Although ESPN reporter
Olivia Harlan and
L.A. Clippers player Sam Dekker grew up just two hours away from each other in Wisconsin, it wasn’t until a mutual friend introduced them that their love story took flight.
“She said we had so much in common, and it was obvious we’d be the perfect match,” Harlan said.
At the time, distance was a factor, and career was too. “I was living in Atlanta and covering the NBA, so when I heard he was an NBA player, I said, ‘No way!’” Harlan jokes. “My friend gave him my number anyway, and I took my time to respond. Once we started talking, though, I couldn’t deny that she was right.” Harlan says that Dekker, 24, was “so persistent” that he quickly won her over. The pair dated for eight months before the athlete popped the question.
Shortly after that happened, Olivia got in touch with us about creating a custom wedding garter using not only Dekker's jersey but also lace from her mother's gown. The entire project was a BLAST. We used the Athena garter as her keepsake design, and customized the back band using a small strip of lace that Olivia shipped to us from Wisconsin. Then, to make it even more special, we cut off the tiny "NBA" patch from Dekker's Clippers jersey and sewed it onto the inside of her keepsake garter as a special hidden detail! One of my favorite parts about this patch is that it included the color navy blue, which meant that Olivia's "something blue" was taken directly from Sam's authentic NBA jersey!
Interested to see the final product? Scroll through the photos below to see her garters from every gorgeous angle!
The jersey that you see in the background is the actual jersey that we used to make Olivia's garter. It was so incredible to work with something that had been actually worn by Sam during his Clippers games!
The roman numeral pendant that we attached to the center of her toss garter translated to the date of their wedding. I loved having this darling little square pendant made just for Olivia! Thank you to My Beloved Collection on
Etsy for coming through with this project!
EEeeep! My favorite detail!! If you look closely, you will see the authentic NBA patch that we extracted from Sam's jersey and sewed to the inside of Olivia's garter! Talk about an incredible "something blue"!
Above is a picture of the fabric that we used to make Olivia's toss garter. Fun fact: each piece of silk and every single pearl were taken from Olivia's mother's wedding gown, making this set not only FUN but also a very special heirloom accessory.
Dear Olivia, if you are reading this: it has been such a pleasure to work with you. It was such a blast to make these for you! As I look back over everything we created, it is really realize just how much magic we created in such a short time span! Thank you for trusting us to create so much meaning for your wedding day....and for (hopefully) your future daughter or daughter-in-law!
Side note: are you someone who is interested in having a custom garter made for yourself or someone you love? Then we would love to hear from you! Click here to view our current customization availability! Currently, as of 1/17/22, we are booked out until March of 2022 for customizations but we have one spot still available in April and two spots in May.
Please feel free to reach out via the contact from here or send us an email at hello@lagartier to inquire about pricing!
