Chicago: Wedding Day

So onto the wedding...The groom, Brian aka BG, is a good friend of ours from college, one of Tim's bandmates and roommates. The wedding was an intimate affair, only about 50 people or so, so we were super excited to be included among BG's closest family and friends. Even more exciting was the fact that Tim's other best friends from college were going to be there, too, some of whom we haven't seen in years.

The ceremony and reception both took place in a private dining room at MK, a neat urban restaurant in downtown Chicago. We had debated about whether to bring Alex or leave him at the hotel with my mom and dad, but BG swore that it was okay for him to be there, especially because there would be lots of other kids running amok. We decided to take him, figuring we could remove him during the ceremony if necessary.

Turns out milk chocolate in the shape of leaves is a very effective way of keeping a 2 year old quiet during a wedding ceremony. Fortunately, the table was littered with them as they were part of the fall-inspired wedding decor. Unfortunately, Alex was shoving them into his mouth faster than Timothy could grab them off the table and unwrap them. As soon as he had a mouth full of chocolate, he would ask for "more candy", and we obliged the first few times before breaking out the chocolatey mint rice cakes. Somehow we were able to make the substitution without Alex noticing. At any rate, he was fairly quiet during the short ceremony, and we never had to run him downstairs for a "time out". Potential crisis averted.

Another effective method for keeping a 2 year old happy during a wedding reception? Seat him next to an adorable, sweet, well-mannered little girl who lavishes him with attention and shares her crayons and coloring books. Our good friends Luke and Laura have two darling little girls, Taylor (2 1/2 months) and Kaylin (4 years), and Kaylin is just the sweetest, most nurturing little girl ever. Alex didn't mind being mothered by her one bit. In fact, Alex seated himself next to Kaylin. As soon as we walked into the room, he spotted her from twenty feet away and made a beeline to the seat next to her. And thank goodness for Kaylin - she helped Alex "color by numbers", she and Alex shared snacks, played with his Matchbox cars, and even helped us wrangle him when he escaped to explore the dining room. We are so bummed that they don't live near us because we would totally hire her to babysit.

Dinner was really delicious - Tim and I had filet mignon and Alex had mushroom ravioli, although by the time the food arrived, A had already defected from our table and was following the other kids around the dining room. Specifically, he was running amok with half a dozen little girls, ranging in age from 4-8, and he could not have been happier. When they pirouetted, he pirouetted. When they screamed like little girls, he screamed like a little girl. When they rolled around the floor, he did the same. No one seemed to mind that a pack of screaming kids were zig-zagging between tables while dinner was being served...except maybe the waitstaff, who were trying to balance plates and wine glasses whilst dodging the mob of unruly children...so we just let him enjoy himself while we enjoyed a peaceful dinner and conversation.

Once things had calmed down a bit and it started to get late, Alex got a little restless, aka crabby, and we called in our backup. Mom and Dad and Nick picked him up from the restaurant and took him to the hotel to put him to bed while we finished our desserts. We left pretty soon after, but not before getting a picture of BG and the guys...

...and Karen and the guys...

Aren't they a lovely couple? It was really a fun wedding and it was so great to catch up with our old friends. And this was only phase 1 - the fun would continue the next day with brunch at the House of Blues. To be continued!