Bre & Shane
Shane and I met as most couples do these days: online. Shane was powering through all the disappointments that the apps bring and I had taken a break from all of it! I had too many gross dates to want to keep trying and instead bought a townhouse and brought home the love of my life, Minnie! One of my friends, Racquel, decided to make me a Match.com account to get me back out there and after I got multiple emails about all these great singles wanting to meet me (eyeroll), I finally logged in to see for myself. The very first message I saw was from this beardy fellow with a REALLY cute Chocolate Lab. What’s even better is the message wasn’t one of the lame prepared ones built into the app- it was him telling me my dog was cute! After chatting for a little while, not getting invited to go see Ed Sheeran, and doing my best to make sure I wasn’t agreeing to meet up with a serial killer, we decided to meet. I had a visit to Disney World planned for that weekend so I told Shane if he wanted to meet up before I had to leave I only had an hour to grab a quick drink and it had to be close to my house which was about 40 minutes away from his. He accepted this terrible offer and the 1 hour turned into 4 hours of laughing and talking about our passions. I learned he had a sweet dog Bear back home recovering from breaking his leg and I knew I at least needed to meet the limpy guy! I also knew I had paid for 3 months of the stupid dating app and I was not going to just go with the first date – even if it was the best date I’d ever been on!
I proceeded to go on 2 more first dates while still talking to Shane, and about 3 minutes into meeting the last guy I realized “I hate this! Why did I want to keep meeting new guys?!”. Plus this weirdo had never had cheesecake before! There was no way that was ever going to work. I quickly texted Shane confirming he’d had and enjoyed cheesecake before and decided I’d see that potential relationship through!
Little did he know that just under 5 years later, we’d be eating that exact peanut butter chocolate cheesecake at our wedding!
TOP LEFT: Some of our firsts! Our first photo (on our first Christmas!), my first time meeting Marshall, our first Valentine’s Day, our first State Fair, our first trip & our first cabin weekend! TOP MIDDLE: Our first 3 trips to Disney World & our first 3 Bears/Vikings games! TOP RIGHT: Shane’s first trip to DC, his first Grove family vacation, 2nd Grove family vacation, seeing Hamilton, hosting a wonderful dinner party in the kitchen Shane remodeled for me & one of many fantastic meals together! BOTTOM: Only my all time favorite photo of us that I think really captures our personalities
The Bridesmaids
Callyson Grove, Maid of Honor
I’ve known Callyson longer than I can remember- she’s my big sister! She is my hands down all time favorite human on the planet and the best person I know. She’s an amazing mom to my wonderful niece Lilia and nephew Finn and a phenomenal wife to the designer of our invitations & this very website, Jon! Callyson and I are about as different as two sisters can be. It took some time before we became friends- around the time Cally got her driver’s license and could be my chauffeur! Since then we’ve had the most special sister relationship. When I was in Florida, both she and Jon made sure to come see me every Fall and we had the best time park hopping from sun up to sun down! Even though she’s all the way in Washington DC, we both try our best to make trips to see each other every year. She’s always been my #1 supporter through every moment and I feel like the luckiest person that we’re best friends AND sisters.
How you’ll recognize her on the dance floor: She’ll be rapping the FULL lyrics to The Fresh Prince theme song with me!
TOP LEFT: Some of my favorite photos together growing up. TOP MIDDLE: We love to imitate all kinds of things! Statues, posters, Disney Characters, tasks in the Triwizard Tournament… you name it! TOP RIGHT: Some of my favorite photos of us from Callyson’s wedding. BOTTOM: Just some of my favorites!
Katy Casper, Bridesmaid
Katy and I met when I got my first job at the Marcus Majestic movie theater! She had worked at another movie theater that the Majestic was replacing and came in with a lot of experience. My first day on the job I saw her absolutely killing it when I couldn’t even find the popcorn and I was immediately intimidated. Her crazy fast walking, quick wit, and stunning beauty all combined to make me completely terrified of her. She was always kind to me though and after a couple years of being coworkers we decided to hang out away from the theater. That was all it took for us to become the best of friends. After that we were practically inseparable. At work we had our own language mostly made of movie quotes and inside jokes and would spend as much time as possible outside working hours too. We had sleepovers and movie marathons and endless ab workout style laughter. I was in college a state away and other than a few summers our entire friendship has been long-distance. She is my first text or call when I have anything to share. We have been there for each other every step of the way and the only complaint I have is that we don’t get to spend nearly enough time together. Even though we only get to spend a handful of days together every year, we have stayed just as close as we were during our sleepover summers. We are equally committed to staying close and that’s the reason we are! She makes everything more colorful, more fun, and just better overall!
How you’ll recognize her on the dance floor: She won’t leave it!
TOP LEFT: A typical shift working at the Majestic. TOP RIGHT: On our lovely cruise where we were often mistaken for a couple! UPPER MIDDLE RIGHT: Heading to dance our faces off at a wedding! BOTTOM LEFT: At Dog Day for Minnie’s 1st birthday! LOWER MIDDLE RIGHT: A Board & Brush date. BOTTOM RIGHT: Just one of many meals filled with uncontrollable laughter.
Kari Eloranta, Bridesmaid
Kari and I met as early as a college friendship can start! We both signed up for the first possible Freshman orientation at the U so we could pick our classes with no restrictions! Kari was all set to room for the night with another girl and I was not claimed yet. Our super weird orientation leader didn’t notice when one of her flock wandered off during the campus tour and that missing girl happened to be Kari’s roommate! I quickly volunteered to take her place and we spent that evening bonding over my Mulan ringtone and Kari’s sister dealing with a bat loose in her house while she was all alone (Pro tip: have a tennis racket handy). I don’t think I’ve ever felt more immediately comfortable with another person in my entire life. Kari has stayed a constant for me since that very first night. We took classes together until we found our actual majors (Bye, Psych!), always saw the weekly movie during Gophers After Dark, had sleepovers, went to awesome concerts and football games, and went to each other’s childhood homes on a couple occasions! She was the last face I saw when I left Minnesota after college finished and my mom drove me home sobbing to “For Good”. When I moved to Florida for over 4 years Kari visited me multiple times and we became bad greeting card pen pals as well as very good long-distance friends. I don’t think anyone else was as excited for me to return to Minnesota after my Disney adventure was over! Kari helped me find my first ever solo apartment, has joined me on my yearly OscarQuest, taste tested her way through 4 tomato soup recipes to find me a cookbook to cook through, and enables my book buying addiction twice a year at the Library Book Sale. The most amazing thing about Kari is that even when she’s insanely busy or stressed, she makes time for others. She will be a mom of 2 under 2 soon and still said yes to being in our wedding! How lucky are we??
How you’ll recognize her on the dance floor: Her husband and our officiant Ethan will be singing Moneymaker to her!
TOP LEFT: At a Gopher game our Sophomore year in college TOP RIGHT: A brief pause in dancing at Kari’s wedding! BOTTOM LEFT TO RIGHT: One of Kari’s visits to Florida to see me! At a terrible country bar. A brief pause in howling at a Timberwolves game. At an icy art fest shortly before graduating college!
Steph Sheldon, Bridesmaid
Steph and Kari met through rowing at the U their freshman year. I always heard from Kari about her fun friend Steph and how we should all hang out sometime. One thing to know about Steph is she always stays busy and gets more things done in a 24 hour period than 6 other people combined so we didn’t meet until October 2010 and neither of us can recall exactly what that was for! My first memory of “meeting” Steph was at the Holidazzle Parade when I was standing behind someone, watching the parade and thinking “Man I’m glad this child is in front of me because I have a perfect view of this parade!” only for this kid to turn around and be Steph! We maintained this super close friendship for the next few years while we wrapped up college and went our separate ways. Steph became a real adult and continued the start of her professional career with Fairview and I went to Disney World to postpone that as long as possible! In June of 2014 Steph put together a group of friends to go see the Backstreet Boys and I made sure to come from Florida to attend. Even after that life-changing event, we hovered around an acquaintance status until I was ready to leave Disney and Steph put in a good word for me at Fairview. Once I moved back to the Midwest, our friendship really began. Steph has been there for me for every important stage of my adult life and most importantly came with me to pick up my best friend Minnie. We definitely almost left with the other 3 available puppies. She also went ring shopping with Shane when I was out of town last year. Steph got me my job, my best friend, and my fiancé! I told you she knows how to get things done!
