A trip to St. Louis: Part III The Wedding

Well, we've been home exactly a week now and I am finally finishing up the posts about our trip. 

Be prepared for a lot of pictures to follow. Overall, I did a really bad job taking pictures of the wedding day festivities, my hands were full! My camera got passed around though, so this is a collection of photos taken by me, my Mom, my Dad, and various other family members too. 

Group effort :)

The Rehearsal and Dinner

Tejay was one of the few people Eli let hold him briefly...he's in a major Daddy phase. 

Friday finally arrived and we were so excited to see all of the family and friends arriving in town to celebrate. As we  were circling looking for parking at Washington University for the rehearsal we ran into Tejay wandering around looking for the chapel, which was exciting for Max as he usually only sees "Uncle Tejay" on TV. Eli is under the impression that bikes and people in bike kits are "Tejay" so he was in disbelief that he had actually met the real Tejay. We would point at Tejay and say "Tejay", and he would shake his head and say "No"...it was funny. 

The rehearsal went perfectly...the boys walked down the aisle with gusto and sat in the pews while I did my reading. This made me very nervous, as I've picked up a superstition from my days in orchestra. A perfect rehearsal means a terrible performance on the big day, where as a rough rehearsal is a sign of good things to come. 

 As it turns our my worry was completely justified, but there is more to come on that later...

After our "perfect" rehearsal we headed to the rehearsal dinner at a restaurant near the hospital where Chris and Jenny work. 

My parents worked really hard and put together a beautiful dinner, the theme was "Colorado Bikes and Brews" in honor of Chris. 

Baby Rylan, such a cutie. 

Mom and Aunt Val looking so pretty 

There was a buzz of energy that is always present when you get my family together in one room. Both of my grandmas, my grandpa Lucero, all three of my Mom's siblings, two of my Dad's sisters, and cousins...the Stockburger/Lucero clan showed up. That's one thing I love about my family, you can always rely on them to show up on these important days. 

The little guys were absolutely showered with love and attention...we all were. 

Max with Uncle Geno and my Nana. He just might end up as tall as Uncle!

Grandma Jan, one of my best friends in life. And my Dad's gorgeous sisters, good genes!!

My Auntie Victoria, a kindred spirit for sure. 

We have a bunch of beautiful strong women in our family, blessed for sure. 

Both of my parents gave touching speeches. Even though he is my little brother and I like to pick on him a bit, I have to admit that he is a remarkable person who has accomplished a lot in his life so far!  

My Auntie is always teaching me life lessons. I was complaining about the post-baby arm smoosh I have in pictures now, she told me the solution is to have a friend pinch it back for you! My arm looks pretty good right?! I will always have this picture for when I need a laugh :) 

. We also got to meet Jenny's extended family, and they just could not have been any kinder or more welcoming. By the end of the night it didn't feel like two separate families, that probably sounds cheesy, but there was some serious bonding taking place that night!

Julian took the boys home early and I got to stay until the end, had a beer, and enjoyed some adult time. 

The Big Day

We spent a quiet morning with Chris on the big day. I was impressed by how calm and laid  back he was. He definitely didn't have any pre-wedding jitters or cold feet...it's been his dream to get married and have a family since he was a little boy, so I guess you could say he was ready...beyond ready. 

This is where the day starts to unravel a bit for the Greene family (remember that ominous perfect rehearsal). 

The most important story of the day is obviously that Chris and Jenny got married, and it was lovely. 

But, we had our own little sideshow going on which I suppose I should document here for posterity. 

Julian and Chris left to get ready downtown with the other groomsmen, which left me... and the boys ...and nap time. I was determined that they get a good nap in preparation for their ring bearer duties and what was sure to be a late night. I think they sensed how badly I wanted them to nap, which only resulted in an epic 2 hour nap time battle. Of course, they both fell sound asleep 45 minutes before we were supposed to be at the chapel for pictures. 

I tip toed around frantically trying to get ready, practiced my reading a few more times, and then made the call to wake them up at the time that we were supposed to be at the church smiling for pictures. I hate being late, especially at important events!

I got them each dressed in their fancy outfits, suspenders and all, they were looking very dapper. Once the were fully dressed with pristine white shirts, and despite the fact that I had stuffed them full with no less then two lunches and multiple snacks, they both started begging for food. 

As I stood scanning the pantry for a snack that would keep those white shirts clean, I happened upon a bag of mini-marshmallows. I thought I'd found the perfect solution!. 

It started with me handing each of them a couple at a time, just to tide them over, but as we were driving to the church and I was focused on us not getting lost (as we were already 30 minutes late), I handed the whole bag back to Max and told him to share with his brother. 

Looking back..I now realize that this was a huge mistake. 

When we arrived, I retrieved the bag only to find that they had consumed 3/4 of it between the two of them, in about 10 minutes! 

Where oh where are those ring bearers??

Already moved on from marshmallows to fruit snacks...

All was well when we were outside and they could run around a bit, but once we made our way into the chapel they were riding a marshmallow fueled sugar high and they would/could not sit still. 

