So, Laney had an exciting first this weekend… being a flower girl in a wedding! I guess, technically, it wasn’t her first, because she was in Josh’s sister’s wedding, but she was only 6 weeks old at the time, so I’m pretty sure she didn’t get the whole excitement of the event! In fact, she was mostly just a cranky monster that day, and we were all very grateful that she fell asleep before the wedding and slept through the whole thing. But, that’s a different story! For this wedding, Laney was very excited, and we’d be talking for weeks about how she was going to walk down the aisle, stand with Angela, smile for the pictures, etc. etc. I figured the more prepared she was, the less chance of a crazy mid-aisle meltdown!
Let me back up a bit, though… Laney was the flower girl for Kenny & Angela… Kenny and Josh have been friends for YEARS (since 1987, according to the engraved glass that Kenny gave Josh at the rehearsal). I was a little worried that Laney wouldn’t cooperate, since she didn’t really know Kenny that well, but we went to a bridal shower for Angela, and since Angela got to wear a veil at the shower, Laney was hooked! :) Ellen made her dress, so that helped, too- Laney was absolutely thrilled at all of the dress fittings. So, things were looking up as far as the whole tantrum-less flower girl was concerned!
Friday we headed to the rehearsal. They got married at the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial on the trail. It was a beautiful spot, but, man, was it hot!
The bride and groom… ready for rehearsal!
Maybe it was the heat, or the excessive cicada noises, or maybe it was all of the strangers, but the rehearsal did not start off so well for the flower girl!
She was not happy about anything!
And got about 2 feet down the aisle before throwing herself to the ground (and whacking her sister when A came to “play”). Awesome. I never knew how stressful it was to be the Mother of the Flower Girl!
The minister said it was really important to NOT force her to do anything, and whatever she chose to do would be fine. So we let her stand with Angela in the “line up,” instead of by the maid of honor. And, I thought I would capitalize on her love of picking flowers- I picked a bloom off a bush and let her carry it down the aisle (note to self: next time make sure to bring a practice basket to rehersal!). That worked MUCH better. She walked down the aisle by herself, and even stood there through the whole rehearsal. Success!
Daddy and A after the rehearsal was over!
After the rehearsal, we went to Kenny’s parents’ house for the rehearsal dinner (Shakespeare’s, awesome.), and then the whole group pitched in to help get the place ready for the reception the next night. Kenny & Angela kept everything about the wedding and the reception very simple, which I loved. They didn’t want to go into a lot of debt for it, so they did a lot themselves (with help from friends and family, of course), worked with what they had, and kept it simple. Love that it was way more about the MARRIAGE than the WEDDING! I think that is something that a lot of couples forget as they face the craziness that is wedding planning- the wedding lasts for a day, the marriage lasts MUCH longer!
One major job: putting up paper globes. They strung these along the white lights that went back and forth across the carport the tables were in. The lanterns and the lights both really dressed up the carport!
They even diy-ed their own dance floor, and painted it to match the wedding colors. That paint tray was an absolute magnet for the kids running around! :)
As was the dance floor once it was finished!
So, there’s the rehearsal… I would put the wedding on the same post, but then it’d be like 25 pictures, and no one has that kind of time! :) But I’ll put up another post with those. For now, my advice to future Mothers of the 3 yo Flower Girl: bring a basket to rehearsal, and expect a fit the first time down the aisle! :)
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