The Wedding of Sara and Josh

Here's a disclaimer to begin this post: I had this insanely long post nearly complete when I realized that some of the photos of the wedding that I've seen on Facebook would be really good additions to the post. But, the super-stupid thing about Blogger is that you can't (or I don't know how to) move photos around inside of the post. So, the first several photos are not where I would like them to be...instead they are just where they uploaded to. Bleh.

This is the girl Noah helped all evening - you'll read more about it later.

This is lunchtime inside the camper - you'll read more about that later too.

Noah making his grand entrance.

The lovely couple when they first saw each other on W-day.

And here is where my post should really begin:

This is the longest post I've ever done, but I just can't help it. Sara and Josh's wedding was a beautiful event worthy of many, many photos. The wedding took place at Josh's parents' house in St. Charles, Illinois. They have a wonderful property with 8 acres. Ben's parents had borrowed a camper to live in for the week so they could be onsite for wedding prep. Our boys loved the camper, they made themselves at home - no doubt. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and the wedding was on Saturday afternoon. So, we had plenty of time to play, help, distract, rearrange, and more as the wedding approached.

Checking out the ceremony location...

Lucky for us, great-grandma and grandpa were there on Friday morning!

Sara and Libby help Levi explore ant hills

I bet you'd never guess these two are sisters would you.

At rehearsal...they have very little clue about what is going on or why they need to stand there, can you tell?

Tim had his work cut out for him to pull this relaxed group together for the rehearsal, regardless he did a great job.

This is the best photo you'll see of Levi holding his box...

The bride and groom practicing.

Croquet and Corn Hole were set up

Josh's dad and uncle grilled steak and chicken for the rehearsal dinner. Thank goodness the bridesmaids liked our children, because our boys liked them an awful lot!

Ben's great-aunt Libby, grandma Mary Alice and mother

The quilt Sue pieced for Sara and Josh.

The boys just after we arrived for picture time. Levi was pretty determined not to smile on a single photo.

Andy and Hannah

I happened to catch Sara looking one way...

and then the other...just in case you wanted to see what her hair looked like on each side. I'm told it took 2 hours to get that hair done. It was perfect.

The boys took this dolly all over the yard. They transported various items but mostly the bucket that held the Corn Hole bags while we waited for wedding time.

We couldn't get Noah to stop pushing the dolly around to take a photo with us for a little while

finally he took a break, but he wasn't happy about it.

Friends of the family from Bloomington Normal hanging out pre-wedding

Waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

Dancing with Hannah

Just before it was time for the boys to walk down the aisle Levi declared he was "too tired" and wanted his pacifier. We tried to convince him of this and that and coax him to do it. But alas, Noah was left on his own. I talked to him and then grandma talked to him. He wasn't sure he wanted to do it by himself but he did! I was so proud of him.

The sun came out just as the wedding began and it was just gorgeous! Not too hot, just a tiny bit of breeze - perfect.

He lasted for a while up there before he came and sat down with us. Inside their boxes were gum, candy and new tractors. We actually had a pretty hard time keeping them quiet about their new toys.

Each of the mom's shared a story/blessing for Sara and Josh. These are Josh's parents Ned and Dottie Richer.

Lovely shades of blue.

They did it!

Levi sat out there for quite a while (that's the bucket they had been transporting around the yard earlier in the day). I think he was just taking it all in. I think to him it felt like the space he'd been playing in for more than a day was suddenly full of people he didn't know.

Cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake.

Noah gave me a flower, isn't he sweet?

Actually, even sweeter than that was watching Noah help one of the caterers the entire evening. I don't know how it started, but suddenly he was picking up plates and silverware with her. She said she didn't mind the help which is good, because he was with her all evening. A few times he'd stop to take a drink or eat a cupcake and then he'd say, "I gotta go! I need to help her!" Then he'd rush off again. He never found out her name, but he said she was pretty. :-)

Just a couple photos of decorations/setting the scene:

When guests walked down the driveway, they signed the guest book here and picked up a program.

I didn't get any shots of the ceremony area before all the chairs got moved for the reception (since I had two little people to keep an eye on) but these beautiful pots were at the back of the chairs forming the center aisle.

Church Ladies

It was lovely from beginning to end. Congratulations Sara and Josh!