This is kind of wordy, but that is kinda my thing. It is a buncha pictures with a very special story mixed in (and it has been shared with the person that I believe it was intended for (Mary Fran)), and now I want to keep it here for my memory.
Can I just say that this family vacay/ wedding celebration was the BEST time eva! Finally, the BIG day had arrived, and we were countin' down the hours until the BIG event!
Seriously... we were getting anxious for her to walk down the aisle...
While we were sitting there I started to think about me and the man friend and our wedding! Y'all, I can hardly believe it! Almost eleven years, oh, what a ride. We have experienced happy times and have also been together in the sad times, but no matter the time, I know that I always want to be with him. Aron is definitely the best adventure I have ever been on and it gets better erry day! Looking back on my own wedding week, there were so many memories: family, I got Aron a puppy (which he never knew he wanted), and so much celebrating! It was seriously the best time!
Below, you will see a picture of myself on the left, my Aunt Lauren, my mother, my grandmother, my Aunt Cathy, and my Aunt Diane on the end. My Aunt Diane was such a precious precious woman that loved Jesus and loved her family. I do not remember her ever saying anything unkind and I always remember her to be very stylish. She was adored by all who knew her.
This picture was taken at our rehearsal dinner...
Oh, whatta night!
The next day, here we are with Mary (my Aunt Diane's daughter). You may recognize her from previous posts... since I have been oh, so chatty about her big N'awlins wedding! She was one of my junior bridesmaids, and I loved having her there as part of my day.
After this picture, we had the ceremony, a reception at the church, and then a second reception with dinner and dancing at The Embassy. After reception one, we all headed over to The Embassy! All were ready to have a good time. Aron and I rode over in a limo full of excitement and with a hairdo full of birdseed! (totally hate that I had people throwing seed at us, dumb decision)! Anyways, we get to the reception, get out of the car and my heel went through the back of my dress... ripping a hole the size of Texas in the back (okay, maybe not Texas, but at that time it felt like Texas)!
So, hole in dress, birdseed in hair, and new husband says all is fine and heads into the reception! Not a problem, we did have a ballroom full of guests so I encouraged him to go, and I stood outside the room feeling sorry about my dress and knowing that my parents had spent a pretty penny (not really a penny) on that dress and crying. My parents had yet to get to the reception (they were loading up things from the church) and I was left alone outside a BIG party! I was trying to fix my dress, but y'all, ya can't bustle your own wedding dress!
So, I am standing there, and my sweet Aunt Diane comes up.... she could obviously see that I was upset, and began asking questions...
She was all....What is wrong?
I was all.... sniffle sniffle... Everything is fine.
(she could tell I was full of lies!)
She was then...Your momma will be here soon.
What can I do to help you?
I showed her the dress and she immediately got on her knees and begins bustling my dress and fixing the fabric where no one would see the hole.
Just her soothing voice kind of made everything better for me.
I told her how much I loved and appreciated her help with my dress when my momma was not there. She said well, one day you will be able to help Mary with something on her wedding day or with her dress. (kinda prophetic... kind of said in a way like she might be late to the reception like my momma was a little late).
I loved that moment that I had with her, she really eased every anxiety I was experiencing at that moment.
I have held onto that moment for almost 11 years, and had been wanting to tell Mary that story ever since she announced the engagement. I just wanted to let her know I would be in the wings waiting in case she needed anything, any help, you named it I would get it done! It just never seemed like an appropriate time, because I would hate to bring up her mother and an experience I had with her at my wedding and I would have never wanted it to make her sad that she would not share that same thing at her wedding. (heavy stuff tens, heavy stuff)
Anyways, at the bridal luncheon, sitting with a few of the bridesmaids. We were talking about the speeches from the previous night and a few stories about Mary, and they were sharing how they wanted to help remember Aunt Diane during this time and just what a precious woman she was. I told them my story about how on my wedding day she just swooped in from no where and well now you know the story. I told them, well, maybe this is what my Aunt Diane was saying about helping Mary if she is needing help on her wedding... maybe I was supposed to just tell her friends to be there for her and help with whatever she needed or if she were to get a hole in her dress (not that I would want that to happen) or if the dress were to mess up in some way! They agreed they would of course be there for their friends and help (duh, they are the bridesmaids, but I felt better telling them that Mary's momma told me to)!
I left the luncheon feeling good. Thinking I told someone else to please be there for Mary, just like her mother was there for me.
Fast forward to the wedding day (it was beautiful).
Mary was a stunner...
There was one moment during the ceremony that we all took time to remember Aunt Diane and be reminded that she is watching over Mary and Kyle. It was an amazing moment to be sitting there thinking about her and Mary and Kyle and then the breeze just started blowing... it was like a Pocahontas moment when the wind was blowing through the trees and you could just feel her presence there.
I just had such a strong feeling that she was there
 |
| Mary and her BIG brother Bryan |
(I am sure that she is so proud of her two babies... y'all, they have grown up to be such wonderful people).
The wedding was amazing!
ummmm, hey! Just so you are aware... there were alligators in that water behind them! That's right friends, I was watching this amazing wedding, but out of the corner of my eye I was looking for gators!
When we walked into the reception, the music was playing (they were dancing their first dance... Lovely Day (I love that song) and the kids and I just loved standing watching she and Kyle dance (he is a fun dancer)!
During the dance with her daddy, my mother walked up behind me and said, someone needs to pin Mary's dress, someone is going to step on it and it will get messed up.
She walked by and stopped at my Aunt Lauren showed her something on the dress and asked her to fix it. She looked at it and I could tell she was looking for something on the dress....
so I got on my knees next to her, behind Mary and began searching the lace for the loop that goes on the button to bustle the dress. We found the loop, but it had ripped apart, and I then helped Aunt Lauren find the button to loop it to, and then we found some pins to hold the dress up with. We fixed the dress and she was on her way.
It was a strange feeling to be sitting on the floor behind Mary just like her mother was for me so many years ago. Even more strange that she told me I would need to do that for Mary on her day...
So thankful that I had that moment and she maybe pushed me to help in that moment. It reassured me that she was there, with Kyle and Mary on their day, at that moment, and that she was there pushing me to go and help Aunt Lauren who could not see in that dark room!!
It was a sweet sweet moment, such a "Lovely Day"
The rest of the evening was filled with dancing... so much dancing, with some of my most favorite music.... 90s rap with a lil bit of Michael Jackson!! I died and went to wedding reception heaven!
I will never forget watching my Moss wave her hand way up in the air dancing to Naughty By Nature and Snoop Dog!! I... DIE!
I must be honest, our trip home was the longest ever, I was in a vacay/wedding hangover all week long! Yesterday, I was finally feeling back to normal!
Can't wait to go back to New Orleans, so if any of the 10s reading know of a reason why we might need to come back... hit me up!
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