Ellie the flower girl!

So Miss Ellie made her flower girl debut at Mandy's wedding this weekend.

Let me tell you, we were NOT sure how this was going to go. I mean come on, she's not even 2 yet. And you want her to walk down the aisle?

Thankfully Aunt Mandy was super-cool about everything. She didn't really care if she made it down the aisle. Or not. Or walked down the aisle and pulled her dress up over her head. No big deal either way.

Of course WE cared a little more. So both Ryan and I had a stash of white jelly beans. JUST in case.

The weekend started out with the rehearsal. Ellie did awesome walking down the aisle with the other flower girl, Maysie. 

Okay, but one thing I didn't prep myself for. Catholic wedding. Holy water.And we're not just talking a little fountain. NOPE. Kiddie pool sized. See it behind them in the pic? Oy. So yes, I spent most of the time trying to keep Ellie out of that. Keep this in mind for later.

So, after the rehearsal, we headed to a cute little restaurant for dinner. Dinner was AWESOME. And Ellie got cupcakes. And Uncle Ryan taught her to eat cupcakes frosting first. Greeeeeeat.

The next day, we got up and headed to IHOP for some breakfast. Mandy should be thankful that we cleaned up her strawberry pancake explosion.

Then it was time to get ready for the wedding. We had to be ready to go at noon for a 2pm wedding. Yup, right in the middle of nap time. This was going to be just a bundle of fun...

Ellie handled it like a champ though. Look how beautiful she looked

Sigh. Pretty girl. She was completely delirious, though, and the church had fun hallways and ramps so she was pretty much a wild woman running all over. And tackling her fellow flower girl. Oh, bean...

She did make Aunt Mandy's day though. She kept following around calling her "Pwincess". The first time she saw her was so cute. She was in awe of the pwincess.

Now, walking down the aisle. All was well, until about 5 minutes before she was set to go. She was getting a little rambunctious, so the ring bearer tried to "help" by showing her how to splash in the holy water pool. Oh. My. Goodness. Kiss. Of. Death. So of course she wanted to climb in. And splash. And make a mess. Of course, I had successfully kept her from this for hours and then 5 minues before THE WALK it all gets screwed up. So of course in protest, she starts running down the hallway. Oy. Aunt Janel was able to get her refocused though, and she walked down the aisle like a pro. 

We hung out in the back while the ceremony was going on. But both kids did great.

 After the ceremony and church pics, we went over to a local park for pics. Ellie-no-nap snoozed in the car...

 

Poor tired baby. Needless to say, she was not in a great mood for pics. Luckily, they didn't really need us, so we attempted to take a couple of our own. She was NOT cooperative. BUT, as luck would have it, we managed to get THE pic.

Love this one. It reminds me of Cinderella running from the ball. Perfect.

The reception was fun. E did not appreciate waiting for dinner. Shocker. But she did love to dance. And go up and down the huge staircase. But the best part of the night? Ellie asked Ryan to dance with her during the Bride/daddy dance. Ugh, yeah. Tears everywhere.

But then, more dancing shenanigans. Delirious flowergirls are super funny!

 All in all, a great wedding experience. Congrats again Mandy and Brian!