Wedding Party

Morgan, Matron of Honor

Emily's good friend and longtime sister (ever since she was born), Morgan, has been a wonderful influence and confidant to the bride. She knows everything from Emily's shoe size to intimate details of what really happened on Emily's 21st birthday reenactment in Austin. She has always been there to encourage the Bride's dreams, such as being an astronaut and to "critique" the annoying habits that lessened Emily's attractiveness as a female, like eating ice (on a side note Emily is not an astronaut and still eats ice). If it weren't for her guidance Emily is sure that she would not be who she is today; that is because second child syndrome warranted that she be everything opposite of her older sister.

Lindsey, Maid of Honor

Lindsey "Tons-O-Fun" Jarrell, as the name implies, has always been 2200 pounds of fun per annum. You can always count on her to make you laugh even if you are determined not to. She is also known as "Happy Hour" to some, though the Bride does prefer the former nickname, she admits to a certain truth to both names in that they express the inevitable joy you feel when around Miss Jarrell. Emily has to thank Tons-O-Fun/Happy Hour for all of the laughter and joy that she has given her throughout the past 20 or more years they have known each other, and thanks her for letting the Emily squeeze her hand until it broke while she got her first and only tattoo.

Elizabeth, Bridesmaid

English teacher extraordinaire, and probably correcting all of the grammatical errors as she reads this blurb about herself, has always been the brains behind the operation (what operation, I don’t know, but she is definitely the brains) Graduating at the top of our class in High School, she went on to teach and inspire young minds as a middle school teacher, if that doesn’t deserve a round of applause then nothing does, not even the Nobel laureates. We connected over many things but it was mainly through our love of the Beatles that we realized we were born in the wrong era and attempted to create a time machine to go back to the 1960’s in order to fulfill our dreams of watching the fab four play live. Sadly we could not figure out the space-time continuum and had to survive with just seeing Paul McCartney perform alone, bummer.

Jamie, Bridesmaid

Emily at first started off as Jamie’s roller-skating instructor at the precocious age of 5 but as time went on they became fast friends (it didn’t hurt that they were both in the same Kindergarten class, go Erskine’s Eagles!). Ever since then they have been inseparable, except for the time when they were shipped off to different Junior Highs, and then that time they went to different Colleges, and finally when she decided to take a job in Kansas City, MO and marry a Missourian!?!? Even with all of that separation they have always managed to remain close friends. If you ever want advice about hair bows that make you look like a gift and great western wear that you can sport to a Reba McEntire concert ask Jamie Turner, she should have been a southern beauty queen, except without the big hair.

Lindsay, Bridesmaid

A Minnesotan by trade Lindsay is a true Mid-Western girl. Oddly enough Emily met her while studying abroad in the far-east, in New Zealand. At first when Emily heard that she was rooming with an American roommate she was disappointed that she wouldn't have constant exposure to the New Zealand lifestyle, but right when she met Lindsay and found out a bit more about the Dunedin, NZ lifestyle (drink until you smash glass on either a) the road or b) your neighbor's house and wake up with a) highlighter all over your face, b) hung over or c) all of the above) she knew that the University of Otago's choice in roommate was the absolute best. Lindsay and Emily bonded over excruciating hiking stories and Channel 4's Joel (by far the worst television host ever). Emily will always remember the days of penguins, tim-tams slams, and of sperm whales handing out flyers in the library.

Sara, Bridesmaid

A native of nowhere, Sara has had the wonderful opportunity of living just about everywhere from China to New Mexico, I must say that I am slightly envious of her travel experiences. Another thing I am envious of is her ultimate dancing skills, as shown in the above picture. She never misses an opportunity to brighten the room with her smiling, dancing, laughter and the sometimes awkward comment. I loved being able to room with her, if only for a semester and her presence still never fails to conjure up great memories of my senior year at Trinity in the infamous 410 Mistletoe.

Mike, Best Man

Mike and Dan met in Lighthouse at Trinity University and became great friends when they were both asked to lead a small group Bible study for first year guys. It must also be noted that Mike's wife Jenny is the true facilitator of this friendship. Beautiful new son Aiden surely would have helped, too, given the chance.

Bryan

Bryan and David lived in the same dorm, had several of the same classes, and were in a small group together during their first semester together at Trinity University. By their second semester Bryan finally acknowledged David's name was actually Dan. They took at least one class together each semester throughout college from Algorithm Design to Non-Euclidean Geometry and Discrete Structures to Weightlifting. They still find time to run into each other at Cactus Records in Houston.

Jason

Jason was Dan's roommate for the last two years of college. Having both been in San Antonio basically since graduation, the two have continued to find fun around the city, only taking time to pause when a game of Trivial Pursuit is proposed. A Registered film buff, Jason is a king of media work.

Josh

Josh is an amazing guitarist, and - much like most of Dan's other friends - they really bonded over music. And Math. Along with Bryan, they have spent many a weekend visiting each other in various cities to hang out and inevitably to spend an evening with headphones, microphones, and instruments around recording or just playing for hours. The way it was meant to be.

Laura

Laura is Dan's sister and probably the main reason he got into music and theatrical happenings. She's also surely the main reason he got into computer programming. Costume designer, English and Literature expert, a pro with a slalom ski on the water, and official "Brew Master," Laura does it all and with such care and joy.

Mark

Though friends since freshman year of college, it was ending college as suitemates senior year that sealed the deal. Seeing each other at least weekly since graduation with volleyball and softball, Office viewings, Six Flags trips, and always talking about but never actually going to the Castle o' Fun on Blanco hasn't hurt either.

Madalyn, House Party

Cousin and baker of the most delicious cookies my mouth has ever come into contact with, Maddie is a genius both in and out of the kitchen. She has a love of reading, which I will claim that she inherited from me along with her dashingly good looks. It has been wonderful seeing her grow into such a lovely young woman with such a kind heart for all those around her. It is hard to imagine the days when she was little and people thought our baby pictures looked the exact same, to this day Gandy (our grandmother) still thinks that some of my baby pictures are actually Maddy. I even get called Maddy on occasion by the very same Gandy, to which I can only take as a compliment since the original Maddy is so great!

Stephen, Usher

Stephen has not always been the touchy-feely type, in fact he even hated for the longest time when I called him Steve (only out of love I assure you) and hugs. Stephen has always been able to make me laugh with his imagination and his perspective on life and his sister. He has grown into a great guy, very tall too, that I have a hard time remembering him as a little boy, so I now need to pull out photos to remind me and to embarrass him. I claim to be Stephen’s favorite cousin (though there isn’t a lot of choice in the matter) because he has given me (or I have taken unwillingly, but what’s the difference) beautiful art pieces that now grace my shelves. I hope in the future to inherit more so that I can start a museum based on a collection of original early works of Stephen J. Williams.

Patrick, Usher

Pat and I met in college, probably when he was trying to scare me. I remember him abusing his power as a night “security guard” and driving me along campus in the golf cart geeking out about Star Wars and John Williams, and then there was that one time he kidnapped Sara and I as a ninja (a practical joke war gone a little berserk). Through all of that tomfoolery which also included moments of absolute absurdity we shared great moments of support and friendship. I am so happy to see him pursuing his love of film and will always support him in his creative ventures, like I always say, keep your friends close, and your talented, most likely to be famous, friends closer.