Anna & the M Kids – Part 7

[catlady]

36 minutes ago, umsami said:

You got your MC Hammer posse, definitely.  Who would do this?  Is the bride an older orphan girl leaving the convent or whatever to get married, and the poor other little orphan girls only had their first communion dresses to wear?  Is this some sort of fundy wedding where I can't afford a gift, but you can have my youngest daughter instead as your j-slave?  A kindergarten teacher at a girls kindy who invited all of her students to participate?  Maybe some bizarro purity ceremony for the young ones so they can be "pure" on their wedding day just like uber-Bride?

 

This thread reminded me that poor Jinger's buddies are loosing their Mom.  I guess there's always Jana.

I've seen this photo before (possibly here); I think they're bell-ringers.  they ring bells during the bride's processional or something like that.

but I laughed a little too hard at the bolded!

[flycat]

15 minutes ago, MatthewDuggar said:

 

Here's a nice alternative to flower girls - Grandmas!

http://www.purewow.com/entertainment/flower-girl-grandmas

Oh goodness, please do not give Michelle any ideas of how she can get more attention by being a flower girl.

[nickelodeon]

@umsami That's Meredith, with her 27 bellringers and her little sister in a mini wedding dress. Her reasoning was she wanted the little girls to be part of the wedding so that she could inspire them to be pure stay-at-home daughters who get courted by creepy dudes prowling for servile (e)mail-order brides, just like her.

Source: 

 

[OrchidBlossom]

1 hour ago, MatthewDuggar said:

Here's a nice alternative to flower girls - Grandmas!

http://www.purewow.com/entertainment/flower-girl-grandmas

That's adorbs, I am definitely pro-including grandmas. But I'm probably just going to cut the flower person tradition out of my wedding entirely. I have never understood why I would pay for the corpses of dead flowers to litter my wedding! I don't like rose petals on beds or whatever either... I have been told my feelings about it are not normal.

[Four is Enough]

I agree completely with the "no flowers on the floor" at the wedding. Basically I'd like to amend that to say, NO PINTEREST whatsoever! My nephew recently got married and his bride drove everyone completely batshit crazy with the Pinterest...   the family of the groom wound up cleaning up the church and the reception hall, after the bride, her family, and all the bridesmaids (Oh they'll do it ALL, I promise) decamped for an "after reception" party.... So we cleaned up the flower petals on the church floor, swept up the multicolored jimmies that were thrown at the couple outside, (it makes such a sweet rainbow of color in the pictures!) vaccuumed the church rug due to the jimmies, because it was cold outside and everyone went back inside the church, then at the reception, we cut the cake and served it, decorated the tables beforehand and then un-decorated them after, including the flowers in the glass jars with the clear glass rocks, the river rocks, and the swarovski crystals artfully strewn over every surface, (oh and could you separate them so we can use them for someone else's wedding?) did I mention the table covers, the table runners, and the effing CHAIR COVERS!!!  This is the kind of crap that costs too damn much money, that adds nothing to the occasion.

[patsymae]

14 hours ago, Fundie Bunny said:

Here the tradition is to have just kids on the wedding party. You have a girl and a boy, that will carry the rings and the coins (yes, that's a thing). Sometimes some other little kid that will throw flowers or something. No bridesmaids or anything else. I have been the little girl in several family weddings betweet the ages of 3 and 6 because i was the only little girl then

Are you in the Philippines?

[Fundie Bunny]

5 hours ago, patsymae said:

Are you in the Philippines?

Nope, i'm spanish, but it could be an heritage of the times it was part of spain

[JillyO]

10 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

I agree completely with the "no flowers on the floor" at the wedding. Basically I'd like to amend that to say, NO PINTEREST whatsoever! My nephew recently got married and his bride drove everyone completely batshit crazy with the Pinterest...   the family of the groom wound up cleaning up the church and the reception hall, after the bride, her family, and all the bridesmaids (Oh they'll do it ALL, I promise) decamped for an "after reception" party.... So we cleaned up the flower petals on the church floor, swept up the multicolored jimmies that were thrown at the couple outside, (it makes such a sweet rainbow of color in the pictures!) vaccuumed the church rug due to the jimmies, because it was cold outside and everyone went back inside the church, then at the reception, we cut the cake and served it, decorated the tables beforehand and then un-decorated them after, including the flowers in the glass jars with the clear glass rocks, the river rocks, and the swarovski crystals artfully strewn over every surface, (oh and could you separate them so we can use them for someone else's wedding?) did I mention the table covers, the table runners, and the effing CHAIR COVERS!!!  This is the kind of crap that costs too damn much money, that adds nothing to the occasion.

