Lulu will show you how it's done. (ultimafury) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-04-25 22:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, elena gilbert, lulu |
Who: Lulu and Elena
What: Wedding dress designing.
When: Backdated to 4/8.
Where: Lulu's shop, Fayth.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13.
Status: Complete!
Lulu was sketching in her office when she was told by one of the shop employees that an Elena Gilbert was there to see her. Standing up, Lulu smoothed out the fabric of her little black dress. Because she worked in fashion, she felt the need to always look immaculate. Her dog lifted its head from the corner of the office where he was sleeping, and she smiled down at him. After taking a moment to kiss the top of his head, she walked out to see the girl for which she wanted to design a dress.
Elena had headed over to the shop right after her last class, so she was still dressed in shorts and a tank top, her bag slung over her shoulder. Waiting in the shop, the brunette looked around in awe, her brown eyes wide in excitement. She still couldn’t quite believe her luck with the whole thing, really. How often did this sort of thing really happen? It was certainly a big weight off her shoulders...and Damon’s, since he would have had to buy her dress anyways.
Seeing the woman coming out, Elena turned to look towards her, a wide, warm smile coming over her face. She headed over and held out her hand in a polite handshake for Lulu, obviously feeling very glad to be there. “Hi, I hope you weren’t busy. I just got out from UCI.”
“Not busy at all,” Lulu smiled and shook Elena’s hand in turn. “What are you studying? Let’s go to my office, we can look at sketches.” She guided her toward her back office, chuckling. “Do you mind dogs?”
Elena relaxed with the woman’s smile and she gave a pleased cock of her head before following the designer to her office, walking by her side. “Well, I’m majoring in english. Thinking I might want to get into publishing, but I know that could change,” she admitted, giving a little giggle. “I love dogs! All animals, really. My fiance has a black cat named Nyx. She tends to...avoid people and isn’t a fan of cuddles though, which is kinda a letdown for me.”
Nodding, Lulu smiled at Elena’s major. “You’ve got plenty of time to figure all of that out.” She rather liked the idea of this girl living with a man who liked cats. “I’ve got a pitbull I rescued from a shelter, and he’s a bit of a love bug, so you’re welcome to give him all the cuddles you like.” She opened the door to her office, laughing when the brown dog’s tail started thumping. “Pepsi, down.”
Elena grinned when she saw the pitbull sitting there and she couldn’t resist going over to him and crouching down on the floor to scritch the sweet dog behind his ears. “Hey there, cutie,” the brunette told him, giving him a little kiss on the muzzle and wrapping her arms around him in a hug. She gave the dog some affection for another few moments, then stood up and headed over to the desk, setting down her purse, still smiling as she looked at the woman. “This is still really crazy to me… I just...I told my fiance about it and he was so thrilled. It’s like everything is coming together.”
The dog, for his part, just panted and grinned, sitting and soaking up the attention. “Well, it’s difficult finding people to model wedding dresses unless I want to put together an entire fashion show. It’s far more simple for me to do test runs with one person, and I don’t want the dress to just be shelved after it’s tried on. They’re meant to be worn.” Especially wedding dresses; it would just seem like a monumental waste to make a wedding dress, have someone say if they liked it or not, and then throw it away.
“I agree. And weddings are such a beautiful, exciting thing. Those dresses should be loved, even if it’s just that one, magical day. And then they can be put away, kept as a reminder of that time for the bride.” A dreamy look came into the girl’s eyes and it was obvious she was thinking about her own upcoming wedding, and the man that would be waiting at the end of the aisle for her. The only problem was, Elena couldn’t imagine her dress as hard as she tried. She had a bit of an idea, but that was about it.
“Exactly, or given down to another person.” Lulu still had her wedding dress from the first time she’d wed, even though she’d gotten divorced. Just because the marriage had soured didn’t mean that the wedding day hadn’t been something done out of love.
Handing over a sketchpad, Lulu smiled. “See if any of those give you ideas for your own.” Or if she liked any of them outright, that would work too.
Elena reached out for the sketchpad and started looking over the drawings, admiring each one of them and obviously stewing over it as she slowly flipped through pages. There were bits and pieces that stood out to her as she went along, but nothing popped out quite yet. In the silence, Elena couldn’t stop herself from talking and striking up some more conversation, always the kind of person to enjoy getting to know someone. “So...um, have you made any dresses for any young brides like me? I think a lot of people think that...I’m being silly getting married.”
“I’ve not. But I was engaged as a young woman, so I understand. You’re in love. Only you know how you feel. My advice would be to listen to what others have to say, but with a grain of salt.” Lulu smiled to herself as she thought of her first fiancé, Chappu. She missed him still.
She glanced up from the sketchpad and smiled at the women warmly, noticing that look coming over Lulu’s face. “He’s my first love, and he’s older than me and...he can be an ass sometimes and stubborn, but… I feel right with him. He makes me happy. He’s the kind of guy that tends to have his guard up. A little bit of a bad boy. When we’re together though, it’s the real him, the side that no one else really sees.” Elena might have been young, but her and Damon had come so far and after everything they’d been through together, she knew that he was the one for her.
“Then that’s what matters, isn’t it? How he treats you.” Lulu squeezed Elena’s hand, knowing exactly how she’d felt at the younger woman’s age. “Chappu, my first love - he was that way too. Is your fiancé stubborn as well?”
“It is. And...we’ve had our rough patches, but we made it through and things are better than ever,” she replied as she squeezed the woman’s hand back, feeling the connection between them. She was glad that someone understood, that she wasn’t being questioned on her choice. Damon was the best thing that had happened to her and he was the one who had brought her happiness after her parents had passed away.
