#peter secretly loves pink and 'girly' things. to me.

[thelittlestspider]

consider: peter and wade wearing matching hello kitty crop tops with cunty sunglasses

[fishy12233]

Chronicles of Sturgia

Prologue Part 1: “The Garbled Gossip”

In order for a story to make sense, the reader must know who the main characters are. After all, the main characters are the ones who drive the story. Imagine a middle school cafeteria, bustling with chatter, like a theater before the show. The cafeteria is bright and cheery with its checkered floor and artistic walls. Hundreds of children are chattering at once, some talking about the newest member in a famous band; others are talking about mysterious rumors of aliens, but everyone knows rumors like that are only real in comic books and movies. The chatter continues, an endless garble of noise. Anyone in the cafeteria can see a variety of different students. Six girls walking by while wearing coordinated outfits, a typical guy surrounded by his strange friends, a girl who chooses to doodle on her tablet by herself. However, none of them are our main characters.

As lunch begins, a girl sits down at an empty table with her lunch. Her name is Maddie, and she is the first of our six main characters. She wears a school uniform in a school that doesn’t require school uniforms and has a poppy in her hair. Her eyes are dark, mysterious, and a little sleepy, though her left eye is partially covered by her one-sided bangs. Maddie prefers to spend her time reading spooky novels or playing spooky video games. Her lunch is chopped beef with a slice of devil’s food cake on the side. Maddie isn’t the one who talks very much at her table, but when discussing her interests, she takes full control of the conversation. During an everyday conversation, Maddie is the type of person who tends to listen and observe. This is great for Maddie since she always knows exactly what type of gifts to give her friends on their birthdays.

The chatter continues. Sometimes, when you listen closely, you can listen in on gossip. This can tell someone a lot about what others think of them. Gossip isn’t always the best form of entertainment. But passing students continue to eavesdrop nonetheless.

“Did you see Maddie? She’s so elegant and graceful!”

“She’s like everyone’s big sister. They shouldn’t need to be so dependant on her! She acts like some concerned mom sometimes.”

“But she’s a total goth too! Have you seen her clothes? She looks like she came right out of boarding school! I bet that she’s secretly a witch or something.”

The children continue with their daily routine. The coordinated girls eat healthy salads. A nerdy girl talks to her friends, making sassy remarks with a deadpan voice. Meanwhile, a bratty kid is playing pranks on other people. But none of them are our main characters.

A second girl sits down to eat with Maddie. Her name is Susan. She’s Maddie’s little sister and her total opposite. Susan wears a purple A-line dress with pink flowers on it and keeps a white lily in her hair. She also wears black stockings and flowery shoes. Her eyes are bright, happy, and excited. Susan loves cute things, especially cute things from Japan. She likes doing things like watching cute anime or buying cute plushies. Susan makes her own Japanese bento lunch, complete with octopus sausages and onigiri. But sometimes, Susan decides to go all out and create a cute and elaborate bento lunch with cute characters and a large variety of food. When Susan first saw how cute bento boxes could be, her eyes sparkled with awe. She saved up her allowance so that she could buy her own genuine bento box. Her friends always love her bento box designs and ask her if she could make lunch for them. Susan is extroverted, which in this case means she loves to talk, but is overly dependant on others and sometimes comes off as rude and annoying. Anyone who calls Susan annoying isn’t her friend. During an everyday conversation, Susan is the type of person who gets distracted by her surroundings and always carries the conversation. Susan truly cares about her friends, but always forgets things like their birthdays. Fortunately, she has her sister Maddie to help her remember.

The garbled gossip goes on and on. Everyone wonders what people think of them. They get self-conscious and anxious just thinking about it. Gossip is always behind one's back, but it’s not always well hidden.

“Have you seen Susan? OMG! She’s soooo cute!”

“She may be cute, but she’s annoying. Why can’t she just leave us alone? She should just go back to relying on her sister for everything.”

“She’s also a total weeb! Susan is so into anime and cutesy stuff, it’s sickening! Also also, she totally copied my style!”

While the peanut gallery rambled on, the kids kept eating their lunch. One of the coordinated girls finishes eating and walks over to another table to talk to her other friends. A snarky girl who looks rather similar to Susan gossips and acts as if the leader of her group, even though she’s not. Meanwhile, two sisters and their friend talk about the latest horror movies. But none of them are our main characters.

