Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Little Ones

A few members of the wedding party that I haven't yet mentioned are the youngest ones. Kristian is the proud uncle of a 13 year old niece (Carleigh) and an 11 year old niece (Madison) and nephew (Matt) who are twins. We are including his nieces as our jr. bridesmaids. They will wear a more age appropriate version of whatever bridesmaid dress we decide on and carry a smaller bouquet. His nephew will be a jr. groomsman, he will wear a tux and stand up front next to the older boys and then escort his two sisters down the aisle after the ceremony. Matt is really excited about the idea of wearing a tux and looking all studly like his Uncle Kris. I'm so excited to have them as part of the wedding and even more excited to become their aunt. They all seemed to really like me from the very beginning and now lovingly (at least I hope) refer to me as Aunt Shenay-nay. Actually Kristian has now started calling me this as well!

I also have two nieces, Kaitlin who is 5 and Alexis who is 2. I may be biased but I think they are freaking adorable and full of personality. Obviously I wanted them to be my flower girls and subsequently steal the show with their insane level of cuteness. However due to family drama, which I don't want to get into, I was uncertain whether or not the girls would be allowed to be in the wedding. It's been a very tense year and a half between my brother, sister in law and other members of my family. Shortly after I got engaged I reached out to my brother and sister in law to try to mend fences in the hopes that things could be smoothed over before the wedding.

It's been a shaky few months but I was able to work as a bit of a mediator and now things are slowly getting better within my family. We still have a long way to go but it's much improved from where we were this time last year. Anyway I had been putting off asking my brother and SIL about having the girls in the wedding until I felt things had been going well for enough time that they would be open to this idea (I wasn't even sure if they were definitely COMING to the wedding). After some encouragement from my mom I finally asked them this week and they said the girls could be my flower girls!!!!

I was so happy when I got the news, it means so much to me to have my brother and his family not only attend my wedding but participate in it. I've always envisioned that whatever nieces or nephews I had at the time would be involved in my wedding and it really upset me to think that may not happen. Plus I know the girls will be ecstatic over the prospect of getting to wear "princess" dresses. Kaitlin was the flower girl in my brother's best friends wedding last year and had a ball. Alexis is still a bit young to really 'get it' but I'm sure her big sis can show her the ropes!

It's such a relief that one of the more stressful items on my to-do list is finally done. Now I just have to start searching for adorable little dresses for them to wear.

9 comments:

bananas. said...

family drama sucks and let me guess, does it have something to do with the SIL? seems like that's always the problem. my family is very close but one of my cousins has the lamest wife ever. everyone is pretty civil with her even my aunt (cousin's mom) but she super dislikes her.

anyway, glad you were able to mediate things and get your lovely nieces in the wedding!

princessapr said...

Aw, that's wonderful news. My cousins actually weren't allowed to come to our wedding. My aunt and uncle wanted the night off. We technically had a no child policy, but a few snuck in and were very well-behaved. It mostly to keep the guest-list down though. I can't wait to see photos of the big day. I'm sure the pictures will be great memories of a quick moment in time where the older ones are young adults and the younger ones are still adorable children. :)

Unknown said...

So glad!! I know how stressful that situation has been for you. Yay!

Elizabeth Marie said...

Oh my gosh...yay! So happy it worked out!! Family is so tough but I'm glad it's all getting better. I worry about things like this with my wedding too...or any family gathering basically ha...STRESS. Yay for pretty princesses! xo

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

I'm so glad things are working out for your family. Your like the glue. Maybe your wedding will bring everyone back together permanently!

Alicia said...

awwww thats so awesome! family drama is always so tough...but i'm glad its working out! i can't wait to see the lil'ones all dolled up!

Ela said...

That is such great news! I love seeing lil ones at weddings - they have huge smiles on their faces (most of the time) cause they're just so excited to be part of that special day...and get some of the limelight :)
Can't wait to see the pics of the munchkins!

Born to be Mrs. Beever said...

We have a junior groomsmen (my fiance's nephew) who will be 10 or 11 come wedding day. My daughter will be 15 and I was at first calling her a junior bridesmaid, but since she is afterall my daughter and an older teen, we have officially switched her to a full fledged bridesmaid. Though she will be in a slightly different version (and color) of the dress that my bridesmaids are wearing. So fun to have young ones in the wedding party.

.:*aMbAr*:. said...

Awww I love when there are lots of kids at wedding ceremonies, makes it all happier.

I also hope that everything gets better on your family.