The fact that it’s taken me this long to do this post is proof that the past three (or four??) weeks has been a total whirlwind and completely exhausting. I can officially say that I’ve never been that tired for that many consecutive days. To anyone who saw me/talked to me, I apologize for my “zoombieness” state of mind. I also apologize if you ever saw me totally rocking out in my car. If you saw that, then it meant that Ellie was in the back of my car and we were singing and dancing our little hearts out to Club Can’t Handle Me or Dynamite. That girl loves those songs like no other :-)
Anyway, I’m still recovering from everything and I’m back to trying to get caught up on the editing I didn’t get done before the holidays :-)
Babies…..check
Christmas….check
Wedding…check
Done, done and done! Now it’s time r e l a x ha, ha, ha (it’s funny because that’s not gonna happen) and answer a few hundred emails that have gone unanswered for a week or two because I literally had zero time to sit down and really work :-)
Where to even being with the wedding. First off, we are so happy for Caroline & Jared and we are so excited to now have Jared officially be a part of our family. Even though he’s been around so long and spent so much time hanging out with all of us, it’s nice to know it’s official. Jared, welcome to the world of matching Christmas P.J.’s, dishwashers packed with 50 different types of Sippy cups (annoys the crap out of my dad), vacations with 28 other people and the constant pressure to produce offspring. Enjoy :-)
Caroline was GORGEOUS!!!! The girl is absolutely striking with no make-up, so imagine how beautiful she was when she was all dolled up and in her fancy dress :-) Add in her cute little freckles and her sparkly brown eyes and the whole thing was just adorable . She had quite the handsome groom :-) All the nieces in our family adore Jared, so we wanted to get a picture with all his “other girlfriends” while they were all dressed up. But of course we forgot to get that picture along with a few others. Typical :-)
Anyway…. HUGE, HUGE, HUGE kudos goes out to my parents for making one of thee most gorgeous, generous and meaningful receptions I’ve ever seen. My parents should write a book on how to do weddings :-) Even though there were way more people there than what was invited, it all still worked out. People don’t understand the whole wedding etiquette thing until they’re the one’s paying for it :-) The work that our family put into this wedding was huge. There was no slacking whatsoever…….. Words can’t describe how awesome it is to be a part of a family that’s so close to each other, understands each other and will work so hard to make something so special for the people we love. I’m not talking about special as in the amount of alcohol we provide, but special as in the details. The details that take work and thought and heartfelt effort. It’s those details that made Caroline & Jared feel so loved at their wedding, it wasn’t the drunk people falling all over them and yelling at them. Although we do love to drink while enjoying our weddings, we realize that alcohol should not be the center of a wedding. We don’t mind if people are intoxicated, but we do mind if obnoxious and inappropriate people get intoxicated.
I will say that we had a little bit of a different crowd with this wedding than what we’ve had with other weddings. It was a younger crowd, so we all joked that this would have been a good wedding to do a cash bar at….we definitely wouldn’t have had to deal with some of the stuff that we had to deal with it….such as one drunk lady trying to steal alcohol via her pants, which was just weird. People talking during my dad’s speech (which made me very angry) and then I guess we also had some kids trying to cause a scene because they weren’t allowed to drink since they were underage. I didn’t understand it. If you aren’t paying for it and the people who are paying for the event don’t want you underage drinking, get over it and drink when you’re 21. I don’t think I would have EVER dreamed of acting that way at a wedding or any sort of event…especially if someone else was paying for it …I would be embarrassed. The strange thing is that they all got away with acting that way while in the presence of their parents.
So other than a few hiccups, the night was amazing and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We enjoyed visiting with friends who took time out of their holidays to come and celebrate with us, we enjoyed watching our nieces & nephews be adorable as always, we enjoyed the food, we enjoyed the dancing and we really enjoyed the New Year’s Eve portion of the reception.
