J+V = A Wedding to Remember!

Oh, happy day!  J and V got married!

It was a whirlwind of a weekend though.  Lots of late nights and lots of hard work for the bride.  I didn't know that being a Matron of Honor would require so much work! I was definitely glad to provide it though!

Here were my favorite moments:

1. Evie practicing to be the flower girl at the rehearsal--I talked to Evie ahead of time about tossing the flower petals as the flower girl.  At Uncle J's wedding last year, she rushed the whole thing...she grabbed big handfuls of petals and just chucked them onto the ground as she raced down the aisle.  I told her she should slow it down a bit and toss the petals slowly.  So, this was the result of my talk with her...SO funny!

 2. Getting ready with all the bridesmaids--We went to a salon at 9am and everyone took turns getting their hair and makeup done.  It was a fun girly time!  

Here are our before and after pictures.
BEFORE (scary stuff...sans makeup, first thing in the morning):

AFTER (fabulous!):

Then we continued our fun at the wedding site...getting dressed, dancing and having a blast!

Look at us being so classy here...

Then look at us getting down here...

3. Eulee's voice at the ceremony.--The wedding was beautiful...it's definitely a place where every little girl would dream of getting married.  

But during the ENTIRE ceremony, Eulee was in the front row saying loudly, "Mama?...Mommy?...Mama?...Mommy?"  And when I turned around to acknowledge her, she'd just give me this amazing smile.  Then the minute I looked away, she'd start again, "Mama?...Mommy?...Mama?...Mommy?"  Repeat this scenario several times over the course of 30 minutes.  You get the picture.  She's lucky she's cute.

4. Dancing the night away--After all my jobs were done for the night...helping with relatives, helping the newlyweds, making a toast...I actually got to join my kids on the dance floor.  Eli and Evie just LOVE to dance, so they were out there doing their things. Eli was bustin' so many moves that he was all sweaty!

5. The car ride home after the reception--We left around 11:30pm or so and all the kids were asleep within a few minutes.  Yes, you read that correctly...ALL the kids were asleep....even ELINA!  (Although she will deny it until the day she dies.)

6. Family time--After we had a huge family lunch on Sunday, we drove back home.  BUT it wasn't over just yet.  B's parents were still visiting until Monday.  Then after they left, my parents and family from Seattle visited. The kids had so much fun with my family from Seattle.  The last time we saw them, we only had TWO kids!  And my cousins are so good with kids, so the kids really enjoyed their visit.

My only regret was that I barely got any pictures with anyone.  I didn't even get a picture with Eli as a handsome dog walker in his bow tie and suspenders!  Or with Evie as the flower girl.  Or with Elina who was all dressed up.  Or with my parents, who were both looking mighty nice that night.  I basically just left B and the 4 kids to fend for themselves. I felt so badly about abandoning him, but luckily, a lot of my extended family were more than happy to help entertain the kids.  So we got very few pictures and very few videos that day.  I mean, look at my cousin who got fun pictures of the kids!

Honestly, I don't have a clue what my kids were up to the entire night until I danced with them towards the end!  It was madness, I tell ya.  BUT really fun madness!  It all turned out well and I know I'll see awesome pics from the wedding photographer.  I'll probably have to put up another post to let you see them...

Here was our one family picture with the bride that night...wow.

And here was my one good pic with B before the ceremony started--

It took us a week to recover from this fun, crazy wedding!  But we're so glad V is in the family now!  Yay!!!  Congrats, J and V!!