Are you ready for a loooong post?!?! I figured after my lack of posting last week (due to no modem and then our travels to Toronto) that you’d appreciate a lengthy one. 😉 In case you missed it here’s the post on the rehearsal dinner!
On Saturday March 31st we woke up to the sound of rain. Not good on the day of an outdoor wedding. The wedding wasn’t until 5 so there was still plenty of time for it to blow over. That morning I went ahead and got completely ready for the wedding day other than my hair so I could be at Casey’s complete disposable the rest of the day. My hair appointment was at noon so I left our cabin as soon as I finished nursing Britt at her 11:00 feeding. Originally I planned to do my hair myself…I’m so glad I decided to have it done instead!
We had this BEAUTIFUL bridal suite up in the location of the reception (same place they had the rehearsal dinner the night before) all to ourselves for the afternoon. It was so fun all of us girls together getting ready and getting Casey pumped up for her big day! We all wore the robes Casey got for us and I personally think we all looked pretty adorable in them 😉
Courtney and Casey
Drew (Jordan’s brother) delivered some flowers from Jordan and later also brought a sweet note and a pearl pendant necklace for her! Jordan is such a catch 😉
Casey’s turn to get her hair done!
finished product!
Once Casey did her hair I did her makeup. It worked out great because Emily and Beth (two of Casey’s good friends from college) were asking me a bunch of make up questions. I pretended like I was an expert and “taught” them as I was doing her makeup. In reality it was just an excuse to say all my steps out loud and calm my nerves 😉
Throughout the afternoon Mrs. Charlotte would pop in and out and visit with us. Those of you who don’t already know this…Mrs. Charlotte is pretty much a living saint. The woman shines in her service to others. She wanted Casey’s day to be perfect and she worked her butt off to make sure it happened, no matter what the weather! The flowers arrived while we were doing makeup so Mrs. Charlotte brought them in to show her.
This is a great place to mention how awesome of a bride Casey was. She was a chill bride in that she let us all do our hair however, we got to all have a say in the dresses, pick our own shoe color, etc. She was a calm bride during her wedding day, making it enjoyable for us all. Never once did she have a moment of fear or cold feet. She was also a decisive bride and that cracked me up. I loved watching her in action. Mrs. Charlotte showed her the bouquets and without even hesitating Casey told her she would like them much better if the long, wispy pieces were cut off. She wasn’t rude or bridezilla-ish. She just knew what she wanted and it was awesome!!!
Finished product! I know y’all are soooo wanting me to come do your makeup for your next event, don’t lie 😉
The dress (we had SUCH a great day picking it out!)
The hanger, which I adore, says “Mrs. Bacon” and their wedding date!
SO, SO many wonderful things happened during the course of Casey and Jordan’s wedding. One of those things was me getting a chance to get to know Morgan better. Morgan is Casey’s first cousin, on her mom’s side. A lot of our time is spent with the Parkers but we love us some Plylers too 😉 Morgan is around Casey’s same age and is an awesome Christian woman. She is so pretty and sweet and really knows who she is and who she aspires to be in the Lord. I was super impressed by her and her amazing bridesmaid skills 😉 We bonded quite a bit and I am thankful that I now know her well enough to call her my friend as well as a family member! I hope we are able to get together more in the near future!!!
Courtney, Beth and Melody (who looks smokin’ hott in this pic!)
Cousins! Jolee, Morgan and Courtney
This is another good spot to mention a second wonderful thing that happened to me personally over this weekend. Zach and I have always been close to his family (which is pretty obvious on this blog, right?) but spending the two nights in the cottage with Courtney and Brad was AWESOME. We don’t really get a lot of quality one-on-one time with Courtney and Brad. Most of our family stuff is ALL of us together or we are running after children and never get a word in! Once all the kids were in bed the four of us hung out until after midnight each night just talking, telling stories, and laughing. Us four oldies stayed up later than all the young members of the wedding party 😉 We were so hardcore haha. Seriously though when Zach and I left we both agreed that one of our favorite parts of the entire event was spending that time with them. We both feel so much closer to Courtney and Brad now and I love it! It’s memories I will truly cherish forever!!!
