Abilene Wedding

One Friday in January was designated as Rodeo Day! Kids were supposed to dress up in Western clothes, and the school had rodeo speakers and activities planned the whole day. We obviously need to brush up on our Western wear... Although the kids were enjoying the fun day, we had to leave early to drive across the state to attend their cousin's wedding.

I should say not just "attend", but "participate in". Owen was to be a ring bearer, and Hadley was asked to be a flower girl! They were pretty excited. To give you an idea, here is Owen at his tux fitting. He declared, "I look like a man!" and he asked to wear it out of the store. I told him he looked like James Bond, but he didn't know who that was. Ha!

Anyway, we made it to Abilene just in time for the rehearsal. There were 6 flower girls and 3 ring bearers, and they were only supposed to walk down the aisle, high five the groom, and then sit with their parents, so their role was pretty easy peasy.

After a few run-throughs, it was time for the rehearsal dinner! It was a bit of a drive, and a cold front was blowing through that night, but it was a cutesy, rural wedding venue with a big, fenced-in yard, bedecked with twinkling lights, lots of trees, cozy fire pits, and gravel paths. The kids' talented aunt made all of the flower girl dresses, complete with matching hair bows and coordinating, embroidered rehearsal shirts.

The next morning Hadley and Granna and I were invited to a bridal brunch. The lovely bride, Hannah, gifted Hadley with a bride bear and an embroidered bag with some pearls to wear during the ceremony. Hadley was ecstatic! We also got to deliver a groom bear and some Star Wars socks to Owen, who was watching the Longhorn Network with Uncle Ken back at the hotel. (Did I mention Dad was on his flight back from Boston that day?!)

Finally, it was time to get ready. All 3 of us required a little extra attention to get ourselves properly attired and over to the church for pre-ceremony pictures. (I was flying solo, remember? Phew!) But aren't they just the cutest? Hadley's dress was extremely poofy and had sequins along the neckline that bothered her, and Owen's shoes were probably a size too big, but they held it together all night, thankfully!

As always, weddings have tons of pictures of all sorts of combinations of relatives and attendants. These fluffy pink tulle skirts reminded me of little pink clouds...

And there's lots of waiting while other picture groups are happening...

Owen didn't understand his BB-8 ring bearer socks, until he saw that all of the groomsmen had different superheroes on their socks. Then he took it very seriously! Lol.

I didn't get any full family pictures with my camera, so I might have to edit and repost once I see those! But I did get a picture with my brothers. I'll have to stop standing in the middle of them, unless I can have a footstool. My niece chose to get married on her father's 50th birthday! Wow! What a day!!

I call this grouping "A Tale of Two Tulles"... Depending on who was taking the picture, you get a different story. The left cloud of tulle photo was taken by my bubbly sister-in-law and rivals my favorite pictures of Hadley ever. The right snap was taken by me and reflects the seething resentment brought out by our sequin-poof-hunger-photo sesh reality. Let's hope the wedding photographer was able to capture the former!

Anyway, the wedding went off without a hitch, and the kids did fine. Owen was baffled by his role: "All I did was walk down the aisle. I don't get it." Yep, that pretty much sums it up, kid. But you looked really nice doing it, and it was an honor to be with them on their special day. Finally, it was time for the reception and after more waiting, finally dinner! A cruel joke to have a taco bar when everyone was dressed to the nines, but we managed to avoid any rented garment catastrophes and bellies were satiated.

Hanger (that's right, hunger + anger) must have been the culprit, all right. After some food and sweets, this was what I got. I think that she really did like her dress. :)

Turns out that the kids enjoyed dancing at the wedding reception a lot! They got right out there with everyone and just mimicked the best they could. Hadley was a dancing machine, dancing with the bride, bridesmaids, flower girls, uncles, mom, and anyone else she could muster. I had to film this one, because it became apparent that Owen still does not know his left from his right, although he got better as the song went on, I think.

The reception had a traditional sign-in book, but also had a Polaroid and Post-It station. We tried to get a picture of all 3 of us, but my Selfie game is weak (especially when you can't see what you are doing in a preview window). Hadley ended up almost out of the photo, so she wanted to do her own solo. 

I love it and her note! I'm so glad they got the opportunity to be a part of such a beautiful day. (I've since caught them reenacting weddings with their bears, so I know it made an impression on them too.)