Remember Frank from "Father of the Bride"? Remember his thick accent and his visions for the wedding?
We found our FRANK! Last night we met with Ukranian designer Tatiana who ushered us into her studio to discuss the "design" of our wedding. I thought we were going to see a florist, but 1.25 hours into the visit we had not discussed a single flower. Tatiana has vision. She told us right away that she has the "soul of a designer" so when she sees something visually "wrong" she "immediately gets a headache." (Note to self: Do not invite Tatiana over to house until all the furniture has been ordered. Even then, have Advil at the ready.)
She was great. Turns out, yet again, that Jeff had a few more ideas and opinions than I did. I love that about him. What an affirmation! At one point, Jeff's foot fell asleep and he was shaking it. When Tatiana asked him what was wrong and he explained that his foot was asleep, she said, "be glad it wasn't you who fell asleep." She went on to talk about how most grooms have nothing to say about the design elements of a wedding. In our household, the groom is the new bride.
My favorite part was listening to Jeff explain how he envisioned the chuppah. http://www.myjewishlearning.com/lifecycle/Marriage/LiturgyRitualCustom/Chuppah.htm?gclid=COqRx4merpUCFRghnAodqiE9kg
Sometimes, it is spelled huppah. Anyway, we had already talked about Jeff using his tallit (prayer shawl), along with his dad's, his brother's and his grandpa Jack's as the top of the canopy. He and Tatiana had a long conversation about how to design the chuppah-- passing back and forth the pencil and paper to sketch out their thoughts. I felt so happy just watching the process unfold. We think that Tatiana is a little worried about whether it will look "too patchworky" to have four different tallit as our chuppah, but she went with Jeff's vision and assured him that she's "got more ideas that he has tallit."
We did some good negotiating around the flowers, once we got to them. Actually, Jeff did some good negotiating. When Tatiana asked us about our budget, I just froze, but Jeff threw out a number and Tatiana asked if we were commited to that. Jeff, without skipping a beat said yes, but I was behind him mouthing to her that we were willing to go up from there. Now that's partnership, people.
I was about to go into a hypoglycemic coma, which the perceptive Tatiana noticed, so she didn't belabor the discussion about West African hydrangeas. We are totally using Tatiana-- in part because she has that awesome Ukranian accent, part because she's a confident and accomplished designer, but also because she made an auspicious restaurant suggestion: She told us to go to La Scarola for dinner. Jeff and I laughed and told her that is where our first date was.
We found our FRANK! Last night we met with Ukranian designer Tatiana who ushered us into her studio to discuss the "design" of our wedding. I thought we were going to see a florist, but 1.25 hours into the visit we had not discussed a single flower. Tatiana has vision. She told us right away that she has the "soul of a designer" so when she sees something visually "wrong" she "immediately gets a headache." (Note to self: Do not invite Tatiana over to house until all the furniture has been ordered. Even then, have Advil at the ready.)
She was great. Turns out, yet again, that Jeff had a few more ideas and opinions than I did. I love that about him. What an affirmation! At one point, Jeff's foot fell asleep and he was shaking it. When Tatiana asked him what was wrong and he explained that his foot was asleep, she said, "be glad it wasn't you who fell asleep." She went on to talk about how most grooms have nothing to say about the design elements of a wedding. In our household, the groom is the new bride.
My favorite part was listening to Jeff explain how he envisioned the chuppah. http://www.myjewishlearning.com/lifecycle/Marriage/LiturgyRitualCustom/Chuppah.htm?gclid=COqRx4merpUCFRghnAodqiE9kg
Sometimes, it is spelled huppah. Anyway, we had already talked about Jeff using his tallit (prayer shawl), along with his dad's, his brother's and his grandpa Jack's as the top of the canopy. He and Tatiana had a long conversation about how to design the chuppah-- passing back and forth the pencil and paper to sketch out their thoughts. I felt so happy just watching the process unfold. We think that Tatiana is a little worried about whether it will look "too patchworky" to have four different tallit as our chuppah, but she went with Jeff's vision and assured him that she's "got more ideas that he has tallit."
We did some good negotiating around the flowers, once we got to them. Actually, Jeff did some good negotiating. When Tatiana asked us about our budget, I just froze, but Jeff threw out a number and Tatiana asked if we were commited to that. Jeff, without skipping a beat said yes, but I was behind him mouthing to her that we were willing to go up from there. Now that's partnership, people.
I was about to go into a hypoglycemic coma, which the perceptive Tatiana noticed, so she didn't belabor the discussion about West African hydrangeas. We are totally using Tatiana-- in part because she has that awesome Ukranian accent, part because she's a confident and accomplished designer, but also because she made an auspicious restaurant suggestion: She told us to go to La Scarola for dinner. Jeff and I laughed and told her that is where our first date was.
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