Me, Courtney and Morgan
I ran back to our cottage to get dressed and pump for Brittlynn’s 3:00 feeding then I met up with everyone again for pictures. We went back and got the kids as soon as we could after our individual shots so they could be in the group ones and the family ones and stuff. Casey and Jordan did not see each other prior to walking down the aisle. I am super, duper glad they waited. It’s all personal preference and I don’t think it’s bad luck to see each other or anything, I just personally LOVE that moment when the groom first lays eyes on his bride and love getting to witness that. Plus it makes it fun the day of to make sure they are separated 🙂
I mentioned the rain earlier…and it was an issue all day. It stormed some of the time. Down poured some. Sprinkled some. And looked beautiful some. I got TIRED of hearing about the weather. Casey (and Jordan…but let’s be honest…this was CASEY’S decision!) didn’t have to make a call about the weather until 4:00. So there was no need to spend time discussing it and it seemed like it’s all anyone wanted to talk about. I tried to keep the focus on Casey and on having FUN. I wanted her to remember her day being about her and her love for Jordan, not about worrying about things that no one could control!
The rain cleared up during the pictures which worked out great! We were able to do all the bridesmaid ones outside and when it started sprinkling I had one of my cute umbrellas for Casey to use in the rain. I personally have always LOVED rainy weddings because it adds such a romantic feel to the pictures so that side of it was neat 😉
Since Zach and I were both in the wedding and both of our children were in it, we kinda felt like chickens with our heads cut off. It was a bit crazy for us (as I’m sure it was for Courtney and Brad too…but we were all too crazy to notice what the others were doing haha). I’m so, so, so beyond grateful to those people who really stepped up in our time of need. As I wrote in my “super woman” post…sometimes we just have to get over ourselves and accept help. On this day, I accepted a good bit of it and I also let go of a lot of my “pro-mom” ways. I may not have been winning a Mom-of-the-Year trophy that day, but my focus was on being Sister-of-the-Year and Bridesmaid-of-the-Year and for that one day, those roles had to come first 🙂
Jolee, Zach’s cousin (again on his mom’s side) was a HUGE help. She loves the kids and was a rock star with them. Especially Brittlynn. Britt didn’t have a 1:00 nap. This never happens so she was a little fussier than usual and I appreciated being able to play “pass the baby” with people to keep Britt smiling before her big moment in the ceremony 😉
Jolee and Brittlynn
Big Daddy and Kye
I was SUPER proud of Kye’s behavior leading up to the ceremony. We had a good hour and a half of hanging out and taking pictures which is tough for a preschooler to handle, especially in a suit. I had a long talk with him about how this day was all about Casey and Jordan and how we had to behave for them and how only cool guys got to wear suits so he had to be a cool guy for the day. He ate it up. He was straight PIMPING in the pictures. I can’t wait to see them all!
Weren’t they adorable in their suits?!?!
Love the stud walks!
Poor Britt was so off schedule and so sleepy, but Jolee loved getting to hold her while she slept
Big Daddy talking about four wheelers or tractors I’m sure
Zach and Cole
I’m SO glad we took a second when neither of us were in pictures and snapped one of us together, this is THE only picture of us together from the day (I’m telling you…my camera skills were mega lacking, majority of the pictures in this post were “stolen” from other people!)
Sleeping sweetie!
On our way outside to take the pictures it was beautiful and they were setting up the chairs under the tree (it was about 2:45). When it started to rain during the photos, the venue actually made the call. They put the chairs up and said we had to have it inside. It was raining quite hard at 4:00 and it took an hour to move everything (sound equipment and all) to the indoor location (thank the LORD Mrs. Charlotte insisted on booking the chapel as a back up plan!). Plus guests would soon be arriving. My heart broke for Casey. She had been looking so forward to marrying Jordan under that tree and the whole wedding theme and everything kinda revolved around it. The MOST heartbreaking part was at 4:30 the sky cleared. Not a rain cloud in site. It was gorgeous.
While so many of us felt so horrible and upset for Casey about the whole rain situation, she was awesome. She never once let it ruin her day or affect her excitement. I also saw Jordan quite a bit during the day and I know him well enough to know when he’s nervous. He was SO much more nervous about his proposal than he was on the wedding day. I already knew prior to the wedding that Casey and Jordan loved each other and that they would be a great couple together. But seeing them both prior to their ceremony on the day of their wedding just sealed the deal for me. I have NEVER seen two people more in love or more ready to commit their lives to each other. Not a spot of nervousness, cold feet, or apprehension could be seen from either of them. It was so inspiring and really brought back those early love days of my relationship with Zach.
Before heading out to the chapel we all said a prayer together and were escorted in a little shuttle bus. Susie Abbott was another saint that God put in my path that day as she took over Britt for me! She was awesome and I’m sure she left the wedding begging David for another baby 😉 How could this cutie not give you baby fever?!?