A third kid sits at the table with the sisters. This time, the kid is a boy named Peter. He wears a propeller hat and a shirt with a smiley face and blue-and-yellow-striped sleeves. Peter also wears a heavy backpack, filled with a ton of schoolwork, his lunch, a bunch of colorful yo-yos, some robot parts from the robotics club, and a huge album of trading cards. His eyes are simple, yet optimistic and determined. Peter likes geeky things like robots and trading cards. He always has the coolest toys. His favorite food is ground beef and rice with ketchup that his mom makes for him. During lunch, he also likes to have a grilled cheese and pizza bagels alongside the beef to share with friends. Peter and his friends love to trade and share their lunches. Peter is outgoing and friendly but sometimes is too distracted with building robots to talk. During an everyday conversation, Peter is cool with listening to others talk, but he can easily carry a conversation if needed. People like talking to him because conversations with him are never boring.

The students continue to talk incessantly. Not everyone who talks with friends is a gossip. Sadly, many girls tend to be labeled as gossips just for being outgoing. The saying, “It takes one to know one,” definitely rings true here.

“Peter’s kind of cute. He looks really cool with his gadgets and toys!”

“Are you kidding me? Peter’s a DWEEB!”

“Geez, shut up! Takes one to know one, dweeb.”

Lunch continues on. The coordinated girl and one of her friends decide to do their friend’s hair in wacky hairstyles. A cooler girl sits with the snarky girl that looks like Susan and chat about other people. The bratty kid gets into an argument with some other students. But none of them are our main characters.

A girl named Lisa, the fourth friend, sits at the lunch table. She wears a large tie-dye shirt and worn bell-bottoms. Lisa wears way too many bracelets and keeps her curly dyed hair up in two large pigtails with scrunchies. Her eyes have more makeup than her friends’, which makes them look more flashy. Lisa likes doing fun things like having parties and playing dolls. She likes playing dress-up and usually likes having sleepovers with Peter. Sometimes, Peter and Lisa would play shovelware games and laugh at them during their sleepovers.

Lisa always likes to sneak candy into her lunch, which usually has fun, bizarre food. She always trades food with Peter. Lisa is chatty but very kind, even to people who don’t like her. During an everyday conversation, Lisa is usually the one to start it. She always talks about the latest trends, but Lisa always gets bored from running out of things that she wants to talk about. Lisa knows that people think she’s a girly gossip, but she really wants to get rid of that view people have on her so that she can live a more free life.

The chatter continues. Some people don’t really care about gossip. They’re the smart ones, ignoring others’ opinions and focusing on being themselves. Like a stone wall, harsh words don’t get through to them. But even a stone wall wears down over time.

“You know Lisa right? That weird girl with the flashy accessories?”

“Yeah, what’s her deal anyway? Who’s she tryin’ to impress?”

“I heard that it’s Peter, they always hang out together. What losers!”

Lunch continues, but there are still some students waiting in line for their food. The sister of the girl with the wacky hairstyle writes in her journal while listening to emotional music. While the girl who looks like Susan continues to gossip, the true leader of her friend group sits quietly. She writes poetry and hums a familiar song. The girl with the tablet continues to sit alone and draw in peace. But none of these students are our main characters.

A fifth student sits with Maddie, Susan, Peter, and Lisa. She is carrying a tray piled with food along with her lunch box. Her name is Annie, and she’s wearing a faux raccoon tail hat and a worn plaid shirt with worn jeans. Annie’s eyes are stern but friendly. She’s a tough girl who loves camping and tasty food. Her dad has taken her out hiking and fishing countless times. She’ll eat anything for lunch. She loves meat, and is always down for eating out. Annie’s eyes are much larger than her stomach. This always results in Annie leaving lunch too full and having lots of leftovers to give to her friends. But she doesn’t really mind. Annie volunteers at the local food bank every day, which gives her the opportunity to donate any extra food that she’s gathered during lunch. From time to time, Annie’s friends also volunteer at the food bank. Annie is strong and motivating, but can be insensitive at times. During an everyday conversation, Annie always finds a way to brighten someone’s day. She tends to rush through life, but her friends help her to slow down and appreciate the world around her more.

