Gina and Henry's Wedding

 

We haven't had a big family wedding in what feels like forever!  Of course with anything, there are seasons, so 10-15 years ago, it felt like we were going to more weddings than we had time or money for!  I swear one year we had as many as 6 or 7, but, we've had a real lull lately as we've waited for the younger generation of cousins to get to this point. Last year when Gina and Henry got engaged (wait, maybe two years ago!?), I started hinting around that there were two little girls who might make good flower girls.  

I feel like having kids at weddings is rare these days, so somehow, Abby and Hazel have only ever been to ONE wedding and they one they went to was very untraditional.  No late night party, no big dance party on the dance floor, no twist and shout...none of the staples of a wedding!  The girls were so very excited, when they were asked to be flower girls in the wedding (and I was excited for them!).  At age 7 and 10 they are finally old enough to stay up with us until the end.  Sure, they were tired the next day, but having them along was actually fun! 

So - by weedeling the girls into the wedding party, I also bought us front row tickets to the entire wedding weekend, which meant we got to be a part of the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, hair and makeup prep, pictures and the whole nine yards.  Was it a lot of driving around, sure!  Was it a lot of waiting around, of course!  Was it worth it?! YOU KNOW IT!  Would we do it again?  In a heartbeat.

Friday evening was a real S*TH show getting to the rehearsal dinner, but mostly it was my own fault.  Ryan was traveling for RH that week and his flight got delayed and I had his clothes for the evening with me, but when I made a last minute change of plans and took an Uber to the rehearsal dinner instead of driving, I left his clothes in the van.  To make matters worse, we were both cutting it so close to the departure time that I was nearly in tears when I saw Gina and Terri and they both insisted that it was fine, and that he could come, t-shirt, sandals and all, even though the invitation clearly said it was a dressy event!  I should have know that Terri's response would be "Its fine, we just love Ryan so much, he has to be here".  I just felt so terrible being a source of drama for the evening, but, it all turned out fine and everyone had a great time.  I AM bummed I didn't get a nice picture of the two of us all dressed up and looking great....but, it's the memories that count!

The rehearsal dinner was on the Odyssey Boat which tours up and down the Chicago river right in the heart of downtown.  It was beautiful and so unique and I'm grateful that we got to be a part of the evening alongside the rest of the bridal party.  

Saturday was a jam packed day full of lots of fun events (and also a good bit of sitting around waiting).  The kids were great.  They had RoRo to keep them company and they were so sweet together.

*Poor Hazel came down with a BAD case of (maybe) poison ivy on our last day of the camping trip.  The week before the wedding we saw two doctors and had a whole pharmacy of drugs prescribed to try to get the rash to stop spreading and to being to heal.  I felt so bad for her - she was covered in a rash that was spreading, and we had her on 2 creams, prednisone and zytec to try and help her stop itching.  She's such a trooper - somehow this stuff always happens to Hazel.  As Erin put it "It's authentically Hazel" and she couldn't be more right.

Terri and Gina surprised the girls with these adorable jean jackets with Flower Girl embroidered on the back.  They are hanging in the mud room and ready for fall days!  I think we'll get a good bit of use out of them even now after the wedding.

Gina's flowers (well, all the flowers) were beautiful!  They were all made by the flower shop she works in and I just love to hear her talk about all the flowers included.  You can tell she loves plants and she knows so much about each one in there.  I couldn't resist this close up shot!

I'm proud of us for getting some nice family shots while we were all together but I can NOT believe I didn't get a single one of us with the girls.  They were so busy doing all the wedding things that we didn't see much of them until they started setting up for dinner.  I can't believe I didn't think to get even one of us all dressed up and together.  We did get a family photo with the photographer, so maybe that'll be the winner!

Sweet Hazel - I don't know if I would have pegged her as the one who wouldn't make it the entire night, but I think the combo of meds we had her on for that rash really took it out of her and by 9pm or so she was tired and ready to quit for the night.  I pushed some chairs together for her, balled up Bobby's jacket for a pillow and she slept through the music and dancing until it was time to go home. 

If you're thinking this little wedding nest I created for her was a smart idea, just know that I didn't come up with it myself!  I was a flower girl once too...one that needed to go to bed before the party was over.  And, I couldn't help but dig up the old photos of me from that night to share with you.  *Note the late 80's hair and hoop skirt (I love it so much!).