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John loves John

Weddings

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

February 12, 2012|By Tina Sutton

GREENER PASTURES Every time we drive to Vermont, we pass a little farm with… (Sabi Varga )

Though everything about their wedding day was picture-perfect, it was dirty laundry that brought South End residents John Lam and John Ruggieri together.

“John was driving his car, and he stopped to let me cross the street,” remembers Lam, a 27-year-old soloist at the Boston Ballet. “He smiled. I smiled. I dropped off my laundry. He dropped off his dry cleaning. I went for coffee at the Buttery Cafe and sat outside nearby. John came around the corner and we started talking.”

Ruggieri, an equity partner and attorney specializing in residential real estate development at the Boston law firm Looney & Grossman, asked Lam out on a date. That was in September 2008. Three years and two days later, the two celebrated their wedding in front of 150 friends and family (and several highly scenic cows). Dancers and choreographers, lawyers and developers, Vietnamese and Italian relatives, a mix of generations: “It was a real melting-pot wedding,” Lam says.

It was also storybook beautiful. Lam, whose elegantly artistic dance style carries over to his taste in fashion and design, was the overall creative director, with Ruggieri dubbing himself “director of fun.” First on their agenda: what to wear.

“I’ve been a 007 fan my entire life,” says the 46-year-old Ruggieri, smiling. “Sean Connery walking into the casino in his cream-colored dinner jacket – the epitome of style.” Friend Darwin Cordoba, who works at Ralph Lauren on Newbury Street, helped Ruggieri pick out a classic featherweight wool jacket from the designer’s Black Label collection in a rich ivory, a more versatile color than crisp white. Ruggieri walked down the aisle to a string quartet playing the James Bond theme song.

Lam had his own fashion fantasy of an edgy custom-made evening jacket by Tom Ford, something he could wear later to Boston Ballet galas. “I see all these brides spend thousands and thousands of dollars, and men always have your typical tuxes,” says Lam, who went to Ford’s New York store and was instantly drawn to a swatch of purple textured silk and wool fabric. “They sent my measurements off to Italy, and it came back absolutely perfect.”

Both Lam and Ruggieri paired their jackets with Ralph Lauren Black Label tuxedo pants and custom shirts from Turnbull & Asser, the British company that, incidentally, also outfitted Sean Connery’s Bond.

For the wedding party, Lam chose purple-toned ties for each of the grooms’ best men and fathers, with Lam’s maid of honor and bridesmaid – both dancers at the Boston Ballet – asked to wear their own choice of black gowns. “Well, someone at the wedding should be wearing a gown,” Lam jokes.