Advice Please...

Seriously.

Perhaps we would be wise to invest time finding another avenue of playtime interest for Dawson.

The Wedding.

Who can sleep the night before a wedding?

I was so excited I think I got less sleep than Jenessa. Bright and early on Saturday I went with Jenessa to go and get her hair done. I'm kicking myself now because I kept telling myself at the time "self, remember to take the camera with you to the salon". But I didn't remember. So I'm making a new mental note to self "never trust your mental notes, write it down". Regardless, Jenessa's hair was so beautiful! I told her not to wash it for a week because that's what I would do.

I did get plenty of pictures of us getting ready at the church though! That should count for something shouldn't it? An extra diamond in my crown in heaven? Or a Twix candy bar?

(Steve's mom)

In the picture above w/ Dawson, you can see Jenessa's dress hanging up. It looks like it's glowing.

The bride gets her dress on:

Upstairs, the boys are ready to get this party started!

Because I was the matron of honor and had many duties, including making sure my very own son would walk down the aisle and behave like a respectable 2 year old once he got there, I also had to make sure the train of Jenessa's dress was presentable at all times. Which is why I have no pictures of the actual ceremony. Although, have you ever seen a bridesmaid taking pictures during a wedding ceremony? Cut me some slack okay? I do have some stories though!

Please note that Dawson must have some sort of vehicle in his presence at all times. You can see this by clicking on the above picture. Speaking of which...

My very brilliant mother-in-law had the idea to sew a car to the top of the ring-bearer pillow so that Dawson would be willing to carry it down the aisle. How clever is that?!

This worked like a gem at the rehearsal. However, 5 minutes before I was to walk down the aisle Dawson starts screaming because he couldn't get the car off the pillow! So I took the pillow, threw it and told Dawson he didn't need the car and to stop screaming. Then I walked down the aisle.

10 seconds before I got to the end of the aisle I hear "MOMMY! MOMMY!" And down runs Dawson grabbing my hand to walk with me the rest of the way. The flower girl, however, walked in quite perfectly. She placed her petals in strategic places on her way down. Dawson sat at my feet on the stairs, and the flowergirl sat beside him. All was well with the world. Then Jenessa came in. She was breathtaking!

Once Jenessa got to the end of the aisle, Dawson started taking flower petals from the flowergirl's basket and throwing them, one by one, at Jenessa's feet. We nixed that and during prayer, a young girl was able to take Dawson downstairs to the toddler room to play. Whew!

The ceremony was so sweet, and just perfect! (And, the matron of honor made sure Jenessa's train was looking rather splendid.)

I was able to get pictures after the ceremony:

Wait a minute. Let's a take a moment to zoom in on Dawson in this picture above...

hmm. I hope Jenessa is okay with how her pictures turn out...

And if you don't mind if I zoom in on that picture again.. I'd like everyone to see my pedicure:

Also for the record: Even if no one else in the bridal party is ready for that perfect shot, I AM:

Groom's family:

Bride's family:

If I might make a point here, the night before the wedding, Jason strained a muscle in his neck. He was in pain the whole wedding day. Hence the reason he is a "stiff neck" ha! get it?

Guess he was bored...

They got to greet people after the wedding:

Then we headed to the air force base for the reception and some outdoor pics:

Jenessa asked me to autograph her dress

No! Not really. She got a stain from the crab apples so we had to grab a stain stick.

Now we go inside for the reception.

And I must admit I was nervous beyond repair for the matron of honor toast. I even printed out several mock toasts to take along on the plane ride there so that I could prepare myself. Nothing I had prepared was said.

Speaking of the cake table. I'm so glad Dawson didn't knock it over.

Dawson did get a bit out of hand with the sparkling cider, complete with cake moustache.

But it lightened him up a bit:

Time to send off the bride and groom!

Family waits around to collect all the extra wedding favors and hide them from me:

And finally, no wedding is complete without a wayward toddler...

Rehearsal.

I LOVE WEDDINGS!

Everything about weddings is so delightful. (minus the little mishaps that consume your life prior to the wedding, during the planning, but there's always food involved with weddings, so that makes up for it.)

I got the very special honor of being the matron of honor in my sister-in-laws wedding whom I love very much, and I cried when she left for her honeymoon. She promised she'd send me a post card from Mexico with both of them sunburned because they forgot to pack sunscreen, so I felt better after that.

If I didn't break this post down into several separate posts, I'd have a post much longer than the mighty Mississip. So here are pics and stories of the rehearsal...

Jenessa and I got up on Friday morning and got a pedicure.

The lady taking care of me scrubbed the bottom of my feet so hard with the sponge rock and it tickled so much that I peed my pants. No worries. I always pack extra underpants.

My sweet sis-in-law paid for this little treat and told me I was the best MOH. See why I love her?

Later:

We loaded up decorating supplies and headed to the church.
Where some of us worked:

This church has the most beautiful stained glass windows:

Time to rehearse!

Us bridesmaids practicing our smile for the big day:

Amber, Mindy, Joy

We're so cute.

Jenessa practicing her hold on her bouquet:

Now for the real question... Will he or won't he?

Of course Steve will go through with it!

I'm talking about Dawson! Will he go down the aisle??

With a little help from mommy he will, but he's supposed to walk with the flower girl...

At least we got this shot at the rehearsal...

Jenessa & Steve exchanging fake vows:

They couldn't exchange real one's because then they'd not need to get married on Saturday!

Dawson with Grandma G and Katie with her mommy:

That's a wrap!

Presentation of the married wannabe's

Off to the rehearsal dinner.

Yummy.

The Happy Couple, complete with sombrero:

Food! Glorious Food!

We sat with Jenessa & Steve's pastor and his wife.

The pastor's wife says her husband will never smile for pictures either...

She and I are going to start a ministry for wives who have husbands that won't smile for pictures. Contact me with questions.

And...

Guess what Dawson got out of the whole deal:

ice cream.

He told me later he wants to be in more weddings for the ice cream.