Gardenville Inn. I went with JB to a birthday party for his cousin L. We got to know each other better one evening when she stayed at my apartment... mine was cleaner and smelled nicer than the boys' place :-D.

Why a cat? While I'm not really sure that she's ok with the whole animals with personalities deal, she does enjoy her pet cats Marvin and Roxy. So, the cat seemed fitting.

Bridesmaid - Theresa

Theresa and I met at summer orientation before our freshman year at Drexel. She was wearing a pretty sundress and looked friendly... the rest is history. As undergrads, we competed together with the Concrete Canoe team. (That's a blog post for another time on another blog... those days live somewhere in the world of xanga sites.) Theresa and I were roommates for the first three years of grad school. She has since taken up residence in a lovely apartment a bit closer to Bucknell where she is a visiting professor.

Why a bunny? Theresa had a pet bunny growing up and still takes a liking to bunnies. In fact, when I visited her we checked out the baby bunnies at the pet store downtown.

Bridesmaid - Jen

Jen and I met in first grade and went to school together for 12 years. We survived all things OLPH and then moved on to all things BeCaHi! Jen's decision to join the Band Front senior year, was the deciding factor that set off my mascot career. I wasn't going to join the band, but I certainly wasn't going to the football games by myself! We've spent many many hours hanging out at each other's houses through the years. According to the "dictionary by Veronica," Jen and I are "nocturnal twins." (I think she was going for fraternal.)

Why a frog? It all comes back to Kermit... "it's not easy being green" By the way, the matching green shirt was merely a coincidence!

Bridesmaid - Maria

Since I had to pick some sort of order in which to write these posts, I decided to put them in order of length of time we've known each other (to the best of my recollection).

Maria is my youngest cousin. That being said, she's only two years my younger. Over the years, Maria, her brother "Ted", my sis, and I have gotten into plenty of trouble together! We're the four youngest cousins... therefore, we stick together!! From skits, to dress-up, to pool parties, to beach adventures, to diocesan chorus, to crazy 4th of July cook-outs, we've done lots of crazy things. Just watch out, this girl makes a mean cocktail!!

Why a moose? Well, a few years back, we gave Maria a moose for Christmas. Broose has taken on quite a life of his own along with his moose buddy Burl. So I thought it would only be appropriate to give Maria a girl moose.

How I asked the ladies...

One Friday evening, a few ladies from the 11:30 choir and I invaded Build-a-Bear at the King of Prussia mall. We picked out animals suited to each of the ladies I would be asking to be bridesmaids. I got to stuff them and put a heart in each one. Each of the "creatures" got a fancy dress which included a purse and necklace, silver heels, and a flower bouquet. We had fun evening... and Baby K even got a froggy. Unfortunately, the B-a-B lady told me that "moose is seasonal". So, I had to pick an alternate animal for one of the ladies. Later I found out that I could get a moose through the online store. So the pictures of all of the "creatures" are missing the girl moose :-(... but she's featured in her own picture.

Thanks to Beth, Amanda, Shannon, JB, and Baby K for a fun evening at the mall!

I also made cards to go with the "creatures". You can't really tell in the picture, but the layer with the embossed dress stands off of the rest of the card with some foam squares.

Here are some pictures of the prep process...

Coming soon... The Ladies!

Bridal Party...

Friday evening's festivities were Part I of my "project". Part II has been in progress. Still not ready to share pictures, but I finished my little "project"... i.e. my idea for asking a few girls to be with me as bridesmaids. All the gluing is finished. Now I just have to do a little bit of writing and then find time to talk to each of the girls.

more details coming soon!