...to help them get ready on their wedding day.
No, I'm serious: it does wonders to help reduce your stress level. Because you've got to keep laughing if you're going to have that many little girls running around, and if you're laughing, you can't scream or cry, right? Right.
This is what it looked like upstairs in the 'bridal wing" most of the morning of my wedding day:
That's me, surrounded by all my little ladies. Or "the loud-mouthed, opinionated little boogers" - depending on the moment.
When we decided on a home-style wedding, I knew I wanted family and kids around. My mother warned me my 20-month old niece, Lyla, was liable to "shriek like a banshee during the ceremony" - which I thought was hilarious. See, my attitude is this: life is messy, and loud, and imperfect. Why shouldn't a wedding be like real life? As long as you're surrounded by the people you love, and people who love you, doing things that make you happy ... all the glossy polish that people worry about "for show" really doesn't matter. But then again, that's me.
Let me introduce you to my cousin, Krista.
(Krista reads my blog, and she's probably going to KILL me for posting her photo here. Too bad. I think she's beautiful, and I want her photo here. So there. Nyeah.)
Krista belongs to my Mom's younger sister, Nancy, although we're happy to claim her, too. <grin> She's in high school now, although I have trouble remembering that ... since it seems like we only spend time together every couple of years, my brain has a hard time making those jumps. I remember Krista as a tough-as-nails middle schooler who played softball and hated all things "girly". Now, she's in marching band and - holy crap - she even wears makeup!
But seriously ... aside from the fact that Krista's a trip to hang out with, it was a total Godsend to have her there for "wedding weekend". She was right there to roll up her sleeves and pitch in with whatever we were doing - whether it involved food prep, putting together floral arrangements, moving furniture, hauling stuff around on the deck, or ... and this was the best part ... corraling six girls under the age of 12.
My two buddies - and instigators of probably at least half the fun stuff going on at the house - were Veronica and my niece, Gabby. These two were in and out of my room all morning Monday. First it was V to check on me and make sure I'd be ready to do her hair at 9:30 like we planned. Then it was Gabby to talk with me until her Mom was out of the shower. Then it was V again. Then both Gabby and V.
At some point, Lyla wandered in. (Isn't she just precious?) 20 months old, into everything, and talking up a storm ... Lyla was equally fascinated by my body brush (go figure...) and the extra rose from my bouquet. She was perfectly happy to poke around my room while I did my hair and makeup, and then started in on the girls.
That's right - girls - not just Veronica, but all the girls wound up lining up for a turn in my chair. How bizarre is that?!? Since V now has a super-short bob, I did her hair in a half-up-do with little twists, and wove in baby's breath for this sweet little crown. Of course, then all the girls wanted flowers in their hair. So, I told them to go downstairs and each take a flower from one of the arrangements.
Quite pleasantly, I discovered they followed my instructions and each took just one... so I wound up pinning up everyone's hair and working in these purple daisies for Gabby, Grace (Anita's 6 year old daughter), and Julianna (Jim's best friend - and our pastor - Kevin's youngest daughter).
At various points, the adults popped their heads into my room to check on me ... and each time they had this look of trepidation - like, "She's going to be freaking out, what are the girls doing in here, we need to get them away..." And instead, they found me surrounded by giggles and absolutely overflowing with joy.
If you'd told me two weeks ago that this is how I'd spend the morning of my wedding, I'd have said NO WAY - and then I'd probably call my MD for a prescription for tranquilizers. But I can't imagine a better way to have started off the best day of my life!
(By the way, in the group shot above, from left to right: Veronica, Julianna, me, Lyla, Gabby, Grace, and Mikaela - Kevin's oldest daughter, who was much happier playing pool with the guys downstairs than doing girly stuff upstairs with us)
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