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Saturday morning, I woke up with a rumbling of excitement.  Or, I was as excited as I could possibly be after stumbling around a hotel room half the night with my cuddly, screaming son.  Which was still pretty darn excited.  It was The Big Day!  As excited as I was, I bet I came nowhere close to Aunt N’s level of anticipation.

There was an emergency that morning which required most everyone’s attention, so at the last minute, Aunt N picked up me and the girls to get our hair done.  It was raining so we dressed at the church.  In the flurry of excitement and hair-dos, I looked at the clock and realized it was 1 o’clock and the girls hadn’t eaten lunch.  Here I go again, vying for Mother of the Year.  I’m making other mothers sweat a little; I’m such stiff competition!

I did what any rational mother would do in that situation.  The maid of honor and I pulled into a Hardee’s (they don’t have those in Texas, that’s for sure) and ordered so much food that the clerk was confused.  In her confusion, we ended up with an extra bag of fries, which on a normal day would have been consumed, but today we were in too big of a hurry to worry about it.  Aunt N made the remark as she was drinking her Coke and eating a fry that she was not like most girls who wouldn’t eat on their wedding day.  No worries about fitting into her dress, plus her husband-to-be already knew her well enough to know she was not going to let herself starve.   I am so glad she is my sister–she is my kinda gal.   Truth be told, it really didn’t matter what she ate that day–she was a gorgeous bride.  Absolutely gorgeous.

Photo credit: Hannah B

See?  And wasn’t NanNan absolutely beautiful as well?

After an hour of struggling with his shoes, little Ace had it, and started to fuss.  Then, little Cub tried to run into the church minutes before the ceremony.  She was stopped by her Daddy and subsequently threw the Tantrum to End All Tantrums, complete with sour-milk-smelling vomit on her new dress.  The little fashionista came prepared with an extra dress, thanks to her Mia, so she was able to sport not one, but two dresses on the Big Day.  She was the talk of the reception.  She would have been the talk of the wedding itself, if I had allowed her into the church.  After the screaming fit she stayed with me and the fuss-pot Ace in the bride’s quarters.  Good thing for video!  I heard the ceremony was fabulous, so I can’t wait to watch it.

All the way to the reception, I worried.  I fretted over Cub and witnessing another Tantrum, I fretted over Ace and his general fussiness and How to Keep Him Happy, and in the back of my mind I felt a lot of relief that there was a kids buffet.  Mia never fails to amaze me with her insight and forethought.  I didn’t have (much) to worry about.  Speaking of Mia, y’all wouldn’t believe how lovely she looked.  Her dress was so pretty, and even more impressive, she helped design it!  Here she is with Cub, DQ, and two of their cousins.  They all looked so very lovely!

Photo credit Uncle "Icky"

The food was fabulous.  Someone at our table didn’t show at the last minute, so there was a place for Cub to sit since she refused to sit at the kids table.  She ate the bisque with the crunchy breadsticks, and then promptly left to finish off a plate of M&Ms, gummy bears, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Cheetos, and cookies.  We feasted on pork saltimbocca, cheesy polenta, salmon with a fruit salsa, roasted vegetables, and buttery rolls, while Ace sat in my lap eating M&Ms and a piece of a chicken nugget simultaneously.  Then he grabbed my dress.

Photo credit Hannah B

Then there was cake.  I believe this cake was the best I have ever tasted.  Buttery, rich, creamy, moist…oh I wish I could bake like that!  The grooms cake (here in the South we serve two cakes at weddings, it’s one of my personal favorite Southern traditions because it means I get to eat more cake) was a chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache smoothed over the top of the whipped frosting.  I probably gained fifteen pounds just looking at it, but boy was it wonderful.  Cub sneaked a few grapes off the top of the grooms cake before it was served.  All of that chocolate-y goodness in front of her and she samples a grape!  I will have to teach her about the benefits of being a chocolate lover very soon!

As much as I anticipated the hot beverage bar I was only able to sample the hot cider before dinner.  It was delicious!  From what I could tell, over half the mugs were gone by the end of the night so I’m sure everyone enjoyed the beverages.  It is really hard to drink a hot anything while holding a baby, especially a moving baby!

Instead of describing the decor, which was amazing, I will show you some pictures.

Beautiful statues and spilling roses in front of the cake pedestal.

Flower arrangement at the head table.  The other tables had similar arrangements but with tea light candles arranged above them.

Grooms’ cake, and reception table behind it.  Notice the luxurious tablecloth!

The Fountain.

The delectable cake.

Photo credit Hannah B

One of the other tables.  See the pretty tea light candles above the flower arrangement?  If that would last longer than ten minutes at my house I would really want one!

I met all sorts of new family members.  Well, to be honest, the family I met have been family for years, it was merely my first opportunity to meet them.  Everyone I met was so nice, and a few actually read my blog!  My husband always told me I would be surprised how many people actually read this thing, and he was right.  (Just don’t tell him that.)  I wish I had taken more pictures, but just like the hot beverage situation, it is really hard to focus a camera one-handed!  It was so very nice to finally meet the people I had heard about, and it was nice to see all of the rest of the family that we hadn’t visited with in a while.

Toward the end of the night, Ace started really fussing.  He didn’t want to be held.  He didn’t want to be put down.  He didn’t really know what he wanted.  So I walked around with him until my poor feet couldn’t bear to stand any longer.  [I should have practiced wearing heels.]  Then he decided he wanted to crawl around, and crawled right out the door of the train depot onto the sidewalk.

I am ashamed to admit that my feet didn’t quite understand the signal from my brain to “get up and go get him” so it took me a minute or two to register that my baby was crawling around outside.  Thankfully Mia’s friend ran out to check on him, though she kept looking at me like “you are his mother, why aren’t you rushing to keep him from the street?”  It is this inaction that has clinched me the title of Mother of the Year 2010, I just know it.  Finally my feet responded and little Ace was safe and sound, though insistent about no longer being held.

On that note, we left the wedding reception.

The kids slept in the car, and upon arrival at the hotel, suddenly got a burst of energy.  It was at least 1 am before I got any semblance of sleep.  I was not the only one not sleeping this night!  Apparently the newlyweds were up early doing laundry so they could finish packing for their honeymoon!  That puts a new ring to the term “procrastination” don’t you think?  And, it is probably exactly the way I would spend the night before a week and a half-long trip to Italy.

Yesterday was their gondola ride.

Oh, how I wish I really was a stowaway in one of their suitcases!  One day I will have to make it to Italy.  I should probably start saving now…