BIG THANK YOU’s go out to everyone who helped us get ready for the wedding that whole week before and those who helped us out on the big day. The Brawners hosted a beautiful and yummy rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. Jeanne worked really hard all day getting the Kirksville Art Council building ready and it turned out great! The Powell’s, what would we ever do without you guys?!??! Anytime we need anything…the Powell’s are there :-) Does NOT matter what it is. If we’re picking up trash and need help…the Powell’s are first in line. Leah Vincent- Poor Leah had the task of pretty much being our coordinator on the day of the wedding. I saw the list of “don’t forget” things my mom gave her and it was huge…and intimidating….but Leah did it :-) The Fowlers- thanks again for being such awesome/fun bar tenders and always doing what we ask. We REALLY appreciate that :-) The Clarks for providing the MOST BEAUTIFUL (as always) music at the ceremony. That family is so unbelievably talented and gives me goose bumps every time. Go to Midnight Mass in Edina and they’ll knock your socks off :-) and I know the list goes on and on, but just want to let everyone know that we really do appreciate all the help :-)
I only had my camera for a bit on the day of the wedding and then back into my camera bag in went for the rest of the day :-( Looking back, I so wish I would have brought it with me, but oh well!! I’m SUPER excited to see all the pictures that our photographer (now turned family friend) Jennifer caught of the day. No pressure Jennifer :-) Since I didn’t have many pictures, I stole some from my siblings.
I thought the head table was very romantic :-)
Candy table
Apparently these GIANT suckers were a huge hit :-)
one of the many food tables that had over 20 different SUPER delicious apptizers (presented in the cutest ways) on it
Their “wishing tree” :-)
This is the awesome chalk board wall that Caroline’s brother and brother-in-laws built her :-) There was a desk at Newman that they didn’t want us to move….so they decided to build a wall around it to hide it, paint it with chalk board paint and let the kiddos go to town on it during the reception. They went to home depot, went and got some beer, went to the garage and even went the extra mile to get the chalk board paint tinted a cranberry red to surprise their mother-in-law :-) Apparently Ali went by the house at one point when they were making it and she said she saw them all standing in the garage, with their beers and as she walked closer….they were all just smiling at her as the garage door lowerd before she could get
to them. We thought it because they were doing the whole “no girls allowed, leave us alone” thing, but really it was so we didn’t see the red paint and ruin the surprise for my mom.
Ignore the hack job I did in photoshop to this panoramic. I seriously did it in like 2 minutes. You get the idea :-)
Someone got a kiss from the bride! She couldn’t resist his cheeks :-)
ignore the pack & play in the background. We have a house full of babies, the pack & plays are everywhere!
My mom got her the sweetest pearl bracelet that had a picture of her when she was little in the clasp. It made her cry, success! :-)
All the little ring beares are so going to kill us when they get older…..but OH MY GOODNESS…..SOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it!!! Love it :-) How much fun is it for Caroline & Jared to be able to look back and see that all their nieces & nephews were their ring bearers and flower girls. So sweet!
P.S.- no, not one of them kept their hats on.
Caroline had a mullet when she was little, ha!
Jared & Caroline Brawner :-)
Hands down, the absolute most amazing people I know! They should also write books on marriage and raising babies….or maybe they should just host workshops :-)
I don’t think our Father/Daughter dances will ever be the same since we added in grandchildren….and I’m okay with that :-)
Quite possibly one of my favorite pictures ever! Kudos to Ali :-)
The kiddos were dropping like flies :-)
So much fun!!!! I can’t believe we made it through all 3 big events. Time really does fly by :-(
I’m sure I’ll have more pictures as they start filtering in from people, but so far….a lot of us never had time to go get our cameras.
***************************************************
Now I have some sneak peeks! This group has been waiting since Sunday……and they’re family….so that shows you how quickly I’m moving these days :-) Bill is my mom’s brother and he is ornery. My mom’s brothers used to tease me (I saw it as torture) when i was little and apparently I gave it right back to Bill when I was little. There may or may not be a story about me saying something along the lines of “what’s it to ya buttface!” when he asked me how I was doing one day when I was five years old. I may or may not have been a sassy kid. I may or may not be totally afraid to have children because I know God has big plans of getting me back. I may or may not be planning on marrying a very nice man, who was a good kid when he was little, to counteract my sassy pants. AND BEFORE ANY OF YOU GET ANY IDEAS, no I’m NOT announcing that I’m getting married. I’m just saying that the whole “find a guy who was a good kid” is part of my plan :-)
Back to the Killdays- sorry about the tangent. Oh how I love my Killday side of the family :-) They’re just fun….all the time. The particular group of Killday’s are so amazing that they managed to pull of a anniversary/birthday party the afternoon after our New Year’s Eve wedding extravaganza. I personally felt like my body had been hit by a truck and I could barely function the next day. I functioned enough to make it back to Edina the next morning to do their pictures, but my hair was still fancy from the night before, I had on zero make-up and I was running on fumes :-) Not this group though. Dressed, cute, chipper and ready for pictures and to host some parties :-)
This afternoon I got to meet Baby Hudson. Hudson is weighing in at over 9lbs and was quite a bit heavier than the babies I’ve gotten used to hodling over the past few weeks :-) Oh good Lord he was too sweet!!! He was awake for most of his session, but surprisingly did just about everything we tried out. Even his big brother, Sullivan got in on the picture taking action. He seriously knows how to work his moms DSLR, how funny is that?! I think they’re going to have to delete the pictures he took, because he was at a not so pretty angle while we were taking some naked bum pictures of Hudson :-) P.S.- Please notice his little “super hero cape” creatively fashioned out of one of Hudson’s baby blankets. Love little things like that!
