Here Comes the Flower Girl

What a whirlwind weekend! We were in Cleveland for Sean’s cousin’s wedding and Rebecca was the flower girl. We were a bit skeptical about her actually making it down the aisle because she hasn’t wanted people looking at her in any of her activities. (For instance, at her ballet recital she asked us to just “glance” at her. And when she caught us gazing she stomped her foot and mouthed, “Glance!”)

So we were prepared to have to bribe her to get her to walk down the aisle. M&Ms worked well when Michael and Amy were in a wedding. But Rebecca absolutely didn’t need any prompting after she got into the flower girl groove.

It started Saturday morning when she went to the salon to have her hair done with the other bridesmaids. I didn’t think the hair stylist could do anything with Rebecca’s baby-fine hair. I was wrong. It is amazing what a red-hot curling iron, 75 bobby pins and 100 ounces of hair spray can do. In just 30 minutes the stylist had given Rebecca a head full of ringlets cascading from a teeny tiny pony tail on the top of her head. She finished Rebecca off with a spray of silver glitter, which is still attached to her scalp despite several baths and a dip in the pool.

She got all dolled up and then she put the dress on. It’s like you could see her transformed right before our eyes. And suddenly the day wasn’t about Meghan’s wedding; it was all about the Flower Girl.

No bribery was needed to get that chick down the aisle. And she didn’t seem to mind everyone looking at her. She gingerly dropped the rose petals on the runner and walked just as slowly as she’d been coached to do. She walked right down to Sean on the third pew and slid in just as she was told. And she sat like a lady for the entire ceremony.

The “it’s all about me” attitude continued through the reception, where she couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t let her keep asking Prince Eric (that what she called the groom) to dance with her. After Meghan threw the bouquet, (which Rebecca caught) Eric and Meghan both asked Rebecca to dance and you could just tell she was in heaven. Sean and I both were so thankful to both bride and groom; they were extremely patient with the flower girl. If Eric’s that patient with Rebecca, a complete stranger, I just be he’ll be a fabulous father.

The evening lasted into the night and by 10:30 we had to call it quits. Rebecca and Amy both had danced the night away, sometime with people we knew, sometimes not. We had all had a great time.

When we got back to the hotel room Rebecca didn’t want to take off the dress, and she surely didn’t want to brush out her hair. Both had to happen of course, but we took several more pictures so she could remember her special night.

We certainly wish Meghan and Eric much happiness – and certainly hope they look back on their special day with as much fondness as we will.