Flower Girl

Our friends Lauren and Kevin were married yesterday! They were both in our small group and are good friends of ours. We love them so much and were so happy for their big day to be here. They got engaged right before Lauren left to spend this past year working at our orphanage in Cambodia, and she has only been home for 40 days!

While she was oversees, she emailed asking if Kendall would be their flower girl! She has really watched Kendall grow up, because we have led small group since Kendall was 6 months old. This was Kendall's first time to be a flower girl and we were very honored that they asked her.

I have very strong opinions about children in weddings, so Randy and I talked about it a lot before we told Lauren yes. We decided there were several reasons we thought she would do well. First, Randy was marrying Lauren and Kevin! So Kendall would be walking down the aisle looking at Randy - we thought that would help her. Also, they asked Ethan to be the ring-bearer. Our friends Amy and Michael were in the wedding party, so she could stand with them. And finally, the wedding was at the church where her school is. She is familiar with the sanctuary from going to chapel each week, so with all these things combined, we thought it would be a success. And she's almost 4. :)

 We took some pictures before the rehearsal Friday night. The girls were wearing some of their Christmas dresses and looked so pretty!

 Kendall did a great job at the rehearsal Friday night. She walked next to Ethan down the aisle, stood with Amy during the ceremony practice, then walked back down the aisle with Michael and Ethan. I reminded her several times that night that there would be more people there the next night when we did it for real, but she seemed fine because we knew that we would know most of the people there.

 (Love this picture of the girls together! So sweet!)

Saturday I brought my camera to the wedding and when I opened it, realized that I left my memory card in the computer at home! Ahh! I was so sick. So many great picture moments and no camera. Aaron took a family picture for us after the wedding. Hopefully I can get more pictures from Lauren soon, and I'll post those when I get them.

So, here's what happened. Kendall was doing great...waiting in line to walk down the aisle, not seeming nervous at all. Right after the last bridesmaid walked through the doors though, she got scared and turned to me and said she wanted to walk with me. I said, "No, you'll be fine," but she wasn't having it. The wedding coordinator told me to just take the first couple of steps with her and then she would probably be fine. So when they opened the doors, I stepped out with her and Ethan, tried to let go of her hand, but she said, "No! Walk with me Mom!" So I for sure walked down the aisle with her and Ethan. Awesome. I think I was a pretty good flower girl. :)

 When Kendall got to Amy, she knew that Amy had something for her in her pocket. I had given Amy some smarties to feed to Kendall once she got down the aisle. So she let go of my hand and stood with Amy...and then stood there the whole time!! I was sitting behind her, so I couldn't see this, but friends told us that she made faces and said "Hi Dad!" at one point. But overall she did really good standing there for so long. At the end, after all the bridesmaids left, she went and stood by Randy for a minute...which was so super cute...and then she walked down the aisle with Michael and Ethan....and everyone clapped! :) She got flower girl applause! They were really pretty cute.

As we were walking out to the car last night, Kendall told Randy, "I want to do that again!" She is addicted to being a flower girl. I'm pretty sure it's the dress. :)

Also, my husband is the best wedding officiant ever. He's just awesome. That's all.