Neither of us actually remember -meeting-, just that at some point we did and we've been hard to separate ever since. (No, literally-- we adopted each other's speech patterns and mannerisms for YEARS. Thanks, neurodivergence!)

It was either an anime picnic or an Eagle Anime event that brought us into each other's orbit initially, but the deal was sealed in 2008 when she signed on to cosplay Marluxia from the Kingdom Hearts franchise for the group hrtznaoplz, which I managed and cosplayed Vexen for.

We have been through so many life lessons and growing pains together, and I am infinitely grateful both that she is a constant presence in my life and that she's agreed to be my maid of honor.

She's also an English major, so if you DON'T cry at her reception speech, we're putting you in jail. ;p

One day in Mrs. Frickey's PM kindergarten class, a quiet girl with brown hair and glasses was minding her own business and playing with some 3D shape blocks. A blonde girl who also had glasses saw this and thought the other girl looked lonely, so she planned the best social interaction her little autistic brain could come up with... She grabbed an egg-shaped oval block, sat on it, and yelled "BAWK BAWK, I'M A CHICKEN!" The quiet girl laughed.

She's been laughing for 28 years.

Emily has been my best friend since we were five years old. I will never understand how she didn't just write me off as a weirdo, but I cannot be more thankful that she chose friendship instead. She was my only real friend through elementary school, and even when her family moved away, we called each other all the time and got together for sleepovers. Honestly, we still get together for sleepovers to this day.

Everyone needs a friend that they can be their absolute weirdest self with and she's always been there for me, no matter what.

I'm gonna admit that my first feeling toward Emilie was "intimidated." She was one of the professional-level cosplayers that I had seen at Anime Detour and other cons for a couple years, winning awards and looking like she literally popped out of the anime her character was from. I was still a teenager and looked up to her, but we only really knew each other in passing.

When I posted on the message boards of our local cons to start forming a cosplay group, I was floored when she responded that she'd like to join as Saïx. I couldn't believe that someone of her talent was interested in hanging out with us. We made a lot of good memories while cosplaying Kingdom Hearts, but in later years, we also went on to do characters together from Hetalia and My Little Pony. I learned so much from her along the way!

Life's had a lot of ups and downs since those early days, but I'm deeply thankful that we came out of them together.

Some 20-odd years ago, I met this nifty guy in 5th grade. His hair was cut so short that he almost looked bald, and he often carried around Dungeons & Dragons books. After realizing we had a shared interest in fantasy and small interlinking plastic blocks (Lego League!), Matt and I became fast friends.

I don't think it's ever a cognizant realization of that gradual shift from childhood friend to lifelong friend, but over the many years our bond has only deepened. Our shared life experiences, be they rough housing and hurting each other when we were young, actually going to the gym regularly as we got older, or the intensely introspective conversations along the way, we've truly built something special in regards to friendship.

Years have passed, his hair is now longer, but we are, at our core, the same nerds that met all those years ago. I am honored to have the world's nicest man by my side to call friend.

I've been good friends with Mack ever since we met at the University of River Falls some 8 years ago. We initially bonded over 24-hour Lord of the Rings marathons and tabletop RPGs, but quickly found that the Venn diagram of our interests was basically one solid circle.

What started as simply sharing interests and passions, quickly turned into meeting up 3-4 times a week to not only game, but to have long conversations about any part of life you can imagine. A few road trips to Indianapolis for conventions certainly gave us time for that, too!

In rough times, Mack proved to be one of the handful of folks willing to stand up for me, and for that, I'm forever grateful. I'm very honored to have him by my side on our wedding day.

Robert, Bob, Jarred, or Herman, no matter what you call him, he's been my brother for the better part of twenty-eight full years, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

There's no real good way to summarize the relationship with a sibling, but here's an attempt: When I was born he immediately claimed me as his own, trotting me along like his new favorite pet. Then I entered the Terrible Twos and shrieked all the time, disabusing him of that particular trait. When I was 5, I decided that I needed to be his shadow; I took the job so seriously that he accidentally fell on me, practically dislocating my shoulder! I, of course, learned nothing from that experience and kept trying to do everything he did. I think I probably annoyed the snot out of him... I must have, because he shut me in the toy chest and sat on it once! It wasn't until I started to actually form into a full human being that could rationalize that he circled back, seeing me as someone he could teach French to.

I never did learn.

We talk the same, we laugh the same, we argue the same, and we both possess the same level of pedantry. I love him dearly, but never let it be said that we are similar!!