Wedding Bells and Dinner Knives

Hello friends!
This past weekend, the kiddos and I trekked down south to be in one of my long-time friend's wedding. The wedding was so beautifully done, the bride, absolutely gorgeous, and our enjoyment of it all, very great. What a blessing to celebrate a Godly marriage!

When my friend asked me to be a bridesmaid, and Olivia to be a flowergirl, we were both honored and thrilled. Olivia was especially elated when I told her that Ms. Rachel was going to be married, and that she would get to wear a princess dress, and be in the wedding. I made the mistake of informing Olivia of her role, ohh, about a couple months too soon. On a weekly basis, the child would randomly gasp, sending me rushing to her to see if something was wrong, only to be informed (always as if for the first time): "Ms. Rachel is going to get maaaaarried, and is going to wear a princess dress! And I am going to wear a princess dress, too!". While my exuberance over hearing this wore off more quickly than her's, seeing her excitement over this grand event made me smile.

When the big day had finally arrived, I went to wake Olivia up with the big news that all the "sleeps" had past, and it was time to put on her princess dress. For all the months of talk, and shrill-voiced excitement, wouldn't ya know that she would wake up a grump and inform me that "I don't WANT to be in the wedding.".

What?

It took a hearty breakfast, and some attitude adjusting, but sooner or later, she came around to her formerly excited little self. Before said attitude adjustment, my Mom may or may not have overhead me threatening: "If you don't straighten up, you won't get to be in this wedding!". But as I said, she snapped out of grumpy-ville and happily munched on a rice cracker while I did her hair in ringlet curls. Despite 1/4 bottle of hairspray and tried and true Mom saliva , the humidity took it's toll and threw her curls to the floor before the evening was over, but my darling girl still looked beautiful.

I too was able to pretty-myself-up, too. Anticipating a long day, and the other bridesmaids looking stunning, I put on a little extra make-up to hold me over. Eyeliner was my friend. And either to my credit or as a confession, probably wore more makeup than I did on my wedding day. When I went to feed my sweet Emma before we left, she stared at me wide-eyed, a bit confused as to who this Mommy-resembling woman really was. I guess this is what happens when you only wear make-up on Sundays for church, or the occasional mascara if you're going somewhere nice. Like Target. *cough* I digress. Anyway, in the end, Emma was successfully fed (under a blanket), and with the make-up and some trusty Spanx, I felt pretty nicely put together.

We arrived at the historic Magnolia hotel at 11:30am, and from there, partook in a whirlwind of happiness upon seeing the beautiful bride, ohhs-and-ahhs over her stunning dress, dashing around downtown for picture taking with the wedding party, and general excitement for getting to take part in the wonderful event. The dashings-around were aided by the service of a large limo bus that hauled the wedding party around town. As Olivia had never been in such an enormous vehicle before, this was a VERY exciting way to travel. She didn't have to be sequestered in a car seat, had a vast picture window to look out at the town, and was the only little kid in our company. She loved every second.

The wedding took place in a lovely limestone I may be totally making that up church with cathedral ceilings. It was the kind of place that is so aesthetically pleasing that it requires no extra decorating. After pictures, and some munchies for the wedding party, it was time to hide in a small room while the guests took their seats. Once seated, we all lined up, and the wedding began. Up front in my place with the other "maids", it was time for the flower-bell girls to come down the aisle. (Bell girls because they carried baskets with bells that jingled as they walked.) Though I couldn't see at the time, I was later informed that the older flower girl, holding Olivia's hand took a few steps down the aisle, then decided to go sit with some folks. They ushered her back out, but she got no further than a couple more rows before grabbing an attendance card and pencil to mark that she'd been there. With a little more help and much laughter, the girls finally made their way down to the front. Very cute. Leave it to kids to lighten any nerves.

On the arm of her father, Rachel entered the room. She really was breathtaking. Every since I met her at 16 years old, she's been the detailed gal who knew how she wanted her wedding. All of her planning paid off, because she truly was a stunning bride, and had such a sweet ceremony. She and her hubby were married by the same pastor as his parents, who were married on the same date 39 years before. Neat, huh?!

After the ceremony, that long awaited kiss to seal the deal, and more pictures, we headed off to the reception. I had planned to let my growing-ever-tired-Olivia ride to the reception with my parents. It was a bad idea. I'm afraid I held up a few last minute group photos because my Mom had to come find me to say that Olivia was having a melt down. No, it wasn't solely because she was tired, or had missed her nap, or had floppy curls. It was because she realized she was missing out on one more chance to ride the limo bus. Poor kid. She sobered up and returned to her happy-self when I got her and took her with me on the bus once more.

**As an aside, I've been in a few weddings before, but none as a mother of two. Participating is greatly different when you're keeping to the regular nursing and nap schedule of two little people. Yikes. I would like to offer a huge THANK YOU to my folks who helped me with the girls all weekend (while my hardworking man was detained...working).**

At the reception, there were a host of old and new friends to say hello to, food, dancing, and lots of celebrating the beautiful newly married couple. Olivia was seated next to me during dinner, and by that point in the evening, she was pretty much done. The music was initially very loud, so I shouted to catch up with friends, got Emma to sleep in her carrier, and tried to keep tabs on Olivia while we ate. After dinner I was alerted to the fact that Olivia was playing with silverware, and began using it to press against her tired face. Dinner knives aren't exactly friendly materials, so I confiscated those. With that entertainment gone, she asked to see my folks, to which I agreed. She wandered back and forth between my table and the one where they were seated. This was an acceptable form of coping with her exhaustion...until my friend with a better view of her walking behind me began laughing really hard at what she saw. Evidently in her post-wedding-ceremony-stupor, my child chose to get a sip of water from my Mom's glass, then walk to my table with it held in her mouth, then spit that water out into my glass. She did this a few times. I'm still uncertain if I drank from that cup, but that's beside the point. My Dad came to my rescue and took the kiddos home for a timely meeting with their beds. Thank goodness for him!

With the tired babies safely on their way back, I got to visit with a few more friends, admire the bride and groom some more, and blow bubbles at them as they left for their fabulous honeymoon. What a memorable day, for me, and my eldest, who had earlier informed some folks that she was a "flower" in the wedding. We returned home well fed, thoroughly partied-out, and for me, so happy to have seen my dear friend become a "Mrs.".

Here's a selfie of me and my "flower" on the ever-exciting limo bus.

Side note: While at the wedding, a few folks took me aside to say how much they love my blog. I was blown away by their kind words, and a tad embarrassed that I've kept up so poorly on here. I have a readership?! Anyway, thanks to those of you who encouraged me to keep on bloggin'! I will strive to better chronicle the craziness, so y'all can enjoy it, too!