As I mentioned before, I don’t have a TON of pictures from the wedding day (I will share the ones from Javon when I can!) but Casey had sooo many adorable details to everything. I LOVE personal touches and she had a plethora of them! I’m really, really jealous of brides today. I got married five years ago and we didn’t have photo booths or Pinterest back then. Pinterest for wedding planning is awesome. Casey hadn’t really heard of it when she first got engaged (I mean it was just becoming a thing then ya know?) and I went NUTS pinning stuff for her. I went back and looked through that board after the wedding and she ended up using a ton of the ideas from it. So while I don’t have pictures of everything, you can view my pinterest wedding idea board here and see a lot of the things she did 🙂
While it was disappointing that Casey and Jordan ended up not getting married under their tree as planned, the chapel was a beautiful back up plan. Like I told Casey…EVERY wedding has things go wrong (Wanna hear my list? HATED our cake…it was ugly as crap. DJ screwed up and didn’t play any of the songs we wanted. They served CHAMPAGNE when, duh, we don’t drink and didn’t want alcohol served…and then they tried to charge us for it…). The ONLY thing that “went wrong” on Casey’s day was that they got married in a stunningly beautiful chapel instead of outside. Really, that’s a pretty good thing to go “wrong” ya know? And none of the guests even noticed! People thought the chapel had been the plan all along! Plus, since the weather did clear up at the time of the wedding, they were still able to do all their family pictures and such under the tree! 🙂 It really worked out perfectly! Here are some pictures of the chapel!
Here’s their program (I made it pretty big but you can make it larger by double clicking)
When it was time to walk down the aisle I freaked. I kinda have a bad history of screwing up somehow at weddings (like falling up the stairs at Danielle’s in front of everyone!) and I was pretty nervous. The hardwood floor was kinda slippery so I was beyond thankful that Casey paired me with Zach. Whew. Walking solo would have been disastrous. I may not have been making the most beautiful facial expressions (I was thinking “don’t fall, don’t fall”) but I made it 😉
I literally cried when I saw Kye come down the aisle. I was nervous after his lack of performance after the rehearsal but oh my goodness. He was a little pro. He walked down that aisle so tall and proud and carried that pillow with perfection. It was precious and such a proud mama moment. Then Colt brought Brittlynn in with the wagon and you could hear the guests all saying “awww” at her adorableness. She was pretty hilarious as she was obsessed with chewing on her dress so she was flashing everyone the whole way down. My girl for sure haha. Colt was so gentle and it went perfectly!!!
I told Casey I want to be first in line to watch the wedding video when they get it. I wasn’t able to see Casey and Jordan from where I was standing (Courtney was in front of me and…hello…she’s six foot tall haha!). Plus my role of bridesmaid quickly became the role of child wrangler. Originally, the kids were going to sit on hay-bales under the tree during the ceremony. When it got moved inside none of us were able to practice and obviously hay would have looked kinda funny in the fancy chapel. So the kids didn’t really have a designated spot. Three kids. All of them being around 3 years old. All of them being hyped up and not really understanding the importance of being quiet during such an event. Kye and Payton ended up tossing rose petals. Colt picked them up and kept trying to hand them to Casey. Then Kye started throwing the rose petals. Like overhanded. Like at the crowd of people. I tried to stop him but really how much could I do?!? At one point Colt got up on the stage and I had to whisper to Jenna (who was in front of me) to grab him and pull him off. Kye also got on the stage but thankfully it was next to me and I was able to put the death grip on his hand so he could barely move. He ended up laying on the stage smelling the flowers. Awesome. I hope the video guys caught it all because it was a pretty hilarious site I’m sure! One of Jordan’s aunts captured a video of Kye and it cracks me UP (thankfully Casey and Jordan love the children and knew that all of this may happen and didn’t mind one bit!). I don’t know if you all will be able to see it since it’s on my facebook page but I’m hoping it will work! Here it is!
My favorite part of the ceremony were the vows. We did the traditional ones in our wedding but also added our own vows after and I’m SO glad that Casey and Jordan did this too! I LOVE when people say their own vows…it makes the whole thing so much more special, don’t you think??? They seriously had the most perfect vows EVER. The perfect blend of sweetness, love, and humor. They were equally matched yet they hadn’t even shared them with each other. Plus they weren’t both sobbing and sniffling their way through them like Zach and I were (like we were straight up bawling during our ceremony…that wedding video is pretty hilarious). I think the biggest comment I heard from wedding guests was about their vows and how wonderful they were. It was really so sweet and I’m thankful that I was given the opportunity to be part of something so amazing!
