rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal

SJ had a big day last Thursday.  Not only did he have his speech session, he also had to attend our nephew's wedding rehearsal.  Both boys were asked to be in the wedding.  Bob was a Jr. Groomsman and SJ was the Ring Bearer.

Neither boy had ever been in a wedding or attended a wedding.  I am not one for kids at weddings.  I think it is more of an adult event, so I have never taken the boys to one (even when they were invited).  However, my husband's nephew wanted the boys to be a part of his special day, so I made an exception.

We tried to explain to the kids what happens at a wedding and a rehearsal dinner.  We told them the minister (or priest...I wasn't really sure) would have them go through the wedding ceremony so that everyone would know what to do.

We told them it probably would not take too long.  I approximated that the practice would be 30 minutes.  (I was WAY wrong.  The minister took about 2 HOURS!!!!)  We also told them that we would be served dinner as soon as the rehearsal was over.

My sister-in-law told me she was serving pulled pork and stuffed shells.  I know that the boys don't like either of those dishes, so we stopped on the way to the rehearsal to get them food.  Bob opted for Subway and SJ wanted McDonald's.

My husband had never been to the rehearsal site before.  I had been there for the bride's shower, but I wasn't 100% sure which way we should go.  We turned on my GPS and it was going crazy.  It was telling us to go in a direction that definitely didn't seem right.  My confusion in addition to the GPS craziness was agitating my husband.  (We were running a little late...nothing new!)

We finally got on the right path and made it to the rehearsal site only a few minutes late.  My husband reminded them to be on their best behavior or they would be losing screens (IPods, IPad, computer and video games). 

It was a very hot and as I previously mentioned very long rehearsal.  The boys did extremely well.  They were very patient and listened intently to the minister.  After the rehearsal was over, the bride and the groom passed out the bridal party gifts.  The boys received engraved dog tags with their names, titles and the wedding date.  It was a great gift!  We loved them!

We ate our dinner and then headed home.  We needed to be back at the wedding site the next day by 3:00.  The groom was going to be bringing their suits, so we needed to be there early to get all of their fancy duds on. 

As we were making our long drive home (over an hour), we told the boys how proud we were that they behaved nicely.  We also told them that we expected the same great behavior at the wedding.  Stay tuned to find out if they were able to hold it together!