Straight from the Storks Nest: A Renaissance Wedding in Missouri

My only cousin, Stephanie, on my mom's side was married last month to her college sweetheart, Isaac, and asked Caitlyn to be her flower girl. She and Isaac decided on a renaissance theme and Caitlyn would get to dress up as a fairy. She was thrilled of course and kept talking about it for weeks. Since Brian was working I convinced my brother, Mike, to fly down from California and make the 7 hour trip to Joplin, Missouri. Aside from Caitlyn being the flower girl, I wanted to represent for the family and it was a great reason to visit my grandma who had only met the twins once.

It was a long drive and the twins actually did better than Caitlyn who wanted out of her car seat and definitely verbalized it. Plus we had my brother's dog along for the ride. But all in all, it wasn't too painful and we made it relatively easily. Once there we got to spend a ton of time with my grandma so she didn't have to worry or stress out about all the preparations. We even got to go shopping and made a trip to our favorite candy house.

To prepare Caitlyn for her big job I checked out flower girl books from the library and even bought one online so she would know what to expect. Plus I got her all sorts of bribes to get her to walk down the aisle. She was so excited I was hoping everything would go well since she is pretty shy and tends to shut down when under stress or becomes the center of attention. The rehearsal could not have gone worse. She screamed and cried and I had to drag her down the aisle digging in her feet the whole way. I was mortified and worried she would ruin the ceremony.

The morning of the wedding, she got dressed in her costume and was immediately in love. She started prancing and twirling around. Things were looking up. I also started thinking back to soccer and how great she did when Brian was at a distance. I decided I would have to make an exit before she had to walk so she would be forced to move just to get to me. Five minutes before the ceremony started I said goodbye and told her I would be waiting below. I was even more nervous because it was a long route down a steep hill and over a bridge. Turns out I shouldn't have worried too much because she did great! Of course she didn't sprinkle or throw any flowers (details, right?) but she did walk the entire way by herself with just a little encouragement from the ring bearer. I was so incredibly proud of her (and thankful that she hadn't thrown a fit), but most importantly she was proud of herself.

It was a beautiful wedding - the bride was literally beaming - and we had a great time at the reception visiting with family. We had to leave a little early because it was pretty hot and the kids (and GiGi for that matter) were fading fast, but we spent the rest of the day relaxing in the air conditioning of our hotel with GiGi. Absolute perfection.

So, a big congratulations to Stephanie and Isaac!

And a big thank you to Uncle Mike for dealing with me and the kids - it wasn't easy but you were truly a trooper. Love you!

--Since getting back Caitlyn has gotten married several times. Her first husband was Daddy and then she moved on to Chase, Emmy and finally Paul, only to go back to Daddy again --