Almost everyone has settled down to eat. Many students have already finished their lunch. But the chatter is louder than ever. In the end, others’ opinions don’t matter. But even still, when a person spends too much time taunting people and belittling friendship, they get annoying. People start ignoring them and getting bored of them. Sometimes, one has to wonder if that person turned out well.

“Do you know Annie?”

“Yeah, she’s that tomboy. What’s her deal?”

“She can be so insensitive, giving false motivation. What a hypocrite.”

Lunch begins to close. Students are finishing their food and packing up. The coordinated girls reunite and begin heading back to class. The strange friends of the regular guy begin finishing up, but still chatter. Everyone else, including the bratty kid and the artistic girl, throw out their trash and begin to leave. But none of them are our main characters.

Before lunch begins to end, one last person sits with his friends. He arrives at the table with Annie. His name was Chris. Chris is considered a nerd. He wears large glasses, a bowtie with a school uniform, and has his hair slicked back. Chris is shorter than his friends. He’s a studious kid who loves reading and math. Chris was the last to join his friend group. When he first joined, he was apprehensive. He was too scared to ask them to let him join their group. But what he wanted more than anything else was to have a group of friends he could be a part of. He simply needed to build up his courage. His lunch normally consists of hard boiled eggs, tuna, and salty crackers. Chris is kind, but is also shy and awkward. During an everyday conversation, Chris is the type of person who listens, but really wants to speak. He may be shy, but he has his friends to take care of him and help him become more social.

The cafeteria is almost empty, but the chatter still lingers. The students walk back to class, yet our six main characters still remain, being the last ones to pack up and leave. In the end, gossip doesn't matter. Only your own actions matter. In the future, things may get better. Sometimes, it doesn't get better. The best we can do is make the best of it. But we must also strive to improve our lives for the better.

“You know Chris, right?”

“Who?”

“The kid who always follows Annie around. He's like her minion or something.”

“Oh yeah, the egghead! He just, like, doesn't stand out to me a lot.”

Finally, everyone leaves, heading back to class and taking their noisy chatter with them. The garbled gossip fades away, leaving the cafeteria empty. But just because lunch is over doesn’t mean that the story is. A show always begins on an empty stage. Just like a play, the story is only just beginning...

[calzona-ga]

Planning a TV wedding is a lot like planning a real wedding — you work with venues, florists, dress designers, and tailors. Only you have no more than three weeks (typically just one or two) to get the whole thing done. Can you imagine?

"I'm not a wedding planner, but we always joke that I could be after how many weddings we’ve done," says Nicole Cramer, set decorator for Grey's Anatomy since the show's fifth season. (She worked as a shopper on Cristina Yang's season-three wedding to Preston Burke, under then-set decorator Karen Bruck.)

It helps that Cramer is one of a team of people, from the production designer to the props master, working with TV money. (The set budget for April Kepner's wedding, which didn't have a reception, was about $20,000; the set budget for Miranda Bailey's, which did have a reception, was roughly double that.) Still: three weeks, max, to pull together a wedding. That's impressive.

Also under extreme deadline is Mimi Melgaard, the show's costumer designer since its third season. "Everyone’s always shocked when they find out we've put a wedding together in 10 days," she says. "We’re kind of used to it."

Here, Cramer and Melgaard tell the stories behind eight Grey's Anatomy weddings, all of which began with a vision from show creator Shonda Rhimes. (Think of her as the bride.)

April Kepner and Matthew Taylor: "Get Up, Stand Up" (Season 10, Episode 12)

The location: Windy Hill Ranch at El Campeon Farms. "We knew it was going to be a barn wedding to reflect on April’s past," Cramer says. "We got that note right off the bat." (April was raised on a farm in Ohio.) "Of all the weddings, this one was probably the least stressful because the venue was pretty already. Of course, what you’re seeing out the barn doors, the mountain and the lake, are a green screen."

The details: "We plan the wedding around the character. So April has little signs made — 'Happily ever after starts here.' We were like, 'April would do this, for sure.'"

"[Same with] the butterflies, which were scripted. And I think the 'Mint to Be' favors were also scripted. Somebody must have seen that on a wedding planning blog."

