Saturday, May 23, 2015

We're getting married! Again.

We're finally having our Italian wedding ceremony.

We were originally married in 2008 at the Beverly Hills Registrar's office. That afternoon, we went over to have dim sum in Chinatown, and then spent a couple nights in Catalina. It happened over a long weekend and we really didn't tell anyone except our immediate family until after we got back. I guess it could have been considered and elopement. About a month later we hosted a homespun reception in the front yard of our little rental house. Basically, we served up dim sum take-out from Chinatown and cut a large sheet of Chinese spongecake. Invites were sent through evite. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately this happened pre-blogging so I can't find the photos right now. I know they're backed up somewhere on a drive or cloud or both. Here are a few I managed to squeeze out from an old photo site. That last one is the morning after the house party.



Oh, and here's the old photo album site we set up seven(!) years ago of the wedding and Catalina trip. (You'll need flash player so you won't be able to view on mobile.): http://elsieandsergio.com/

ANYWAY, the plan always was to have a grander event in Italy "later," at the villa Sergio used to explore and play in as a child. Everyone was going to be invited. We even met with a party planner/caterer. We menu planned, talked flowers...then the caterer was suddenly forced into retirement for health reasons. And then the villa always seemed to be under renovation and then recently, it was given to the Franciscan monks so...it was just not meant to be. Meanwhile, we bought our house, had a baby, life happened...I honestly had made peace with never wearing the white wedding dress or walking down an aisle to say hey to my guy at the altar. Priorities shift massively when a baby enters the picture. But then, we booked a trip to Italy over this Summer and Sergio said we should just make it happen. He really wanted to have this celebration with his family around us.

And so we are making it happen.

Largely with the help of Sergio's mom, Nora. She's done so much and we are so grateful. She has made so many phones calls, talked to so many people...we would not have been able to plan this without her. We didn't print invitations so she made personal phone calls to all the family to invite them. She found a florist, she talked to the caterer, she found us a place to stay...she's even the officiant.

We've mentioned the wedding to friends here in the U.S. and we always tell them they should come. I'm not sure they think we're serious but we are. We don't belabor the issue though because really, the "wedding season" is largely over for our group. I feel almost embarrassed to talk about it because Sergio and I have been married for so long already. Everyone has kids, has so much life going on, we know it's not realistic to expect people to buy a plane ticket to Italy to attend a re-wedding. What I really wish is that I could afford to put everyone on a plane and rent out a giant villa. THAT would be dreamy.

BUT, the event we've planned will still be dreamy. We will be at a restaurant belonging to an old family friend. Sergio has been going to the restaurant since he was small and it sits on a nature preserve lake that he used to swim and windsurf in as a kid. So, even though not the villa, there is still a lot of history and roots being honored. We hope to do a pre-wedding photoshoot at the villa so that will still get incorporated into the festivities.


This is an old photo of our nieces at the lake. They are so small here!

I put together an inspiration board for the wedding if you're interested in taking a look. There's a better shot of the lake taken by someone else on there.

Follow elsie's board Lau Spina Nuptials on Pinterest.

I created a different board for my bridal look but have kept it secret for now. I purchased my veil last week and picked up my dress from alterations today. (It's a little snug. Eeep.) We are getting on a plane in two weeks. The wedding is just under a week after that. I'm so excited and kind of nervous. I guess just like a real bride.

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations, again! I'm so glad Martha can make it. Enjoy your day, and many blessings in your future.

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    1. Thank you Joan! It truly was so wonderful having Martha with me. I was grateful that she could attend. She was also so loving to Luca! It was a fun time to catch up.

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  2. I'm glad you got your white dress wedding! You looked dreamy! 😘

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    1. Thanks Fabi! It really was a dream experience. I was lucky to find that dress!

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