When the ceremony ended we all headed outside for more pictures. Kye, by the way, was also funny when it was time to leave. He went the wrong way twice until we all had to finally direct him to go down the aisle haha. We did several group shots then all the family pictures while the guests enjoyed a “mocktail hour” (we don’t drink so they had soda and tea and food and such for everyone, I heard it was a mega nice spread of goodies!).
Barry being silly and blocking my shot of Kye
Brad kept the kids busy when they weren’t in pictures!
Hands-down the KEY to success with pictures is BRIBERY. I am not a believer in using bribery in any other way as a parent…but in this situation it works beautifully. I haven’t seen all the pictures yet but I know that Kye behaved well during the picture taking and, from what I could tell, smiled when he was told to. I only wish Brittlynn was old enough to bribe her!!!
Enjoying his post-picture sucker (yes, I packed them with me!)
When we got to the reception site we all waited to be introduced while Casey and Jordan finished up all the photos and such. Britt had enjoyed chewing on her dress so much that the material was turning her red faced and I worried it was causing a rash. I had a cute little grey outfit as a spare so I changed her into that for the reception. It worked out well as Little Mama enjoyed some Brittlynn loving during the introductions and dancing!
I wanted to get a good pic of us together in her little flower girl dress!
The MOST beautiful part of the day, in my opinion, was during the dancing. It was outside and all of the colors just looked stunning. I kept looking at everyone and feeling like I was in a movie. Seriously. It was that perfect. When Casey told me all of her color ideas, I thought she was pretty nuts (yellow dresses with all of us wearing different colored shoes?!?!). But it all came together PERFECTLY. I loved loved loved the tuxes and our dresses rocked (I’ve always wanted to be part of a wedding with J.Crew bridesmaid dresses, they may be a little pricey but they fit so awesome and looked good on every single one of us!). I loved how we all got introduced (each of us doing a little dance down the walk way…Zach and I aren’t dancers so we just swung Kye between us…lame I know but whatever…) then made a sort of semi-circle around the dance area. All the guests were gathered around and we all enjoyed Casey and Jordan’s first dance as well as hers with Mr Rusty and his with his mom.
They danced to “My Girl” which also happens to be the song Zach sings to Britt 😉
During the dances the kids were, again, hilarious. They all three kept dancing together and we knew Casey was down with it so we let it happen. It was pretty adorable. Payton kept insisting that she and Kye were married. While Jordan and his mom danced I couldn’t help but think about how before I know it I’ll be dancing like that with Kye on his wedding day. Time is going to fly by so quickly.
Next up it was time for the reception (yes I combined this entire day into one post…usually I’d probably do at least three separate ones!). The room it was held in was beautiful. I have no pictures of that. When we got in it was time for Brittlynn to eat (it was close to 7) and Kye was beyond hungry. So we were quite busy! I get MEGA “cool mom” points for this wedding day. Kye drank lemonade (yes I still mixed it with mostly water) and ate whatever he desired. I honestly can’t even remember what the kid ate. Probably all bread and cake haha. He drank his lemonade from a real glass and, of course, spilled it. It went all over Zach who was holding Brittlynn. So it also went all over her. The outfit I had changed her into was soaked as was the only blanket we had to help keep her warm. It was chilly (at least for a baby!) so I had no choice but to put her in the only thing I had with me. Her sleeper. I told Casey after their honeymoon that she must know I REALLY love her. I let Kye drink lemonade, Brittlynn wore a god-awful zippered sleeper during the entire reception, and both kids were up past 9 (Brittlynn had no nap at 1, no nap at 5, and was up waaaay later than normal. Yes, the next few days were rough with her!). Thankfully both kids were still angels with their behavior and we all still had a wonderful time!!!
Each seat had a Mad Libs and a personalized pen (then the favors were adorable jars of honey which I don’t have a picture of…we were so busy I can’t even tell you what our centerpieces looked like! Guess that makes the anticipation for the legit wedding pics all that more exciting huh?)
I LOVE the little “&” sign…so cute!!!
One great thing about our kids being crazy off schedule is that SO many people got to enjoy them. It was a blessing, especially with Brittlynn. Typically she’s asleep! All the great grandparents got LOTS of Brittlynn loving and it was precious. Pepe was holding her during the toasts and he was CRACKING her up. Like she was belly laughing and gasping for air from laughing so hard. It was so cute and sweet and I wish I’d snapped a picture of it but I was trying to listen to the toasts.
