W.C. Fields said "never work with animals or children." While he was talking about show business, there are plenty of people who maintain that saying applies to weddings. I've mentioned my dog enough times on this blog that you probably knew we'd ignore the part about animals. What you might not know is that between us, we have a gaggle of nieces and nephews. We're inviting them
all to be in our bridal party.
The oldest nephew is going to be a groomsman (is he technically a junior groomsman?). I have fond memories watching he and Marc playing catch, of him teaching us how to play Guitar Hero (one Thanksgiving, he had the entire family playing), and going to Disney World together (Marc said "is there anything that your mom won't let you do that I'll definitely let you do?"). Sometimes, I think he's like a mini Marc...kind, sensitive, a bit of a comedian. He'll be wearing a tux along with the other groomsmen.
The other nephews are much younger. We plan on letting them walk down the aisle doing whatever comes naturally to them. One of my nephews decided that he needs to carry a flag. No problem. Whatever they want is fine with me. I'm not really set on dictating a specific outfit for them (there's a bit of an age range), but I'll probably talk to my sister-in-law and Marc's sister about what they think. I still have to do a little research here.
When it comes to our flower girl, I'm a little more excited...
As a child, I dressed up a lot. Probably too much. I don't remember owning jeans until 5th grade and that first pair had flowers painted on them. I sometimes wish I had more play clothes, but I'm thankful that I had pretty dresses as a little girl. When I thought about what Marc's niece would wear in the wedding, I had images like these in my head:
Those are from Strasburg Children, a store whose windows have always been filled with beautiful, "dress up" clothing for children.
As luck would have it, there's a Strasburg Children store about five minutes from the hotel where I'm staying this week on a business trip. One night, I made the trip over and found this:
What happened? Strasburg Children filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. They closed stores for a while and finally sold the company to another. As of August 19, 2011, most of the dressy clothing is on sale for 50% off. The entire format of the store is changing. It's going casual. Really, really casual.
I guess many people aren't buying their children dress up clothing anymore? I'm kind of sad...I loved getting a new dress for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. I loved twirling around in those dresses and stopping to make the skirt "swish" around me. I even had a gig in a Polly Flinders fashion show at Bamburgers (now Macy's) when I was in kindergarten.
So now, the search continues. I've taken a look at Janey & Jack (one of my favorite children's stores), found some amazing dresses on the Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom websites, and briefly looked at J. Crew's crewcuts line. I think I'm going to see if my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law will have a "girl's day out" and look for a dress for Little Miss M (my nickname for our cutie pie flower girl).
I'm wondering what stores we should visit. If you have children or had a flower girl at your wedding, what stores do you think we should visit?
