Recounting Fall, part one: The Family Wedding and Our Tiny Flower Girl

The very last of autumn's leaves have faded and nearly all have fallen to the earth. The brisk and pleasant temperatures have disappeared all too quickly and we have suddenly found ourselves in the midst of what appears to be the onset of winter.

Now here it is, mid-way through November, and I haven't written on my blog for almost two months. But I simply must rewind a bit and share because the past weeks have been absolutely marvelous with the wonderful things filling them. In fact, October itself was downright epic.

I will not begin by backtracking in chronological order, but instead regale you with the single event that helped make October so spectacular: Matt's youngest brother got married! His bride and our newest family member is named Hunter and she is as sweet and lovely as they come.

The wedding was such a fun-filled, loving, and gorgeous event. Hunter especially poured so much of herself into making the details reflect her own lovely style.

I took lots of photos of the details:

Two different flavors of tea bags were inside:

I felt utterly honored and blessed that Hunter asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. {No surprise: I was the oldest one--yikes!} Back in 2008 I was asked to be a bridesmaid to my other sister-in-law, Jennie. How very sweet that both of my sister-in-laws asked me to stand with them on their wedding days!

Me and my lovely mother-in-law, pre-ceremony:

Here is the stunning Hunter, taking a final pre-ceremony once-over of herself. Isn't her dress just exquisite?

A quick photo op:

Not only were Matt and I both in the wedding party, but Makenna was one of the two flower girls. The other flower girl was our darling niece, Cora. If you recall, Cora is only 8 weeks younger than Makenna and having them as flower girls together was absolutely priceless.

We were all holding our breath to see how the girls behaved during their part of the ceremony. After all, this can be a precarious age with boundless energy and the inability to understand the importance of the occasion. We planned to have Hunter's youngest sister pull the girls down the aisle in a wagon. We didn't expect them to drop petals, just sit and look pretty.

The best photos we have currently are blurry iPhone pics, but still cute nonetheless.

{Makenna is munching on puffs as they wait their turn to go down the aisle. We'd sprinkled those in the wagon to help keep them preoccupied!}

{Thanks to our friend, Jalene, for capturing these photos!}

I am happy to report that both girls behaved during their part, and that they just loved being the center of attention! Cora blurted out "Dada!" when she spotted her dad up front and both girls smiled and waved at the guests. Then, when they reached the end of the aisle, Makenna decided to be a real ham and lay down in the wagon and thrust her feet and arms into the air. Of course this got lots of laughs and she loved that. She sat back up as they were being wheeled back out of the sanctuary and Makenna was laughing loudly and covering her mouth with her hands. I know the wedding photographer got a few shots of Makenna's comedic moment and hopefully I'll be able to share those photos soon!

The reception was a blast, as well. The girls loved socializing and dancing. They were both exhausted at the end of it all. {As were we!}

{I heart this photo!}

It was a really lovely, very memorable day!

The entire Perry family is thrilled that Aaron found such a beautiful woman, both inside and out, to join our clan and cherish as our own for the rest of our lives. Congratulations, Aaron and Hunter!