Wedding Party

In the spirit of it being 2 weeks until the wedding festivities kick off...a post I started writing months ago.

A shout out to our wedding party most of whom we haven't seen nearly enough in the last few months...

Matron of Honor

Amy Brummel (introduced by our parents in 1983)
As my first friend, enemy, and BFF my older sister wore the title Maid of Honor before I was even born.  We've shared everything from bad matching outfits, to secrets we kept from our parents, advice, criticism, tears, so so many laughs and a lot of unconditional love.  She made me an aunt and gave me the two most amazing nephews and the most beautiful niece I could ever ask for.  She gave me the privilege of being her Maid of Honor at her wedding (good luck topping my speech ;)) when I was just 19 and our relationship has changed so much since then.  At 31, I am truly grateful for the built in best friend I was blessed with. 

Bridesmaids:

Lindsey Voigts (25 year friendship)
I met Lindsey in Mrs. Obraholzer's class at Noah's Ark pre-school where she forced me to be friends with her and changed my life forever.  Like a true sister, we haven't always seen eye to eye, but  somehow wound up with the closest, strongest friendship.  Our boys are destined to be long-distance-lifetime-friends that will give their mothers gray hairs acting just like us, I'm sure.  She is my partner in crime, my devils advocate, the one person in the entire world that knows Every. Single. Thing. about me.  She is, my person.    






Heather Alexander (2003 - sophomore year SIUE)
The first girl to make me feel like an outsider in college by asking me to take a picture of all the girls (ahem!)

and ironically the first best friend I made in college.  We were roommates, ledge buddies, tiny dancers, co-workers and hot HOTT messes together.  Not long after we started dating, Kiel and I took our first vacation together to Florida and stayed with Heather.  Of course we had a great time and while it's great to have a place to visit, it means we don't get to see each other very often.  BUT we email/group text ALL the time and when our few and far between visits line up, it's like nothing has changed between us.   

Nicole Gengler (2003 - sophomore year SIUE)
Nicole was the first girl I made friends with my first year at SIUE.  Our names gave us an instant connection and the night we met, someone named us "Big (me = tall) & Little (Nicole = midget)" in order to avoid confusion and it stuck.  Oddly enough, we both somehow found men named Kiel (Kyle) and are currently still working on their nicknames...Big & Big is about all we've come up with.  Nicole was also my roommate at 108 Club Centre so she's seen me at my best and worst which let's me know she'll always be there to hold my hand...or hair as I was for her on her 21st birthday ;)  11 years later and not much about our friendship has changed, she's still short and I'm still "Big" Wouldn't have it any other way!

Suzy DeVries (2003 - sophomore year SIUE)

Suzy & I met through Nicole and spent quite a bit of time together in college, but didn't really become close until after we graduated and got grown up lives.  Our babies are exactly 6 months apart and we'll be planning their wedding until they're old enough to either tell us to take a hike or actually marry each other.  Since the DeVries' move to Champaign and now Mahomet, we've had a lot more opportunities to get together and I couldn't be happier to have a college girlfriend closer to Pontiac so the others will drive here lol  As my most creative friend, she has helped me with a lot for the wedding from designing our invitations to putting together our seating chart and considering her twins will barely be 5 weeks old when she slaps that bridesmaid dress on, she definitely deserves deserves a good adult night out!!!     

 Dani Vanderveen (my newest friend)
I met Dani through Kiel shortly after we started dating and while I was a little worried that we wouldn't click because she's so much sweeter than me (no seriously, she is), we hit it off.  Dani was dating a good friend of Kiel's (Matt) and I arrived just in time to see their relationship go from dating to engaged to husband/wife and then to mom & dad!  The 4 of us have spent a lot of time together doing couple things and Dani is was actually the PA in Jase's pediatrician's office so she gets a lot of baby questions from me.  Since kids, our movie/dinner/venting dates have become few and far between even living just 10 minutes apart, but that doesn't stop us from from play dates and the occasional golf outing :)  I have to make a note that since Kiel and I didn't meet until our late 20's, we don't really have a lot of friends that we met for the first time as a couple.  While this isn't really an issue, it's also something I think I take for granted about my relationship with Dani.  While Kiel loves all my girlfriends, he is 100% comfortable with Dani since he's known her for so long.  Something about that easiness really makes me appreciate her friendship.