We definitely skipped the flowers (and flower girls) at our wedding. We had people blow bubbles instead. No mess to clean up, no little kids who may or may not do what they were supposed to do, and it came out beautifully in pictures. I can only recommend it.

That said, it sounds more like to people involved in your nephew's wedding were being assholes. Not sure Pinterest had anything to do with it. We did a couple of Pinterest-y projects which turned out beautifully and that definitely didn't mean we had guests clean up our crap, vacuum for us or anything like that. Basically, I did a few artsy projects before the wedding (together with my husband and my maid-of-honor) and so we had nice decorations. It was a good balance between DIY-ing stuff (things that were relatively easy to do and much cheaper than buying them outright) and buying decorations (stuff that's harder to make and/or where you need to buy a ton of stuff you'll never need again). We didn't do anything that would be a mess to clean up. That's just common sense. Some people have it, others don't. I don't think Pinterest is to blame for that.

[JesSky03]

20 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

I agree completely with the "no flowers on the floor" at the wedding. Basically I'd like to amend that to say, NO PINTEREST whatsoever! My nephew recently got married and his bride drove everyone completely batshit crazy with the Pinterest...   the family of the groom wound up cleaning up the church and the reception hall, after the bride, her family, and all the bridesmaids (Oh they'll do it ALL, I promise) decamped for an "after reception" party.... So we cleaned up the flower petals on the church floor, swept up the multicolored jimmies that were thrown at the couple outside, (it makes such a sweet rainbow of color in the pictures!) vaccuumed the church rug due to the jimmies, because it was cold outside and everyone went back inside the church, then at the reception, we cut the cake and served it, decorated the tables beforehand and then un-decorated them after, including the flowers in the glass jars with the clear glass rocks, the river rocks, and the swarovski crystals artfully strewn over every surface, (oh and could you separate them so we can use them for someone else's wedding?) did I mention the table covers, the table runners, and the effing CHAIR COVERS!!!  This is the kind of crap that costs too damn much money, that adds nothing to the occasion.

Sounds like they were just being jerks!

For my wedding I chose a venue that took care of everything for us. They provided all the decor from the backdrops, to tablecloths, chair covers, bows that went over the chair covers, centerpieces, food, drink, cake, Dj, and even invitations! It was so easy peasy. We had bottles of hot sauce as our table favors and the venue set them out for us too. No mess no fuss no one cleaning up for us. At the actual ceremony we handed out bubbles but didn't expect anyone to blow them at us as we left the church so we could get a pinterest perfect picture. 

[OrchidBlossom]

13 hours ago, JillyO said:

We definitely skipped the flowers (and flower girls) at our wedding. We had people blow bubbles instead. No mess to clean up, no little kids who may or may not do what they were supposed to do, and it came out beautifully in pictures. I can only recommend it.

 

That sounds beautiful! I had considered sprinkles (which I think someone mentioned upthread) but I thought it was too miuch mess. I like this much better.

[JillyO]

9 hours ago, OrchidBlossom said:

That sounds beautiful! I had considered sprinkles (which I think someone mentioned upthread) but I thought it was too miuch mess. I like this much better.

I know. I think sprinkles sound so nice, but the actual logistics were too daunting for me (they get REALLY messy when wet, for example, and I did not want to risk staining my dress). I'm happy to send you some pictures if you're curious about how the bubbles came out.

[OrchidBlossom]

4 minutes ago, JillyO said:

I know. I think sprinkles sound so nice, but the actual logistics were too daunting for me (they get REALLY messy when wet, for example, and I did not want to risk staining my dress). I'm happy to send you some pictures if you're curious about how the bubbles came out.