At all. 

The only term really coming to mind right now is "hot mess". 

They were both climbing the pews and running in opposite directions as the guest began to file in. I actually lost Max at one point and found him upstairs in the balcony of the church. Meanwhile, Eli had found a pen in my purse and was drawing on the pew, somehow got his diaper off and had it lodged in his pant leg, and he had spilled a bag of dried cranberries all over the floor.
While I was trying to clean that mess up, Max made his way into the string quartet and they had to stop playing. It really was just one thing after another.

I'm well acquainted with the level of chaos that comes with two little boys, but this was above and beyond. 

Precious Rylan, the only other kid back in the kids section with us and she was an absolute angel!

I had to send Julian an SOS text and he left his groomsman duties to help me out, but the chaos continued as the boys realized that when they yelled it echoed throughout the church.

Finally, it was time to line up for the procession down the aisle, and the little guys were buzzing with so much energy that I had to  physically restrain them in order to prevent them from going when it wasn't their turn. 

Once it was their turn though, they shined, this was one of the great mercies of the day.

 They were adorable on that walk down the aisle....

Some wires got crossed and instead of remaining up front with my Mom where they were supposed to sit through the ceremony, they ended up back with me, leaving me in a total panic over who was going to watch them when I went up to do my reading. 

The time for my reading came and I was still in the back of the church, my Mom noticed and started to head back to sit with them while I hurried my way to the front of the church to share the beautiful words of e.e. cummings. 

The speech. 

In my short speech I was fighting back tears and drawn to laughter, not because of the emotion of the poem "I carry your heart with me", I wish that had been the case. My threatened tears and nervous laughter were the result of one ring bearer running all the way back down the aisle, and up on stage to see Uncle Chris, while the other was yelling  (echoing)"Dada" repeatedly from the back pew...hot mess I tell you...to be fair I didn't warn my Mom about the marshmallows. 

At this point, I decided they had been enough of a distraction so I took them outside. 

I felt a flood of emotion and disappointment at missing my brother's wedding ceremony, but I prayed hard for grace in the situation. As I watched the boys run circles around the church, literally burning off steam, I did start to see the humor in the situation and felt so tender hearted for these little guys who had no idea about the significance of the day. 

The fresh air was good for all of us. 

And according to everyone present and the pictures on my camera, the ceremony was beautiful and very personal. 

{In one of my neurobiology courses at Caltech, I remember reading about a study that found that people can actually create memories that didn't really happen, from looking at pictures enough times. So I am determined to keep looking at these pictures and a few years from now all I will remember is sitting in the pew with my perfectly behaved boys watching this ceremony ;) }

We were the first to cheer for them as they made their way outside, now a married couple. 

We weren't through our rough patch yet, Eli had an epic blow out requiring us to head back to Chris's house for some washing before the reception, and we missed pictures again!

By this point I had given up on trying to control any outcomes of the day, and we were just rolling with the punches as they came. We received so much encouragement from friends and family, reassuring us that they had been there as parents, and that the boys were adorable with their antics (not sure if this is true or if they were just trying to make me feel better, but either way it helped). 

Thankfully, we turned the day around and rallied for the reception!

We came to dinner armed with building blocks

The boys were little gentlemen all throughout dinner, speeches (including touching speeches from Tejay, all 4 of Jenny's sisters, and an unforgettable welcome from her Dad), an awesome montage video (which they had cameos in), and cake. 

Tejay's speech, a fun walk down memory lane. 

Finally...FINALLY...we reached the portion of the wedding where the boys could let loose and be little boys...the dancing!

Oh, how we danced!

Sweet moment with my Mom and Brother. Got me teary eyed thinking about Max and Eli.

Uh Oh, Niko caught the garter!

We danced and celebrated until past 11 pm, the boys were so tired the could barely keep their eyes open.

The events of the day were long forgotten.

And just like that, my little brother was married, and we gained an amazing sister/aunt. 

It was one of those nights where you go to bed with your heart swelling with happiness.

Sunday Brunch

We had one more opportunity to soak up time with our family and friends who had gathered to celebrate Chris and Jenny. They hosted a brunch on Sunday morning, it felt like everyone showed up and squeezed into their house and back yard to talk about what a beautiful wedding we took part in the day before. 

We sipped coffee, filled up with a delicious breakfast, and Max got in some more playtime with Indy. The morning flew by and soon it was time for us to say our goodbyes and get on the road for the long drive home. We got enough hugs and loves to hold us over until the next big family gathering. 

The hardest people to say goodbye to were our gracious hosts for the week, my brother and sister, who we will miss even more now after spending a week under one roof.

 Facetime calls hardly seem like enough anymore. 

I know my brother has found his soul mate, I have never seen him as grounded and happy as he is with Jenny. We look forward to hearing about their adventures in this new season of life as a married couple.

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Whew! That was a book. If you made it this far you definitely deserve a gold star :) 

 Signing off for the night...