Wedding Weekend!

My best friend Jana had her lovely wedding on Saturday.  She and her husband Tomáš asked us after they were engaged if we would be a part of the weekend with them and also if the children would be the ring bearer and flower girl.  We very happily said "yes!" and then enjoyed a wonderful celebratory weekend alongside them, their family, and friends.

The kids did a great job in the wedding.  We practiced at home together and both were confident they would be fine in the ceremony.  Of course I worried that one, or both, might back out of the job, or freak out in front of others, or simply refuse to walk down the aisle.  But they didn't.  Jakub walked with confidence when he was told to and then after delivering the rings to the wedding table at the front he came and stood with us in the wedding line (Czech tradition).  Then we watched as Sofia and 2 young bridesmaids behind her walked and dropped the rose petals.  Sofia was shy at first to look up and dropped only a couple of flowers and then the girls helped her and together they all went beautifully down the aisle.  Sofia then stood very still and patiently beside the girls as Jana and her father walked through the lines of guests to the front.  Jana was so beautiful and the weather outside was perfect and the mountains in the background were picturesque.  I think it all turned out just as she wanted.  Then the kids sat with us to watch the ceremony, which was followed then by lots of pictures together, a beautiful lunch, cake and coffee, play time, live music, dancing, and more food.  It was a long and wonderful, memory-making, day.

Hopefully there will be more pictures to come as I get some official ones from Jana someday.

Here are some things I don't want to forget about the wedding day:

- Sofia often entertained others with her random singing and dancing.  She LOVES to dance and twirl and she felt like a true princess in her flower girl dress and with flowers in her hair.

- Jakub wanted to watch Jana and Tomas do everything and stayed beside them a lot.  He watched patiently as they cut up the entire cake to serve everyone and then he passed out the cake plates to help them.  It was so helpful and sweet!

- We said over and over that we would get video of Jake and Sofia going down the aisle with Jana, and then we didn't because we were too wrapped up in the moment.  Which is just as it should be in the end.  It was beautiful to watch.

- I finally met Jana's mother and brother and both were so kind to us and talked with us a lot.  She has a sweet family, just like her.  I hope we'll get to spend more time together in the future.

- There were sheep in the field behind the pension and the kids went to feed them and watch them. They would follow Jakub around bleeting loudly, which scared Sofia a little. :)  He thought it was hilarious.  Sounded like a bunch of grown men yelling at him.  The guests thought it was entertaining as well.

- Jakub and Josh got to shoot a pellet gun at tissue flowers and targets alongside other guests.

- Everyone stood in a large circle and held hands while we watched them take their first dance. Later Sofia got to dance with both of them and she loved it!

It was a beautiful weekend!