The pre-ceremony happenings

The week has flown by and with much idleness to tend to, I've not had time for blogging. The weather has taken a turn for the better and now the weekend is upon us with football and out of town visitors added to the mix. I've got to finish this quickly and go find nothing to do!

Lets get back to the wedding weekend...

Once we arrived at the plantation, it was time to get to work taking many photos. I don't enjoy taking photos when an official photographer is in the same place as me. It makes me very nervous because I'm always thinking he is thinking, "Put the camera away." That may not be true, but it's what's in my head. I don't want to have to get all serious with em and say, Uh uh. Anyway, I went to see Mollie in her beautiful dress and all the bridesmaids looking gorgeous as well, and then did a walk about looking for people to photograph. Melanie did the same and here's a compilation of the two sets of photos. 

The beautiful bride.

William arrived looking dapper.

Then it was time to go outside for photos. 

Beautiful! 

This is Mollie seeing Dale for the first time. 

And vice versa.

So sweet but I missed the actual kiss. Bummed. 

There are no more little girls in our family, only beautiful women. 

I asked for a silly photo. 

They obliged.

Olivia and William went on a walk about. 

Mom and bride. 

The bride's side. 

Pre-ready for the photo photo.

Dale was still not quite ready. 

Sibs all looking fab.

Once more. 

The cute ring bearer's turn with the bride. 

He seemed a little unsure. 

All of these are cute and therefore I didn't remove any. 

Back to the lovely ladies. 

Some (Carlie) didn't to commit to the silliness the second time around. 

This is as good a photo as I've ever taken. 

Love this one. 

These were too hard to choose which was my fave.

So I included all of them. 

And then it was back inside to cool off. 

Good looking father and son. 

William was hanging about. 

And doing it cutely. 

While enjoying...

The upstairs setting. 

Then he was averse to putting on his boutonniere.  

Then he was ok about it. 

Then he wasn't. 

Then he was.

Trying to stay cool before the ceremony, because it was a warm evening in Louisiana.  

Hmmm not too bad.

Looking good here.

It's the parade of married couples. 

Looking good cuz.

That's a good looking group of guys.

Plus one added to the lookers.

That's the pre-ceremony festivities in a nutshell. 

And now I'm off to do as little as possible.

The Sunday spent before the wedding

It was on Sunday morning, the day of the wedding, that we had our first Lucas sighting. His Gmaw had dropped him off at the hotel and we got some snuggle time in at breakfast. One of the fun things we do on a destination wedding weekend is meet in the lobby for breakfast. There we get to see the little munchkins first thing and grownup visit all at the same time. This day was no exception. Lets see if Lucas was happy to be there. 

Ummm not sure yet. 

Austin holding the nephew named James. 

Doubling up, not sure what James is thinking, but it doesn't look good. 

Then it was time to begin our day.

But not before a photo shoot with these two cuties. 

A group of us went to eat at Sammys for a brunchy lunchy type of meal.

Always keeping a record of who attended. 

William and I kept up our string of selfies.

Lucas looking happy to have joined the crowd. 

After our group lunch, we split up to do our own things since we didn't have to be at the wedding until 5:00. In our group were John, Olivia, Owen and I....and I had an agenda. Because it's a rare opportunity when I have John and Owen together with nothing to do and places to shop nearby....and I wasn't gonna squander it. So we searched out the nearest DSW and made a beeline for the place. Much to my surprise, once inside they were very interested in all the shoe choices, as if they'd never seen new shoes before. When it was over including the paying, I'm happy to announce John got one pair and Owen got two! It was a stunning turn of events, knowing that they both hate shopping. 

Look at the big boys with big boy shoe purchases.

After the shopping we decided to go back to the LSU campus and let the boys look around and we went by Mike the Tigers's home. He has quite the impressive place. However, I hate zoos or any zoo like compound. I hate seeing animals confined to such a tiny place. Having said that, getting a close up look at a tiger is quite impressive. Look at his tiger stripes on his head and the fact that all the symmetry is the same on both sides. He is a beautiful creature. Having said THAT....cats CANNOT be trusted under any circumstance. Here's why. Friday Emma and I were sitting in the den and I looked out the back door just in time to see our cat Milo leaping through the air with his aim being the hummingbird feeder in our view. The little turd caught the hummer sitting on the feeder and caused it to have such grievous injuries that he succumbed. What that means is Milo murdered....in cold blood...a beautiful humming bird. It's as if the feeder is his own personal Wendy's drive thru. Olivia went outside to scold him and with a short broom hit Milo after the event. It wasn't enough. We were all very mad and sad about it. John gave the poor little hummer a proper burial and when I saw Milo later, it was obvious he still cared not. 

Cats are turds. 

Beautiful but untrustworthy. 

Another view of tiger stadium.

After our afternoon spent around town, we hustled back to the hotel to get ready for the main event. Once again I tried to make hats work....

I finally nailed it. 

William tried to stay clean...a huge task for a little kid.

He nailed it as well. 

Olivia and Maggie equipped themselves with outside wedding eye coverage. 

Everyone nailed everything that afternoon. 

Enroute to the wedding was uneventful, but we may have missed a turn due to a detour that caused wedding attendees some problems. I really think that happened but I don't remember for sure. That was riveting information. 

It's 2:14 on a Monday afternoon and my work week is just about to begin. This job fits my lifestyle beautifully. If only the day ended at 4:00 instead of 5:30....and I had Fridays off. THEN it would be sublime. Oh I forgot. I'd enjoy four more times my current salary as well. THEN it would be perf. 

I'm gone like my wonderfully toned abs. 

That's the funniest thing I ever typed in my life.