The flowers: "We got the fabrics from the bridesmaids' dresses [in advance] and that helped us choose the flowers. With the orange, we kind of went off April’s red hair.'" As with most of the Grey's weddings, the flowers were fresh-cut (Cramer often sends cast and crew home with arrangements); in this case, she worked with a local florist called AOO Floral. "Everyone thinks flowers are so expensive, but they really do make the wedding beautiful, they bring in the color — that’s where you don’t want to cut corners."

The lighting: "We always do a lot of twinkle lights, they make everything look magical," Cramer says. "We also made a couple of Xs and Os out of twinkle lights, and we did a heart shape out of them. I don’t think we saw that [on the show]. Sometimes things that we want to make it into the shots don’t make it in. We were nervous that the chandeliers weren’t going to get in, because Shonda had requested big, beautiful chandeliers, and we really loved them.” Thankfully, they made the cut.

The dress: "Once I heard Shonda describing the barn feeling, I knew exactly what I wanted, so I was going to have it made," Melgaard says. "But when I was getting some pictures for inspiration, to get the dress approved before I had it made, I found the exact dress that I saw in my mind online, with this designer Peter Langnerout of Rome. They sent me a sample overnight that didn’t fit [Sarah Drew, who plays April], but we at least saw it in person. We sent Sarah's measurements and Peter made it with very few changes [to the original]. The process is usually four or five months for real brides, and he did it lickety-split. He was amazing and his workmanship is amazing."

Miranda Bailey and Ben Warren: "Things We Said Today" (Season 9, Episode 10)

The location: Calamigos Ranch. “I think this wedding was my favorite because it was the hardest," Cramer says. "A huge labor of love. Just picture that room completely empty. We only had one week, two at most, to get that wedding together, and so much detail went into it. We tried to make it very sparkly and romantic and beautiful.

The details: "I loved the table settings. We had fresh lavender in the napkin rings. We worked really closely with the florist, Sandy Rose — we have a wonderful relationship with them and they help us execute our vision beautifully by adding little touches, like glitter to the pine cones. And then we had twinkle lights in mercury vases; we bought all the mercury glass they had downtown."

The dress: "Bailey is that perfect mix of a soft, feminine person who has a strong job," Melgaard says. "That’s why she always wears shirts that have something like a floral pattern — I think in her mind, she’s more of a feminine person. But she’s the boss. Like all successful women, she has to change gears and be focused. So I wanted a really feminine dress for her. We started with a dress and altered it a lot — I added the bling around the sweetheart neckline. I added the belt."

"On TV, I can buy a very expensive, custom-made dress from Italy or a dress from downtown Los Angeles, and it doesn’t matter as long as it works on the body. Chandra [Wilson, who plays Bailey] looks so good in things that hug her figure, which is amazing, that I just went for it."

The surprise dress: "That was an interesting episode because it went into Richard dancing with his wife, Adele, who’d just died. We had to get a dress for her too. We tried to get something that felt vintage-y since their wedding was supposed to be decades ago."

Callie Torres and Arizona Robbins: "White Wedding" (Season 7, Episode 20)

The location: Descanso Gardens. "There’s a round stage with a big ring that’s already built into it at the top," Cramer says, “so we just attached the pink-and-white plastic streamers to the top of that and draped them over the stage. And then we did a pink carpet. We called it the pink wedding. Very girly and sweet. Those were the notes that we got."

The cake: "We found somebody local in Los Angeles to make the little cake topper to match Callie and Arizona and their dresses. Shonda actually has that cake topper in her office now."

"Shonda also wanted a candy bar. We bought the jars at a Muscatels and then picked all the pink and white candies that looked good at a candy shop. We made such a great candy bar but you never see it!”

The dresses: "[We wanted] to make the girls look different so it doesn’t look like two big, white dresses," Melgaard says. "I knew I wanted to do a more traditional one on Callie because she’s from a more traditional family, her family’s Catholic. That’s why I put the veil on her. I altered her dress quite a bit. I changed the neckline, but I still felt like it was missing something, so I had some custom sparkly sleeves made.

"Arizona’s dress was really pretty, with all these torn pieces of chiffon. We tried on a whole bunch of dresses to find the right one. We knew we didn’t want it to be white because Callie was in white, and that color with Jessica’s skin just worked perfectly. It wasn’t too full but it was romantic."

