Bridesmaids 

   Lisa

I met Lisa thru Jeannette about 11 years ago.  Lisa is Jeannette’s younger sister.  She is also happily married and has 2 wonderful kids.  Her husband’s name is Massimo and their children are Michael and Giovanna.  I was a little nervous meeting Lisa (which I don’t know if she even knew that) I am not really sure why - but I was.   Luckily I did meet Lisa because we have become very good friends over the past 11 years. Lisa has a Bachelors degree which she earned by attending Florida Atlantic University.  We attended the same University and we used to talk about the classes we were taking, what classes we had left to take and how much longer we had to go until we graduated.  By talking to her about the classes I was taking and being able to vent sometimes to her about certain classes helped me get thru them. I remember one class she was taking that was giving her a hard time.  It was some type of creating a web page – graphic class.  Of course I have no clue about that stuff but luckily Danny did.  I was telling him about what was going on with her class and being the great guy that he is he gladly volunteered to help Lisa.  So one night we went over to her house and he helped her with her class and I played with the kids.   I was very proud of Lisa when she told me she was graduating.  I was a bridesmaid in Lisa’s wedding.  She had her wedding ceremony on a cruise and then her reception at the Ballantrae Resort in Port Saint Lucie.  It was all very well done and we all enjoyed ourselves very much.  I love her kids very much and I consider them as if they were my own niece and nephew.  Lisa has always been a good friend and has always been there for me.  I really value our friendship.  She is definitely someone you want in your corner in the good times and the bad.  I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

   Kimberly

Kim is my younger sister.  We grew up together with our parents in Port Saint Lucie.  We both went to school at Saint Anastasia Elementary School and John Carroll High School.  We were very close when we were little and we used to do everything together.  When we were younger she used to be the one who got in trouble all the time and I was the good one (I was a little goodie 2 shoes!)  Which worked out for me because whenever something would happen (something broke, someone was making too much noise, etc) my parents would always think it was Kim!  Then she moved to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida – GO GATORS!  She graduated from the University of Florida with her Bachelors degree a couple years ago.  She then met and married Eli and they now live in Trenton, Florida.  They have been married for 2 years.  They just had their first baby – Brooke – my niece! She was born on May 4th.  She is a cutie of course.  Kim and Eli got married at my parent’s house in Port Saint Lucie. Our parents own 10 acres way out west in Port Saint Lucie.  We grew up there and that is where she decided she wanted to get married.  It was a little windy the day of her wedding.  My parents had bought a big white tent for the wedding reception.  The day before the wedding they put up the tent and it was a little windy, but the tent seemed sturdy enough to withstand the wind.  Well about 30 minutes before the wedding ceremony was about to start a huge gust of wind came thru and caught a corner of the tent and yanked the stakes out of the ground. I was in the corner of the tent that was trying to fly away and I caught the edge of the tent and it almost lifted me off my feet.  The wind gust was that strong!   I felt like Mary Poppins for a couple seconds!   Luckily there were a lot of guys there and they fixed the tent and we were good to go.  It turned out to be a very nice ceremony and reception despite the wind.   I am very thankful and blessed to have Kim as my sister.

   Jeannette

I have been friends with Jeannette for about 11 years.  She is happily married to Scott and they have 3 wonderful kids:  Matthew, Dylan (my godson) and Emma. We both used to work for a cellular phone company – US Cellular – and that is where we met.  We were instant friends.  I met Jeannette as she was planning her wedding that she was having in New York.   At the time Scott was working part time at night and I remember being on the phone with Jeannette almost every night for hours.  We used to watch wrestling (remember this was about 11 years ago) and every Monday and Wednesday night we would be on the phone cheering for the wrestlers we loved (I think it was the Rock we really liked and Stone Cold Steve Austin) and booing at the ones we didn’t like.  Then we started to get into American Idol.  It is funny because whenever one of the contestants we liked either were in danger of being voted off or was actually voted off we threatened to never watch the show again.  I think we did that almost every year.   Jeannette has always been someone that I could talk to and I know that she has my best interests at heart.  She has always been there for me when I needed her.  When she asked me to be the godmother of her son Dylan I was truly honored.  It was one of the best moments.  I love each of her kids as if they were my own niece and nephews and I treasure our friendship.  I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

