The Last Great Flora Wedding....

In case you've been living under a rock....

Over Memorial Day weekend my sister-in-law, Kate Emily Hurliman Nattier, got herself hitched! 

I'm related to her!  Isn't she BEEE-YOU-TEE-FUL???

Like most of us from Flora , she married another Flora-ite (all but ONE of our siblings/inlaws went to high school together!), a boy who graduated from FHS just two years ahead of her (hmmm....that story sounds familiar..... :)  Of course it was a huge event for our family, especially considering that our little Tanner Kay was one of the flower girls!  (Oh ya, and John did a reading, also very monumental :)  I continue to contend that being the Mother of a Flower Girl is a more stressful gig than the Mother of the Bride!  (at least on the day of! :)

For weeks I had been promising Tanner "curly hair" for the big event.  I had hoped Jane (our lifelong family beautician :) could come through on my promise - and BOY DID SHE!  I assumed Jane would pull Tanner's hair back, then throw some curls in those straight locks.  But no - she completely outdid my wildest imagination of what Tanner's "curly-do" could "do"! :) 

She sat with those HOT rollers on her head and never complained - NOT A PEEP!

The "Do" is DONE!  OMG!  The curls!

Nick & Tanner wait patiently to perform their duties.

Ooo La La!  Fancy Nancy!

She did such a good job!  We are so proud of her :)

Sidenote:  At the brunch on Sunday morning, people literally did not recognize her as the same girl without her head of curls.  She really did look SO different! :)

While Tanner performed her duties, her little sister was being pretty good, enjoying romping around the pew....and pooping mid-ceremony (I'm surprised Derek & Katie couldn't smell it at the altar!)

"Dear God, I'm sorry I pooped such a stinker."

This may actually be one of only two pictures we have of Ellery on Katie's wedding day!  And it definitely doesn't do her beautiful little outfit justice!   The only picture I've seen with her ginormous flower bow on her head is a quick one in the wedding video - and in that one she is screaming her sweet little skull off. 

Overall, Ellery was kindof a pill that afternoon/evening, an expected outcome of two days with minimal napping when you are 16 months old, I suppose (oh, and did I mention than she was sick even before we left Denver?  So ya, she was still sick.  Snot and tears abounded).  If I could've shot a pic when her Daddy was holding her (the ONLY person she wanted to hold her all day - and continues to be the only person she wants to hold her), maybe it would've been an OK shot.  But I doubt it.  She did, however, sit quietly and play in the pew during the ceremony, which was truly a blessing (and an answer to my prayers :)

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So why is this the Last Great Flora Wedding? 

First, I must say (for those of you who don't already know) that going to a Flora wedding is almost other-worldly, especially when both people are from Flora!  In essence, you are somehow connected to just about every person at the wedding!  It is a uniquely entertaining event.

Having said that....John and I have been anticipating Katie & Derek's wedding for quite some time!  We knew those two lovebirds would EVENTUALLY end up grown-up and married, and since we went through our "summers-of-friends'-weddings" a few years ago, we've been anxiously awaiting Katie & Derek's big day so we could celebrate, Flora-style - and it did NOT disappoint! 

I'm sure that we'll be invited back for other Flora weddings .... someday... I mean, Mychal (my sister, 17) and Trenton (my brother, 21) will maybe someday say vows in Flora, but we'll be nearly elderly by then (and frankly, they are my baby sibs and I'd rather not think about them being married! :)  So.... Katie's was the last big event in our foreseeable Flora wedding future.  For us, the Last Great Flora Wedding, in a looooooong line of great Flora weddings!

Now, on to baby showers.  Any takers, Katie-bubs? :):):)
Haha, just kidding.  I'm sure I'm not the first to ask.  :)