Tara Bartlett, Matron of Honor
Meet Tara. Appearing in the dual roles of Matron of Honor and Big Sister is Tara Bartlett. Tara and Jillian met 27 years ago when Jillian was born. Their mother claims that Tara cried because Jillian was not a boy, and then cried more when she found out that Jillian couldn’t live at the hospital, but Tara has no recollection of either of these events (plus she thinks she got the better end of the deal anyway; she no longer cries when Jillian comes home). Over the years, Tara and Jillian have created many precious, some might say weird, memories that she will always treasure. Her favorite memory is… wait, there are too many to choose from (and this is a public website).
Although the “Tengood” sisters had varied interests and ambitions growing up, they will always share their love for music, complaining, vacations, being loud, spending time with family, holidays and of course late night games of Boggle. They also would enjoy putting on “shows” in their living room for their parents, which were so “formal”, that they involved putting together a program. Their parents’ favorite was when they performed “Annie”, because this involved a rendition of “It’s a Hard Knock Life” complete with dusting the living room. Over the years, Jillian has learned a lot from her big sister, including how to do laundry, how to prepare for an audition, and how to wake up late enough to miss the bus, but early enough to still have mom drive you to school on time. When Jillian began her freshman year at Lehigh, Tara was worried that Jillian’s shyness would take over, and told her that she had to meet 10 people by the time she visited. During Tara’s first visit, one of the ten people Jillian introduced her to was Anthony, the senior who lived upstairs. Tara is so happy that Jillian and Anthony found each other and wishes them many years of happiness together. She only hopes that she can do as good of a job performing this role as Jillian did for her.
Sarah Seidman, Bridesmaid
Meet Sarah. Sarah is Jillian's "identical cousin". The two met when Sarah was born and they have looked alike ever since. People (even family members) look at pictures of Jillian when she was younger and mistake her for Sarah, and vice-versa. The resemblance took a new level at Jillian's sister Tara's wedding, when Sarah and Jillian were wearing the same dress. That night, about five people called Sarah “Jillian”. At least everyone will be able to tell them apart at Jillian's wedding because they will be wearing a different color dress! Over the years, Jillian and Sarah have shared so many good times filled with laughter, from vacations to Ocean City, Maryland and New York City, to holiday get-togethers. There were a few tears too, particularly when one day Jillian dropped Sarah on her head while trying to give her a piggy back ride, but Jillian is grateful that Sarah (or anyone else in the family) can’t remember. Sarah is so honored to be a part of Jillian and Anthony's special day, making another unforgettable memory together with her "stunt double". You can lose your mind, when cousins are two of a kind.
Stephanie Brown, Bridesmaid
Meet Stephanie. Jillian and Stephanie met in Hebrew School almost 20 years ago. The story starts out simple, there weren't too many girls in the class so naturally they decided they should be friends – things are so simple when you are eight. To this day, Jillian can still picture Stephanie shyly saying, “Hi! My name is Stephanie, what’s yours?” From simple beginnings their friendship grew as they attended the same middle school, high school and eventually became college roommates. There were few things that Jillian and Stephanie didn’t do together, so much that over the years Stephanie and Jillian have often been mistaken for sisters, even though they look nothing alike. Perhaps this is because they are so similar, or as Josh (Anthony’s best man) describes, “synonymous”. It was no surprise to them that on the day they graduated college, when Stephanie lined up in the “A”-“M” line and Jillian in the “N”-“Z” line, that their names were called one right after each other, because Jillian can’t remember a time when Stephanie wasn’t standing right next to her. Later that day, as they packed up their apartment, Jillian and Stephanie exchanged the same exact greeting card reading, “There’ll never be a time when I won’t have a million things to tell you”. Although Stephanie and Jillian now live on opposite sides of the state, they talk almost every day, keeping each other updated on all of the important and not so important stories of their lives.
Stephanie recalls meeting Anthony on the day that she and Jillian moved into their Lehigh dorm room at Taylor College. Anthony was sent to their room to help them set up their computers, which led to spending hours helping Jillian fix her computer. This led to many other "computer problems" just to get Anthony to come to their room. Eventually, as their relationship began to grow, he didn’t need an excuse to visit her dorm room. Naturally, Jillian denied her interest in him, saying that she thought of him as "the older brother she never had" but quickly Anthony became the love of her life.
