As soon as we arrived, we found the groom and started getting the boys into their suits. What an ordeal! The boys have never been in dress clothes before, so it was a totally new experience. The pants were hard enough, but when you add in the dress shirts, the ties, the suspenders, the cufflinks and the vests it was a lot! It took my husband and me over 20 minutes to get them all suited up.
They looked so handsome! They didn't look like little boys. The suits made them look so grown up! After they were dressed, I pinned on their boutonnieres. They were daisies (the wedding flower). Bob's was fuchsia (like all the groomsmen) and SJ's was tangerine (the same as the groom). "I don't want to wear a flower," whined SJ. "I know, I know. But all the boys are wearing them, so you need to wear yours," I told him.
We then took the boys outside to join the rest of the groomsmen. It was so hot out!!! It was somewhere in the mid 90's. The boy’s suits were black, so they were absorbing the sun like crazy. "How much longer?" said the boys. "A little while," I replied. I really felt for them. I was super hot and I was in a dress.
The ceremony started shortly after they were outside. I gave the boys a courageous thumbs up and reminded them that they could change as soon as the photos were done. The boys did a great job during the ceremony. Bob walked the jr. bridesmaid down the aisle. SJ was to walk the flower girl down after them. The flower girl refused to walk down the aisle. SJ sulked down the aisle. He was upset that he couldn't get her to walk with him. When he made it to the front, I gave him another thumbs up and mouthed to him to smile. He gave me the biggest smile and I snapped one of my favorite shots of the night.
The ceremony was beautiful and fortunately a quick 27 minutes. The boys followed the bride and groom down the aisle. The bridal party didn't have a receiving line, since they were going right into pictures. Bob and SJ were a little restless while the bride took family pictures and pictures with her bridesmaids. We kept assuring them it would be "just a few more minutes". Well, those few minutes lasted a little over 60.
When the pictures were finished, the bridal party was to be announced. "Why do they have to say our names?" said the boys. "It is the last thing you have to do," I told them. They made it into the reception tent and then I had them go to the cottage house to change while the bride and groom were dancing their first dance as man and wife. They were able to get out of their suits in record time.
I told the boys how proud I was of them for doing such a great job during the wedding. Considering the heat and the suits, they did a great job. We had promised them a treat if they made it through without too many complaints or meltdowns (that is a SJ objective). They had both earned that treat.
When we returned to the reception, the behavior took a turn for the worse. The DJ was loud (a sensory problem for SJ), the food was not kid friendly and they aren't kids who enjoy dancing. I was told there were going to be outside games, such as corn hole. Unfortunately, those things were not there. So, the boys tried to entertain themselves by playing their IPods. They couldn't get Wi-Fi in the tent, so they kept going to the rehearsal dinner room for reception. That was okay for while, but we wanted them to join the wedding guests.
We had to keep getting them out of that building and trying to get them to be social. Needless to say, what should have been a fun night for my husband and I was just another night of work for us. See why I don't like to take kids to weddings. Now can you blame me?
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