1 0 y e a r s

Ten years ago today Chef and I were married in Labro, Italy. We were married in a tenth century church with original frescoes covering the walls. Simply amazing. There really are not enough words to describe our wedding.

See the tower at the tippy top of the photo above? Look below and see us sitting on the lawn at the base of that tower. Holee shehot!

Since we were married before the digital age, all of our photos were taken with a film camera (I know, WTF?). All the wedding photos are in albums (again, I know) so it was a real pain to scan these few. One day I need to scan all of them...one day. Until then, this is a little sample.

Service was all in Italian, hence our expressions. I think I may need to actually learn how to use photoshop 'cause I would love to mess around with some of these photos and some text. Ahhh, the digital age.

O.k. let's get serious here. I know you all give a monkeys butt about the wedding. Let's talk about something sewing related. My mom made the dress and the veil. The dress is made in dupioni silk with the bodice hand beaded by yours truly. I never counted how many buttons go down the back, but my mom was meticulous in the detail. The mantilla style veil is made with silk chiffon and it must have been 8 feet long. I bought the lace that edged the veil in a French lace shop in San Francisco. We hand stitched it to a hair comb. Turned out  a m a z i n g  if I say so myself.

The petticoats are made with acres of netting. Each layer is edged in gorgeous lace. I loved having every detail sewn to perfection, even parts of the dress that were not visible. I wish I had a good photo of the dress with the bustle buttoned up. There are two hidden buttons that allowed the back of the dress to be attached in such a way that you wouldn't even know it had a train. 

Even though I would wear a much different dress today, I still love the simple design of this dress.

So if you ever get the chance to travel to Europe and you are wondering which country to pick. Duh. ITALY!!! 

p.s. My parents are from the Netherlands and all of my family still lives in Holland so Italy was a natural place for me to get married to my Italian-American fiance. It was a short distance for most of my relatives to travel. I mean really.... No offense to the Northern European countries, but we were in it for some sunshine.