She gave a giggle in the next moment. “Damon is incredibly stubborn, but so am I, so it works for us. Underneath, he’s so sweet and romantic.” She took her hand away from the woman’s and reached into her purse, pulling out her phone. After swiping on the screen for a bit, she pulled up a photo of them at his brother’s wedding from November and showed her.
That made Lulu smile, leaning forward to look at the photo. “You make a lovely couple. Not because you’re both handsome, but because you’re very obviously in love with each other.” Lulu liked that they were young and in love; that wasn’t ever going to be a bad thing in Lulu’s book.
“So. Do you have any ideas for your dress?”
Elena grinned in return, giving an embarrassed little shrug of her shoulders. It was true that they were a very attractive duo, and Lulu wasn’t the first person to say it. Yes, Damon’s looks had made Elena turn her head initially, but when they’d started seeing each other, she had discovered there was so much more to him than a pretty face. He was so capable of such deep affection and Elena was glad those feelings between them were obvious.
Taking her phone back to slip into her purse, Elena glanced back down at the sketchpad. “Well...the ceremony is gonna be on the beach, and then our reception is going to be over at the heritage museum in Santa Ana. So, I guess I want something that’s young and summery, but also...kinda classic?”
“Do you know what silhouette you’re looking for? You’ll not want something too long, I’m guessing, if you’re going to be married on the beach.” Sand on the dress was probably a bad idea.
“No poof, definitely. Something to show off my curves though. Not too, too sexy.” She paused for a moment, flipping through a couple more pages of the sketchbook, thoughtful hum coming to her lips as she tried to really define her wedding day in her head. “I want the full bridal look but… Maybe something like a sheer sheath over a short dress? I’d still look young, but then I’d feel dressy enough to match Damon. I know it’s the beach, but I just love the look of a long dress.”
“That’d be lovely, actually.” Lulu started to sketch carefully, coming up with something that suited what Elena had wanted. “Do you want any pops of color on your dress? It’s getting to be more common.”
Elena shook her head no at the question of color. “I think just white. Or maybe cream on top of white. Damon is determined to wear a classic tuxedo,” the brunette said, looking down at the diamond engagement ring on her hand, thumb brushing over the bottom of the band. She thought for a moment. “Oh! But...we’re going to have a blue wedding--it’s our favorite color and Damon drives this gorgeous ‘69 Camaro convertible that is sky blue. So maybe a blue belt? I love the ones that tie at the back of the dress.” Obviously Elena had watched a few of those reality shows about bridal gown shopping.
“That’s a good idea, then you have your something blue taken care of as well. You could also use it on the trim of your veil.” Lulu sketched a veil that was traditional, but then outlined an edge. “Could put satin here in your color. You’re far more organized than I was when I did this. I just eloped.”
“Yes! I’d love the veil with that bit of blue,” she agreed, her face lighting up at the thought, her wedding starting to come more together in her head. She could now imagine herself walking down the aisle towards her handsome future husband. “I’m not sure if Damon would actually allow that. He knows how much I’d love a ceremony and the whole nine yards. I think he secretly likes it too. Even if he’s the one footing most of the bill.”
“I’m sure he does like it. A lot of men do, even though they don’t want to let on.” Lulu chuckled. “You’d be surprised how many men come in with their fiancés and end up having their husband-to-be take over.”
Elena giggled at the thought--she couldn’t imagine Damon going quite that far as he knew how much Elena liked her own independence and decisions, especially when it came to her clothes, but he would have piped in on a few things for sure.. “I think he figures since I’m trusting him to dress himself and his groomsmen, I’ll be fine with my dress and my bridal party. I also like the surprise. I’ve been pretty adamant about that part. I want him to have...that look when I walk towards him.”
“That look is lovely. If you have a good photographer, they’ll snap a photo of it as well.” Lulu smiled to herself, remembering Nicola, how happy he’d seemed when she’d walked toward him.
“Damon’s brother, Stefan, is actually a model so he said he would be finding a photographer for us. And then that photo is definitely going up on our wall.” She blushed a light pink on her cheeks and crossed her legs in her chair, sighing contentedly. She really did feel like the luckiest girl on the planet right then.
Suddenly, she perked up though, overcome with quite an idea. “Damon’s family is Italian, like...real Italian. And his mother told me that in Italy, they’ll put flowers in the grill of the car the new couple drive. So what if I had flowers in my hair?”
Lulu made notes in the pad that she kept by her sketch pad. “We could find flowers that match your blue, use them to hold the veil in place. Or you could always go without a veil, that’s more and more common these days.” She liked to present her clients with more options than they’d need, if only so that they’d give her more feedback.
“No, I think Damon would like me in a veil, so we definitely have to have it. The flowers will look good holding it in place,” the girl replied, smiling. All the blue would look so gorgeous standing out against her dark hair and the white of her dress. Nice and simple, as Elena liked it. “I think one of those veils where my face can be covered and then he could lift it up. Maybe. But that could be a little much with the flowers.”
“I can make both of them, we’ll see which you prefer.” Lulu smiled and leaned back for a moment before standing up. “May I take your measurements?” She took a tape measure and started to move behind Elena to measure her arms.
She kept grinning and gave an excited nod of her head at the woman. She just couldn’t wait for everything to come together, for her to look like a real bride for the her wedding day, and for Damon to be in awe of her. “Yes, measurements,” Elena said as she stood up, allowing Lulu to direct her to how she needed to stand for everything.
Lulu did so, patiently and explaining everything before she just hauled off and did them. Lulu understood most people didn’t do this very often.
As Lulu worked, Elena felt herself getting even more excited over the prospect of her own wedding gown. The reality of it all was setting itself in further and further, leaving butterflies in her stomach. She was going to be walking down the aisle in a few short months, marrying the man of her dreams after everything they’d been through, after his death and transition to a vampire. She wasn’t scared. She was anxious to become Mrs. Salvatore.