Meet the Wedding Party: Dan Yap

Name: Dan Yap

Status: Groomsman

How We Met: Dan and I met in 6th grade because we had the same home room. You know how I usually just say whatever I am thinking and only consider whether or not I should have spoken afterwords? Sometimes when this happens in school, certain classes get collectively annoyed at me. I remember this "class" being one of those, but Dan would just be laughing with me when everyone got mad at me.

Here is another story about home room. Dan and I would play Gin Rummy. I don't know what Dan's problem was, but he would take FOREVER to decide what he should do. While deciding, he would stare with complete focus at his cards relatively close to his face. As punishment for taking so long, I decided that I would cheat. Since Dan was so focused on his own hand, he never saw me when I would reach out, look at the top card on the draw pile, and put that card somewhere else in the deck if I didn't like it.

Favorite Memory: I was not there at the genesis of this inside joke, but Dan created a pair words: boji (pronounced "bo-ge") and boje (pronounced "bo-jeh"). They are both nouns that describe "a person that is so fat, if you pushed them over on a hill, they would roll all the way down." We used these words frequently in high school.

I rarely (if ever) have created my own words like this. So I found it really funny to discover one day in high school that Dan was not the first person to describe someone "as being so fat that she is round.

"...she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her."
~Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors (Act III. Scene II.)

I just read the context in which this quote is found for the first time and the whole thing is funny.

Now, even though Dan and I have been friends for so long, we have no pictorial evidence to prove it. All we could find were two pictures from Homecoming one year in which we are both in a picture with all the guys in our group. I would have cropped and use them, but we are not even standing next to each other. Oh well. Our friendship is deeper than pictures anyway.





Dan went to Brown University after high school. After a year, he transferred to the University of Chicago and graduated from there last year. He now lives in Chicago with some job that probably has him working in a cubical.

UPDATE:
Here is some proof that Dan and I actually know each other (even if I looked possessed):

Meet the Wedding Party: Sharon Maloney

Name: Sharon Maloney

Status: Bridesmaid...and my Godmother!

How We Met: Uh...she's my aunt. I was sort of born into this whole thing.

Favorite Memory: Lounging around at Big Chip, reading magazines, talking about life, and just doing a whole lot of nothing together. :) Or the first time that we went out to a bar together after I turned 21 and she was like, "I never thought I would be sitting at a bar with my goddaughter..."

Asking her to be a bridesmaid up at Big Chip last year...

...and the requisite pose with the cookie.

Sharon and I love us some Big Chip...and each other! :)

Meet the Wedding Party: Tyler Jay

Name: Tyler Jay

Status: Groomsman

How We Met: The summer that I met Shannon (summer 2007), we met one day when I went to Shannon's house to pick her up or drop her off.

Favorite Memory: Last summer, the three of us (Tyler, Shannon, and myself) were playing Catch Phrase. It was Shannon's turn to give the clues. Giving her clue, Shannon said (in her normal voice), "Some people say I have this when I talk." The correct answer was accent; Shannon has a Minnesoootain accent. However, before I could respond with the correct answer, Tyler said, "Lisp."

"No," Shannon replied. "If that was the answer, then I would have said, 'thome people thay I have thith when I talk.'" We all laughed for a very long time.

(Big) Chippewa Lake 2008
Notice how nice the weather looks and how comfortably we are dressed.

(Big) Chippewa Lake 2009
Notice how crappy the weather looks and how bundled up we are.

This was just last weekend. Everyone was there for Shannon's graduation from ISU.

My shirt is from my (previous) undergraduate university and Tyler's shirt is from his (future) undergraduate university. He is going to Kent State for musical theater.

Meet the Wedding Party: Laura Pientka

Name: Laura Pientka

Status: Bridesmaid

How We Met: I don't remember how we specifically met (though it may have been on our Washington D.C. field trip in 8th grade) but Laura and I had a lot of mutual friends and classes together, particularly during our later years in high school. We also share a mutual love for the Minnesota Wild, so that has helped to solidify our friendship. :)

Favorite Memory: No particular memory comes to mind, but we have had lots of good times involving runs to Cup N Cone before doing some late-night swinging on the beach of White Bear Lake and talking about life, not to mention our ritual of meeting at Applebee's after 9 for half-price appetizers and some Leinie Honey Weiss!

