Wedding Court

Bride:

Vanessa Gonzalez

Groom:

Brandon Kraft

Maid of Honor:

Stephanie Elliott

Vanessa met Steph in 8th grade.  They both played the cello in the Orchestra, Steph more successfully than Vanessa.  Their friendship was further cemented in the Sts. Simon and Jude youth group where they went on many a Mission trip together.  Little known facts about Steph: she is slightly narcoleptic and is great at choreographing dances.  Vanessa's favorite memory of Steph is from 12th grade when Steph bought a souvenir hermit crab for her little brother on an Orchestra trip to Corpus Christi.  Steph was really excited and picked up the hermit crab once we were back at the hotel room.  It proceeded to clamp onto the skin between her thumb and index finger.  The pain was so much that all Steph could do was count from 1 to 10 over and over to keep herself from slamming that thing against the wall, as we ran around the room trying to find something to pry it off.  The hermit crab eventually let go and was aptly named Alcatraz.  Currently, Steph is a teacher at new school in Brooklyn and her hobbies include being a fashionista, fearing for her life daily as she takes the tram off of Roosevelt Island, fracturing different bones in her feet, and writing limericks.  Also, now that I think of it, if it wasn't for Steph, Brandon and Vanessa would never have met.  We can credit her that match.

Best Man:

Brandon Fischer

Bridesmaids:

Erin Curry

Erin and Vanessa met a few years ago as they worked together at Casa Juan Diego.  After living and working together for a year, Erin and Vanessa became slightly the same person.  Erin is the one that got Vanessa interested in running but Vanessa usually refused to run with Erin because Erin was so much better at it.  Vanessa's favorite memory of Erin was when Kraft and Erin were sorting donations at Casa Juan Diego in the back hallway.  Apparently, someone had donated a 3ft tall pedestal which Erin thought would be a great display for live art.  Kraft came and called Vanessa to the back hallway where Vanessa found Erin posed Karate Kid style on top of that pedestal.  She almost fell off from laughing so hard.  A favorite hobby of their's included watching a story about a Mormon missionary on some Polyynesian island or Molokai or Skeet Ulrich and Keri Russell in a Lifetime movie entitled "The Magic of Ordinary Days".  Erin just recently left Casa Juan Diego to work at the St. Michael house for undocumented children.  She may be blonde and blue-eyed but she speaks better Spanish than Vanessa.   

Gwen Uszuko

Gwen met Vanessa freshman year at Notre Dame where they proceeded to be roommates for Sophomore and Junior year.  Thank God for Gwen because Vanessa would never have left her room had it not been for Gwen dragging her out and forcing her to be social sometimes.  Gwen was always the more creative of the two and is now working on the production of the reality show "Sheer Genius."  Better known, Gwen was the obvious winner of the reality show America's Next Producer.  If you didn't watch it, watch the last episode, it is great.  Vanessa's favorite memory of Gwen was when Gwen received a boomerang as a gift from someone.  Gwen and Vanessa ran down to the quad where Gwen proceeded to fling the boomerang around hoping it would come back.  Sadly, it only ended up hitting some poor girl in the the knee as she walked away from the dining hall.  I always wonder what the probability is of being hit by a boomerang in South Bend, IN.  Second favorite memory was after Gwen had been away for a semester in Chile and had had very little contact with both Katie and Vanessa.  Gwen returned bearing gifts.  Gwen had gotten a hat in Peru for Vanessa.  It was the kind of hat you wear in the cold that has ear flaps.  So this is the first time Vanessa had seen or spoken to Gwen in like 6 months, Gwen pulls out this hat and says, "I know it's kind of small but if you stretch it out over a basketball it should fit."  Vanessa was affectionately named basketball-head for a while after that :)

