The Wedding Day

Wow! It was a beautiful day for a wedding. The sun was shining and the temperature was not too cold. All of us girls met at Mom's house first thing in the morning to do hair and makeup. We were all so relaxed. The ladies doing hair have done hair for all 4 of us sisters so we were all comfortable with each other. There was time for a relaxed lunch and we even sat down and visited for a few minutes. We took a moment to pray for my Gramma. Her heart rate was high that morning and we knew how much she wanted to enjoy the wedding. I'm not sure when her heart reverted to a normal rate, but when I talked to her at the reception she was feeling better.

Aliza LOVED getting her hair done. She was last and all morning she just hung out and listened and visited Great Gramma. When  it was her turn, she just grinned.

And then for the rest of the time she looked at herself in the mirror and danced around. She truly felt like a princess.

Then it was off to the church to get dressed and start pictures. Laura (the bride) squealed when she saw her hair and burst into tears when she saw herself in her dress. She was regal, truly.

I don't have strong reactions when I see myself. Haha. I neither danced around with the mirror or squealed when I saw my hair. Actually when I saw my hair I thought I was looking at my Mom's hair when she wore the Mennonite bun while I was growing up. She used a very similar part. 

A couple snapshots from my phone. I haven't even looked at Jeremy's pictures yet! The bride... Her groom made the headpiece for her.

Aliza was phenomenal all afternoon while we took pictures. She just hung out quietly. I didn't even give her a screen to occupy herself.

The groom... Aliza was curious about all the accessories on his kilt. John loves Scottish history he can tell her anything she wants to know.

Some of the things I'll remember from the day:

All of Laura's nieces and nephews walked in as flower attendants. Earlier this week Josiah was not at all sure he was going to walk down the aisle. I knew the one person who could convince him was his Uncle Jeff. Before the first rehearsal run through, Josiah was pouting. I sent him over to Uncle Jeff. Jeff said, "Josiah, look at me. You are going to walk down the aisle. No options." Josiah looked up at him and said, "ok." That was the end of that. No more pouting or complaints, only fearless cooperation. Jeff then told Gideon to hang on to Lydia's hand like she was his favorite toy. The day of the wedding everything went smoothly, except Caleb wasn't sure about having to hold 2 girls hands and Josiah did something to Gideon's tower in the play room right before the processional and Gideon was still mad and cried up the aisle.

The bridesmaid dresses had pockets. It was perfect. Janell and I put our phones in our pockets and when the it was time for the children to walk in, we pulled out our phones and videoed them. Everyone was turned around looking at the children anyway, right?!

There was some kind of draft across the stage that caused the candles to burn out extra quickly, including the candles to light the unity candle. Janell was behind me and we had a quick conversation which led to her looking at Mom and coming up with a quick rescue plan, which she pulled off flawlessly, of course.

After the ceremony, Janell and I undecorated the church and loaded up her car. We took some outside pictures. Then headed to the reception. When we arrived at the reception my Mom was frantic for me to get to Josiah. Josiah was having a crisis that only I could handle. He was so upset. After the party was introduced I had to take him home for a few minutes. I arrived back at the reception in time to gobble down my cold food. That little trip made me feel rushed.

There was lots of long kissing at the reception.

I did get to visit some. And then it was time to clean up the reception hall. Thankfully I have awesome aunts and uncles and siblings that helped clean up. AND we didn't have to put away the tables or chairs so it actually went pretty fast.

Janell and I were able to go to the hotel and visit with my Mom, her sisters and my Grandma from Ohio. Sitting with those ladies was a special time for me.

When I came home I gave a mother-in-law a big hug and huge thanks for all her she did to make it possible for me to help Janell and Mom with the work of the wedding.

It's the end of an era for my family. My Dad asked if I took good notes on this wedding because it's possible that MY daughter will be the next wedding in my family.  There's a lot of good life to live between now and then though.