From softball...

...to prom...

...to Florida...

...to the State Fair (gotta love those pronto pups!)...

...Laura and I have been through it all together!

Meet the Wedding Party: Matthew Delzell

Name: Matthew Delzell

Status: Groomsman

How We Met: Since Matthew is my older cousin, we met at my birth.

Favorite Memory: How can I have a favorite memory of my cousin that I have known for 22 years? (Does this sound familiar?) Well, generally speaking, I enjoyed playing with Legos with Matthew. Every birthday and Christmas, we would shake our presents to see if they contained Legos. Matthew always had the best creations. My two favorites were his time-travelling pair of DeLorean and locomotive from Back to the Future I and III respectively. Sorry, no pictures :( Also, Shannon says that smart kids play with Legos :)

I also have a specific memory that comes to mind. My parents did not allow my brother and me to have any kind of video game system other than two Game Boys. Luckily my cousins had a Nintendo. Other than the classic Super Mario Bros. 3 and Duck Hunt, they had Christian video games. My favorite was Spiritual Warfare. We have beaten the game countless times, but this memory comes from before any of those victories. One day when my aunt and uncle were gone and Emily (Matthew's older sister) was in charge, we were all playing Spiritual Warfare together. The excitement grew as we passed a point in the game that we had never passed before. Then, Matthew accidentally bumped the Nintendo and froze the game. As a punishment for getting out of control, Emily made him sit in the other room...by himself.

This is from a birthday party of mine in the garage of our old house. Did I get Legos? It doesn't look like it.

Here we are hangin' out at his church.

Meet the Wedding Party: Cassie Bjork

Name: Cassandra Anna Bjork

Status: Bridesmaid

How We Met: Cassie was the "new girl" in my 3rd grade class...which means we have been friends for around 14 years! Who knew we'd be able to put up with each other for so long?

Favorite Memory: Well, with 14 years behind us, there are plenty: memories of the State Fair, Sonshine concerts, getting in trouble at middle school "Team Meetings", and visiting each other at college, but I'd have to say the favorite one that sticks out in my head is one summer when she came with my family up to Big Chip and we stayed up one night until like 3 AM quoting Shrek to each other. "Man, this is gonna be fun! We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the mornin', I'm makin' WAFFLES!"

Hmmm...she looks nervous to be asked to be a bridesmaid...

...but we sure make some hot bowlers...

...and look slightly scary with guns...

and all in all we are pretty darn cute!

Meet the Wedding Party: Travis Williams

Name: Travis Arthur Williams

Status: Best Man

How We Met: Since Travis is my younger brother, we met at his birth.

Favorite Memory: How can I have a favorite memory of my brother that I have known for 22 years? I can't, but here is one that is pretty good. One day a preschool, we were served the provided lunch, but no one knew what the food was. I was not sure, but after thinking about it for a minute, I announced to the kids that it was pizza. I mean, it tasted like pizza and kind of looked like pizza. That should be enough, right? As soon as Travis "knew" that it was pizza, he started eating it and saying how good it tasted. A teacher heard all the excitement, so she came over to see what was up. Somehow, she figured out that we thought that we were eating pizza, so she corrected us by informing us that we were eating lasagna. My thought was, "Cool, I like lasagna," but my brother's reaction was, "Yuck, I hate lasagna" and stopped eating it. Even years later, our cousins would give him crap about this.


What a worthless baby. He can't even roll himself over.


Why the weird look on your face? Did you eat some sand??


This picture is obviously Photoshoped because I don't wear jeans. I wonder if I hit Travis in the face?...Mom, why would you have professional pictures taken with a wound like that?


Sending my brother off to college. (If you are like me, then you are wondering what is in his hands. It's hangers.) He went to the University of Iowa (as hinted by his hat) and is currently in his fourth year there in the athletic training program.