We arrived Friday afternoon and after getting settled in the hotel we headed to the church for the rehearsal. Paul was a best man, along with his dad, and the little girls were flower girls. However, if you asked Emmie she would tell you that she was a princess and Ellie was a flower girl. Too funny! Paul and Blake's Uncle Clyde was the minister and Aunt Suzy was directing. The little girls adore Clyde and Suzy so they were pretty cooperative with all their instructions. The girls did really well walking down the aisle at the rehearsal but they were NOT doing well sitting still during the practice ceremony. It was ok though...I planned to bring stuff for them to do during the actual ceremony. Really I was just glad that they were willing to walk down the aisle!
After the rehearsal I took the girls back to the hotel. It worked out great that we had adjoining rooms with my parents so they could easily watch the girls. After we got them settled I headed over to the rehearsal dinner. The food was sooooo good and we all had a lot of fun. Emily and Blake gave the girls the sweetest gifts. They each got a flower girl book that Emily and Blake had written a note in, a flower girl tshirt, and a little pearl necklace and bracelet to wear at the wedding. Emily and Blake have always been so good to the Emmie and Ellie and they really went out of their way to make the girls feel special this weekend.
Saturday morning Emmie was up bright and early at 6am...ugh. I managed to keep her relatively chilled out until 7 when Ellie woke up...double ugh. So we headed to breakfast where we met up with my parents and Ben who had arrived in the middle of the night due to some flight delays. The girls were soooo excited to see Uncle Ben although Ellie was a little hesitant at first. She didn't quite believe it was him! I showed her a picture he had sent me during one of his delays and she said "Uncle Ben" and I said yes and that's him right there too...ohhhh. The light came on. After breakfast we headed to the hotel pool and the girls had a blast. We swam around for 1 1/2 hrs and then got cleaned up and headed over to Chick-fil-a for lunch and some playground time. I was determined to wear those girls out good so they would take naps!! My plan was successful and we all got a really good nap before we had to get up and head over to the church to start getting ready and take pictures.
The girls are not big fans of having their pictures taken but overall they did really well with the pictures before the ceremony.
helping Emily put her jewelry on
I LOVE this picture of Emily and the girls. (Also, check out Emily's beautiful boutique...it was so unique and just gorgeous!)
I tried to get a picture of me and the girls but apparently I was the only one cooperating!
As you can tell Emmie was not up for this picture either.
I was so nervous before the wedding because I knew that Emmie would be so upset later if she didn't actually walk down the aisle. I had nothing to fear however. My girls were champs! They walked down the aisle and smiled at everyone and were just adorable. They went and stood in their spots (with a little help) and then came and sat with me after Emily's dad sat down. They were a little wiggly during the ceremony but overall they did really well. They also did well going back down the aisle. I was so so proud of my sweet girls and I know they were proud of themselves!
The ceremony itself was wonderful and Emily's dress was beautiful and was definitely the perfect dress for her. Everything in the church was lovely as well and the wedding went very smoothly...always good!
After the ceremony it was time for pictures again and poor little girls were NOT having it. Suzy and I finally took them back to the room we got ready in and let them cool off and eat something and after that they were much more cooperative. We did spend about 5 min with everyone saying "cheese" trying to get the little girls to smile. Finally I told them to say "party" (I'd told them we were going to a party after the pictures) and I got BIG smiles...should have thought of that earlier!!
Trying to get a family shot after the wedding...the girls were crashing hard!
I actually really love this picture...it really captured the moment!
After we got the pictures taken we headed over to the reception. Emily and Blake rode up in a horse drawn carriage which was so pretty. The girls had a BLAST at the reception. They danced and danced and ate and danced and danced some more. All the little cousins were there (and they really aren't so little anymore....they're all mid to late elementary school) and my girls were so excited to get to dance and play with them.
first dance
Emily and her dad
At the end of Gin-g and Blake's dance they went over to Gin-g's mom and the whole family danced with her.
First guests out on the dance floor!
Clyde got out and did the hokey pokey with all the girls. They had so much fun!
Ellie was walking down the line and she didn't know Ben was following her so she got to the end and went to turn around and bumped into him. Her expression was priceless.
Cake!
Emmie teaching Emily and Blake some dance moves (not quite sure where she learned this one...haha!).
They were good students!
The girls were such troopers and they stayed the entire reception...it was after 10 before we left. My mom and I took them back to the hotel while the guys stayed to help clean up and the little girls were OUT by the time we got back. Poor Emmie we set her down in the room and she started crying that her feet hurt...little girl had just about danced her feet off!!
I was just praying that the little girls would sleep in this morning because we were all so tired. Emmie didn't get up till 8:45 which is just amazing. I took her to eat breakfast and let Ellie and Paul keep sleeping. Ellie slept until 9:45. We got packed up and came home and little puppy was sooo happy to see us! Samantha had been staying with him and apparently he had gotten kind of depressed and pitiful as the weekend went on. We were however so glad Samantha could stay with him...at least he was with someone he knew!
We all were worn out today but we had so, so much fun this weekend and had a great time at the wedding and getting to visit with all our family and friends!
Congrats Blake and Emily!
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