From sleigh bells to wedding bells!

Sure, you may remember me posting over Thanksgiving week about my older sister, Betsy, shopping for her wedding dress (she’s getting married in August):

  

Well, my younger sister, Mary, got engaged on New Year’s Eve (if you know me, its no shock that I’m a middle child)! Wahoo! Mary has been with her adorable man for over 8 years (they started dating the same week that Jonathan and I did…and we’re about to celebrate our 6th anniversary!) and we could not be more thrilled that they’re finally taking the plunge. They’re big day is scheduled for January 14, 2012 here in Dallas (Betsy’s is in Atlanta). Since she lives in Chicago, she and Matt made a trip down here to celebrate the engagement and find a reception site (the Four Seasons). She also decided to go dress shopping and once again Lulu’s Bridal Boutique was our one-stop shop! Love that place!

  

She was the most efficient dress shopper I’ve ever seen (Betsy wasn’t bad either, though!). Quickly, it was narrowed down to two. My opinion was: “well, this one is going to have people saying ‘wow! look at Mary’s dress!’ and the other one is going to have them saying ‘wow! look at Mary!’”. They were totally different designs. Needless to say, she picked the “Look at Mary’s dress” one and its beautiful! Plus, she thinks it makes her non-boobs look way bigger…Betsy and I always told her we thought she was adopted!

  

Since its a Winter wedding, the white feathers mixed in with lace and beaded roses will just be stunning. Both ladies picked pretty dramatic dresses and I love living vicariously through them now that I’m an old married mother. It’s FABULOUS! Having both of their weddings happening at the same time offers double the reminder of just how long ago that time was for me. Imagine how much all of your lives have changed since your engagement day and wedding planning days! Shocked? I know!!!

Imagine my incredible shock when I heard (and you can always hear here before you see her and I love that!) a dear friend of mine step into the tiny boutique with her beautiful daughter! I couldn’t believe it! Linda is one of the closest friends I have from my Carrollton Elementary days and I have truly enjoyed chatting with her for hours about wedding planning now that her only daughter, Ashley, is engaged to be married in September.

No only did I get to help Mary choose a gown, Ashley asked for my opinion on her’s, too! And you know I made them meet up in the hall for a double bride pic for the blog….:) (though that wasn’t one of Ashley’s favorite dresses and Mary had also just tried that one on!)

 

Since Betsy didn’t actually buy her gown from Lulu’s until the day after we shopped together, Mary and I didn’t get to see the bubbles. My mom and Lisa, who helped both sisters choose their gowns, couldn’t wait for us come to the front with our bride. They turn on this hideously hilarious bubble machine and simulanteously play (way louder than necessary) “Here Comes the Bride” so the whole house can hear! My mom had mentioned Betsy’s bawling when she bought her dress and the two of us just figured…typical Betsy. We obviously didn’t understand the power of the bubbles. Everyone in that damn place was crying (Linda and Ashley, too) and Mary was bawling. It was great! the first two pics are before they started the music…

Her Matron of Honor, Sarah, came with us. My Aunt Martha did, too!)

This is when she lost it…adorable…

As I said, its been so much fun planning the weddings and brings me such joy to know what wonderful places both of my sisters are at in their own lives. They’ve both been through hard times and never seemed to have it as “easy” as me growing up. It wasn’t much surprise that I got married first, and since I’ve always done so many things in my life by the book, fate always knew I’d have a child not too far behind taking those vows :). It’s so nice being able to see them both in loving and comfortable times in their lives knowing the journey ahead of them, though difficult in its own ways, just gets better and better. This is just one major stop on the road to many more milestones for them that I get to share. It also makes me wish they’d both move back home so we could spend more time together! I’m so glad for my friends who have so much of their family nearby. Ah…even more reasons for me to be thankful for this new year and all the fun visits I’ll get with my sisters. Here’s to 2011!!

(And I can’t resist putting up pics from my wedding time!)

Look out, vow renewal ceremony!!! :) (seriously, I want to do one of those someday)