Warren Peace: The Wedding

One our favorite youth ever got married this month. (Makes us feel a little old.) Amie has been a big part of our lives for about 7 years, and she's like family to us. She has helped with the boys since they arrived on the scene, and they love her dearly. (Caden really wanted to marry her.) She married Joseph, whom she met at school and they have moved back to Arkansas to live. We will miss her more than we can say! She asked David to do part of the ceremony, me to be a bridesmaid, and both boys to be ringbearers. Here are the pictures from the momentous occasion!

The boys practice walking down the aisle - Luke is behind Caden - a vision of things to come...

Figuring out where everyone stands

The bride and her dad - the trial run

Caden, Corban, and Luke watching a movie before dinner

Ring bearer gifts!!! Our first swords and a new Veggie Tales movie!!!

Kisses for Amie - thanks for the great surprises!

Trying out their new swords!

The Happy Couple!

All the girls in camo

Goin' to the Chapel...

The boys having some sweet moments with "my Amie"

Sweet Luke practicing his "Wedding Smile"

All Mommy's boys

A few last minute touch-ups!

I just thought this was a fun picture - Lydia got cold and hitched the top half of her dress up over her shoulders to keep her warm!

The boys wanted a snack while we were waiting. There were sandwiches and chips, and both boys asked for some chips. I told them that was fine, just please don't wipe your greasy chip hands on your suits. Caden was a good listener but wiped them on one of the very nice chairs in the parlor instead! If I had been fast enough, I would have gotten a shot of Luke with each hand in separate chip bags, getting a sampling.

What handsome boys!

I should have known as we waited in the hallway to go into the sanctuary that the boys were in rare form...

That's all of the pictures leading up the wedding. Since all four of us were busy during the wedding, we don't have any pictures of the actual event. Which might be just as well...Here's the recap. As the boys headed down the aisle, I was so relieved to see them coming. Luke had told me just before I walked in that he wasn't going in. So, here they come, then they start pushing each other, and Caden keeps trying to walk in front of Luke. (Later Caden explained, "I TOLD Luke he had to walk behind me!")

They made it to the front and stood by David while he did his part of the ceremony, then they moved over to stand by me. The ribbons used to tie the rings on to the pillows were long and dangling, as the bride and groom made the wise choice to not actually give 2 and 3 year old boys the rings. It would have been wise for me to have tied them in a bow or snipped them off, as the pillows soon became like puppets jumping around at the bottom of their strings. Sweet Hannah, the flower girl who was 6 and a half, kept telling them to "shush". Then their pillows became like lassos - swinging around in circles. I leaned down and whispered for Caden to stop, and he let go of his pillow - as it was swinging in a circle - so it fell down a step or two (we were on the top of the stage). So, Luke belly flops down on his tummy and reaches down to get the pillow, then loudly says, "Here BUB!" as he hands it back to Caden. Luckily, David was done with his part by then and sitting on the front pew. He motioned for Luke to come to him, and Luke happily went. They slipped out the side door. Caden did okay the rest of the time - he tugged on my dress a couple of times to tell me he liked my flowers, then that my dress was pretty, then that he didn't want to go back down the aisle because everyone would look at him in his suit. I didn't think this was a good time to mention that everyone was looking at him already, so I just told him not to worry about it, and please stop talking. At the end of the ceremony, he wouldn't walk back when he was supposed to, which was understandable since his partner was gone, so he waited and walked with me and a groomsman, and he had his face buried in the back of my dress the whole way back down the aisle so no one would see him.

After some more pictures (Caden said, "PLEASE NO MORE PICTURES!!" and honestly hasn't been happy about posing for a picture ever since) we headed for the reception! They were happy to take their jackets and ties off and party a little bit. It was a fun, relaxing end to a long event.

Here's Amie tossing her bouquet!

When it was time to toss the garter, I explained to Caden what was going on and told him that whoever caught the garter was the winner. So, my little competitive boy gets out there and waits patiently. When the garter lands on the floor a few feet in front of him, Caden starts to run for it, which causes everyone to start laughing. Caden has recently begun to get his feelings really hurt when he thinks someone is laughing at him, so as he nears the garter, he darts around it real quick and keeps running - heading for his daddy. He did not get the garter.