I LOVE when weddings have photo booths! Casey and Jordan used Stellar Photo Booth Rental and everyone had such a blast with it! Usually they post up the pics on facebook from the booth so I’m excited to see those but here are the ones we took (I have heard that our kids were in more than just these but these are the ones we had!).
Kye with Trey
Me and Kye
Our Fam!!!
As a parent I LOVE that they had a big kids table filled with activities to keep the kids busy! Kye and Colt had such a blast coloring and making masks and other creations. It was great to give us adults some time to visit and mingle.
cutting the cake
Aunt Karen
They had cookies and cream cheesecake for the groom’s cake…SO yummy!
Sweet moments with Britt
(warning: IGNORE HER AWFUL OUTFIT)
Kye LOVES him some Aunt Mary!!!
Casey and Mema
Other than the traditional dances prior to the reception, there wasn’t any other dancing. Our wedding was the same way…plus with no alcohol who would really dance it up anyway, right? There was a clearing though near the photo booth and the kids ended up creating their own dance floor. It was precious. It was like they were hired entertainment for the evening! Kye cracks me UP with his dance skills. Neither Zach or I enjoy dancing or ever dance at all yet Kye can break it DOWN. It’s his favorite thing about weddings. I’m glad we were there late enough for him to get to show off his skills 😉 The ladies loved him and I think many of the bridesmaids wanted to take him home with them by the end of the night!
Britt got to dance too!
I LOVE this picture of Kye 🙂
Aunt Karen looks like she’s breaking a rule or two huh? 😉
Right at 9 we broke down and left. We really wanted to stay until the END as that’s what proper siblings and bridal party members do but the guilt over the kids (mostly Brittlynn…our plan all along had been to let Kye stay up that late) won over at that point. We’re married so staying for the tosses wasn’t really necessary. It literally broke my heart to leave. I felt horrible about it and hate that we weren’t able to see Jordan and Casey off! Thankfully they didn’t actually leave right from the reception and I was able to hang out with Courtney, Casey, and Mrs. Charlotte after the reception was over. I think that was another favorite moment of the weekend for me. I LOVED getting to see Casey in her bridal glow and excitement and rehash every moment of everything. She was so happy and it made ME so happy (again I’m tearing up writing this! I’m just emotional over this type of thing!!!).
We missed this but I heard the bouquet toss was QUITE the fight 😉
I don’t know if Zach or I will ever get to be part of a wedding party again. It’s something I have always loved and it makes me a little sad to think that those days are probably behind me. At the same time I understand that I’m in a different phase of life now. I LOVED being a bridesmaid for Casey but I also felt a lot of guilt over not being able to be as good of a bridesmaid as I wanted to be because I also had to be a parent. Then on the parent end I felt guilt over not being as good as a mom as I should have been because I was also needed as a bridesmaid. I really hope that my parenting responsibilities didn’t take away from Casey’s day in any way and I hope I was helpful in making her day special!!!
I know I didn’t have that many pictures but I promise you…it was one of the most BEAUTIFUL weddings ever!!! The colors, the scenery, the unique personal touches. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Casey and Jordan did a fantastic job at making each of us feel loved and special throughout the weekend. They visited our cottages multiple times and really made the weekend about the family.
This weekend for me was big too. I feel like something just clicked. Like the final piece of a puzzle was completed. I have always been thankful for my in-laws but I left that weekend feeling like a true Parker. I even joked that I guess I should switch my cell phone number to the local area code (I’ve held on to that ATL area code hardcore). I felt like Courtney and I made such a deeper bond. The love I felt watching Casey as a bride truly was that of a sister. I loved spending quality time with all of the extended family as well and am thankful for being so accepted and loved by them. I left that weekend feeling more bonded to everyone in the Parker family (heck I even feel close to Jordan’s parents! Those Bacon’s are great!!!). I’m so, so blessed to have married into such an amazing family. I’m thankful I get to share in their last name and hope that I can continue to carry on everything this name carries with it to my children and future generations.
I couldn’t be happier for Casey and Jordan!!! I know you’re probably like me and are DYING to see more of this AMAZING wedding…well you’re in luck! While I don’t have the actual professional pictures to post yet (but Casey already has them from Javon! Super quick turnaround!) I do have a little sneak peak of the ones he took! Enjoy a look at the wonderful photography of Javon Longiere here! And yes, you can do like I did an pause it at every single picture so you can take your time looking at it haha!
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WOW. What a gorgeous wedding! You all looked fantastic!
I just love your writing style, it's so genuine and casual/conversational!