On October 23, we headed down to Turlock for Krishawn and Mike's Wedding. It's not RJ's first wedding, nor our first wedding with a nursing baby, since RJ stood up in Amy and Luke's wedding at 1.5 months, but this was the first wedding we've been to since then, and that RJ will remember, AND with two kids in tow when we didn't have an on-site babysitter (like we did for my sister's wedding).
There are both advantages and disadvantages to taking children to a wedding, and this wedding in particular.
Advantages:
1.) We got to talk about weddings and what it means to be married. In the week prior, I showed RJ pictures from Lance and my wedding, which I think was neat for him to see.
2.) Exposure to other cultures (Mike is Assyrian).
3.) A place to practice social skills and manners.
4.) RJ got to see his former teachers again and see them in a different venue all dressed up.
5.) The kids were incredibly cute all dressed up.
6.) RJ loves dancing.
Disadvantages:
1.) Lance and I did not get to party all night long because we had the kids to consider.
2.) Wedding schedules are not usually conducive to naps/kid dinner times/bedtimes, so we were constantly worried about a cranky RJ outburst/tantrum ruining the event for others.
3.) A place to practice social skills and manners means that the child doesn't necessarily HAVE these skills yet and that others might have to ignore/adjust to those normal child behaviors that aren't necessarily appropriate at a fancy event.
4.) Worrying that your kid will have sticky hands when touching the much beloved bride that you can't keep him away from!
It really depends on the goal of going to the wedding for the parents. Clearly if our goal was to have a romantic/partying evening at our friends' wedding, then taking the kids was a mistake. However, in this case, while I'd love to think that we'd be friends with Krishawn and Mike even without RJ, he really was how I got to spend time with Krishawn in the first place, and subsequently got to know and love her! She has known and loved him since he was 10 weeks old, so given that we were invited, it was only fitting that he should be there when she got married and the goal was a social learning experience for him and to get the kids all dressed up cute!
Both kids did really well, so I think we made the right decision in taking them and then later, keeping them there rather than using the standby babysitter. They did reasonably well keeping quiet during the ceremony - Lance took them outside for the last 10-15 minutes, since they were getting restless and we were a little nervous about them potentially making noise.
We had some time between the ceremony and the reception, so we stopped at Target to buy the kids' Halloween costumes. Since we were a bit overdressed for Target -- "Is that a guy in a suit? In the dollar section?", we moved onto Red Robin with Erika, Rich, and Ethan to have a snack (and dinner for the kids since it was around their normal dinner time). RJ had a major tantrum at Red Robin because he didn't want to leave the race car game in the lobby, but we were able to finally get him calm to eat. Then, since we still had some time to kill, we took the kids to see the shark tank at a nearby pet store at Rich's suggestion. RJ enjoyed running all over the store. Then both kids fell asleep during the 10 minute car ride to the reception. Logan was a rock star and stayed asleep in his car seat just about until dinner was served. RJ of course, got up.
At the reception, RJ was really good for a three year old having a long, off-schedule day. He definitely had a few toddler moments but nothing too bad. But we let him run off some steam by running laps around the sitting room area in the hall and that helped a lot. Kasie and Melody were also VERY helpful and accommodating to him when he basically monopolized their time by standing between them talking, and stroking the material on their pretty dresses (yeah, I know we'll have to get him to stop feeling up women at some point). He also threw a fit at the end because he wanted to dance and we thought he had hit his limit because he ran off to the dance floor when we asked him to stay with us.
I have to say that the highlights were definitely getting to see RJ see Krishawn. We went over to sneak a peak closer to the head table before things really got going, and Krishawn saw us and gestured us to come on up! RJ was thrilled and totally deserved the moment because he was REALLY good about staying with me when I told him that he couldn't just go running up there! Then later, he got to dance with her, which thrilled him even more! The other highlight was discovering that RJ can break dance. We got it on video, but honestly, the video doesn't even scratch the surface of his moves!
It was a fantastic wedding with great food and great people and I was really happy that we got to see Krishawn as much as we did, especially since it was a huge wedding with lots of family and family friends.
Last year we went to Krishawn's Wedding, and this year, another one of RJ's first teachers got married! Kasie and Ross were the beautiful bride and groom this time around! 
After a beautiful ceremony, the kids enjoyed the reception lots! RJ was reunited with his teachers Krishawn and Melody as well as some of his CDC buddies; Calvin, Stella (who was a flower girl!), Maddie, Megan, and Maryn! 
