The Reception

The Reception was held in Kendra's parent's back yard. It was amazing. Here you can see a shot. The color scheme was green and pink. Flowers and candles abounded.





Here is a shot of the table.


Dancing the Night Away.. including my dance with Blake




The Wedding Cake... cutting and feeding each other a piece!

THE Wedding

I know I am biased, but my son's wedding was the most beautiful thing I have experienced. Either he walked me up the aisle, or I walked him up the aisle; it doesn't matter which it was, I was thrilled to be by his side, walking him to his new life. This was the second time I had to fight tears (the first time was when Blake first saw Kendra before the ceremony). Just before we commenced our walk, Blake looked at me and said.. "Mom, you have lipstick on, please don't kiss me at the front". I told him "of course". But by the time we reached the front, I had forgotten everything, as it was all I could do to retain composure and hold back my tears, and ... yes, of course, I gave my baby a hug and a kiss, smack in the middle of his cheek. I instantly realized what I had done, and quickly tried to wipe off the smudge, as I apologized..

Oh Susan... only you could do such a silly thing.

For those of you who have followed since June, you can now see how the dress and shoes looked. (I discuss "the hunt" for them in blogs, mid-June). I added a hat to the ensemble, and a strand of pearls.

Here are Blake and Kendra exchanging vows. Doesn't Kendra's gown look wonderful!




I call this image "The Kiss", named after one of my favorite paintings by Gustav Klimt.. The Kiss.


This is the entire bridal party.


Here I am with my second son, Danny, and my mom. Three generations. Danny was Blake's Best Man.



Here are two shots of Mr. and Mrs. Blake Lazear, standing with the Pacific Ocean as their backdrop.



I now get to stand with my son Blake, and new daughter-in-law Kendra, who I adore.


The Canadian family came to see the first grandchild married. These are my two sisters, my brother, my mom, and my son Danny.


Kendra's parents, Keena and Randy, watching their daughter marry my son. My eyes tear as I look at these images.


My two sons and their 'girls'. Blake with Kendra, and Danny with Isabelle.


These last two shots (in this blog entry) make me smile. They are so full of the romance that marked the day. I call these images "The Dip". By the way, doesn't the veil look wonderful!

The Wedding Venue

Below are a few shots of the wedding venue, and one of the ceremony.
The kids wanted to be married at the beach, and the Brown family was fortunate enough to find a newly-built venue that could support the number of guests anticipated.

The location was in La Jolla, California, which is an area of San Diego. Scripps owns the building (part of Scripps Marine Biology).

It was a perfect day, slightly overcast, so that we did not have any glaring sun.

The Veil... the day of the Wedding

Below you can see how the veil looked, first as it was fitted onto Kendra by the hair stylist, and later at the wedding. Wow! It looked beautiful, as did the bride.

Other Wedding Prep

I loved being involved with the various preparations for my son's wedding. In addition to designing all the printed goods and making the veil, I also helped with various other projects. In fact, my entire family became involved. Here are a few shots..

Here is what I call "tulle time". I had my brother and nephew thread strips of tulle into a hole punched in the wedding "Program".



Here you can see my friend Jerry helping me cover the Guest Book with the same silk the wedding gown was made of. I had also designed all the inner pages of this guest book. It was complete with engagement photos, poetry, love quotes, etc.



On the morning of the wedding, I decided to get up early and make a quick garter. Here you can see several of the steps.




I also sewed nine shawls. This will be in an upcoming blog entry.

Creating the Veil

I had offered to make my future daughter-in-law's veil. I considered this a privilege
and an honor. Of course, the process of making the veil began to take a life of its own. In other words.. it was "Make the Veil .... take five". Sometimes, even simple things create their own challenges. I will look back on this and smile (as I am already doing).

The design of the veil was actually quite simple. It was to be two layers, the longest being waist-length. All was to be gathered into a comb. Keena, (Kendra's Mom) and I had gone out to look at a few veils, and we had a good sense of what was needed. So, I drafted a rough paper pattern which was basically the rounded corner of the oblong oval. I folded the tulle, and cut out the rounded corner. Of course, I soon realized I had folded the tulle wrong, and now I had a curve rising out of the center back. Drat... silly mistake. So, on to veil #2, and thankfully, I had purchased extra tulle. Well, it must have been the lack of sleep, or possibly still some jet lag, but I managed to make the same mistake again. I had just folded the tulle slightly different the second time. So.. off to the fabric store, and buy more tulle. The color wasn't exact, but at this point, I decided I was simply going to make a prototype.

I was having a lot of fun with my new sewing machine (a Brother QC1000). We wanted an edging of silver around the edge of the veil, so I experimented with a lot of the the fancy stitches. It was great fun. In the end however, Kendra chose one of the simple edgings, which was basically a narrow zig-zag stitch.


I then folded the oblong over to achieve the two lengths of the veil, and stitched a basting thread close to the foldline.