   Jamie

Jamie is my cousin.  Jamie, Kim and I all basically grew up together.  We were all close and used to do almost everything together. My aunt and Jamie lived next door to us.  I remember when she was born (Jamie is 6 yrs younger than me) I used to want to hold her all the time.  I was very protective of her – well as protective as a 6 year old can be.  Now I am going to embarrass myself - My aunt (Jamie’s mom) and my parents all make fun of me because I was 6 years old when Jamie was born and at the time I didn’t know where babies came from.  So when my aunt was pregnant with Jamie I used to tell her to go thru the drive thru at Burger King and pick out her baby!  The only thing I cared about was that she picked out a girl.  I wanted her to have a girl.  To this day they won’t let me live that down.  Jamie is married to Albert and they have 3 wonderful kids:  Albert Jr, Ethan and Hailey.  They just celebrated their 1^st wedding anniversary in April.  They had their wedding ceremony and reception at Quail Creek Shooting Range in Okeechobee, Florida.  I was Jamie’s maid of honor at their wedding.  The ceremony was held by the lodge at Quail Creek and the reception was under a huge wooden pavilion.  They had a very nice ceremony and reception.  I am very blessed to have her in my life.

   Taylor

Taylor is my niece to be.  She is 13 years old and is Danny’s Brother’s daughter.  She lives in Alabama.  She is a very sweet young lady.  She has a younger brother named Cameron. One thing that she loves to do is pick on her Uncle Danny.  For Danny’s 30^th birthday, Taylor and her grandmother - Danny’s mom, sent him 30 birthday cards - one for each day of the month.  Taylor wrote in every card they sent.  Most of the comments were making fun of him getting older and some were sincere.  It is fun listening to her pick on him.  Unfortunately, he gets her back though.  She was very excited when Danny and I got engaged.  I think she is even more excited about being a bridesmaid in our wedding.  I look forward to getting to know her better and I am very thankful for having her in my life.

 Flower Girls

   Brooke

Brooke is my niece.  She was born on May 4^th in Gainesville, Florida.  She was 6lbs 6oz and 18 inches long.  Her parents are my sister Kim and brother – in - law Eli.  She is very precious and I love her very much.  I just wish she lived closer so I could see her more.  Danny and I went to see her with my parents on Memorial Day weekend.  It was the first time I was able to see her.  She is even more adorable in person than in the pictures they sent me.  I held her almost the whole weekend.  I of course shared her with everyone else, but I didn’t want to. She is going to be about 10 months old at the time of the wedding.  I know she will not be able to stand at the alter during the ceremony, but I would still like her to walk with the wedding party during the ceremony.  I am very thankful and blessed to have her as my niece.

   Giovanna

Giovanna is Lisa and Massimo’s daughter.  She is 3 years old.  She is a wonderful and beautiful little girl.  She has an older brother – Michael.  She has a great personality and is always smiling.  Just being around her makes you smile.  For my graduation my parents and Danny threw a party for me.  Lisa came to my party and brought Giovanna and Michael as well.  My parents have ATV’s (4 wheelers) and at the time they had horses at their place.  Giovanna had a blast riding the horses and the 4 wheelers.  She had the biggest smile on her face the whole time.   I think her favorite was the horses though.  She was not afraid of them at all.  She petted the horses and rode them with a huge smile on her face.   Her brother’s favorite was the 4 wheelers.  Again I am very blessed to have such a wonderful little girl in my life. 

I am very honored and extremely happy that everyone not only agreed to be a part of my special day, but they are all very excited about it.  I love each of them very much and wouldn't know what I would do without them.