Guest Spotlights: Gabe, Staci & Molly Rowe

Staci is Nick's first cousin. She is Nick's Dad's sister's daughter. Melaina has been delighted to get to know Staci a little bit through their Facebook friendship and was excited to finally meet her in person at Nick and Melaina's wedding shower in Buffalo.

Gabe and Staci have known each other since they were kids. Gabe's step dad and Staci's dad worked together. Every summer their dad's work would have a company picnic at Darien Lake (a local theme park). At the company picnic in the summer of 1995, they saw each other a little more grown up. So they spent the entire day there together going on rides and hanging out. Gabe asked Staci’s dad if he could take her home. Staci thought he was *so* cool because he had his driver's license! Staci’s dad allowed it because he knew Gabe’s parents. The following weekend, Gabe & Staci went out and were together after that until 2002. They broke up, but kept tabs on each other through the years. They saw each other through birthday's, divorces, crazy girlfriends, stupid boy friends. They always ran back to each other but they "could never get it together." Then one night Staci went over to Gabe’s house for a few drinks and a bon fire. In the midst of a game of hide and go seek with the neighbors, Gabe said "just move in with me…let's just do it". Staci responded, "OK" and moved in the following weekend. They used to go camping every year back in the day. The next summer, while on a camping trip, Gabe asked Staci to marry him! Staci cried her eyes out and said yes. Then, one month before the wedding...they discovered, “SURPRISE WE’RE PREGNANT!”
Staci had to walk down the aisle barefoot because her feet were swollen! And now, 16 years since they first met, they are happily married and so in love with their daughter! Staci says, “The universe is good.” Staci gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Molly, in April 2011.

Be sure to say "hello" to this new Mom and Dad at the wedding!

Mother of the Groom: Joette Iannone

Joette raised two very smart, talented, caring young men; so she has clearly been a great mom to them both. Joette is incredibly generous and caring herself; and along with the help of her sisters, threw Nick and Melaina a beautiful wedding shower in Buffalo. Nick is tickled that his mom's generosity extends to continuing to make him an Easter basket every year.

Nick has fond memories of his mom taking him out to a fancy restaurant for his 8th birthday (or an age near there) when he got to try escargot for the first time. So he attributes his appreciation for fine foods to his mom.

Nick appreciates how his mom has encouraged his art and has fond memories of her taking him to art classes when he was about seven. Nick also appreciates how much his mom has continued to support his art by "pimping his stuff" by telling friends about his apps (and his podcasts when he was doing them).

Melaina is grateful for how warm and welcoming Joette has always been during their visits to Buffalo. Joette always makes us feel so at home.

Joette lives with her fiance, Craig Haynes, in Hamburg NY and works as a hair stylist and has also done some work training young, new hair stylists. Be sure to say "hello" to the mother of the groom while you're at the wedding!

Father of the Groom: Dan Iannone

Dan is Nick's Dad. Nick has especially fond memories of his Dad coming to his hockey games. Nick could always hear his dad cheering in the stands, especially Dan's signature cheer, "cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep." Nick worked for Dan for awhile at his Dad's appliance store. Nick enjoyed working with his Dad - and I'm certain not all sons could say that about their Dads!
Nick's Dad would always fix Nick's cars for him, as Dan used to be a car mechanic and owned two different car repair shops. Dan used to be a drag racer; he had a 1967 Camaro that he called the "Bad Habit."

Dan now lives in Buffalo with his long-time partner Tracy. We've enjoyed our multiple visits with the two of them. Tracy is an amazing cook, particularly her pork chops, greens and macaroni and cheese.

In this photo, Nick and his brother Anthony are shown with their Dad, Dan, and Tracy. Melaina took this photo during a visit to Buffalo in July of 2010.

We are looking forward to seeing them at our wedding in August. For some exciting stories, be sure to ask Nick's Dad about his drag racing years! I still want to hear more about that myself.

Interview with Groomsman Shannon Lebel

Shannon is Nick's cousin. He is Nick's mom's sister Karen's son. Here we get a little sneak peak into their shared childhood.

Melaina: What is your earliest memory of Nick?

Shannon: My earliest memories of Nick were hanging out at his house when we were young, swimming in his pool, and him teaching me how to play Contra on Nintendo when I was about five years old.

Melaina: What is your funniest memory of Nick?

Shannon: A funny story about us is that Nick taught me the difference between the salt and sugar dispensers in a restaurant. When I was very young and he was old enough to take me on a walk by ourselves his mom gave us some money to go eat at the Acropolis. Once we got there, Nick even let me just order a huge thing of french fries, it was great! Then when the food arrived, I grabbed the big sugar dispenser off the table and covered them with a layer of sugar so thick that the fried dough folks at the state fair would be impressed. Nick thought it was hilarious, but was kind enough to teach me to use the smaller salt shaker in the future. He also helped me eat the fries, and pretended that they weren't that bad. :)

Hopefully the food at our wedding can erase the scars left by those fries!