How you’ll recognize her on the dance floor: She will be hoovering up all the uneaten cheesecake instead of dancing!
TOP LEFT: Our trip to Asheville in front of the Biltmore- seriously! TOP RIGHT: Steph & Minnie on Minnie’s birthday right before that homemade birthday cake was dropped on the floor for all the dogs to share MIDDLE LEFT: Us and our dogs on our way to Sven’s birthday pool party! MIDDLE RIGHT: Sven & me cuddling on my birthday after Steph made sure I had the best dog filled day (pre-Minnie days!) BOTTOM LEFT: As bridesmaids in Kari’s wedding BOTTOM RIGHT: Picking up Minnie & trying not to steal all the other puppies!
The Groomsmen*
Marshall Albright, Best Man
Marshall is my bro. He’s a top 5% man. He is single. He has a great beard. I don’t know if I love Marshall, Bear or Bre most. Marshall was present for the installation of the beam that replaced the wall in our house. Marshall has been to all 50 states & has hiked Kilimanjaro.
Nick Berg, Groomsman
Nick is a great dude. Nick is married to Jen. Nick and I went on a lovely trip to Egypt together. Jen and Bre were not invited. Nick was present for the installation of the beam that replaced the wall in our house.
Eric Anderson, Groomsman
EA! EA recently moved “up North” (Big Sandy). EA started his own sign company. EA is the owner of Bear’s littermate, Remi. EA was present for the installation of the beam that replaced the wall in our house.
Chris Judd, Groomsman
JUDDY! Chris works with me at Albrecht Sign Company. Chris likes whiskey. Chris was not present for the installation of the beam that replaced the wall in our house.
*Please note: Shane wrote the “paragraphs”? about these men (maybe with some added flair from Bre). Bre found photos & captioned them.
Our Families
The Groves
Bre’s parents, Ron & Timberlee, met at the University of Illinois. Although both are from the suburbs of Chicago, they lived in Wisconsin, off and on, from the early ’80s until 2019. Timberlee is “retired” from her career in insurance and now gets to set her own schedule as a consultant & member of the board of an insurance company. Ron is also retired from his career with GE but he does take his position as statistician for his hiking club VERY seriously. While they have always loved to travel and have taken our family all over the world, they have taken it to the next level since retiring going on trips from Egypt to Spain to Australia and the one I’m most jealous of: an African Safari where they saw so many animals! Despite the amazing life they built together as a couple, their biggest claim to fame is the family they created – their two daughters: the bride and Callyson, the maid of honor! Callyson lives in Washington DC and works as a Partner at Wilson Elser law firm. She and her husband Jon married on April 18th, 2015. Jon is a supervisory attorney with the Congressional Research Service in the Library of Congress but he did not meet Lizzo when she came by to play James Madison’s 200 year old crystal flute, unfortunately. Callyson & Jon have two wonderful kids: Lilia & Finn! Lilia is a Frozen enthusiast and we may hire her to do our seating chart since she loves telling people where to sit! Finn is pretty new to the family but we are confident that he will have the best cheeks at the party!
The Four Groves doing what we do best: Living Statues!
The Boskovich’s (Shane is in charge of finishing this section)
Mike & Tina are Shane’s parents. Tiana is Shane’s sister. Gabrielle & Giovanna are Tiana’s daughters.
The Dogs
Minnie & Bear are the light of our lives. There is nothing we wouldn’t do for our pups. Bear will be turning 6 on our wedding day so please wish him a Happy Birthday when you see him! Minnie turned 5 on May 24th and is just thrilled to be included in our day. Minnie will be walking down the aisle with Lilia as our Flower Girls & Bear will be walking down the aisle with Gabrielle as our Ring Bear(er)s. They would love to meet everyone but will be leaving pretty quickly after the ceremony is over. There is no doubt in our minds that they will be the show stealers so they can’t stay the whole time.
