Happy Monday, Penny Darlings!

We are now officially twelve days from the big day! The W-Day! It’s STRESSFUL!

But strap in for a BUNCH of wedding updates! Maybe even a *gasp* dress reveal? Maybe? We’ll see! Ha!

Today, however, I want to introduce: the SQUAD.

But I have an amazing Bride Tribe. Some of the absolute best people in the world. And I thought they deserved a bio! I wanted to introduce them all and tell you a bit about how we met. I have 100% not asked any of them if I could post this, so SURPRISE CAMP TANNER.

 

Let me just squeeze in some of the boring stuff! Ha! Check me out on Instagram here! I also started a Twitter account! Find that here!

I also have a selling Instagram page where I sell some of my old clothes/styles so that I don’t drown in my own wardrobe. I just listed a few new things – so check that out!

All my affiliate codes and links to things are posted in my Spiel Section.

But anyway – let’s talk.

 

Maid of Honor

This is my best friend in the whole world, Abby! Yes, her name is also Abby. We have the same initials too! AMH. Abigail Morgan Hoy and Abigail Merry Hauk. Our parents were friends but we didn’t know each other. When I was in seventh grade, we did a production of Schoolhouse Rock Live, Jr. at our middle school.

We looked at each other and said, ‘Your name’s Abby, my name’s Abby – we should be friends.’

And here we are 15 years later, still best friends. She moved to Chicago two years ago and I’ve been out to visit her three times! She comes home and visits a lot. We text and FaceTime. I even wrote a blog post about when she moved!

But we’ve been through it all. Heartbreak, prom, graduations, boys, love, college – all of it. I helped her move in to her freshman dorm. I cried more at her graduation than at mine. (she’s a year older!). We went to different colleges. We both transferred colleges.

I was there the day she adopted her dog. She’s unwaveringly been there for my plays. When my freshman year of college was unkind to me and left me in a deep depression, she invited me to parties, to sleep in her dorm, and helped me make friends at her school.

We’ve run down the boardwalk at top pace to catch a movie. We’ve seen Niagara Falls together. We cannot bake a thing together. It ALWAYS fails. Her family totally adopted me. We went to prom. And homecoming. We were in the musicals together. She was there on my 21st birthday. We played Barbies and watched Titanic. We had sleepovers, we’ve gone on vacation with each other’s families, and she’s my first husband.

 

Best Man

Yep. I have a MoH AND a Best Man. I’m nothing if not a little extra. This is my best man, Joe! Well, actually, I call him Swags (because his last name is Swaggerty – he has NO swag at all.).

We met during college, of course, during theatre. We were in a Scooby Doo play together, of all things! He played Fred. I played the villain. And we just became the absolute best of friends. I honestly have no idea how it happened.

But we spent many nights partying together in college, giving each other advice, working on theatre stuff together, drinking, and trying to wingman each other! We watched bad movies together and ate pizza.

We graduated together. Out of our whole group of friends, it was really only he and I that graduated together. And we watched a Brony Documentary and drank whiskey the night we graduated.

Swags literally came on my first date with Preston. He came to see the play that Preston was in with me. I gripped his arm the first time he was on stage. When the show ended, I got so nervous, I made him go home because he was too handsome. (we were roomies!). Two days later – I told Swags I knew I was going to marry him.

In a long list of things, I was totally right.

We’ve traveled together, laughed together, been through some terrible stuff together, performed together, hugged together, worked together, and drank together. He’s the best man that a gal could ask for!

 

Bridesmaid

Kreidon the Mighty, mighties of Kreids, Kreidon. This is my friend Cathy Kreider (fondly nicknamed by her first boyfriend as Kreidon the Mighty and it stuck.)

Cathy and I met in 8th grade English class. She was new to school and loved the Beatles and was a ballerina and a super weird kid. And I effin’ LOVED that. We started talking, I invited her to my birthday party that year, ad it blossomed from there!

Cathy and I were the only one of our group of friends that were NOT in the marching band for school. So every Friday, when our band geek friends had to go get ready, Cathy and I would walk to the local pizza shop, have a slice (with a side of ranch), and split some cheese fries! Then we would walk to the game together!

My family then totally adopted her. She calls my mom, Mamacita. She comes over for Christmas. And sometimes Thanksgiving or Easter. She goes on our family vacations. We’ve gotten stuck on a river for hours, dated TWO of the same boys and it was not dramatic, gone to the lake too many times!

She lives in Philadelphia these days, but she and I are the best at keeping in contact! We try to call and catch up as frequently as possible. She is truly the mightiest of Kreids.

 

 

Bridesmaid

This, my dear friends, is my friend Dara. Dara and I were in a production of Carrie together and that was one of those shows, man. We were a CULT. We spent SO much time together. Dara and I discovered we lived really close together.

We met right out of college. It was at a time when I was used to having all of my best friends within two miles. It was a hard adjustment after college to find new friends back at home.

But I did Carrie and Dara and I were totally in the same boat – recent grads in the area, theatre geeks, loved some good trash TV, and could talk about anything. We were fast friends. After the show ended, she ended up dating one of my dear friends.

And then that thing happened, where I would hang out with them as a couple, and I actually ended up closer to Dara than my friend/her BF. They lived at Dara’s house together, and I visited often. They eventually broke up, but we’ve stayed really close.

We love to sit out on her porch and chat, watch TERRIBLE TV, look at clothes, catch up, gossip, play video games, and going to see plays! Her new beau and Preston get along like a charm! It’s awesome!

In a very transitional time of my life, Dara provided me with something I didn’t know I even needed: sanctuary.

 

 

SO HERE’S THE “END OF BLOG” SPIEL!

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Thank you for all that you do. You are truly extraordinary.

Love all you wonderful ladies (and gents!) out there!

How Very,

Abby