Katie Hunt

Katie and Vanessa met near the end of freshman year at ND.  Katie loves to collect strange items and is the proud owner of an accordian, a self-made headdress, and everyone's favorite, a spyglass (like the kind pirates use).  Katie is the friend the made sure Vanessa was cultured in the way of music.  Katie majored in Sacred Music at ND and now has her Master's in the Organ from U of H.  Vanessa and Gwen watched Katie perform in Handel's Messiah all 4 years of ND.  Favorite memory of Katie has to be junior year while watching the Super Bowl.  Katie, Kat, and Vanessa were all pretty bored by it.  Then the half-time show started and Kelly Clarkson came on singing "Since you've Been Gone" and they all went nuts, immediately jumping/dancing around the tiny dorm room.  There will never be a better 5 minute dance party.  More recently Katie's apt in Houston provided Vanessa and Erin with a calming space.  Katie put up with how lame Vanessa and Erin were on most nights falling asleep within a few minutes of any movie they put in.  Katie also has uncanny boardgame playing skills.  She wins everytime.  Literally.  It's like a superpower or something.

Erica Nason

Erica and Vanessa met freshman year in a small faith-sharing group.  They also could commiserate together since they both did not turn 21 until halfway through their Senior year.  I think it was Erica's love of Zahm Hall and coffee that really cemented their friendship since both Zahm and coffee were right next to Vanessa's dorm.  It was both Erica's company and the cute cashier guy that kept Vanessa in Starbuck's each week.  Erica is currently getting her Master's at UNM in Clinical Psychology or something equally smart sounding.  Vanessa can't really pick a specific favorite memory but would say that any time her and Erica went the the Backer would be her favorite.  Things that Vanessa would have never learned to appreciate if she had never met Erica: 80's music, Legends margaritas, Toto, the idea of tennis, Legends' amazing nachos [insert Homer mmm], South Dining Hall, biscuits with butter and honey, interhall football, and McGlinn Hall.  Random facts about Erica: she lived in Bermuda for most of her life, she does crazy rock climbing on actual mountains, and is a vegetarian but doesn't hold it against Vanessa that Vanessa hates animals, even the cute furry ones.    

Christine Stochholm

Christine, better known as Teeney, and Vanessa also met in Orchestra during 8th grade.  What really cemented their friendship was the Mission Trip they went on for 6 years in a row.  Between Christine's ability to get all the kids to like her and Vanessa ability to make them cry, they made a great team teaching summer Bible school year after year.  One of Christine's more endearing charateristics is that she constantly makes fun of her own height.  I'm convinced this is what gets the kids to like her so quickly.  Also, her line dancing skills are great.  Vanessa's favorite memory of Teeney is from one of the last years at the Mission.  It was the end of the week and most of the kids had gone home.  Teeney and Vanessa were stuck cleaning up several classrooms.  They were both ridiculously sleep-deprived, sun burned, and very irritable.  One of the 4th graders was in the classroom with them not making the situation better.  Then he decided to pick up a black tin trashcan and put it upside down over his head.  As pencil shavings and glitter fell all over his shoulders he proceeded to say "Luke, I am your father."  Teeney and Vanessa didn't even care that he made more of a mess for them to clean up, they literally fell to the ground laughing.    

Groomsmen:

[Kraft wants to make sure these are perfect, so he's still working on them. Watch for updates in this space!]

[picture in progress]

Andy has known Kraft longer than anyone in the wedding party. In fact, he's known Kraft as long as everyone else combined. Born of the same parents, they're known by most as "brothers". Growing up, Andy was the mystical brother that lived in far away places (Austin...) that moved to Dallas around the time Kraft moved to Austin. Funny how that works out. Kraft and Andy can talk for beyond hours about things that bore Vanessa to tears and Kraft was able to convince Andy to run the half-marathon in Austin when Vanessa and Kraft ran their marathon.

Chris first entered Kraft's life while he was a pledge for Lambda Omega Alpha Catholic Fraternity. Chris was one of the guys living at "La Fiesta", a local apartment, and was an officer in the organization. Chris chose Kraft to be his "little brother" and became great friends. They lived together in a horrible, slum of a house known as 706. For the last year, Chris and Kraft shared an office while they worked together as Campus Ministry Interns at the University Catholic Center.

He's another groomsmen. Kraft should go back to work, so he'll work on Hung's and the others soon!