I'm not even sure where to begin with sharing some photos from my cousin's wedding last weekend. I was a bridesmaid and Emma, Mary and Elizabeth were flower girls. The wedding was held on my grandparents' farm just around the corner from us.

(the girls + their boots. thanks to my cousin megan !)

My dad is the oldest of 15 children, so just our family alone makes for a pretty big wedding.

M + C wedding at the farm

Over that past week, as family slowly arrived and the house filled up again with activity and life, I did my best to soak up every moment.

M + C wedding at the farm

This wedding was truly a family affair. From the fluffing and hanging of tissue-paper flowers, to the mowing and weed-eating and de-wasping of the lawns, to the weeding of gardens, the folding of name cards...every visit to my grandparents' farm during the week leading up to the wedding meant people scattered about doing their part to make this wedding an amazing, beautiful, thoughtful event.

My photos don't even come close to capturing the day. I felt like I was in a bit of a daze of family and celebration and baby-wrangling, and prying my children from the dance floor to be sure they were eating something. So I look forward to eventually sending you all to the photographer's photos once he posts some. (He was amazing, by the way--and I'm not just saying that because he and my husband hit it off right away.)

Maggie cross-stitched all the table numbers. The tables were simply covered with brown burlap, blue Ball jars and a mix of flowers.

My aunt created coloring books for the kids' table with images that were meaningful to our family and the farm.

Not that I am shocked by this, but my children hardly left the dance floor. Elizabeth in particular has some moves that must come from her father's gene pool.

All local produce, greens, chicken and beef from my family's farm. Served on the back of a hay wagon.

Maggie freezer-paper stencilled Birdy and Sam onesies for the wedding. Birdy also loved the dance floor, but apparently for very different reasons....

We won't discuss the fact that Birdy managed to crawl under the DJs table and start fiddling with his cords. Thankfully, no damage was done, just a small heartattack for her mother....Birdy is going through the "if you don't want me to touch it, I'm gonna find it" stage. It's loads of fun.

And as the sun went down it became even more beautiful. The day, the weather, could not have been more perfect.

Luminaires all along the fence posts and lining the lane....

(and see that tiny little doorway in the background, at the top of the stairs?? That is where we lived when we first moved to Maryland with all three of our children. Some of my favorite days and best memories, even though it was a wee bit crowded. :)

Though Birdy checked out early, can you believe I let my children stay on the dance floor until the bitter end---10:45! Yikes. But these kinds of days don't come along very often. It was so worth it.

And then, there's the day after....the gathering in the "parking lot", as we call it. The sitting around, playing guitars, harmonica, singing, the babies crawling around, dodging scooters and bikes. I love the lazy day after the wedding.