Here, you'll find some information about Kathleen, Brian, their story, and a bit about their wedding party.

Kathleen Marie Kvortek

Kathleen was born and raised in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by her awesome (and VERY patient) parents, Bill and Colleen. Growing up as a member of St. Columbkille's Roman Catholic Church, Kathleen credits her family's enthusiasm and involvement in parish life as instrumental for her own spiritual growth. Kathleen attended K-12 in the West Allegheny School District, where she was especially active in the music and gifted education programs. Upon graduation, Kathleen moved to Baltimore, MD to pursue her BA in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology from The Johns Hopkins University. During this time, Kathleen became extremely involved with JHU's Catholic Community/Newman Center and made many close friends that she now considers her Newman family.

In the spring of 2003, Kathleen received the Hagley Fellowship from the University of Delaware in order to pursue graduate work in the history of technology. She will complete her masters degree and Museum Studies certification in May of 2005 and is preparing for a career in public history or museum work. She's a member of Holy Family parish in Newark, Delaware and spends most of her free time either painting, museum hopping, or at airport security removing her shoes and emptying her pockets of all metal objects. Lately, Kathleen has been filling her days researching and working on exhibits at Hagley Museum; by night, attending classes and racking up hours of off-peak cell phone minutes with her fiancé. She can't wait until spending a weekend with Brian won't involve having to say goodbye at the airport.

Brian Michael Kelly

Brian grew up in Peoria, Illinois with his loving parents, John and Nancy, two sisters, Julia and Rachel, and brother, John. Brian came from a strong Roman Catholic family, a theme that continued through grade school at St. Thomas in Peoria Heights and high school at Peoria Notre Dame. At the end of high school, Brian's family lost his mother to cancer. Although this was a very difficult time, the love and support of friends and family continues to be a source of inspiration for Brian. After graduation, Brian went off to the big city, attending DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. He made many good friends there while studying computer science and blossomed into a full-fledged geek. During college, Brian's father married a wonderful woman named Amy whom he met through Cursillo, the Catholic retreat program.

Brian, after almost two years working near Kansas City, Missouri and sharing an apartment with his brother, is now back in the Chicago area while Kathleen finishes up at the University of Delaware. These days, he writes computer programs by day and talks to his fiancée for hours by night. Life is good. And it just got better.

Our Story

Kathleen and Brian met at Jackie (Knoblauch) and Scott Olsson's wedding in June, 2002. Jackie and Scott went to high school with Brian, whereas Kathleen became good friends with Jackie through the Catholic community in college. Kathleen and Brian first met when they were asked to be members of Jackie and Scott's wedding party. They found that they had similar senses of humor and very compatible personalities.

After the wedding, Kathleen and Brian kept in touch via email and telephone; Brian was job hunting in Chicago while Kathleen was starting her senior year at Hopkins in Baltimore. Brian visited Maryland in August, and the smitten pair decided that they wanted to attempt a long-distance relationship. From the very beginning of the relationship, Kathleen and Brian were challenged by increased distance and decreased health; Brian's new job relocated him to Kansas City, Missouri around the same time that Kathleen got very sick and had to miss the majority of the first semester. Regardless, they blew through phone cards and racked up hours of 'night and weekend' cell phone minutes. Brian came out to visit again as soon as he possibly could, and later the two celebrated Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh with Kathleen's family.

After college, Kathleen moved to Newark, Delaware for graduate school, which was even further away from Kansas City. Though they were getting geographically further apart, they were growing much closer and becoming the best of friends. Even more, they were coming to the realization that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Over two years in, and they've now decided to get married in September of 2005. It won't be a long-distance marriage though. They've already got that part figured out.

The Wedding Party

Lisa Marie Guardabascio

It all began at Hopkins, when Lisa was a sophomore and Kathleen was a freshman. While on retreat, Lisa painted a small wooden egg yellow, and gave it angel's wings for Kathleen. Soon after, they were both elected to the Newman board, and, united in angst over the appropriation of Senior/Board auction funds, made the wise decision to foster their shared love for all things caffeinated. Through the weekly board meetings and the coffee that followed, Kathleen and Lisa realized that they had a lot in common...everything from a love for the as-is department at Ikea to a passion for Victorian England. Lisa believes that their story is an episode of Unsolved Mysteries waiting to happen -- two sisters whose births were separated spatially by four hundred miles, temporally by 10 months and 5 days, and genetically by a couple of European nations.

Lisa knew Brian before he dated Kathleen. In fact, Brian was Lisa's groomsman at Jackie and Scott's wedding! As genetically-unrelated big sisters are wont to do, Lisa gave Brian the once-over before she'd grant her unconditional approval, but soon decided that this was the man for Kathleen when she kept seeing her best friend walking around with a goofy smile on her face because Brian had called the night before.

After graduating, Lisa was very fortunate to remain at Hopkins for medical school, happily only 59.74 miles from Kathleen's place in Delaware. She is currently only months away from finally becoming Dr. Guardabascio. She enjoys long walks on the beach at night, I-95 in Delaware, and reenactments of the Battle of Gettysburg. She hopes to pursue a career in Emergency Medicine, and to marry her very own Mr. Right in the not-too-distant future, but is very, very glad that Kathleen went first.

John Leo Kelly

John Kelly was always slightly taller than Brian. They were only separated by sixteen months in age, but he always felt like he was light years ahead of his brother. In August of 2004, John got a call from his little brother, saying that he'd soon have a sister-in-law, effectively knocking John off his high horse.

Brian was lucky to have an older brother like John, because John showed Brian what it was like to get into trouble, so Brian never had to bother with it. Following their childhood residence together in Peoria, John and Brian kept in close touch, especially once Brian went off to school, too. After a brief career-defining stint as a linux computer guy, John found work in Kansas City, moved there, and set up a new life.

It wasn't long before Brian was out in the world, and needed work, so John passed Brian's name and resume on to the management at his job, and soon, Brian and John were roommates again. In the year and a half that Brian lived and worked in Kansas City, he fell in love with Kathleen, and, always destined for bigger and better things, moved to Chicago in July of 2004, leaving John to fend for himself once again.

John likes hand-crafted beer, computers, the outdoors, and women with low standards. He hopes someday, in the not-too-distant future, to have a job he can walk to and enjoy simultaneously, meet a nice girl with the same appreciation for beer and meat as he has, and do something on the web that will make him a zillion dollars.

In the meantime, he works as a system administrator for a government contractor, and greatly looks forward to seeing Brian and Kathleen do this "wedding" thing the right way.