Bridesmaids

April 10, 2013

One of the most fun parts of the wedding process is getting to hang out EVEN MORE with some of your best friends... your bridesmaids! I've got so many fun girlie activities planned for the week before the wedding just us up until Mike and me say "I do" (cakepop wrapping and wine, manicures and pedicures, later swimming, spa time, photo shoots, etc) and I just can't wait. There's a reason you pick the girls you do to stand up with you on your wedding day and so I'm going to share them with you now! I have them in order of their standing in the wedding (which is by height :), so check them out!

My Matron of Honor - Kara Vaughn

I met Kara was she was a squirming newborn. She's my only sister and even though I'm the older one, I feel like she was always the one giving me advice. In our early years, she did my bidding as the best younger sisters should, but once she grew out of that, we created our elaborate games and such, shunning the far less imaginative other children and sticking to ourselves.We were part of a pop band for awhile with our cousin, Nicole, and had lots of fun. As we got older, Kara helped me through things I just didn't know how to deal with as a teenager, and now she's my medical consult whenever I am sure I'm dying ;) It was always so much fun having her for a sister, even when we had a few rough years. I wish we were able to spend more time together now, but she is an awesome sister and I LOVE her! Hopefully she'll say some nice things about me during her toast at the wedding! Haha!

^Clockwise from the top left: Kara & me at Jocko Pond at Hiawatha Forest; me & Kara at Mega 80's at the Intersection five years ago; me & Kara celebrating Memorial Weekend at Duck Lake; me & Kara at a Whitecaps baseball game four and a half years ago; me & Kara playing in the mud at Lake Michigan in the UP; Kara & me after I kind of caught the bouquet at her wedding; me & Kara getting our portraits done in sailor attire when we were wee ones ;)

My Bridesmaid - Kristin Lewis (aka Oole)

Although for most of the time we've known each other, we were roommates. We first met back in August of 2005 when the GVSU housing department stuck us together in Laker Village 12K. She wasn't around much that year, but after we both graduated, we ended up living together again in our first REAL apartment! We had our pets and our Halloween parties and hours and hours of talk about our boy trouble. In total, we lived together for over 4 years! I was Maid of Honor in her wedding just a few months back, and it was a blast helping plan so much of it, even the surprise proposal that we got on camera! She's learned to appreciate a good photo over a bad one (through my teachings, of course!) and HOPEFULLY our kids will grow up together when we finally have them.

^Clockwise from the top left: Oole & me after we accidentally smooched during wedding photos; me & Oole going to a Halloween party that wasn't ours two and half years ago; Oole & me about to go to Josh Harrison wedding reception; Oole & me at a Whitecaps baseball game; Oole & me at Kara's bachelorette party; me & Oole wearing Mickey ears in downtown Disney before our Bahamas cruise four years ago; me & Oole at BFE celebrating her recent graduation and a former roommate's birthday.

My Bridesmaid - Angie Moe

Angie and I were also put together as roommates by the GVSU housing people. I can't say they did a bad job. Of all the roommate pairs on KP3 (Kirkpatrick, 3rd floor) during our freshman year of college, only Angie and I survived with a perfect record of all fun and no fighting. She thought I was a psycho cheerleader the first time we spoke (on the phone before school started) but luckily, she was wrong. She helped me start going to church and enjoying it, helped me meet a lot of great friends, and shared lots of great fun times together. We went on a road trip our senior year to Kentucky, Virginia and back, we shared our college graduation and open houses, and she even had me in her wedding to Josh Moe back in 2009. I love her very much and even though now most of the time we just go out to eat together, she is an amazing friend and I couldn't have had a better first year of college because of her!

^Clockwise from the top left: Ange & me at my bridal shower; me & Angie at her wedding reception; Angie & me licking ice cream at a Whitecaps game; me & Angie's college graduation; Angie & me somewhere on the way to Kentucky on our senior year road trip; me & Angie at the JW Marriott before going out for my 25th birthday; me & Angie making hobo pies during the summer almost seven years ago (I think!).

My Bridesmaid - Judith Cox

Judi (I finally started using the "i" instead of the "y", Judi, see?!? haha) and I met in the back of Ms. Bowen's sixth grade social studies class. A random comment was made, the other laughed and we've been friends ever since. She was my very first best friend in middle school and we've been friends since then. We had a blast doing slumber parties with each other, going on trips (our first big one was Florida in college and we're going to DC THIS weekend), mooning over our favorite boy band, the Backstreet Boys (as well as seeing them in concert together twice!), and numerous other things. Our careers generally don't allow us to see each other very much (my photo and her nursing schedules are not particularly compatible) but when we hang out, it's kind of like no time has passed at all. Weird how that works, isn't it? She's been lots of help already with wedding stuff and I'm glad to have her in the wedding with me!

^Clockwise from the top left: me & Judi at my first bridal shower; me & Judi at Kara's wedding; Judi & me outside my old place in Middleville (I forget what the occasion was although Ica was in town!); Judi & me at The BOB on my 25th birthday, Judi & I having drinks in Chicago when we went to see Wicked in 2005; Judi & me at our Halloween party a year and a half ago; me & Judi at Coco Joe's for Kara's birthday a few years back.

My Bridesmaid - Jessica Palmer (aka Ica)

Ica and I met at a Bible study we both attended. We'd first met way back at the beginning of our sophomore year at GVSU but it wasn't until April (when it FIRST got nice outside) and our study leaders made us pair off and go for a walk to appreciate the spring that we really became friends. It was kind of funny, because we were supposed to go with someone we didn't really know, and she was the one I was hoping for because she seemed nice even though we hadn't really talked. She told me on our walk that she thought the same thing!! We've been great friends ever since. We even lived together our senior year at LV 25G. Our favorite pass times to do together was make and eat food, have someone else make food for us (that we'd eat), and go see movies together. We've also mastered the "self photo" as she and I are often on our own together and must STILL take photos of ourselves! She made me her family's go-to photographer too (I've done two of her three sister's weddings and tons of baby photos for the ones with kids). It was a little rough in 2007 when Ica moved to Florida and left me here in chilly Michigan, but we've never lost touch. I've gone to Florida at LEAST once every year since she left and hope to keep it up. She is now my unofficial pen pal (although we mostly just chat on Facebook) and we talk more now that I do with a lot of my friends that live up here :-)

^Clockwise from the top left: me & Ica riding the boat to Downtown Disney on this year's trip to Disney World; Ica & me going to the comedy show in downtown Orlando a few yaers back; Ica & me after getting wet on Splash Mountain on our trip to the Magic Kingdom three and a half years ago; Ica & me eating our favorite crab cheese at Rivertown Mall for our big "farwell" weekend in December 2007; me & Ica having some drinks in DeLand (I think) on one of my many visits to Florida; me & Ica licking the cookie dough at our apartment 25G senior year; Ica & me on our missions trip to Fort Meyers, Florida in 2006.