I gathered this end and basted it quickly onto the comb so we could try the sample on at the final fitting.





If you look in the prior blog entry, you will see my prototype on Kendra. It worked, and she made her choices with regards to edging, length, etc. So, now I went and bought the right color tulle, and cut out Veil #4. It was fine, until I started pressing it, and noticed that there was a flaw, a hole, in the middle of the piece. Veil #5 became the 'keeper'. Everything worked just fine with this one.

Here you can see me attaching the beaded trim to the top of the veil.


My mom sewed all the crystals onto the veil, which I feel brings the generations together more.



In the end, the veil was beautiful. You will see pictures of it during the wedding in an upcoming entry.

Bittersweet Thoughts..

My son Blake was just married. A rite of passage it is, but nonetheless, it carries bittersweet thoughts for me, as I watch my boy move into his next phase of life.

For several weeks prior to the wedding, I immersed myself in various types of preparations. While I worked, either sewing, laying out graphics for printed goods, or working on various other projects, my mind wandered constantly,reminiscing, as only a mother can as she prepares to see her son marry.There were tears, of course, but a happy pride ruled as I relived key moments of his life. Here you see Blake and I when he was about three. He loved to be read to, and that we did. I still like to read aloud today.

The image below shows you a graphed image of Blake on his first birthday. This graph was prepared in my software, Stitch Painter. Blake is wearing the first full sweater I ever designed and knit on the knitting machine. I had spun the yarn, designed the sweater, punched a jacquard card for the sheep, and then knit the garment. It actually won a design award. I suppose I should tell you, he only wore this once, as I had miscalculated how big a baby's head is, and I barely got the sweater on him.


Jump ahead many years, and here you can see how handsome Blake became as a young man. He is an amazing musician, and plays the guitar beautifully. I have always loved this photo as it shows his passion for the moment one has with music.

The photo below was taken on my birthday. I asked Blake to be my escort to the opera, and we went to see Mozart's Magic Flute. I bought him his first suit, and I fell apart in the menswear store as he tried suits on. I couldn't believe I was watching my 6'2" son look like such a man. In the photo, I am knotting his tie, and holding back the tears of pride.

Design Extends... from Fashion to Wedding Invitations

Once you get involved with the design process, you will be surprised to see how much it extends from one area of your life to another.

For example, when I cook or prepare food, I always think about the colors, textures, and flavors and how they all work together. This is the same process I use when planning a garment, choosing fabric or yarn, and then techniques I want to utilize.

As I have developed more computer skills, I've been able to extend my design to other areas, and it was for this reason I wanted to design and create the wedding invitations for my sons wedding.

Here you can see a few images, recording the special moments:

The "mothers" busily assembling and stuffing the invites



Kendra and Blake, getting their first view of the final invitation

The Search for Shoes

The Search Continues...

I found my shoes in a shoe store on Via Mazzini. This is one of the fashion streets here in Verona. Surprisingly, they, and most of the shoes in the store were reasonable for dress shoes, in that they were no different in price than what I would pay at home.

The store is Martini’s Style Calzature and it is located at Via Mazzini, No. 48.








The owners are Patrizia and Allesandro (pictured below).



I had spotted the shoes a week ago, but wanted to wait until I actually had the dress in hand, so that I could confirm that the color worked well. Now, let me tell you, I think I have looked in every shoe store in Verona, as I causally stroll around. I kept hoping something would jump out at me. I had decided that I needed “heels” although I rarely wear them at home. You have to understand that every Italian woman appears to wear heels at all times. I don’t know how they manage the cobblestone streets, but they do. I also don’t know how they manage to not get tired feet, but they do not appear to do that either. So, I give them credit. Italian women (and men for that matter), always look so elegant, it is amazing.

One evening, after a classical concert, I was strolling up Via Mazzini, and happened to spot a pair of shoes that I thought would be perfect. They had a sense of being beaded, they were heels (but not too high), they were dressy, and they appeared to come in a color that should match the dress. I was excited. So, I took a picture of the shoes and the store, so I could remember where it was.

On Saturday, once I picked up my dress, I headed straight to Martini’s. Patrizia helped me and I am delighted to say not only did the shoes work, they also fit. I had to walk around in them a bit to be sure, but they will be fine.

I did look at a few shoes, just to be sure, and there was another likely candidate that you can see. But in the end, the original shoes won out, and I will be happy to wear them at the wedding. Of course, Patrizia, knowing it was for my son’s wedding, had to show me a purse or two, and there was one that fit in perfectly with the dress and shoes.

Here you can see the shoes beside the dress (along with the runner-up shoe). If you look up at the first image, you can get a peek of the little clutch-style purse on the left.


I am ready now for the big day. Knowing my excitement, I can’t imagine how the bride-to-be feels, Kendra, my future daughter-in-law.

Martini’s Style Calzature
Via Mazzini 48,
37121 Verona
Tel. 045 8007408