I knew from the itinerary Allison gave Caitlin the night before that this was going to be a very busy day. And my role? I was on "Baby Duty"! While Caitlin was running around with the bride and bridesmaids, getting dressed and having pictures taken, I was going to watch Holli. Now, this had to be strategically planned out because, although I had the equipment, I wasn't capable of breast feeding this baby. And so, I went into the salon where I waited for Caitlin to feed her for the last time before the wedding and then took her back to the hotel with me. Robby was relaxing on the bed, watching the U.S. Open when we arrived. Come to find out, Holli LOVES GOLF...She watched it for about two hours!
We arrived in plenty of time to get Parker dressed and have the photographer snap a few photographs. I took a few, myself...
By the time we were ready to line up for the ceremony, I was having a full blown panic attack over lighting that darn unity candle in my stilettos. As I looked out into the church, I found it was packed! And before I knew it, we were on our walk down the aisle...me praying that I could make it to the candle and back without falling. Once I was seated, I began to breathe normally again and was able to enjoy the ceremony. As I looked upon the stage, I saw all four of my grown children. The fourth about to complete this next phase of his life and become married. How could this be, I thought? It seemed as though only yesterday I was a young mom raising these four little stair- steps. I couldn't think about that right now; that thought was too intense for this moment. I took my Scarlett O'Hara attitude and decided I would "Think about that tomorrow".
The bride, groom, both sets of parents and grandparents all rode together in a limo to the wedding reception, which was held at the country club. The entire wedding party was lined up and introduced to the crowd individually as we walked out into the reception (another opportunity to fall in those shoes...). Allison and Ryan shared their first dance together as husband and wife and then the father/daughter dance and then my dance with Ryan (one last swirl in the shoes before the flip-flops came out!)...
Lori has traditionally made us special martinis for every one of my children's weddings. We didn't have any time beforehand, so she brought the ingredients to the reception and we had our martini's in our Ya Ya and La La (her grandma name...) etched glasses!
I had fun dancing the night away with family and friends and even took a turn in the photo booth...
At the end of the evening, Allison and Ryan boarded a boat that took them across the lake to their waiting vehicle, while fireworks lit up the night sky; it was a wonderful send off!
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