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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Ella's Baptism

This past weekend was so, so, so wonderful. My heart was so full on Sunday night after a great weekend with our families!

Here is Ella's official baptism outfit:


Her dress is a Feltman dress that I actually wore for my baptism 28.5 years ago! 


She also wore her monogrammed bloomers that I picked up from Alphabet Soup. Not pictured is her headband, which I also found at Shower Me With Love...the package said it can be her garter when she gets married, too! (Clearly, this company knows how to get me to buy something! HA!)

{beautiful flowers at the church in honor of Ella's baptism}

You may not know this, but my dad is actually a Presbyterian minister in Virginia (yes, I am a pastor's kid...don't judge!). I really wanted him to baptize Ella, but apparently you are supposed to have your child baptized in the church they will grow up in, so going to Virginia wasn't really an option. Luckily, our super accommodating minister here in Charlotte allowed my dad to perform the whole baptism at our church


It was really special for my dad, who hadn't done a baptism in 3 years (there are not a lot of babies at his current church!)


Ella did a great job, and did not cry once! Everyone came up after the service and complimented us on what a well-behaved (and adorable) baby she was! :) 

After church, a lady from the congregation was nice enough to take some pictures for us. 

I love the few she got of Ella!! 





{yeeeeshhhh my spray tan! a little too orange in this pic!}

The whole gang:


We are so blessed! 
We had with us: Trav's parents and my parents, my grandparents (who drove down from Ohio to meet Ella), my brother (who came from Florida to see his only niece), and my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Lynn (who drove 2 hours from South Carolina!). Trav's sister was also there, but she had to leave early because she had to work.


Ella was not quite so cooperative for this 4 generations picture...the one we had taken the day before turned out much better. Oh well!


With both ministers...so grateful again to our pastor for letting my dad do the baptism!


{Side note: I'd like to mention that my maxi skirt is from Target! AND it was 25% off using the Cartwheel app, for a whopping total of $15! OMG, I love Tar-jay so much!}

After church, we had everyone over to our house for a small get together!

{I clearly need to work on my photography skills involving windows!}

We got the cake from Costco! Call me cheap but I was not about to pay $75 for a cake for 12 people...sorry! 
{Thanks again to Kathryn for picking it up for me!!}


I think Costco cakes taste as good, if not better than, a bakery cake anyway! If you've never experienced the deliciousness that is a Costco cake, come over to my house...we have plenty cake left over!


I kept the decorations pretty simple, since we only had about 12 people over. I made the tissue paper pom poms, and bought pretty much everything else at, where else?...Target! 
The banner was in their party section; I just printed out letters on my computer to say "God Bless Ella," cut them out and glued them onto the banner. I also decided to buy a ton of hydrangeas from Trader Joe's to round out the simple decor. 


We had chicken salad, pimento cheese, 7-layer dip, fruit, veggies, guac, cake...and, my grandma even brought divorced brownies!!!!! These are famous in my family (my grandma got the recipe from a lady who was divorced...my uncle thought the divorce was due to the brownies, hence the name we have given them!), and you can find a similar recipe here. They are amazing!

We rounded out the day with--what else--a photo shoot!


Oh, and by this point we had changed Ella out of her fancy outfit. I'm happy to say she did not have any accidents on that white dress! :)




Thanks again to our family for coming from all over to celebrate with us! We are so lucky to have all of you!!!

7 comments:

  1. What a great post!! So special that your Dad was able to perform the ceremony!!
    Love all of this and we are so much alike!! To the flowers to the bunting, all but the cake. :) I ordered hers, but then got a cake and cupcakes from Sam's for her 1st birthday. LOL!!
    In case you didn't see.
    http://deewallaceadventures.blogspot.com/2013/06/shelbys-baptism.html

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  2. Not to mention, I think Ella and Shelby had the same Feltman dress! It was mine and they still sell one just like it!

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  3. I didn't know you were a pastor's kid! My brother is a pastor so guess that make me a pastor's sister! I actually tried a cake from Costco for the first time at church on Sunday - random coincidence! I couldn't get over how good it was! You look great!!

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  4. What a special day for Miss Ella and for y'all! Also, your brunch looks so nice!! (And now I want brownies....)

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