My Junior Mints: My Little Flower Girl

Didn’t you always want to be a flower girl when you were little? Trailing rose petals down the aisle ahead of the beautiful bride.

I am the girl who carries the flowers.

This is the dress I dreamed of for hours.

We’ve been preparing for Aunt Kari's wedding for some time. After a few fashion shenanigans leading up to finding the perfect flower girl dress, I finally decided that my sweet flower girl would wear a simple smocked flower girl dress. A smocked flower girl dress seemed simple enough . . no scratchy material or ribbons for an almost 2-year old to fuss with. She wasn't in love with the dress but I figured with a few dress rehearsals under our belt everything would be fine. I admit the dress rehearsals didn't go as well as I had hoped but Kariana seemed to like and was eager to wear her new ballet slippers that went with her dress. I had to pry the shoes away from her a few times because I was scared she would get them dirty before the big wedding day! We were half way there if the shoes met her approval, right?

We explained to Kariana (as much as you can explain to an almost 2-year old) that we were going to fly in an airplane with Grandma and Grandpa to Aunt Kari's wedding and that Kariana was going to wear her pretty dress and look just like Aunt Kari. We all "ohh'd" and "ahh'd" over Kariana's sweet smocked flower girl dress. We even coached Kariana to say Aunt Kari's name, which she pronounces as "Auntie Kari," in preparation for the big day.

Fast forward to the wedding day. Kariana wanted nothing to do with her sweet smocked flower girl dress. She screamed when it was time to put it on. Apparently, it was a little too overwhelming for an almost 2-year old to look just like the beautiful bride. This strategy totally backfired on me. I had sort of hoped (okay, maybe wishful thinking) that we could convince Kariana to walk down the aisle by herself, but how can you really explain to an almost 2-year old that she is going to walk quietly and slowly down the aisle behind the ring bearers (ages 5 and 8 who performed their duties stupendously) to the front of the church with a bunch of strangers staring at her. I quickly realized this was a tall order. Kariana is typically a very outgoing toddler, but I think all of the strange faces "ohh'ing and "ahh'ing" over her that weekend was also a bit too overwhelming. In the end, I decided it would be best if I carried my sweet unsuspecting flower girl down the aisle. Not exactly how I planned it, but nothing really goes "as planned" when dealing with a 2-year old. On the positive side, I guess my dream of being a flower girl finally came true.

Thanks to the beautiful bride and her charming husband for a wonderful wedding and weekend! Now, we have to work on how to say "Uncle Eddie"!