the dress...

 from the moment you get engaged the most asked question besides 'when is the wedding?' is 'what does your dress look like?'  that question is tough to answer when you're planning to make it, without a pattern, and haven't even begun yet.  for a few months people seemed excited at the idea of my unknown dress, but when the wedding was about 2 months away and i was telling people at my shower that 'it looks really nice in my head" they were starting to panic!  i tried not to let it rub off on me, because it DID look nice in my head.  in a perfect world i was going to find a vintage slip somewhere that fit perfectly and then find this fabulous material, what that looked like i wasn't exactly sure, i'd know it when i saw it, & i would just sew it to the slip and that would be that...
i'm not sure why i was waiting so long to get started.  part of it was nerves, part of it was that i was getting in shape all summer and didn't want to have to alter anything, and i didn't want to make something and be sick of it by the time the wedding came.  i wanted it to be fresh and new.
one random day in september my fiance John and i went to our favorite local vintage store Another Man's Treasure in Jersey City.  i've had luck there in the past finding great dresses.  i looked on the vintage nightgown rack and ended up finding a silk slip from the 1930's for only $40!

and you know what, it fit like a glove!  it wasn't the exact shape i wanted, but i figured i could cut it up a bit and if it didn't work out...it was only $40!
the next day i went up and down the fashion district streets of NYC.  every store had the same flashy crap, and very pushy, unfriendly staff. not to mention how packed they are, you can barely walk around and when you do the salesperson is right there with you!!  my last attempt was a store that specialized in bridal fabrics which i figured would be pricey because the minute you mention wedding or bride to anyone they try to raise the price and take advantage you.  i wasn't making it easy to help me either since i didn't really know what i was looking for, it was 'in my head.'  the snotty old italian man who owned the place started showing me some of his best selling lace.  it was not for me style or price wise.  i tried to explain that i wanted something with detail, but primarily on the bottom of the fabric.  he laughed in my face and told me that he'd been in this business for over 60 years and that didn't exist!! where had i seen such a thing.  'in my head', i said.  he said i'd never find it.  i was more annoyed than worried.  i hadn't totally made it up, i knew it existed, somewhere!
a few days later i decided to go back into the city.  i ventured a bit further and came across a store called butterfly fabrics.  i knew that was a good sign because my grandmother loves butterflies, it gave me butterflies!  the jolly man that greeted me was a breath of fresh air and so was being in a NYC fabric store that you could actually move around in!  without pressure or staff up my butt, i found the bridal section.  i immediately feel in love with a fabric i was sure would be pricey.  i didn't even want to ask the nice man, but i did and it turned out being only $25 a yard.  again i had butterflies.  i had to leave the store and call my mom and say, 'i think i just found my dress!' she urged me to stop looking and go back at once and buy it! i did.  my eyes were tearing up.  i wanted to hug the man who helped me.  when i left i told him that he was 'by far the nicest man i've ever met in fabric!'  in total my dress cost under $170!
a few nights later while my fiance worked on some music in his music room i started working on my dress down the hall in my sewing room.   with the first cut of the vintage slip i knew this was it.  the fabrics were almost possessed.

it was like the dress was making itself.  i would cut something and think it was going to be one thing and the next minute it was something else, but in a good way.  i had some extra fabric towards the bottom of the lower back that i was about to cut off when it flopped over in my clenched hand, and suddenly it was a ruffle. and i loved it.

if anyone had asked me months, weeks, even days before, i would have never expected a ruffle anywhere, and yet there it was.  my dress wanted a ruffle and it got a ruffle.  i wasn't about to argue.

it became one of my favorite parts of the whole dress!  it all came together in about 5 hours.   i don't like starting projects i can't finish right away so i just kept working.  every once in a while i would call into the hall "i'm walking around" so that john would not come out and see me as i went into our bedroom to get a look in the full length mirror.  the whole time i was calling and texting my mom.  it was so much fun.  it was so hard to not run and show john because usually when i make something he's the first one i run to show off to, and i was so proud of this.
in the end the dress turned out even better than what i had imagined in my head.  and when i sat next to john on the alter i asked what he thought and he said, "that's the most beautiful dress i've ever seen!"

J & L...

  our wedding invitations were a pretty big deal, as are most couples...however, we were lucky enough to have our very good friend Laura design ours personally.  her company is called RED TABLE STATIONERY and she makes the cutest, most unique things!

we started emailing with her right after our engagement.  i had no idea of colors, themes, nothing.  i gave her a few ideas i had been throwing around like bunting, chevron, navy, and coral. pretty vague i know.  some how she came up with what ended up being the foundation for our whole scheme.
instead of doing an invitation with bunting on it, she made our actual invitation into bunting!  i've never seen anything like it, nor had our 200+guests.  it set the standard for creativity at our wedding!

after getting the 3 pieces john & i headed to his parents to get help stringing them all together.  this wedding was going to be a group effort.  i joked that half of the people there helped make, or decorate something, and we were very lucky because that was so true.

i got nothing but love in response to these beauties.  and just one guest who said, "why did they send pizza slices?" and then he figured it out.  either way...BEST invites ever!!
Thanks Laura!!