Best Man

Evan Henkel (the childhood best friend)

I could do an entire post based on Evan & Kiel's friendship in just pictures.  The amount of times they've fished, hunted, golfed, done just about anything together are uncountable.  At the beginning I seriously thought Evan & Kiel had their own language because I never had any idea what they were talking about.  Took me awhile to realize every other one liner out of their mouths was a line from the Grumpy Old Men movies.  They are like two strange peas in a pod.  I sincerely hope Jase and Evan's boys grow up to have a friendship as "special" as this one.  Unfortunately, they won't be able to hang out because I knew their father in high school and would probably have a nervous breakdown every time they left the house.

Groomsmen:

Todd Greskoviak (the lineman)
After almost 6 years, I'm still not sure if Todd's last name is pronounced Greskravonich, Pezanowski, or Dickey.  Just kidding...it's Pez...I mean Greskoviak.  After highschool, Todd talked Kiel into going to line school in Georgia with him so even though Todd works for the wrong company, Kiel (and I) kind of have him to thank for his career.  And while golf is something Kiel & I enjoy doing together, I know Todd is one of the main reasons Kiel got so into it.  I think between duck season, deer season, squirrel season, golf, and fishing Todd & Kiel could spend every day together.  99% of what comes out of Todd's mouth is sarcastic and he's deathly afraid of butterflies, but Todd is the base to Kiel's soprano and they don't give a shit what anyone thinks about that.







Quinn Ifft (the old roommate)
Quinn holds a very special place in our lives and my heart as he was Kiel's roommate when we started

dating.  He was there the first time Kiel invited me over for dinner and for so so so many other days in the beginning of our relationship.  A few years ago, Quinn jumped on the golf bandwagon and is Kiel's partner in an ongoing rivalry with 2 of the other groomsmen (Matt & Jordan).  He's also the resident body repair man when those shiny trucks get dinged up, the barber to the majority of the men listed here and as one of the last single guys in the group, he catches a LOT of crap from EVERYONE!  But we all know that if we ever needed something, Quinn would be there no questions asked.  There's a pretty good story about an awkward conversation Quinn started with me at Evan's wedding that if you ever get the chance, you should ask him about.  I mean, why wouldn't you? :)

Brendan Bachman (the wingman)
Petey, I mean Brendan, was with Kiel the first time we met and looking back, there weren't a lot of weekends in the beginning that Brendan wasn't a part of.  There were a lot of late nights and lazy mornings at this point in our lives....my oh my how that has all changed for all of us!  He lives in Jacksonville with his wife Mandy and their beautiful daughter, Hattie so like most of my bridesmaids, we don't see them as often as we'd like.  Fortunately, when we do get the chance to get together it's pretty easy to pick up right where we left off...usually talking about hunting or about how cute he looks when he's on tv :)      







Matt Vanderveen (the golf enthusiast)
The other half to Dani (bridesmaid) and part of the opposing team of the aforementioned golf match.  I think he's the only person I know that spends more time on the golf course than Kiel and between the two of them, they make one hell of a golfer ;)  Matt is incessantly trying to talk Kiel into buying a snowmobile and the Ford/Chevy rivalry between these two is real.  When Kiel decided to pick out an engagement ring, Matt was the one Kiel texted about advice on where to go.  I found out later that his response to that text was, "Is this Nicole?"  Very funny Matt!!!     










Jordan Post (the legend)
Jordan makes me constantly wonder how many times Kiel & I were potentially at the same party in hs and never knew it.  Like Evan, I actually knew Jordan before I met Kiel and was pleasantly surprised when I found out he was one of Kiel's good friends.  He loves to remind Kiel that he's the oldest in the group while constantly adding years onto his age and calling him Grandpa whenever the time arises.  He's just so damn easy to get along with!  I love late night chats and reminiscing with Jordan about all the fun nights there's been before and after I joined the crew.  Although that night I depantsed Kiel inches from his face is one of those memories he'd probably rather not talk about lol He'll be the one on the dance floor belting out Mr. Big & Mas Tequila and rapping The Regulators!  


I know I can speak for Kiel as well as myself when I say, every single person on this list is beyond important to us for so many different reasons and we couldn't be more honored that they've agreed to stand next to us on our big day!  Here's to adding to this list of reasons why we love you all so much!

15 Days!

-Nicole