That would actually be super cool! Partner and I are not currently planning a wedding but I think it's just a matter of time so I've started getting into that phase where I enjoy casually looking at things and being like "oh yes I would love to have that at my wedding" (or "oh good lord no" like serving ice cream in a parking lot in November)

[Four is Enough]

The jimmies, or sprinkles, were an actual nightmare. People were digging them out of their clothing and hair all evening. Some did smear the bride's dress. They were ground into the sidewalk at the church, then they were all over the steps of the church, the rug in the vestibule, and the runner in the aisle. We cleaned that church the entire time pictures were being taken.

If this has helped anyone, it's worth us having gone through it, I suppose...

[AlysonRR]

We had birdseed thrown at us (it was just after they discovered that rice was bloating birds' stomachs to the point of death...) which was fine

EXCEPT

When I got to the hotel room to change, and hubby, ahem, helped me remove my cleavage-revealing (not untasteful, I just have big boobs) dress then the strapless corset-like thing that held in my boobs, about 2 pounds of birdseed showered to the ground. It was a very funny moment :-)

[EmCatlyn]

9 hours ago, JillyO said:

I know. I think sprinkles sound so nice, but the actual logistics were too daunting for me (they get REALLY messy when wet, for example, and I did not want to risk staining my dress). I'm happy to send you some pictures if you're curious about how the bubbles came out.

One warning about bubbles is that the church may have a rule against them (soap leaves sticky residue) as well as rules against sprinkles and confetti.  When I got married a few years ago the (Episcopal) church we attend gave us alist of things that we couldn't do, and soap bubbles were on the list of no-nos. --along with "grain " confetti, candies, etc.    Flower petals or tissue imitating flower petals were allowed but there would be an additional cleaning fee.

(None of this applied to us as with a second wedding of two "mature" people we had no attendants or much of a procession. But I found the list of forbidden stuff interesting.)

Otherwise, I like the idea of bubbles a lot, and if my daughter ever gets around to getting married, I will definitely encourage it.  

Another thing I have seen that works well at weddings is wands with ribbons that the guests (or in some cases the attendants) wave during the procession and recession.  You can get some really colorful effects with these.  And they are not messy, therefore not forbidden.

 

 

[OrchidBlossom]

3 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

The jimmies, or sprinkles, were an actual nightmare. People were digging them out of their clothing and hair all evening. Some did smear the bride's dress. They were ground into the sidewalk at the church, then they were all over the steps of the church, the rug in the vestibule, and the runner in the aisle. We cleaned that church the entire time pictures were being taken.

If this has helped anyone, it's worth us having gone through it, I suppose...

Yes, your experience and input will help at least one person! Because I don't really feel like a dress disaster.

 

28 minutes ago, EmCatlyn said:

One warning about bubbles is that the church may have a rule against them (soap leaves sticky residue) as well as rules against sprinkles and confetti.    

Another thing I have seen that works well at weddings is wands with ribbons that the guests (or in some cases the attendants) wave during the procession and recession.  You can get some really colorful effects with these.  And they are not messy, therefore not forbidden.

Ribbons sound cute! But also as someone who definitely won't be getting married in a religious institution and has always wanted an outdoor wedding, I also have an advantage there for the bubbles. I would never have even thought about the soap residue or even really thought of a venue banning items though, so if I were wanting an indoor ceremony I could see myself not thinking to ask and finding myself in for an unpleasant surprise!

 

@AlysonRR That does sound quite funny. I have very large boobs as well so yet another cautionary tale against throwing things that will get stuck places I don't want those things!

[Audrey2]

On 7/11/2016 at 1:06 PM, mango_fandango said:

Jenni was a flower girl at the Josh-Anna wedding, and she was a year old at the time. Meredith isn't quite a year old, not till next week, but the family could easily bust out that wagon again. Of course, at the time of the Josh/Anna wedding there were no grandkids. Johannah is Jinger's buddy, I think, so she could be a junior bridesmaid. I don't know if Jinger will do a Jill and include all the little Duggar girls in the wedding or not. Jeremy has a fairly small family, right? No little sisters. So Jenni, Jordyn and Josie could all be flower girls, with Mack, and maybe Jackson will pull along a cart with Meredith, Izzy and Spud in it. From what we've seen fundies tend to parade the babies at a wedding. Mikey was in a cart at the David/Priscilla wedding, Jenny was in one at the Josh/Anna one, and Bradley Bates was a 'ringbearer' at Michaella's wedding when he wasn't even one. Obviously we don't know for sure, but Meredith could be involved.