RED TABLE STATIONERY

CRAFTerlorette party...

   i never thought too long & hard about having or planning a wedding, but one thing i always knew is that it would be kid friendly.  i can remember going to weddings as a child and having the best time!! i have over 20 cousins and more than half of them are under 21.  there was never a question of whether or not to have them all there!   I wanted them to feel included.  my CRAFTerlorette party was a great way to do that...and get some important wedding stuff done!

My grandmother Louise offered her wedding dress to me when i got engaged.  it was too small to wear, but she said that i could use the material.  But again, like i said, i am one in 24!! i could not use the whole dress for myself.

i ended up cutting the dress into pieces to make small bags for each of my girl cousins.  I bought special labels for them and sewed them inside.  I figured that they would be their 'something old' when they got married.   i made a special one for myself, my flower girls, and even my grandmother.

a few months before the wedding i got all of my girl cousins together for what i decided to call my CRAFTerlorette Party.   i was going to present them with the bags, we could have some pizza and work on my wedding decorations together.  i thought it would be a fun bonding activity and get them excited for the wedding.  for some of them, this would be their first!  i invited my grandparents as well!

the night was a hit! we listened to a mix cd that i made to get us in the wedding mood.  i surprised everyone with the bags, and my grandparents were thrilled!  

after that it was down to business. we worked really hard that night and got all of my 22 table centerpieces done!!

the look: I didn't want to use real flowers.  i'm not a flower person really and it just seems like a huge waste of money.  as an alternative, i bought tons of colorful cupcake liners and we made our own flowers.  we used a skewer, a styrofoam ball, and pins to stick the wrappers on.  my fiance and i had collected vases of all shapes, sizes, and colors over the summer from a local thrift store, each for under $5!  so in the vases we put a bit of sand, the flower cup cakes, some other filler, bunting, and a felt heart on a stick.  

the bunting was pretty awesome.  my aunt had given me a bunch of old sheet music from her father who was a musician.  since my fiance is one too, music was going to play a key role in our wedding.  we cut the sheet paper into tiny triangles and punched holes in the top 2 corners.  we strung them with yarn and tied them in the arrangements.  we also used the sheet paper to go under the vases on the tables, but we hole punched the edges with a decorative puncher.

the felt hearts i cut out myself.  i stuffed them and hand stitched them shut with bakers twine. i had labels made for these as well that read "John & Lauren" and the date.  since they were on sticks i could totally picture people taking them home and sticking them in a potted plant or something. 

the whole idea really came together, but my favorite part was what i had given my cousins each as homework to bring that night.  i asked each one to color a picture of me, john, us together, a wedding-it was pretty open.  i was going to frame each one and set them on the tables.  their drawings really blew me away!

my super cool cape may bridal shower...

i live in weehawken but was born & raised in cape may, nj, EXIT 0 on the parkway.  way down in south jersey where the parkway has stop lights!
i'm actually the only person in my mother's family who doesn't still live in the area.  sometimes i feel left out, but when i do go home i feel like i get special attention because i'm not around as much.  someone usually hosts a dinner for me and i get to see all of my 23 cousins, it's a good time.
my bridal shower was no exception!!

it was important that i had two, since so much of my family is there and so many of my friends are here! the wedding was coming fast, and since the engagement was a surprise it wasn't something that i'd been planning or even thinking about.  this made things like colors, themes, and concepts a little hard to come up with...still somehow it started coming together.   the wedding was fall, but that wasn't really helping the color process.  i've always liked navy, so i knew that had to be in there somewhere.  chevron & bunting were big popular themes that i thought would be easy and fun.  and what went well with navy? coral & tan & brown i thought.  there it was done!  THESE WERE THE INVITATIONS!!

My cousin Carli designed them and they were perfect! i loved the colors and the button and the texture of the paper.  and she even respected my love of lower case letters!

The decorations kept with the theme.  so cute & crafty! it was held at her mothers house, my aunt Nina.  My other aunts made my favorite foods & desserts and it was the perfect little lunch.

