Congratulations Marc and Emily!

We made this trip especially to be at the wedding of our cousin Marc Wilcke to Emily Markert. They got married on Saturday the 12th, under quite different circumstances. Emily and her sister Mary Jo were proposed to within a few weeks of each other, so they decided to throw a double wedding. I must admit, I only know of one other person that I've ever met that has had a double wedding. The whole thing fascinates me, and I'm so happy for these couples that pulled it off without a hitch. James and Harrison were the ring bearers for Marc and Emily, and wore tuxes and everything! The boys, including Best Man Nathan Wilcke, had to be at the church early for pictures, so we started prepping the boys as soon as we were up on Saturday.
Question: Is there a magic switch somewhere that someone likes to pull that makes sweet little boys act like totally different children when they are to do something special and important? I think it's God's way of playing a practical joke sometimes. "Ha ha ha, you will NOT have a good time today and NOT have a good listening kid today, and NOT have anything go the way you expect! Ha ha ha, you silly Earth beings!"
From the moment I started putting on James' tux, he was a different child. No listening, compliance, nothing. I love my child to bits, but this was extremely frustrating especially since I was already showered, now sweating like a pig, and hadn't even done my make up or put on my dress. I'm sure it's the stress that James can see on my face and the strange clothing and craziness of the hotel room that got him to act the way he did, of course. I kept my fingers crossed that things would improve. No such luck.
We got to the church for pictures, LATE, but that turned out to be fine, whew! The boys looked completely handsome, adorable, and got smiles and giggles from every woman in or around the church. They truly were some of the cutest things I've ever seen.
Beth and I were a bit on the smarter side and thought to bring bribes. I love bribery! Ha ha ha. M&Ms do the trick for James. It soon became time for the young kids to be in the picture with BOTH wedding parties in one shot. I am NOT envious of the photographer in this situation as I know what is involved. It's incredibly hard to photograph a large crowd in a dimly lit church, and get every one to fit/be in focus, AND trying to get the kids to smile and actually look at the camera. Hee hee hee, silly Meredith to the rescue.
I planted myself exactly behind the photographer, and started making silly faces, holding up M&M packs playing Peek-a-boo and doing all that stuff that makes me look like I'm out of my mind. Within a minute, I had both of the ENTIRE wedding parties laughing. Even the hungover dudes that waned to act cool and not smile in the photos were laughing. I have NO idea if the kids will be looking at the camera in these shots, but one thing is for sure, they were smiling, and YES they got their M&Ms! As soon as the photographer said that the kids were done, I was giving out candy like holy communion to three little birds holding their mouths wide open wanting food. I even got comments from people in the wedding parties later at the reception that what I was doing was a hit. Cool.
The chaos continued, and as you probably expect, James and Harrison did walk down the aisle, but not as we had planned. James led with Harrison a few steps behind, not walking side by side and holding hands like we had hoped. They are 3, we have to remember this at times.
James was so wiggly and whiny that he didn't even make it to the point of Mary Jo's entrance (she was the second bride to be escorted down the aisle) before I had him in the pew with me. {Enter Marge Simpson sigh}.
I got to see Emily and Marc say their vows and glimpsed over at them as they exchanged rings, but then I had to take James out of the church... "I have to go potty, Mom." Of course. We get to the potty, and well, no pee pee. Of course... of course.
So my now extremely overtired James and I hung out in the back of the church for the rest of the wedding. Grandma Marilyn came out, holding a crying Kaitlyn (who, I must add, did an amazing job at being quiet during Mass), who had slipped off the pew and was scared and crying. We switched kids, and Marilyn sat down with James and convinced him to rest on her shoulder. Ahhhhhhh... he fell asleep. At that exact moment... "the new Mr. and Mrs. Wilcke!" APPLAUSE! James is awake. Dang!!!!
Poor, poor James. He fell asleep again in the car on the way to the hotel after the wedding, and then again was awoken to go into the hotel. The poor child finally got a nap, in a dark, cool room, for an hour and a half. Just the thought of that makes my eyes well up. Poor kid. James' face in the photo of him and Daddy sums up the day in one look....
The reception was great, the kids came for dinner and then Chris and I took the kids back to the hotel with our babysitter that had come along for the weekend. We put the babies down for bed and went back to dance and have a good time... and a good time we DID have.