You have to parade all of the little folks at a Fundy wedding to remind the couple that's getting married what the expectations are. They must have a kid to add to the parade ASAP, then continue their own parade building.

[Bethella]

On 7/15/2016 at 1:18 PM, OrchidBlossom said:

I would never have even thought about the soap residue

The nursery/playroom at my church has bubbles for the kids to play with. When they scrub the carpet in there, they use plain water because the residue provides enough soap. 

[Kaylo]

On 7/11/2016 at 7:49 PM, RosyDaisy said:

I didn't have flower girls or ring bearers at my wedding just to avoid screaming, howling kids. The last thing I needed was a vertigo attack at the alter.

I just have to say, my 2 year old nephew was the ring bearer at my full Catholic wedding mass. He stood next to the priest as his right hand man, handed him the host for communion, marched back and forth in front of the altar. But the kicker was when I was kneeling at the altar. He climbed up the train of my dress and bit me in the butt.

I loved it.

Afterward the priest said, "when children are full of joy and running around like that, that is when you see God." I loved that too.

Edit: auto correct spelled altar wrong. That won't do.

 

[habert]

Uhm...did any Duggar social media wish Meredith a first birthday, or nah?

[VelociRapture]

On July 17, 2016 at 1:45 AM, Kaylo said:

I just have to say, my 2 year old nephew was the ring bearer at my full Catholic wedding mass. He stood next to the priest as his right hand man, handed him the host for communion, marched back and forth in front of the altar. But the kicker was when I was kneeling at the altar. He climbed up the train of my dress and bit me in the butt.

I loved it.

Afterward the priest said, "when children are full of joy and running around like that, that is when you see God." I loved that too.

Edit: auto correct spelled altar wrong. That won't do.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feel like if you have kids involved with your wedding (either as guests or in the wedding party)  then you need to have a really good sense of humor. Kids are seriously unpredictable and are big spotlight stealers - which is the exact reason we invited some to our wedding. We have the best pictures of my three year-old cousin dancing at our reception - they're some of my favorite pictures.

We didn't have any kids in our wedding party because our ceremony was pretty short. It didn't make sense to us to have parents buy a new outfit for such a short period of time. If our nephew had been born by then (instead of having another trimester to gestate) we likely would have included him somehow because we adore him and he's so stinking adorable.

(And the Priest who married you sounds as adorable as your nephew. They must have made the best team!)

4 hours ago, habert said:

Uhm...did any Duggar social media wish Meredith a first birthday, or nah?

Not on Instagram (I just checked). Jill posted a screenshot of her and Israel facetiming the M kids though. She said they spoke today, so I'm guessing she wished her a happy birthday then and just didn't mention it for some reason - maybe because Anna and Josh are still keeping quiet on social media or something.

They don't even wish all their siblings a happy birthday publicly - so it doesn't seem that odd to me. As long as they remember to call or FaceTime or text it's cool.

[OrchidBlossom]

On 7/17/2016 at 1:45 AM, Kaylo said:

I just have to say, my 2 year old nephew was the ring bearer at my full Catholic wedding mass. He stood next to the priest as his right hand man, handed him the host for communion, marched back and forth in front of the altar. But the kicker was when I was kneeling at the altar. He climbed up the train of my dress and bit me in the butt.

I loved it.

Afterward the priest said, "when children are full of joy and running around like that, that is when you see God." I loved that too.

Edit: auto correct spelled altar wrong. That won't do.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Everyone in my family (my family is also Catholic) has had weddings where very young children were involved. I think it is absolutely wonderful if that is the sort of thing you like. As a child I was the little rapscallion who caused trouble at my family weddings! 

