After Christmas the main focus for my family was my youngest brother Caleb's upcoming wedding! He and Kailey have been dating for a long time so it feels like she's always been a part of our family-now it was time to make it official! Kailey and Caleb were getting married on New Year's Day so Eli and I headed down to my parents house a couple of days early to spend time with my family from North Carolina and to help do whatever needed done. We met my family at a local restaurant to eat and visit. Caleb and Kailey were not having a traditional rehearsal dinner so this was our version of a rehearsal dinner. I loved getting to see my Aunt Linda and my cousin Ginger. I had not seen them for several years so it was so good to see them! I have so many childhood memories of staying with Ginger and her family whenever we went to North Carolina for the summer. She was my only girl cousin on my Dad's side so we had to stick together :) My grandmother, who moved to Texas to live with my Uncle David, also had flown in for the wedding so getting to see her was great as well!
After we ate, everyone came back to Mom and Dad's house to visit some more. Tinsley got some loving from Ginger and the boys started playing the Infinity.
The next day was New Year's Eve. The plan was for the guys in the wedding party to go golfing in the morning and the girls were supposed to have brunch. My brother Josh did the same thing with his wedding party when he got married and my Dad created quite a lasting impression then because of his outfit choice. My Dad, who is fashion challenged, showed up to golf with Josh's friends in plaid on plaid. Yeah, it's what we've dealt with my whole life, but we love him despite his many fashion imperfections. Since Caleb's wedding party was going to golf in the morning, Dad came out and asked if this outfit would be acceptable. Instead of plaid on plaid, Dad wanted to rock his LSU pajama pants with his neon orange shoes. Oh dear, oh dear!
On New Year's Eve, we woke up bright and early, got the coffee going, and started working on the party favors for the guests. Mom told Kailey that we couldn't go to the brunch since it would take over an hour to get there and we had to drive over an hour in a different direction to get to the rehearsal site later that evening anyway. It didn't make sense to do all that driving in different directions so we spent our morning working on the party favors instead. Kailey and Caleb bought the mini individual pies from Wal-Mart as their wedding favor and then packaged them up in such a cute way! Ginger, Linda, Andrea, Mom, and I were the laborers and we packaged up all 100 pies for the guests.
We had the cutest little helpers, too!
We grabbed some lunch from Chick-fil-a (I heart their sweet tea and ice!) and then got ready for the rehearsal. We drove to Amite, LA to the Berry Barn. Kailey, Caleb, and both of the moms found this venue and it was absolutely perfect! The only downside was that it was SOOO COLD! The weather changed at the last minute and instead of cold and sunny, it was cold, cloudy, and rainy. Yikes! That didn't stop us from practicing though! These two cuties did a great job as flower girl and ring bearer.
Once everyone knew what they were supposed to do and when they were supposed to walk, rehearsal started. Isn't the Berry Barn just beautiful? I couldn't wait to see what it was going to look like the next evening.
Mom and Dad were pretty excited about marrying off their last child. Now all their babies are grown and have families of their own. Plus, these two are LOVING life as grandparents!
We all sat out there freezing our booties off during the rehearsal and were counting down the minutes until it was over. Thank goodness everyone did what they were supposed to do and we only had to practice it one time!
My poor grandmother was freezing!
Not long after Kailey and Caleb started dating they bought a dachshund puppy and named him Scrappy. Kailey started taking pictures of Scrappy in different costumes and posting them to different social media sites and before long a star was born! Scrappy is now an Instagram and Facebook star...I'm talking more than 60,000 followers! I'm proud to say I knew him before he was famous :) Scrappy was the unofficial ring bearer in their wedding. He did what he needed to do and then got to spend the rest of his rehearsal time in his wagon under lots of blankets.
Once the rehearsal was over everyone went inside to finish up the decorations for the weeding. My parents, Kailey's parents, and Kailey and Caleb did everything themselves and it looked awesome!
Pictures of Kailey and Caleb growing up.
At the bottom of the shelf, Kailey and Caleb included pictures from their parents and grandparents's weddings.
My Dad made several chalkboard easels for the wedding.
Mom's Cricut machine got a workout during wedding prep.
She made the tags for the Sparkler send off at the end.
I love how everyone does their own unique hashtag for their events now.
Photo booth
Questionnaires for the guests to fill out while they were at the tables tomorrow.
Mom made these too :)
Another view of one of the easels Dad made.
Kailey and Caleb passed out the wedding party gifts to the little kids. Eli got a new monogrammed camouflage bag. Tinsley got a robe to match the bridesmaids and Jameson got a name puzzle. They all loved their gifts!
Ginger and Linda unpacked all the pies we had decorated that morning and set them out on the favor table. Everyone was running around adding last minute touches here and there. It all looked beautiful!
Eli, Tinsley, and Jameson were such troopers during the whole rehearsal night. They played and had lots of fun in this wagon while all the adults were decorating like mad, crazy people. They had the best time!
Ginger and I managed to get some sweet love from Tinsley and Jameson :)
Once everything was the way it needed to be, we all left and went to Kailey's parents' house for a New Year's Eve party get together. They had snacks, appetizers, music, and lots of friends and family. It was a great way to celebrate the wedding weekend! Tomorrow was going to be such a fun day!
No comments:
Post a Comment