Greg and Alissa: Ring Bearer

My dear friend, Katie, got married to Wes Baker on July 3. I met Katie volunteering in college through Child Evangelism Fellowship. We did weekly Good News Clubs in a government housing area in Bryan, and both have a heart for the city. Also, we were both elementary education majors at A&M, so we started having many classes together. But, we really became close our senior year. Both of us had ended serious dating relationships the previous summer, and our relationship blossomed as a result of sharing scripture that had encouraged us as we were dealing with the same emotions and circumstances. We ended up student teaching together in inner city Houston (that was an experience and maybe another blog post! Let's just say that I am so glad Katie was there with me!). Then, we both worked for Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, where she is still a phenomenal kindergarten teacher. So, we lived together the next year as well, one semester with her parents, then a year in an apartment in Coppell. I still consider Katie to be one of my very best, life-long friends. She is sweet, joyful, down-to-earth, creative, brilliant, encouraging and just a great friend. Wes married a jewel!

Katie asked Luke if he would be a ring bearer in her wedding, which was such an honor! I prepped him by showing him our wedding video so that he could see what a ring bearer does. We got his tuxedo and talked on and on about it. My parents were able to come for the weekend, and my mom was thrilled to go to the wedding since she loves Katie so much.

Then, the rehearsal dinner came. Luke would not even begin to walk down the aisle. We tried everything. Everything. But, he was just so shy to walk down a long aisle where everybody was staring at him. So, we left that night and started...BRIBERY. I had already bought a few small toys to keep him busy once he got down the aisle. We told him he could go to a toy store and pick out one toy once he walked down. We had lollipops. We bribed him with wedding cake. So, we got to the wedding all dressed up, and practiced several times. Sure enough, HE DID IT, and he was the cutest ring bearer I have ever seen. It was hard for him to sit still through the wedding...but, we managed. He walked back down afterward carrying his new Buzz Lightyear, which was pretty darn cute, too.

Pre-wedding...practicing his big walk:

Pre-wedding pep talk from the groom. It was arranged that if Luke would not walk down the aisle, Wes would have walked back, picked him up and carried him down the aisle, which would have been pretty cute, too!

Right before the wedding started, getting a little Momma pep talk:

Waiting. It was a rainy day, but cleared up beautifully just in time for the wedding to start!

Stunning bride! (I was a little too preoccupied to get a picture of Luke's walk.)

This was right after the wedding. The flower girls and ring bearers did this on their own. So cute!

So handsome!

The wedding was at a vineyard/winery. After the pictures, there was a little cocktail reception outside the main room so that they could prepare the room for the reception. Luke loved being able to run around a bit. Here he is peeking through the separation between the reception and vineyard.