I love this face in this one….and his little piggy toe sticking out :-)
Sooooooooooooooooooo…..guess what?!?!
I’m in St. Louis :-) You would not believe what my mail looked like, it was a monster! It was fun seeing all the Christmas cards though. I also learned that my neighbor across the hall moved and someone else is moving in. Oh the things that happen when you’re gone for 3 weeks :-)
I drove back this morning to do that shoot in Columbia and then I have 3 this Saturday, then it’s back to Kirksville on Sunday afternoon. NO- I’m not taking any more shoots while I’m back in St. Louis. Remember, I’m on my “vacation” month :-) I’m only taking pictures that have to be taken in a certain time frame, e.g.- newborn, 3 month, 6 month & 9 month. This month, I’m also taking a few other shoots that were previously scheduled, but other than that…..I’m off!!! But if you’re interested in pictures anytime January, I’m available :-)
As for tomorrow…..SOLID WORK DAY!!!!! Nothing else but work (and working out…I’ve got to get back into that). If you’ve emailed me about pictures and I haven’t emailed you back, it’s because I’m trying to finish them and I want to email you back with a link. It’s coming :-)
Kristina says
What a wonderful surprise as I’m up feeding Hudson!! They are beautiful!! Sullivan was still wondering where you were at bath time!! :)
Barb says
Lissy,
You promised not to mention that I was trying to sneak the beer out. Dang it!
The wedding was awesome! Midnight Mass at Edina is a favorite of mine and it was almost like doing it twice with the music! Caroline looked exquisite! (I don’t get to use that word a lot). And darn those under-21’s! I wouldn’t let my child do that…hmmmm.
Family pics are good. You actually got ole “buttface” to smile. I’ve been trying for 40 years.
Mom says
Barb, you can ALWAYS make me laugh!!!
Allison T. says
So good finally seeing you today!!! Thanks for all the laughs at lunch :) See you in two weeks for the photography class and maternity shoot!
Leah says
That was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to! I can’t believe all the ideas your Mom came up with to make their day so special….amazing! It is disappointing the poor judgement some will use but even with the few that were out of line anytime anyone is around your family they can see how awesome you all are, the support and “do anything for each other” attitudes and feel the love that you have for one another…I think there is a running list of everyone who wants to be adopted. :) Congratulations on a beautiful wedding and I loved having a small part of it.
Sara S. says
What a wonderful way to top off such an eventful few weeks! A beautiful wedding with such sentimental little details! I agree – big kudos go to Mom and Dad for the unbelievable amount of effort they put into each wedding…most people will never be able to understand having 8 children and trying to make sure each wedding is special and unique to those children! I also agree with Autumn! This is exactly how I would have wanted my wedding to be if I had gotten married at Christmas! It was a wonderful cross between St. Joe Midnight Mass, an exciting New Year’s Eve bash and a heartfelt wedding! Caroline and Jared were beaming! I also love the picture of my little man Brady in his outfit – he looks like a Newsie! Remember the movie? :) I also enjoyed getting to see Bill and Dorothy’s family and it looks like they had a wonderful party. I wish we could have been there! As for Hudson – Holy Smokes! What a doll and his little chubby hand and the blue sweater…my heart melts!
Kathy says
Melt my heart! Wedding was perfectly planned & executed; reception was fun and I loved it all! Thanks so much for allowing us to be a part of all the festivities and sharing in Caroline & Jared’s beautiful day!
Caroline says
That was the best wedding and wedding rehearsal I have EVER been to!! I loved every itty bitty detail. Mom and Dad AMAZE me every day. I don’t understand how they just keep going and going and going and smiling… Who knew I could answer all of mom’s questions about the wedding with “I don’t know. What do you think?” and it would turn out to be that awesome?? You guys are the best :) A BIG Thank you to everyone who helped out with the wedding! You all know who you are and Jared and I are VERY grateful!!
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