Izzie Stevens and Alex Karev: "What a Difference a Day Makes" (Season 5, Episode 22)

The location: "We looked at so many churches,” Cramer remembers. "I think this one was the grandest and most beautiful. It had the stained glass and the mezzanine on the top, so we were able to drape flowers from the mezzanine."

The theme: "Her wedding was the fairytale wedding — over the top, with candles, romantic. That was Shonda’s notes: that Izzie was living vicariously through Meredith by planning the best, most beautiful wedding she could. And there was a note [to use] lots of candles and flowers and tulle and twinkle lights."

The dress: "That one was interesting because it was supposed to be Meredith’s dress for her wedding to Derek, and then Izzie gets sick," Melgaard says. "So we knew all along it had to be something that looks good on Izzie — it’s definitely an Izzie dress. It's Kenneth Pool for Amsale and they did some alterations for us, like lowered the waistline and changed her neckline a bit. Shonda and I wanted her to feel like a princess — you know, it’s a princess wedding, she could be dying. So it’s a big, beautiful dress with sparkles."

Amelia Shepherd and Owen Hunt: "Family Affair" (Season 12, Episode 24)

The theme: "Amelia’s is definitely more eccentric," Cramer says. "We used fresh wild flowers — Shonda wanted the wedding to be intimate and romantic, with candles, wild flowers, and a harp musician."

The dress: "I had to have three dresses for this one," Melgaard says. "[Caterina Scorsone, who plays Amelia] was secretly pregnant, so I had to choose a loose silhouette, because nobody [from the show] knew she was pregnant besides Shonda and me."

"Then there was the dress that got rained on. And then we came back three months later and continued shooting, so I had to have a third in a much bigger size as well. Amelia is so strong, but she has broken parts, so we tried on a lot of dresses to find something that wasn’t too girly, wasn’t too precious, but that was also beautiful and honored the day for her."

Cristina Yang and Preston Burke: "Didn’t We Almost Have It All" (Season 3 finale)

The theme: "The instruction I got was ‘Shonda’s dream wedding," says Karen Bruck, the set decorator on this wedding. "That kinda freaked me out. I said, 'Oh my god, how am I going to live up to that?'" So they gave me the color scheme that she loved, which was the green and the dark brown — see, it affected me, that I remember so many years later. And lots of flowers. We had to make it a little over the top so it was definitely not Cristina’s personality. Nothing about it was her personality."

The dress: "That dress was so over the top for Cristina, with the bling and the necklace," Melgaard says. "Everything about it was so not her, and she was so trying to be that person for Burke. On paper, if you saw a picture of her, you’d be like, 'Oh, she looks so beautiful, it’s so perfect for her.' And then you cut back and it’s like, 'But that’s not her at all.' And I’m sure that there are brides who can relate to that in real life — being dressed up and propped up and having to walk through and have a wedding with 200 people, and you only want to talk to four."

The rip: "There was a stunt dress we used for Meredith to cut. We took the zipper out and inserted a piece of silk fabric that was attached by Velcro and she cut into that, and that piece of silk was easily replaceable for each take we needed to shoot. We still have both dresses — we save everything in storage. We have a bridal room with all of the bridal dresses and bridesmaids."

Cristina Yang and Owen Hunt: "With You I’m Born Again" (Season 7, Episode 1)

This was "a home wedding, sweet and sophisticated," Cramer says, so the décor was simple and the dress was vintage. "She already had a wedding that was so unlike her, so I wanted this one to feel like her," Melgaard says. "Shonda and Sandra Oh [who played Cristina Yang] both loved it."

Richard Webber and Catherine Avery: "You’re My Home" (Season 11 finale)

The location: "The reception took place at Meredith and Derek's house, which we called the 'The Dream House,'" Cramer says. "It was the last time we ever filmed on that set."

The dress: "That one I made," Melgaard says. "I wanted that color, so I just made it here in-house. I have a wonderful full-time seamstress. I brought her the drawing, and all of a sudden, she made it, including the jacket. We did a fitting with Debbie [Allen, who plays Catherine] and it was perfect."

The (missing cake): "We had a real, three-tier wedding cake by Cake and Art in Los Angeles, and we cut into it as if they had already cut the cake," Cramer says. "I can't remember if we see that in the episode. I'm pretty sure the crew enjoyed it at the end of the night."