Flower Children

And we finally had the wedding… After a long day of (I honestly don’t remember what we were doing, but it made us all hot and gross), we went to the rehearsal. We didn’t go to the rehearsal dinner, because the kids needed to get to bed.

I was impressed with how well the kids handled all of the waiting around. It was getting close to their bedtime, they were hungry, and they’d had a long day, but they didn’t fuss much.

Strategic error: We didn’t have their “flower children” baskets, so in the rehearsal, they ended up holding hands. Which was totally cute, but…I’m a professional! I should have said something about how you always have to rehearse under the exact conditions you plan to have for performance. The relevance of this statement will become clear shortly… The day of the wedding, we all arrived and got ourselves put together. Robyn arranged the flowers, a whole team of people tried to fill up the world’s largest balloons, Zoma reviewed how to tie a tie, and I even put some make-up on.

There were drinks and mingling in the garden beforehand. This was probably the hardest part for the kids, because they were ready to get this party started. A word about their outfits–Silas’ shorts are from Sewing for Boys: 24 Projects to Create a Handmade Wardrobe. His shirt is store-bought. Petra’s dress is my own design, loosely based on the Fly a Kite dress tutorial, and I was totally thrilled with how it turned out. It’s probably hard to see if you aren’t a sewing person, but it’s the same pattern as the Very Hungry Caterpillar dress. In both cases, Belle at Ragtime Fabrics was a huge help in finding just the right fabrics to make them up. Especially for Petra’s–I was at a total loss, particularly for the sheer skirt. She suggested that I check out the fabric people use for sheer curtains, which I would never have thought of. It was perfect. Silas was originally supposed to be a ring bearer, but he saw a video of a wedding and observed that the flower girl got to hurl petals all over the place, but the ring bearer just carried a pillow. It looked pretty boring to him, so he asked if he could be a flower boy instead. Natalie, the ever-gracious bride, said that was fine. So he was a flower boy. And he informed me that a flower boy should really wear a flower in his hair. I found one at Claire’s that didn’t look too ridiculous. Petra’s garland came from Claire’s, too. I’m not sure I’ve set foot in that store since I was 13. It hasn’t changed.

Then…the big moment came…they had their baskets! The music started..!

They set off just fine. But then Petra turned back. Silas marched on down the aisle, sprinkling his petals.

When he got to the end, he still had some petals left, so…

Can we see that again on instant replay?

Luckily, my brother was in front, and he managed to coax Petra into walking down the aisle. She didn’t sprinkle her petals much, though.

The ceremony was gorgeous (and so was the bride!).

Afterward, Petra finally sprinkled her petals, and both of them hung out quietly and drew in their new coloring books. People were impressed with how chilled out they were–and so was I!

And then there was a party with dinner… …and dancing…

…and cupcakes. Silas was particularly thrilled about the cupcakes. Before we left for our trip, the kids were talking about what they were looking forward to. Silas said, “I’m excited about the cake!” Petra said, “I’m excited to see Grandpa Walter.” Silas replied, “Do you know how BIG a wedding cake is?” 🙂