Guest Spotlight: DJ Bob Proehl

Nick and Bob went to high school together. They got to know each other in a Technical Designing class where they learned two-point perspective and did some architectural drafting. The focus of the class was on Design and Drawing for Production. Nick and Bob sat next to each other in class and really hit it off. Bob inspired Nick to explore and appreciate older music, including the Beatles. Nick used to play Super Nintendo with Bob and his brothers at Bob's house. Nick got to know Bob's family really well and enjoyed visiting with Bob's parents as well. Then Bob went off to SUNY Geneseo, where Nick made trips out to see him and hang out.

Bob now lives in Ithaca with his wife Heather, whom he married in 2009 and Alex. Bob works in Marketing and Web Management for Buffalo Street Books. He earned his MA in English at Boston University. Bob operated No Radio Records, an independent record store and performance space for several years. He DJs in Ithaca under the name AutoMatic Buffalo. His book, The Gilded Palace of Sin, on the slight rise and quick fall of the Flying Burrito Brothers, was released in 2008 from Continuum Press.

Melaina met Bob during our first trip to Buffalo. Nick, Melaina and Bob met for a drink at the Adam's Mark hotel bar, which is where Bob made the incredibly generous offer to DJ our wedding! We are both looking forward to seeing Bob in August and to meeting Heather and Alex! THANK YOU, BOB, for gifting us your DJ services. What an honor and what an amazing gift!

Interview with Groomsman Pete Moller

I sent Pete an email asking for some stories about his friendship with Nick that I could share with you and this was his highly entertaining response...

"I first met Nick at the Jackson Hole News in Wyoming, as a new & slightly overwhelmed ad photographer. Nick--newer than me, and not yet 21--possessed even then an uncanny and effortless ability to understand Process, Art & Technology so fluently, I was immediately impressed & hopelessly jealous. He also played chess, was a gifted guitarist, and rocked the most baddass, Buffalo black salt-eaten Lincoln I'd ever seen.

"Bromance was in the air...

"A week or two later my buddy John & I got kicked out of the place we were crashing at. Someone located a cheap, derelict duplex full of shameful bachelors fleeing town. But we needed a third man. Nick was the dude. Also, he knew girls. A couple of whom moved in immediately. Our friend Ron arrived from California. The House of Shame was born.

"Within a year or two, our various trajectories had flung us in the four directions. But I always look back on those days with fondness & appreciation. Nick taught me how to bake a fucking pizza, use computers without fear, and introduced me to the music of Tom Waits... All of which remain indispensable to life."

Pete now lives in Pennsylvania with his girlfriend Kate Davis. I can't wait to meet them both at our wedding in August!

Guest Spotlight: Robin Jauch

This is our second in our series of guest spotlights. Today we are featuring Nick's cousin Robin. Robin is Nick's Mom's sister Karen's daughter. I made this "family tree" which shows each of Nick's Mom's 9 sisters and underneath each sister is a list of their respective children (click on the image to enlarge):

So Robin and Nick have known one another for their entire lives.

In this photo, Robin is pictured with another one of their cousins, Hannah, whom we are hoping will also attend our wedding.

Robin lives in Buffalo with her husband Dave and their son Davey. She grew up in Los Angeles and is a certified English teacher. Robin's husband Dave loves rock music and plays the drums. Baby Davey was born at home, weighing 10 pounds, 10 ounces!

I hope you're studying all these details because we may have a pop quiz at the wedding. ;-)

Guest Spotlight: Lisa Lebel

Lisa is Nick's cousin Shannon's wife. (Shannon is one of Nick's groomsmen, so you'll hear more about Shannon later). Lisa and Shannon met at a frat party their freshman year in college and the rest is history.

Lisa and Nick met early on because Shannon and Nick were really close. Lisa and Shannon went to Nick's old apartment in Buffalo quite often. Lisa reports, "we would always do the same things - watch sports and they would play and talk about poker while I sat there bored out of my mind..haha..but I loved going there and hanging out with the two of them, listening to them laugh...good times."

Melaina first met Lisa, along with a lot of Nick's family members, at Lisa and Shannon's wedding last year. Lisa loves to ice skate and is addicted to Thai tea lattes. Her favorite work-out class is called Body Pump. We are super excited that Lisa and Shannon are expecting a baby! And coincidentally, their baby's expected due date is Melaina's birthday - July 6th! We are looking forward to meeting the newest Lebel at our wedding in August.

Busy with all our DIY projects

Nick and I are doing a lot of DIY for our wedding. I'm so excited and having so much fun, though it is a bit more work than I'd anticipated. So far we've made:

1. the Save-The-Dates
2. felt flower bouquets for the bride and all of the bridesmaids
3. table numbers and centerpieces
4. some props for the photobooth

I've also started several other projects that are works-in-progress, including:

-the cake topper
-red birdcage veils for each of the bridesmaids
-boutonnieres for each of the groomsmen
-birdcage veil to go with my reception dress
-an Activity Book to keep the kids entertained
-the card box

But the big project right now is making our wedding invitations, which has already involved days (not just hours - yes, days) of cutting paper.

Nick is busy working on the card box. I'm so proud of him! He has already worked hard cutting and sanding the wood and screwing the box together. It hasn't been painted yet, but it already looks so beautiful: