My Brother's BIG Day!

On Sunday March 13th my brother Ryan married his fiance Stephanie at The Pickering Barn in Issaquah. The below picture was taken from their website...the weather was in no way going to cooperate with doing outdoor pictures on Sunday!

It was a lovely place to have a wedding. Here is the inside of the big barn where the ceremony was held. I wished I had taken a picture after it had all been set up. A friend of theirs made this beautiful heart out of metal and that was up on the stage with this white fabric hanging down behind it to accent it. Let me tell you....ever single one of these seats were taken. There were even more seats added off to the left up in the front. Tons of people came out to celebrate the beautiful couple!

Here is the smaller side of the barn where the reception was held...again I wish I had gotten a picture of it when they were finished decorating. We got quite busy with picture taking and then once people started arriving we we needed to stay in the dressing room. I can't wait to see the professional pictures of the event!

We spent a few quiet minutes with the groom before it was time to actually get ready.

Then it was back to the dressing room. Ga-Ga got herself dressed and then she dressed Ella for me while I got my hair and make-up done. Michael got the boys dressed and since I had the camera we don't have any pictures of that process....and I'm sure it was a process!

I got Ella's dress off the clearance rack at Babies R Us after Christmas. It was only $20! I never tried it on her before the wedding. I just knew it would fit perfectly and it did! She is such a beauty!

GG flew up from Denver to celebrate with us. She also go to sit with Ella while she had a little snack.

Mama's all ready! I literally didn't have any plans for my hair or make-up at all. Then when I got to the barn the bride's mother's hairdresser was there and she offered to do both my hair and make-up for me. What a relief!!! Steph gave all us girls our necklaces, earrings and bracelets as a thank you for being in the wedding. She had them specially made so they would match our dresses perfectly!

She also got together with all us girls the day before the wedding and we got our nails done. It was nice to be pampered, but I have to tell you I don't think acrylic nails work very well when you're a mom. Maybe I'm just not used to them, but I'm finding it hard to do lots of things with my new nails!

Groom is all dressed and ready to go! I absolutely LOVED Ryan's white vest...totally reminded me of Ed Harris from Apollo 13. Very snazzy!

She's all set...such a beautiful bride!!!

In an effort to help keep the boys entertained I brought a whole bag of goodies for them. The main thing was a Hot Wheel's track that Ryan and Steph gave the boys for Christmas. I had specifically saved it for this day. Unfortunately the batteries we brought were dead so it wouldn't work! I also brought the protable DVD player so they had fun eating snacks and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

My friend Lori is the nursery coordinator at our church so since the kids are already used to her watching them and she loves them...I asked her if she would like to be our nanny for the day. I knew there would be a lot going on with almost all of us in the wedding so it was nice to have the extra hands.

Handsome little boy enjoying his Cheerios! I was really worried that Jack would be sad once the wedding started. He was a little jealous that Owen was the Ring Bearer and he wasn't. At the rehearsal he kept telling us he was going to be on the stage with Owen. Once the wedding started though I had a little chat with him, gave him his Toy Story lunch box to hold onto and he went and sat with Miss Lori during the whole ceremony.

Guess who has FINALLY learned to use a sippy cup!!!!! This Mama is SO happy! She is still nursing first thing in the morning and right before bed, but that's it.

Of course I don't have any pictures of the actual ceremony since I was on the stage and most everyone else in the family was too. It was beautiful though!!! Here the happy couple are dancing for the first time!

Such a handsome guy! He did great walking down the aisle...I heard that he was trying to avoid stepping on the petals that the flower girl was dropping. Once he got to the stage he had this really bewildered look on his face so in an effort to get him to smile I winked at him. That was all it took and then he was winking and making googly eyes at me, Daddy and Ga-Ga. It was SO hard to not laugh. He made it pretty far through the ceremony, but after a while I asked him if he wanted to go sit with Ga-Ga. At first he said, "No!" he was taking this Ring Bearer job very seriously, but after thinking about it and me asking him 3 more times he did take me up on the offer.

At the reception he definitely had a bunch of silly energy to get out!

He is such a character!!!

All last week was super busy so once the reception started Jack was glued to me. He just wanted Mama and no one else. He also immediately wanted his tie, vest and jacket off!!! He looked so cute all dressed up!

Love is in the air!!!!

Stephanie's Dad and my Dad both gave lovely toasts to the couple!

Not only did Ryan and Steph write their own vows, but Ryan also wrote a poem and read it to her at the reception.

Cake cutting! There cake was so neat looking. It was the shape of a paisley and the topper was actually a snowglobe with Precious Moments wedding figurines.

There were both very nice when it came to feeding each other. The lady that made the cake did say, "That top layer is red velvet it will stain her dress!" right before they cut the cake, but I don't think they were going to be messy anyways.

Tossing the bouquet!

Time to get the garter!

There weren't that many single guys out there so Michael took Owen out to see if he could catch it.

I think he's so cute with this hands up in the air. He didn't catch it though the guy to the left of him did....bummer deal! I guess he is a little young to be thinking about marriage though! ;)

We had so much fun dancing. I even got to do my beloved Electric Slide and I must say I did pretty darn good. Michael even got a video of it. Not sure if I'll post it though!

I don't really get emotional at weddings, but there was one part during the reception where I was dancing with Ella and this song by Bruno Mars came on call You Are Amazing. I didn't really hear anything, but the chorus, but it just made me think...I hope that Ella as she grows up knowning that she is amazing just the way she is. I know that as a girl I struggled thinking I wasn't good enough even though people told me I was amazing it's hard actually believing it. I want her know and believe that she is amazing just the way God made her. I also started thinking that one day (in like more than 20 years) we will be dancing at her wedding. Then I got a teary eyed!

Time to go....the happy couple got to leave in a limo (I didn't get to see it as it was raining and I was holding Ella) and headed to the Edgewater hotel in downtown Seattle. Now they are honeymooning in Hawaii...so jealous!!! :) :)

Congratulations Ryan and Steph!!!! It was a beautiful day for two beautiful people!