Gabi talking to Alicia before the ceremony.
Mommy took that picture too fast without steadying the camera, which is a shame, because even as it is, it is better than any the official photographer caught of our two-year-old.
Cousins Katelyn and Gabi with their respective grandmothers.
Gabi playing with her flower basket before the wedding.
Gabi dancing with a flower petal from her basket.
Gabi refused to walk down the aisle during the procession,
so Daddy had to carry her to the front.
Gabi taking her shoes off on the altar.
Although this isn't "proper etiquette," she looks like such a big girl here!
Gabi spies Lolo and Lola and rushes off the altar to greet them.
Her shoes and flowerbasket remained on the altar.
Gabi back on the altar, playing with her flower basket.
I didn't realize they wanted Alicia's train off to the side instead of straight down the center of the steps. Alicia certainly looked very pretty, but the unfortunate side-effect was that there was no place for the flowergirl to stand once the bride's train was all spread out. In the picture below, the maid-of-honor had already asked Gabi to move over once, and as you can see, she needed to ask Gabi to move again in order to have room for the train. At that second request, Gabi decided to move off the altar completely, where apparently there was not room for her. So she came to sit with me -- except that keeping her sitting was difficult.
Gabi is asked to move out of the way
so the maid-of-honor can spread out Alicia's train.
Gabi was at least very quiet. She was so excited to have both sets of grandparents as well as both parents all sitting in the first two rows that she wanted to move back and forth between us all. We restricted this as much as possible without making noise (or prompting her to make noise).
During the Unity Candle song (which, as is often the case at weddings, lasted for 2 or 3 full minutes after the Unity Candle was lit), Gabi elected to dance in the aisle. As nothing else was going on (the bride and groom were having a whispered conversation up on the altar), I let her dance until the song finally ended. Once I did ask her to come sit down again, Gabi obliged by sitting down in the aisle next to me - but tried to get back at me by throwing the flower petals out of her basket onto the floor. She declared, "I'm making a mess!" Unbeknownst to her, that's exactly what we had intended for her to do in the first place... but in our instructions to her, we had neglected to include that part, because we really were just hoping that she'd walk down the aisle.
Well, she did walk down the aisle by herself during the recessional. She did a great job there. She wanted to pick up all the flower petals that she had strewn about, but I convinced her to leave them on the floor.
Gabi dancing on the altar after the ceremony.
Flowergirl Gabi and Ring-bearer Jonathan
So, that is the story of Gabi's second flowergirl experience. As she refused to process down the aisle, didn't want to stand on the altar the whole time, and wasn't cooperative for the professional pictures beforehand or afterwards, she wasn't much of a flowergirl... but she was cute. As her mother, I wished it could have gone better, but the mother-of-the-bride pointed out to me that her actions didn't bother anyone except me (everyone else understands that she's two years old). So, with the compliments (at the reception) of the groom and the mother-of-the-bride and two aunts of the bride and many people I know and a couple people I don't know... I shall consider this flowergirl adventure to be a success.
Gabi dancing at the reception.
Lola and Lolo dancing with Gabi.
Grampa giving a toast at the reception.
Uncle Scott was the best man!
Wedding bubbles!
Gabi putting her shoe back on.
Unfortunately, she sat down right in the middle of
where Stephen and Alicia were about to exit.
Gabi buckling her shoe before we say goodnight.
I was impressed that she was able to thread the strap through the buckle.
2 comments:
Awww! While I don't advocate letting her get away with everything forever, it's certainly more interesting than if she had done everything perfectly. And, as you so competently captured, she did an excellent job of being cute and being two years old. :)
Treasure these moments. They are what memories are made of. These would be the fun pictures to show Gabi when she becomes a mother herself. We all love her just the same.
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