Little Sister's Wedding Day...Part 1

This past weekend, my little sister got married. It was a time of tears, laughter, and joy. I am the eldest of five children. This year has been a wild ride so far....we have had two births, two weddings, and two major trips scheduled this year.
Well, one of the trips occurred on New Year's Day. We drove 21 straight hours to San Antonio, Texas, to see my husband's family....no easy feat being 7 months pregnant with five small children in tow, but that's another blog...
My sister, Becca, had a baby 3 weeks ago and I had my 10 week old baby and, of course, we were blessed to be named co-matrons of honor. Did I mention we were both breastfeeding??
So, picture this scene....I mean do you know the challenges of trying to breastfeed an infant while strapped into a form-fitting-no-easy-access-stuffed-like-a-sausage-with-spandex-God-Bless-
This-Post-Partum-Body- bridesmaid's dress? My sister and I were quite...creative...with the feeding of our little ones, let me tell you!
But, I've gotten too far ahead...
We were to have our hair done at a salon at 9AM. Becca and I promise to juggle and switch babies while the other gets her hair done. So, I am taking care of our little girls and decide to go check out, Chris, my sister that is getting married. She sees me in the salon mirror and asks, "Why isn't your hair done??"
I tell her that I will check on it and of course, you know what happens...no appointment for me was scheduled. My sister is adamant that she scheduled me, but no hairdresser will help. I panic. Finally, I ask that someone...anyone....let me borrow a curling iron. Then, my baby starts screaming to be fed, perfect timing! So, Becca, who has had her hair done comes to my aid and I am breastfeeding while she is curling.
Well, by the time my other two daughters get their hair done, we are LATE! for the wedding. But, of course, we must stop at Walmart for sandwiches that were promised to the bridal party before the wedding. So, there is a near-hysterical bride who, one hour before her wedding is to begin, running...and I mean that...through the store juggling subs and pop in one of our dad's button-down tee shirts and her hair done with veil attached driving a cart like a mad-woman that would cause jealousy in an Indy driver. I mean, it was a site to behold and I was trying to help her as best I could, but I was NOT getting in her way! Did I mention that Becca is in the van now with two screaming newborns and my 7 and 9 year-old daughters.
Well, we get to the van and I open the back of the van. It is full of all the stuff we need for the wedding, so we start throwing all the Walmart stuff on top of that and I had forgotten how to collapse the stroller. My sister was not to be messed with at this point, so I just stuffed the stroller fully opened into the back of the van and we took off, only almost running over a few people. There was bloodthirst for anyone who dared get in Chris's way.
There is probably nothing more frightening than a bride late for her wedding with two sisters breastfeeding (yes, illegally, I know!) driving a WEE BIT over the speed limit to get to the church on time...which was 20 minutes away. GULP! I am just praying and breastfeeding and holding the "Oh, Crud!" bar conveniently placed at the roof near the passenger's door. My sister in the back has no such helper, but she is packed in with groceries, etc.
We tear into the church parking lot and Chris squeals the brakes, slams it into park. Of course, the other two bridesmaids are already there looking cool, calm, and fully dressed. That didn't help matters any.
We all three jump out of the van...all with our dad's button-down shirts on.
I swear...all the doors of the van opened and we literally EXPLODED out of every door. The stroller, pop, kids, us, groceries, subs, and wedding paraphernalia go falling to the ground and roll all over the place. There are the other two bridesmaids, Amanda and Dawn, frozen and staring at us. In fact, they had not moved since the Circus Van careened through the lot. Finally snapping out of their shock, they jumped in all at once to help stop the bleeding.
So, we shovel everything into the church and are throwing on clothes, dresses, makeup, finishing touches on hair...thank you Aunt Glenna (who is a hairdresser) for jumping in to help with "hair repair" for me! Husbands and groomsmen (who were calmly waiting for the food to arrive) are put into action...and we are finishing up just in time and literally running to the church door. The photographer is all about action shots with us at this point.
We finally get to the door and the bridesmaids are starting down the aisle, when I realize the worst....I have no Kleenex! I say this aloud and my dad runs to the bathroom to grab something. 10 seconds to aisle time for me...
9 seconds...
8...
I yelled to him, "It's too late, Dad! Forget it!'
But, he appears with a hand full of the brown rolled cardboard-looking paper and stuffs it into my hands....2 seconds....1 second....showtime!
I desperately attempt to stuff it down the front of my gown which is a strapless low, but not indecent bodice, but there was so much and it stuck out of the top and looked like a terrible wad in the center (try to imagine!-something like a third baby feeder), so I grabbed it back out and stuffed it into my bouquet. All this occurred with the entire church facing back and watching me and all the drama unfold.
Wonderful...
As I start down the aisle, I hear our baby girl start crying loudly...
Wonderful!
Here comes the bride....
Now, what to do with this wad of paper?
(To be continued....)