The Church

Elisabeth has been looking forward to being a flower girl for a very long time. 1/5 of her life, to be exact. We knew she'd be great at it, but we had no idea how much of a rockstar flower girl she really was until the big day finally arrived!


Elisabeth had a blast. She was so excited (as were we) about her cousin's wedding. She hung out with the big girls before the ceremony started, and practiced dropping her petals. At one point she had sprinkled them all over the bride's dress. It was a beautiful sight, and of course I didn't have my camera with me, so you'll have to settle for this picture.


Just imagine the pink petals.


The ceremony itself was very nice. I didn't even cry! With all of the emotion that came over me at the rehearsal, I was sure I would be a mess during the actual wedding, but it appears I got it all out of my system.

The ringbearer walked down the aisle with Elisabeth. He was going to walk behind her, but he is a bit of a neat freak (his mom is so lucky!), and they were worried he would pick up the petals as he went. So, he helped Elisabeth hold her basket. It was very sweet.


Do you see him checking them out as they continue walking?


Turns out they were right about the petals! He spent much of the ceremony collecting them.


Elisabeth stood up front with the bridesmaids and junior bridesmaid for the entire ceremony. We were very impressed. Again, how does a helpless little tot turn into a beautiful, grown up child so quickly?


At the end of the ceremony, Elisabeth walked out with her cousin's step-daughter. I have no idea what relation that makes the two girls, but they love each other very much.


Do you see them holding hands as they walk?

Elisabeth turned to me on her way out and gave me the biggest grin. Of course I missed the photo op, but I'll always have that look in my mind. It was a moment of "look at me mom, I'm doing it!" and "I love you!" all wrapped into one pretty smile.

So instead, I'll show you the picture I ended up getting. You can still kind of tell how widely she's grinning. And you can see the back of her simple but cute hairstyle.


Sydney did her share of hanging out too, just differently. She did some standing in the pew, she did some screaming at the top of her lungs just to hear the echo in the church, and then she redeamed herself by clapping and saying "yayyyy" after each beautiful song was sung. Who can resist that kind of cuteness? Obviously not her mom and dad.


She also did some of her typical "drive mom nuts and hang out on or under her legs" moves.


She hung out with her grandpa (also known to toddlers as Guh-guh).


She followed the ringbearer's earlier antics and picked up the flower petals.


And when all else failed to keep her occupied, she and the ringbearer discovered the joy of looking through the church windows.


I'm sure they are thrilled to have a toddler's noseprint on their glass. Who doesn't love the smudged glass look? We obviously love it in our house, because the kitchen door is filled with nose and handprints.

After the ceremony there was quite a bit of down time while waiting for pictures to be taken.


So when she wasn't in the pictures, she was busy taking pictures with our camera.

Like this one:


And this one, which she set up for us. Including telling me exactly how to hold the basket:


Mark took the camera back and took this one. Based on the previous photo, he certainly didn't need to instruct Elisabeth on how to hold the basket. I mean, look at that form! Look at that cuteness!


Next up, the reception!