The Wedding

July 23rd was the long awaited wedding of the year. Jess walked herself down the isle (her dad couldn't make the long trip to England) in style after the cutest bridesmaids (guess who!) and Joel of course couldn't take his eyes off her!


Let's go back to the beginning of the wedding weekend story.... so Ben got back from the states Friday afternoon, we had dinner, gave the kids a bath and packed up the car ready to leave at around bedtime so the girls could get some sleep on our 3hour drive. Turns out the 3 hour drive was actually 4 due to traffic and also turns out that Alice didn't feel the need to sleep and kept her sisters awake with her! Finally at around 10.30pm when we arrived at our destination Alice decided to zonk out. Phew. I think she must have been excited for the wedding otherwise there is no excuse for still waking up at 6am and then waking up the other girls. Hmmmm.... at least we didn't have any trouble getting ready on time. We were staying with some family friends who looked after us so well. We were treated to Micky Mouse waffles for breakfast - no regular waffle iron will live up to that in the girls eyes. They were eager to put on their pretty bridesmaid dresses and shoes so we ended up being ready really early so just headed over to the chapel. Thankfully Alice fell asleep on the 5 minute journey and managed to get in a half hour nap before the wedding.

Here's some pics of the girls before the wedding:



The service was beautiful (I gave the opening prayer and managed not to cry, I always get emotional no matter who the bride is walking down the isle), gorgeous music, one fantastic (if a bit long) talk, didn't need the 2nd speaker since the first one did such a great job but he went on nonetheless! Ben had to take Alice out (not fun for a 1 year old), Eliza kept picking at her flowers and lying under the pew and Esther was a bit grumpy and was generally bored. I guess I should have taken them something to do but I hadn't anticipated it being soooooooo long!
After the service Joel and Jess had some pictures taken at a nearby National Trust property.

This is what happened in our car on the way to the photo's....

The poor girls we just exhausted. Luckily they woke up in time for some picture though they did NOT want to have any taken.

One of Alice and I before the wedding. After the service in the car I took my fascinator out and forgot to put it back in so I think this is it's only photo!
They had the reception at a 3rd venue. My Uncle and Aunt prepared the food so of course it was a feast of deliciousness. The best man's speech was funny, mum and dad managed to keep their remarks to a minimum (!) and Jessica's mum Loneta talked about how happy she was the her baby (her 15th baby!) had married Joel. These 2 are perfect for each other, truly. I loved getting to know Jess's mum, sister and niece and would love to see them again and I think Loneta felt happy seeing that Jess was going to be loved by not just Joel but his whole family now she is 1000's of miles from home.
After the reception was the 2 hour drive to the Preston Temple. Ben's parents (who came to the wedding) came to look after the children so Ben and I and Adam and Alexa could go into the Temple and see Joel and Jessica be sealed for time and all eternity. I'm so grateful to know that it isn't 'till death do you part' and that families will really be together after this life. There is special significance there for us too because Ben and I were sealed in the Preston Temple 8 years ago. This is one of my fav's of them at the Temple:


We waved them goodbye after a small trauma with the hotel. The hotel had messed up and didn't have a room for them so my dad politely told them that the hotel needed to sort out alternative accommodation at for them and quick and at no cost to Joel and Jess. Needless to say they ended up with a far nicer hotel than the one they'd booked in the first place!

Bedtime was crazy again - we stayed at the accommodation at the temple and nobody was alseep before 11pm, Esther was feeling sick and kept shaking. It was just lack of sleep and proper food I'm sure but she didn't get into a relaxed sleep till around 1am, I know because I laid on the top bunk with her! Then Eliza woke up at 4 with a bad dream or something, I think I'm going to have to check Ben's hearing because I had to sort her out too! Luckily Alice went back to sleep till 7 after having woken at 6am...By that point I decided we should just go to church and drive home instead of waiting till bedtime. I'm so glad we decided that. It was great to be with family and friends but it was great to get home too! Everyone was exhausted.

Congrats Joel and Jess!

Couldn't not put in this picture of the little miss, gotta love the cheeky tongue!