Shoemaker Ben Maslauskas’s wedding at the seashore: dad organized the pairing

A celebration of dreams by the sea.

After swearing their love in the presence of God on June 13, Ben and Amber confirmed their determination to live together in the civil marriage department.

The bride always imagined that an important day for her would be celebrated surrounded by nature, near the sea. That is why the couple chose Villa Auska for their celebration.

“We had no feelings for this place, we just fulfilled Amber’s dream. She grew up in Klaipeda, so her heart, even when we lived in Kėdainiai for a time, always cried out to sea,” said Benas.

The acquaintance of Ben and Gintarė began during their school days, when Benas, who had just finished high school and returned to Lithuania, spoke to him on the social network Facebook.

Not long after, he invited Amber on a first date on the beach. When the boy’s parents found out, they even changed their plans and went to Palanga to rest instead of Druskininkai. Then the two were eager to find out who had chosen their son and to hear Ben’s first impressions of the meeting.

A friendship that does not fear at any distance.

One of the most serious proofs of Amber and Ben’s friendship is the constant distance. They both lived in different cities, and when the time came to choose their studies, Gintarė entered physiotherapy science at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences in Kaunas, and Benas, business and communication studies at the Administration University and ISM Economics.

Ben had no choice but to live “on wheels” between Vilnius, Kaunas and their native Kėdainiai for several years, to which the visits of the two with Gintare became imperceptibly more and more frequent.

While studying, Ben often returned to his parents’ house, where he discussed the theoretical knowledge acquired with his father until the evening.

“I was very interested in helping him, so without feeling it myself, I got involved in all the processes and said an increasingly important word in decision making. In a year and a half, my father passed on to me all the basic knowledge of the shoemaking trade and many subtleties that only he knew, and that I am now perfecting.

All my life, both parents created the “House of the shoe” and they did not wish me a difficult path. I chose it myself, alone.

Apparently, so was my destiny: as soon as I managed to get into the business at full speed, when I was still very young, I was only 44 years old, and on August 30 of last year, my father went out without even having another heart attack Ben said.

Dad blessed the relationship

On the day of the wedding, Ben remembered with a smile when, when he had brought Amber to her parents’ house for the first time during their studies, Jean immediately whispered in the ear of his wife Jurgita that she was a guaranteed young lady from Maslauski.

Ben’s mother Jurgita says that if her Jean didn’t fit any picture, Ben probably wouldn’t even marry Amber today.

In addition to Jean’s spontaneity, the couple’s commitment did not disappear.

“As I remember now, one day, while accepting individual orders, in our shoe room, Dad opens his sketchbook, and there, among his papers, 400 euros.

Happy to start, he starts laughing because he doesn’t know where that money came from. And when they don’t know where they are from, that’s not what they should keep: we go to the jewelry store to buy an engagement ring for Amber, it’s time to play!

And we left. We both chose the ring and even measured it on my finger, because their fingers are smaller than mine. This symbol of my love, chosen together with my father, was perfectly suited to Amber ”, Ben was pleased to remember the fun moment.

Matchmaking on the seashore

He prayed to his beloved also nowhere else but on the seashore. The couple agreed to postpone the wedding for a year, because after the engagement, both were waiting for the defense of their bachelor theses and a lot of work to help Jean create new shoe collections for Shoe House.

Jean alone, as if he felt he had very little time left, kept urging the young men to take a more serious wedding planning job and not delay this important step.

“So today, when Dad is away, he is comforted at least by the fact that he knew, down to the smallest detail, where and what the celebration of our dreams would be like,” Ben said.

During the quarantine, I had to plan not only the celebration, but also take care of the business.

The quarantine left a brilliant mark on the life of the young family and marked its existence as new events.

The young creators of Shoe House managed to avoid business stagnation. After taking a risky step and presenting the first independent collection of the “Shoe House” shortly before the quarantine announcement, they did not ask for Jean’s works.

The brilliant models in the Šešėliai collection created by Gintare received a lot of attention and orders, allowing them not to stop production and retain employees.

In addition, new projects were born during this difficult period: the young Maslauskas have already started to implement a joint idea together with the actor Audrius Bružas, as well as they planned how to start exporting their footwear to foreign countries in the near future and imagine what else. , will begin to develop in a few more years, and at the latest in ten years.

“I protect my Amber and do not restrict her creative freedom, both in life and when creating shoes, I trust my beloved one hundred percent,” said Ben.

Amber is dedicated to the family business.

The young bride admitted that she was not afraid of any change.

“Since the choice of studies, I was sure he would be a physical therapist. He really wanted to help people, he was very interested in human anatomy, because he played sports and Ben played basketball, so physical therapy was a science close to sports”.

Only suddenly things changed when Ben’s dad wanted me to make the shoes of my dreams. After learning that I had graduated from Klaipeda School of Art, he suggested that I draw my own shoes. When I presented him with my sketches, I was pleasantly surprised to see my potential in an instant. Finally, after completing my second physiotherapy course, I got so involved in shoe design that I wanted to quit physical therapy and start designing. However, my parents were not happy with such an idea, and it was Ben’s father who discouraged me from this step and convinced me that I had to finish what was already halfway there.

I finished my studies, but I clearly understood that it is not physical therapy, but the creation of shoes, that is my way, “said Gintarė.

Instead of honeymoon – it works

Even after the wedding, Gintarė and Benas said they would not deviate from their creative ideas.

After a beautiful and delicate vacation in Palanga, young people will enjoy the sun and sea for a few days and will rush to return to Kėdainiai instead of a honeymoon.

Ben faces no less challenges: he will have to ensure the smooth running of the workshop, where sixteen employees work every day, to strive to realize his visions and, at the same time, his father’s dream, so that the shoes created in Kėdainiai spread all over the world.

Ben also had another important mission in his life: taking care of his mother Jurgita and helping her raise her brother Harry, who recently celebrated her third birthday.