A New Orleans Wedding

Last weekend we traveled to New Orleans for my brother-in-law's wedding. We had been looking forward to the wedding for so long! We had planned on leaving town Thursday, but after a long drive back from the beach on Monday, I wasn't sure I could take another long daytime drive on Thursday, so we left Wednesday night after work to head to Jackson and spend the night with my parents. It started off ok until C had to stop and use the bathroom about 2 hours in. Of course, SC woke up when we stopped, and she cried most of the rest of the way there. Luckily C fell asleep quickly and slept through the crying, and John was able to transfer her straight to the bed when we got to Jackson. However it took me forever to get SC settled back down and we had a rough night. But it was so nice on Thursday to have a quick drive to New Orleans. Both girls slept most of the way.

{and if you follow me on Instagram you have already seen some of these pics}

I was a little nervous about how things would go since we would be in a hotel room. We have traveled with the girls a ton but have always stayed in the comfort of a home. So I had to pack with a completely different mindset. I tried to be thorough, even bringing the bottle brush and dish soap so I could wash bottles and pump parts in the bathroom. I didn't want to overpack, so I only packed just enough outfits for each day {well, one extra for SC}. What was I thinking?! Without washer and dryer access, we definitely could have used a few more outfits for the kids.  

My Aunt Mary came to babysit the girls for the weekend {and she brought her friend, Nelle, who we call Aunt Sue for some reason :) }, and they had an adjoining room, so that was so nice. 

Once we got there on Thursday, we went to go see Charlie and Camille's new house. Then we all walked down the street and ate a late lunch. It was so nice getting to spend some time with them before the busyness of the wedding weekend started.

Thursday night we met up with my parents and sister at Superior Seafood to hear whether they were having a boy or a girl. They had an outfit wrapped up and let Curran open it.

See the colors of those little bows?! ANOTHER GIRL!! That makes 4! We are so excited and can't wait to welcome a new little niece early next year! Curran is now 3/3 with gender predictions {Sallie Cate, our friend Nora, and now the new baby}. Granted, she guesses girl every time, but she has never been wrong! :)

Excited parents!

On Friday the boys were playing golf, so John left early to do that. Curran and I ordered room service for breakfast while Sallie Cate napped. C loved it and had so much fun.

This was SC's "suite" that John rigged :)

I think she's seen The Sound of Music one too many times.

Sweet sisters

I got us ready and then we left to go shop uptown. We only made it to one store before it was time for lunch. My dad suggested we get take out and take it back to their hotel room. I think they were scared to be seen in public with us after the wild night before, and I don't blame them. I had no desire to go eat out either. So we picked up sandwiches from The Grocery and went back to their room {They were at a different hotel, and I'm quite sure we'll never be invited back. As if the two older girls weren't wild enough, SC proceeded to projectile spit up a massive amount 3 times in a row while we were waiting on valet to bring our car around. On the carpet. Right in front of all the bellmen.}

Late Friday afternoon we had the rehearsal at St. Louis Cathedral. John was the best man {along with his little brother}, and Curran was one of the flower girls. All week she had been saying that she didn't want to walk down the aisle. She had been so excited up until that week, so I just decided to not make a big deal of it and basically ignored her every time she said that. But I was scared about how she would do. 

Camille and C-Bug at the rehearsal

The children practicing- the other four kids are Camille's nieces and nephews on her side of the family. 

Camille and Charlie at the Rehearsal Dinner at Latrobe's

My brother flew in from CA so it was so nice to see him!

This is John's best friend from high school and his fiance. We are heading to their wedding in Key Largo next month!

Chris and Craig

The toasts were so, so sweet, and I cried lots. Shocker. The only thing that makes me feel somewhat better is that Camille is a crier, too. :) And during Charlie's speech at the end, I could hear John crying behind me. So there were tears all around!

Saturday morning John and Curran walked to Cafe Du Monde to get us some beignets. So we had a little picnic in the room.

I originally wanted to take C to do some fun things while we were there, like the aquarium, but we didn't have as much free time as I thought {mainly because it took me so long to get going with two girls underfoot in a tiny hotel room}, so we ended up just sticking close to the hotel on Saturday and I took C swimming. And that really ended up being way more fun and laid back. Mrs. Quinn watched SC for me because John was off with the groomsmen getting their tuxes. We ended up staying at the pool all morning through lunch. My parents then came and got C and took her on a carriage ride while I was getting ready for the wedding.

I was just a TINY bit obsessed with Curran in her flower girl dress. And I may have shed a tear or two when the hair dresser put the flower wreath in her hair. Curran LOVED her "bootiful" dress and even asked to sleep in it several times before the wedding weekend. :)

Ok, I knoooow I am biased, but SERIOUSLY?!?!

Camille with Joanie and Curran. Joanie is only 2.5 months older than C, believe it or not. :)

And now you'll have to indulge me because I took a ton of pics of C, but these are only a fraction. 

She ended up doing pretty well at the church. However she refused to look straight ahead when she was walking down the aisle and looked over her left shoulder almost the whole way down. Oh well. At least she walked!

After the Mass, the bridal party had a Second Line led by a jazz band back to the hotel where the reception was {The Omni}. They had umbrellas for the kids, and Curran was SO excited! {She has played with that umbrella all week and begged to take it to school.} I lugged my big camera to the church just to take pics of the Second Line, but since I was sitting at the very front of the church, I was one of the last out of the church and had to RUN to catch up to everyone. John waited on me but I never really got to see the front of the parade. Oh well. It was still so fun!

Beautiful bride and handsome groom! This was after they arrived at the reception and while the jazz band was still playing.

Curran was SO exhausted, but she had so much fun dancing with both grandfathers, her daddy, and almost all of her uncles at the reception. 

Curran with Pop

Dancing with Uncle Charlie

Dancing with the mother of the bride, among others.

Going...

Going...

Gone!

She fell dead asleep at the reception, and we were able to carry her upstairs and get her in her pj's without waking up. I'm glad she was able to have some fun at the reception before she crashed.

On Sunday we met my parents at Cafe Degas for a delicious brunch before leaving town. 

This lil lady did not sleep great most of the weekend, but she woke up just as happy as could be after a 3 hour nap on the way home!

We had such a wonderful time being with both sides of our family as well as Camille's family. Mr. and Mrs. Quinn were so sweet, and C had the best time running up and down the halls between our hotel rooms. {I'm sure everyone on our floor loved us}. I feel so blessed to have brothers-in-law and now a sister-in-law whom I love so much! We were all depressed when the weekend was over. Curran keeps asking us if we can do the wedding again. :) However, I do have to say that it was so nice to get home. Out of the previous 11 days, there was only ONE day when we actually woke up and then went to bed at our house. But it was such a wonderful weekend!!