Lauren Stites, Bridesmaid
Meet Lauren. The summer before 6th grade, Lauren participated in the summer musical camp at Bensalem High School. There, she met Tara, who, after many questions, learned that Jillian and Lauren would be attending the same middle school and gifted program in the fall. Tara made sure to introduce Lauren to Jillian and they were instant friends that summer (even though Jillian told Lauren that she looked like her cat). In 6th grade, Jillian and Lauren both had crushes on the same boy, and consequently didn’t spend much time together. But, since boys come and go, they decided he wasn't worth fighting over and have been friends ever since (although Jillian sometimes still holds a grudge that she wasn’t invited to Lauren’s birthday party that year). Luckily, they haven't had a crush on the same boy since!
Their love of music and musical theater brought them even closer throughout the years. They shared rooms on choir trips and participated in every musical in high school together, which made their friendship even stronger. Some of Jillian’s favorite memories with Lauren were spending Christmas Eve at Lauren’s parents' house with her family. Even though they never seem to be at the same point in their lives at the same time, Lauren feels that the support and love that Jillian gives is immeasurable and she is very lucky to have a friend like her.
Kerry Marder, Bridesmaid
Meet Kerry. The story of Kerry and Jillian goes back to somewhere in middle school. The exact circumstances of their meeting and subsequent befriending is actually a bit muddy, but it undoubtedly has something to do with being the smartest, coolest and best dressed girls in the Cecelia Snyder Middle School gifted program -slash- band program -slash- "advanced" art club. Now, Jillian and Kerry did not sit at the same lunch table in middle school (defecting from one's lunch table was obvious social suicide), so the two would thus have to settle for their mutual classes and after school activities. Finally, high school rolled around and Jillian and Kerry were free to choose the same lunch table: a little round one in the rear of cafeteria A. The two also chose just about everything else the same for the next 4 years. From learning the dance moves in the movie "The Three Amigos" in Stephanie's basement to becoming the self-appointed "jazz band helpers", these real-life Three Amigos were practically one entity at Bensalem High School and present a convincing argument as to why most of the teachers who didn't know them were actually to some degree frightened of them. Graduating numbers 4 and 5 in their high school class, respectively, Kerry and Jillian parted lunch tables after graduation for bigger cafeterias at their chosen institutes of higher learning. But the bond of an Amigo is stronger than 465 miles can break. In fact, these two have been no stranger to physical distance. When Jillian was in Pennsylvania for college, Kerry was in North Carolina. Then Boston. By the time Kerry had settled back in Philadelphia, Jillian was pursuing her PhD in Pittsburgh. Well, thank goodness for email and cell phones. Recently, Jillian and Kerry went on a 10-day trip to Israel and the name Yaffa, Jillian’s Hebrew name, was put back into (permanent) circulation, replacing her previous nickname Schmengood. In Israel, Kerry and Jillian floated in the Dead Sea, rode a camel, enjoyed a Bedouin feast and discovered the joys of hummus, falafel and other chickpea derivatives. So, in short, it seems that the details of their meeting and why they are friends are actually inconsequential after all; all that really matters is that they did and they are.
Lyci Dagenais, Bridesmaid
Meet Lyci. With the exception of the years between 1993-1998, during which they probably would’ve denied knowing each other in public, Lyci is Anthony’s favorite sister. Well, favorite younger sister. Being the two youngest in a family of six, Anthony and Lyci "learned the ropes" together, whether that meant waking up at 6am for ski lessons, being alter "boys" together in church or hip checking each other into snow banks while shoveling. After all that, and much more, they have ultimately created a friendship well beyond what is required as brother and sister. Lyci is thrilled to be a part of Jillian and Anthony’s big day. She still remembers talking to Anthony about Jillian for the first time over Christmas of 2000, while Lyci and Anthony were on one of their many family vacations at Disneyworld. It may actually have been after they both came down with a bout of food poisoning after eating a churro outside of "Mexico" (one of the other things they share in common -- when they're hungry, they're hungry), which then resulted in them having the condo to themselves, but really, they would have done anything to avoid riding “It’s a Small World” for the 1000th time. You see, Lyci had been dating (her now-husband) Marc for a whole seven months at that point, and Jillian and Anthony only had one month under their belts thus far. Lyci could tell that Anthony felt he’d found something extremely special in Jillian and was excitedly sharing his joy while also seeking some shared enthusiasm from someone with such a seasoned perspective on love and relationships – Lyci had an entire six months more perspective to give, after all. Lyci met Jillian for the first time at Anthony’s graduation, only five months later, and though she doesn’t even need both hands to count the number of times she has seen her since, she knows Anthony has found his other half. In the many years that followed, Anthony and Jillian became the highly skilled professionals at maintaining long-distance relationships, causing Lyci to seek Anthony’s expert advice on the matter. And, while everything has come full circle between Anthony and Lyci, Lyci is very excited to get Jillian as another sister to call friend.
