Wedding Bells and Ringlets

On May 15th, my brother in law Chris got married. Bella was a flower girl, the wedding was beautiful, then we came home.

If only it were that simple!

If you've ever traveled with small children you know what a chore it is to go anywhere overnight. Kenneth worked third Thursday night, and as soon as he got home Friday morning we loaded the car and headed to Raleigh. Friday night was the rehearsal, which went rather smoothly even though it took a little while to arrange everyone.

Saturday morning I made a Starbucks run with my other brother in law, Steven. When we got back to the hotel we noticed that one of the cousins' vehicles (which was parked right beside mine!) had been broken into. The window was smashed and some things were stolen from three cars in the parking lot Friday night! I felt bad for the victims, but at the same time grateful my car escaped!

The wedding was at three that afternoon, but we had to be at the church and ready for pictures hours before that. And getting five wiggly, giggly flower girls ready is no easy task! There is hair curling and hairbow hunting, finding socks and shoes, tying sashes, etc!

Thats right, I said FIVE.

And here they are, from right to left:
Kaley, age 22 months; Alexis age 3; Arabella age 3, Alyson age 4; and Emma age 5( I think).
Aren't they beautiful?


Here is my hubby all dressed up, he's so handsome!

My beautiful new sister, Joy, with all of her lovely attendants.

This one is kind of dark and far away, 'cause I was

sitting on the back row with Abby, but you can see the

stage was beautiful.

Had you asked me at 2:15, I would have guessed that Joy might end up with one or two flower girls onstage. Bella was worn out, and Kaley was laying on her mommy's lap half asleep. And being a flower girl in front of a large audience, well that's a lot of pressure for a little kid!

I was pleasantly surprised to see Bella got walking down the aisle, although I don't think she did any flower-dispensing! I was so proud to see her up there , I leaned over to the woman next to me and whispered, "That's my little girl, the second from the right!"

If you count carefully, you'll only see four flower girls on stage. My niece Alexis was absolutely exhausted from a long day and no nap, so she didn't quite make it down the aisle. She did go and sit with the other girls, and walked back up the aisle with them!

The wedding was so personal and so beautiful. There were several songs, including one that Joy's brother wrote especially for the ceremony. She surprised Chris by singing a chorus of it to them. They were married by Joy's father and Chris' grandfather, so that was special.

And it made quite an impact on Bella...she's still playing "get married"!