Meet My Bridal party!!

Now that the venue, wedding dress, band, photographer and bridesmaid dresses are picked, and we're almost at the year mark for our wedding, I think it's time to officially introduce my bridal party to the world in a special feature called:

"Meet My Bridal Party!!"

MELISSA- Maid of Honor:

Melissa is my dear 21 year old sister, who lives IN HER OWN HOUSE in Pennsylvania with her 2 rescued cats, Penguin (see left) and Puma, 2 guinea pigs, Jane and Kora, a silky terrier named Geno, oh, and she has a horse, too! She is a Physical Therapist Assistant at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital. Though I don't get to see sister, (as I call her) as often as I'd like, we are very close and I feel very lucky to have her in my life. With our countless "ur mom" and "that's what she said" jokes, I can pretty much guarantee that I'll be in hysterics when hanging out with her. I am so excited that she is my maid of honor, and can share this exciting time in my life with her!


CASSIE:

Cassie and I met through doing our Junior High School plays, and ultimately our friendship grew while we were at our summer theater camp, Stage Door Workshop. Even though Cassie was a year older than me in school, we remained in touch all through college and still today. I don't get to see Cassie nearly as much as I'd like. Of all my bridesmaids she is physically the farthest away from me. But I always enjoy catching up with Cassie and I know that even though we don't get to see each other as much, no matter what, we will always be there for each other, and that's something that is very important to me. Cassie lives with her husband in Silver Spring, Maryland and is a teacher at Excel Academy Public Charter School in South East DC.


MALLORY:
Mallory has the distinct honor of knowing me longer than any other member of my bridal party...including my own sister! As a fellow Schnecksvillian, Mal and I have known each other since we were about 2 years old and have attended pre-school, elementary school, Jr. high, and high school together! Like most of my bridesmaids, our friendship grew stronger through doing the school plays together in High School. She's stolen lovers from me (A Midsummer Night's Dream), been a fellow Pink Lady (Grease), set me up with a husband (Fiddler on the Roof), put a spell on my husband so I'd never have children (Into the Woods), as well as countless other equally ridiculous scenarios. Mal and I also lived together for a summer in Little Italy and needless to say..we've been through a lot together! Mal is currently living in Hoboken, and plans to start Law school in Fall 2010. I'm very blessed to have had Mal as a friend for as many years as I've had, and am so happy to have her as one of my bridesmaids.


MANDY:

Like Cassie, Mandy and I became friends in Junior High through doing the school plays together. We further became closer through Stage Door Workshop, our summer theater camp and have been very close friends ever since! Mandy works in Affiliate Relations at ABC where her VERY soon to be husband also works in Rights and Clearances! Our friendship has grown even stronger through the past two years since we work across the street from each other in Manhattan, take lunch together almost every day, see each other often on weekends and have been able to share wedding planning highs and lows with each other! Mandy is a reliable, dedicated friend who is always willing to listen when I need to vent and I am so blessed to have her in my life.


MOLLY:

Molly was assigned to me as my Freshman Link student my sophomore year of college. I was there to answer any questions she may have about Wagner and help her feel welcome to the college. As it turns out...we lived about 20 minutes away from each other in Pennsylvania, went to neighboring High Schools and knew a lot of the same people! Through that a great friendship was born. Even though I was the one initially assigned to her to be the "older, wiser one", Molly has given me incredible words of wisdom and advice through the years that has helped me tremendously. We lived together for  8 months in Astoria last year where we watched lots of bad reality TV (Housewives of New Jersey), ate entirely too much home-baked goodies (well..I did anyway) and spent countless nights leafing through dozens of wedding magazines. Now, Molly is back in PA earning her Masters in Library Science at Kutztown University. Molly is a warm, kind person and has always been a constant source of support, love and guidance for me.

So there are my 5 beautiful and wonderful Bridesmaids!! I love each and every one of them and can't wait till the festivities begin and we are all in one place at one time.

However, I have one more person to add and would be remiss to leave out an important member of our wedding day:

BEN:

Though Ben is not a "Bridesmaid" for obvious reasons, we still consider him an esteemed member of our Bridal Party. Chris and I haven't figured out the logistics of our ceremony yet, but we are going to make sure that there is a reading or two that Ben will deliver during our wedding. He currently works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and lives in Manhattan. Ben is truly one of my closest friends and I can't imagine him not being a part of my big day. I first met Ben during Choir Camp my freshman year of college, and we have been friends ever since. We Spring Break'd together every single year of college, first with various Choir Tours, and then the Senior Cruise our last year. Senior year, we were the President and Vice President of Choir. After college we shared our very first "big kid" apartment together in Astoria from August '07 to May '09. The long and short of it: We've had some damn good times. We've been there for each other through it all and I cannot imagine the last 7 years of my life, or my wedding, without him.

Maybe I can get Chris to write something about his handsome groomsmen...though, I'm not holding my breath. However, they are: 

Michael, Mike, James, Chris, and Matt. Lots of M names!!

If I had to put our bridal party into a mathematical equation it would be:
Mx7+C2+J+B=(L+C)4Ever! 

 I just love a good math joke!