Julie's and Wole's Wedding
In my head, I thought I had blogged about this, but just now, I realized that I hadn't.
On Friday night, July 27th we headed to Cambridge to attend the wedding rehearsal and dinner where we met members of Wole's family as well as both Julie and Wole's friends that would be in the wedding the next day.
I think this is where it really hit me that Lisa has been sick and wouldn't be at the wedding. A big deal! This post is not about her sickness but I think it is important to note that she was deeply missed at this event! To read more about what is going on with her as it is her story to tell, visit: http://lisaschuyler.com/
The rehearsal evening went well and both kids were super happy to be part of Julie's big day and were very surprised when she and Wole gifted a bracelet for Hadley and an airhog drone toy for Easton. I think this is where both kids realized that they would gain an uncle and it wasn't just Julie's wedding but their aunt and uncle's wedding.
Saturday July 28th we woke up at the hotel early to have breakfast before heading to get our hair and make up done. This basically took all morning. Brian and Easton went to get some last minute errands done and then met us back at Julie's with food! We were so thankful that they could do the running around that we needed them to do.
This was followed up with the girls getting formally dressed at Julie's house and Brian and Easton getting dressed back at the hotel where they met Wole for photos.
The girls went outside and across the street with the rock walls for just a few photos before we went to the golf course for pre-wedding photos all together.
Easton loved wearing his suit and pulled on the coat in such a cute way that you could see how proud he was to be all dressed up at an important event. Up until days before he was quite nervous about being the ring bearer but after the rehearsal he was sure he could handle it and did amazing the day of the wedding.
Hadley loved putting on a pretty dress with her new shoes and having her hair fussed over. She was happy to be with Julie all day, loved her flowers, and her junior bridesmaid title.
They both loved helping out with a special flag moment at the wedding as well.
It's kind of fun when your entire family has an event to get all dressed up for. I was quite happy with my dress as well and Brian looked handsome as always.
It was unexpected but such a wonderful surprise to see Brian's grandma Stock was able to attend. We even got an updated photo with her, which I am grateful to have.
While not at all the same, but the best we could do, we were able to live stream the wedding to Lisa and Jeff all the way in Dawson.
Brian and I were in charge of the candy table. Apparently there was a conversation that Julie and Brian had years ago that went something like:
Julie: If I get married, Brian, you can be in charge of the candy table.
Brian: Sure.
So... we were in charge of the candy table. Which was actually kind of fun. There were trays, and containers to shop for, candy with special significance: Liquorice, and gummy bears because they were a childhood staple at family events. Fish candy because Julie and Wole met through the Plenty of Fish website. Rockets because they are Easton's favourite candy which he handed out to almost everyone at the wedding and had an inside pocket stash available to him all night in his coat pocket. Then there were other candies like hershey's kisses, candy hearts, chocolate hearts, and many other fun candies. We also went for Stroopwafel's and speculass as they are dutch treats.
Wole's family came in such beautiful garments. I really do love seeing what other cultures wear to formal events.
It was fun to see how much Wole included Hadley and Easton in this day. Even in the quiet moments when he was dancing with Easton when he thought nobody was watching, or just a nice hug with Hadley while they waited for the photos to progress. He gained a niece and nephew! They felt loved I am sure.
The speeches were heartfelt and I may have teared up. Julie's smile throughout the day showed pure joy!
The Nigerian dancers added some extra fun to the event and Wole couldn't help himself but to join in. The sparklers later in the evening were also quite fun!
We danced the night away!
The kids made it all the way until it was time to clean up and then Hadley pushed 6 chairs together to make a bed and Easton just crashed on the floor.
The next morning we got up to meet up with the Helen, Rudy, Sharon, Frank, and Brian's mom for breakfast. We were joined by Julie and Wole for a few minutes as well and then after breakfast we actually headed back to their place to drop off the van full of stuff that we had packed up for them the night before.
The kids were super happy to find out that the hotel allowed us to come back after checkout and use their swimming pool before heading home. There were many cannon balls and happy smiles.