Our Bridal Party
Each individual in our bridal party was chosen for the value we hold in their friendship as well as the support they've shown us and our relationship over the past 6+ years. We have a lot of love for the people listed below and we couldn't think of a better way to thank them for being such an important part of our lives.
Ali and Christy have been best friends since Christy and co-bridesmaid, Emily, met her in Mr. Cooke's 9th grade history class, which became more of a joke than a learning experience. Ali lived in the Lakota East school district, but somehow weaseled her way into West to continue going to school with Christy. The two can be seen shutting down a McAlister's to this day. Whoever gets the first sweet tea refill always wins cutest girl for the day.
Ali Balchunas
Stubaby
Christy and JayPaul first met Stuart the day before the wedding of co-groomsman, Jarrod. That day they crammed at least 6 people in Stubaby's chevy lumina for a trip to Kenwood mall, during which Stuart was dubbed Stu-baby by other co-groomsman, Drew. Now Christy, JayPaul and Stuart all live together with their three cats, which will probably make for an interesting best man speech.
Emily was not originally a fan of Christy. There are rumors she thought the bride was annoying as a 5 year old. One day in Kindergarten, Emily heard through the grapevine that Christy had gotten a kitten. Well, that got the two together and after years of basketball, dinosaur sleep overs, trips to Lake Chataqua and getting stuck on that lake for 2 hours thanks to Emily's pride, they can never thank Tigger enough.
Emily Canepa
Jimmy DeGrace
Christy's older brother by three years. We don't remember JayPaul having a particularly hard time with him, but Jimmy was known to try to chase off any boy seen with Christy in high school. We can never really be sure if this was done as a protective older brother or just for fun. It took until about that time for Christy and Jim to really get along, but their relationship has been infinitely better since then.
Dani Veno (DeGrace)
Dani, although not yet an official member of the DeGrace family, will marry into it shortly after JayPaul gets the honor. They've known and loved her since she first started dating Dan four years ago. Christy couldn't have chosen a better sister, and the two definitely need each other whenever the family, mostly made up of men, get together for any number of crazy activities.
Dan DeGrace
Christy's older brother by six years. Christy was just going into junior high when Dan graduated high school and went away to college. It wasn't really until he came back after finishing his degree that they really got to bond. However he's always been one of the only people who can make Christy laugh (to the point of not being able to finish her spaghetti dinner) just by looking at her, and you can probably see why.
Allison McAfee
Ah, Allison, the reason we're all getting together on June 19th. Christy met her in middle school and they were good friends, but didn't hang out regularly into high school. At that time, Allison was making friends with JayPaul and accompanying groomsman, Jarrod. Allison and Christy started to see each other more, causing JayPaul and Christy to meet and the spark was lit! Now JayPaul, Christy and their roomate, Stuart, live beneath Allison and her husband, Ian, and somehow they still don't see eachother enough.
Jarrod Geary
Jarrod is the reason JayPaul and Allsion became friends, which in turn is why JayPaul and Christy are together today. They have been together through band showcases, fashion design classes, mini van adventures, and countless late night escapades. Jarrod is one of JayPaul's oldest friends and the two can usually be overheard having a conversation that starts with "Remember that time when..."
Olivia Ambrose
Olivia lived basically across the hall from Christy in the freshman dorm at OSU. They bonded over dealing with long-distance relationships and were relatively inseperable unless one of the boyfriends was in town. At one point they agreed that junior or senior year would be a "good" time to get engaged, an opinion which changed rapidly as those years flew by. College would have been a lot harder without this girl.
Drew Farmer
JayPaul met Drew shortly after highschool. During their first conversation, Drew thought JayPaul was done talking and proceeded to completely ignore him. JayPaul found it in his heart to forgive him and the two became very good friends through a mutual love for rollerblading and music. Although they didn't hang out much at all while JayPaul and Christy lived in Columbus, it's been easy to pick back up right where they left off.