Pretty girl

Getting Mallory spiffed up and keeping her looking that way was a major concern of mine when it came to the wedding. I agonized quite a bit over how to do her hair, for one thing. At first I was leaning toward some sort of up-do, thinking that having it all pinned up and shellacked back would be best so that she couldn't fidget with it. But I admit that I really don't like updos on young kids. They look a bit too Toddlers & Tiaras creepy. In the end, I decided to capitalize on the curls she has along the back and leave it down with the side swept back in a clip. That way, her tendency to twirl her hair around her fingers would only serve to enhance the 'do. (Riiiiiight.)We didn't have a hair appointment for her, but I pleaded with the girl who did my hair to help with Mallory when I was finished. She did a side part, took a curling iron to the back, sprayed the bejeesus out of it and secured the flower clip I found with a few extra bobby pins. It looked great for all of about two minutes. Then the hairspray seemingly melted out of her hair, and that side part? It was long gone an hour later when we got her into her dress right as the photographer arrived:

The hair then got slept on a couple of times, first on the way from the house to the church and then on the way from the church to the reception. But we were able to unpin the clip, smooth it out a bit and clip it back up. It was tousled by the end of the day, but didn't fare too badly.

The dress was the next big concern. Part of me thought we should take Mallory to the church in shorts and a t shirt and dress her there in the lobby before walking down the aisle. That wouldn't have worked so well for pictures at the house before the ceremony though, so on went the dress. The good news is that she did a really, really good job of keeping it clean all day. I am literally still astounded by how clean it is, right through the reception in all its strawberries-and-chocolate-champagne-bottles-eating glory. I am considering listing it on Kijiji - really, what am I going to do with the dress now, especially given that it's only likely to fit for another couple of months? - and if I did, I wouldn't even bother to dry clean it first. I thought I had uploaded a few more photos from the day here, but they have failed to materialize. Hmmm. Oh well. Here is a parting shot of Mallory working on her sticker book during the reception, right as things were winding down. See, she is still (relatively) unscathed.