This is a picture of my mother, her parents and i.  you can tell by the looks on our faces that it was a very happy day!! 

save the date...

well for not rushing to get engaged, we got married pretty quickly.  we were engaged on feb. 13th 2012.  we wanted a fall wedding and the following fall just seemed too far.  so we set the date...
THESE WERE OUR SAVE THE DATE POSTCARDS!!

i thought of the concept for our SAVE THE DATES pretty early on.  at first i thought about doing the whole photo booth thing, but then i remembered we both had 'cute' grade school pictures.  i'm always sad that i didn't know john when we were that age.  i think we would've been friends.  and if we were maybe he would've passed me a note like this one.

to make our save the dates i first found these two old pictures.  then i googled notebook paper to get a jpeg for one.  in photoshop i placed the photos on the paper picture and used the mouse to spell out the text.  i figured that was my best bet at it looking like sloppy boy handwriting.  i added a few hearts and i was all set.  i was in love with the wording and the whole concept.  

i knew there was only one place to get them done...VISTAPRINT!! i went to vista print and uploaded the jpeg and made post card save the dates.  on the back i added our wedding website which is still active HERE! 

vistaprint it quick, easy, and affordable.  they also have GREAT customer service.

i got so many compliments on this design.  i was pretty proud of myself!

goat cheese...

a little over a year ago i took my very first trip out of the country.  i was going to london to see my boyfriend John.  he was there for a month starring in a puppetry show called THE DEVIL & MR. PUNCH.  my birthday was a few days before and after dinner with my girlfriends i confided in one that i knew i wouldn't be getting engaged while i was there.  i know that's a strange thing to proclaim, but i felt like i had to make it clear that i wasn't expecting anything like that from this vacation.  so many times couples go away and people expect that they will come back engaged.  i didn't want her to feel that i was disappointed when i returned with no ring, because i wouldn't have been.
i've never been one of those girls who was desperate to get married or even in a hurry.   i usually was single, and happy with that.  somehow, in this relationship especially, i was relaxed.  i didn't want to rush anything and was just enjoying every minute.

it had been weeks since i'd seen john.  he grew a huge beard.  it was great just being around him.  the first day i was a waste from the delayed screaming baby infested flight.  i slept. 

the next day we got up early and planned to do all things touristy.  
it was raining off and on all day.  at buckingham palace we both wished on coins and threw them in the fountain.  i wished we'd get engaged this year...which was a huge thing for me to wish, because like i said, i didn't think about it much.  after we went to St. Pauls Cathedral.  they have a whispering gallery there at the very top.  we climbed over 200 stairs and when we reached the top it smelled like goat cheese.  this is a constant theme for us, or me at least.  i HATE goat cheese & for some reason, a lot of things smell like that to me...anyway it seemed like we were sticking around the dome for a pretty long time, but i just figured he wanted to hear things for musical technical reasons.  he asked what to whisper to me, so of course i suggested GOAT CHEESE.  you put your ear to the wall and you can hear people whisper from across the room.  we tried it a few times, and a few times it worked.  but that day, for some reason, there was a choir and what seemed to be a field trip so it was not very quiet.  we were sitting together and eventually he said "i wish there were less people!" i said he always wishes that.  but then john said..."i wish there were less people (got down on one knee) so that you could hear me whisper WILL YOU MARRY ME?"  i was in shock but of course said "YES!"  

we walked back in the rain to the hotel but stopped for some calling cards.  he had to leave me for his show that night, but i was able to call my family & friends and share the news.  that night we met up with the rest of the cast to celebrate.  it was a perfect proposal, perfect night, & perfect trip!

boys who play accordion...

almost 4 years ago i met a boy who played the accordion.
i was waitressing at a bar/restaurant/nightclub called Maxwell's.  at the time i had completely given up on boys, but that's another blog.  i saw a guy standing outside the window texting.  i quickly told the hostess that if he comes in, be sure to seat him in my section.  it wasn't often that cute guys were around so i was taking advantage.  his friends met him for dinner and through the meal i did my best to flirt with him as much as you can without being a creepy annoying waitress.  when he was leaving i knew i had to say something, i asked if anyone had ever told him that he looked like SAM ROCKWELL.

actor Sam Rockwell was fresh in my mind because he had a new movie out called MOON.  he said no, and didn't know who that was, and seemed to not know that it was a compliment.  i told him it was, he said thanks and left.
it was the strangest thing, but i just felt like there was something between us...i couldn't stop talking about him and the next week i hoped he'd come in again.  he didn't.  i figured i'd never see him again. only a few days after that i received a random facebook message from a boy named John Foti.   i couldn't see his profile and his picture was distant, but he claimed to be the SAM ROCKWELL guy.  i was sure one of my friends was playing a joke on me, but sure enough, it was him.  he looked up the bar and found me in their friends.  he said that he thought i was a nice waitress and looked up that SAM guy and didn't think it looked like him.
after that we  became friends, pen pals really, writing back and forth and getting to know each other.  we met up for drinks, and eventually dates.  we rode bikes & went to concerts.  we went on trips, & moved in together.
& now he is my HUSBAND, john foti, my boy who plays accordion.