Personally though, I hate dealing with small children. It's just not in my nature. My partner and I will likely have an adults only wedding. But I think the important thing is that people have the ceremony they want! Butt-biting or lack thereof, weddings are about the people getting married. Your wedding sounds like it was exactly what you wanted, and that is excellent in my book!

I once attended a wedding where the flower girl, who I think was about 4, got a little overexcited and at every pause in the officiant's speech (is that what it is called?) she proudly shouted "I do!" I thought that was pretty cute.

[twinmama]

On 7/11/2016 at 5:11 PM, OrchidBlossom said:

The whole 'Babies on Parade' aesthetic at fundie weddings has always driven me nuts. I don't like kids to begin with, though,

My husband has a Catholic cousin who seemingly is a nutso fundie (4 kids and no sign of stopping) and at her 90 minute Catholic wedding, she had multiple pregnant bridesmaids carrying infants down the aisle. Nothing like carrying your 7 month old on your 6 month pregnant belly DURING a wedding ceremony. The whole thing was ridiculous.

On 7/11/2016 at 6:49 PM, RosyDaisy said:

I didn't have flower girls or ring bearers at my wedding just to avoid screaming, howling kids. The last thing I needed was a vertigo attack at the alter.

If you did want kids at your wedding, but not the possibility of a total meltdown you just need kids with smart parents. My boys were ring bearers in both of their uncles weddings when they were 2.5 and 3. The entirety of their participation was walking down the aisle holding their aunt's hands, then me ushering them out of the ceremony to the hall to play while my BIL got married; and then walking down the aisle with me, then heading off to the baby room of the church to play with my husband while I was a bridesmaid in my brother's wedding. They were in the wedding location for all of 3 minutes each time and I had relatives poised to grab them from the aisle and run if they didn't cooperate  Also, pics of tiny kids in rental tuxes are ADORABLE.

But yeah, I didn't have any nieces or nephews when I got married so no kids in the party. My one cousin brought her 1 year old, but his dad took him to the edge of the property during the ceremony just in case he cried.

[Casserole]

1 hour ago, twinmama said:

My husband has a Catholic cousin who seemingly is a nutso fundie (4 kids and no sign of stopping) and at her 90 minute Catholic wedding, she had multiple pregnant bridesmaids carrying infants down the aisle. Nothing like carrying your 7 month old on your 6 month pregnant belly DURING a wedding ceremony. The whole thing was ridiculous.

If you did want kids at your wedding, but not the possibility of a total meltdown you just need kids with smart parents. My boys were ring bearers in both of their uncles weddings when they were 2.5 and 3. The entirety of their participation was walking down the aisle holding their aunt's hands, then me ushering them out of the ceremony to the hall to play while my BIL got married; and then walking down the aisle with me, then heading off to the baby room of the church to play with my husband while I was a bridesmaid in my brother's wedding. They were in the wedding location for all of 3 minutes each time and I had relatives poised to grab them from the aisle and run if they didn't cooperate  Also, pics of tiny kids in rental tuxes are ADORABLE.

But yeah, I didn't have any nieces or nephews when I got married so no kids in the party. My one cousin brought her 1 year old, but his dad took him to the edge of the property during the ceremony just in case he cried.

Similar to this - my godson was in a wedding at 2.5 years. I drove to the wedding with my cousin and godson, sat through the ceremony, strolled him to and from pictures, and then drove godson home for dinner, bath, jammies, and a sleepover with Aunt Casserole. His parents were able to drink and be a little irresponsible by not having to worry about him the whole night. Win-win. 

Also when I was a nanny to a family with 3 little kiddos, they got an extra hotel room for me - kids made their "big entrance" with the bridal party at the reception and then came upstairs to me, pizza, and a movie. I was also paid by two other families who dropped their children off in the room for babysitting just during the reception and picked them up at the end of the reception.

There's ways to make it work without kids causing disruptions OR causing their parents to not be able to enjoy themselves at your wedding while everyone is dancing and having fun and they're wrangling an over-tired toddler, if it's what you want 

[Jana814]

A family friend's daughter is getting married in October.  Her sister has twins (boy & girl). The girl will probably be a flower girl but the boy is disabled so I'm not sure what he will do.