This next little soiree is pure love. Pure, unabashed, wish-I-was-there kind of love. It’s one of those weddings that can warm up even the most discerning wedding aficionado, where beauty and personality come shining through each and every detail. Photographed by Meredith Davenport for Christian Oth Studios, I think you guys are going to fall pretty hard for this bride and groom and the absolutely lovely, laid back Napa Valley wedding that they built. Click here to see even more.
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And to top off all of that gorgeous, we have the sweetest little film to share by StillMotion. Enjoy…
Maciej and I are huge foodies. We love food and wine and above all else-CHEESE! Maciej proposed at Stone Barns while we were on a morning hike. He packed a picnic of all my favorite cheeses and in one of the cheese wrappers was the ring box. When I opened that cheese he had written “I love you, you are my best friend, will you marry me?” on the inside of the cheese wrapper.
When beginning our wedding planning we knew we wanted lots of amazing food and wine. We also knew we wanted a rustic theme to carry through as we love being outdoors as much as possible. Calistoga Ranch offered us exactly what we were looking for. We wanted to keep it small with just our closest family and friends. It was really important to Maciej and I that we were able to take the time to take in how special this weekend was-and to truly understand the reason everyone was gathered together, to celebrate our marriage.
I had fallen in love with these save the date dish towels I’d seen on Chewing the Cud’s website and I knew I wanted to do something similar. With Viola, we came up with our entire wedding theme, “One Big Love Feast!” It fit us perfectly-the entire weekend was going to be one big love feast. We followed the theme with an amazing invitation by Chewing the Cud that was a flattened vintage spoon with our initials on it attached to a heavy card to push the rustic theme. The spoons were such a nice touch as everyone was able to keep them as a memory.
It was really important for Maciej and I to plan the wedding ourselves as we wanted to feel connected to each part of the wedding-from the readings to the welcome bags for the guests, which included some of our favorite snacks! Together we had a great time being creative and finding small touches that we hoped would make our wedding feel just like “us.” We welcomed guests to Napa with MapTote welcome wine totes filled with lots of our favorite goodies, including Liddabit Caramels & In & Out notepads. We had our welcome dinner to kick off the “One Big Love Feast” at Gott’s Roadside in St. Helena.
Our rehearsal dinner was a Mexican theme and it took place poolside at Calistoga Ranch. Viola designed a colorful window pane to indicate table assignments and our floral designer, Martha, created a floral vision that was PERFECT for our theme. We imported our linens from Las Ventanas resort and added little touches from designers I found on Etsy. My bridal party and myself spent the day of the wedding relaxing and getting our hair and makeup done by Julie Morgan. She was fantastic!
The ceremony was held on the lawn overlooking the mountains and the valley. Viola for Chewing the Cud took a poem Maciej had written for me and designed beautiful ceremony programs, which sat in a hand crafted box she provided filled with Rosemary. Maciej was born in Poland and although his Aunt was able to travel and be with us, his Grandmother was too ill to travel such a distance. We wanted to make sure she was represented so as our unity ceremony, Maciej’s Aunt presented him with a shawl that his Grandmother made for us. He wrapped the shawl around my shoulders to represent our families joining together. It was a very special moment.
We had cocktails on the lawn as the sun set. After cocktails we moved to the wine cave for dinner and dancing. We carried our invitation theme through the spoon and fork with our table seating assignments-everyone was either at the Spoon table or the Fork table. The guests names were written an attached to either a vintage spoon or fork. The tables were decorated with lots of moss, loads of cream and green florals surrounded the tables and greenery draped from the hanging chandeliers in the ceiling. The room felt rich with lavender and the exact elegant rustic feel we wanted. We had a seated dinner with very special speeches coordinated by my sister and Maid of Honor. She had each member of our bridal party get up and introduce themselves and say what their lives would have been like had Maciej and I not been born. When we were young I had written her a list of things that would be missing had she not had been born and she remembered that and used it in our wedding! It was incredibly special to us. Our cake was another really special surprise for our guests. We wanted a cake designed to look like cheese! Amber from Sweet on Cake was amazing and designed the most realistic looking “cheese cake” I have ever seen! It looked amazing and tasted even better!
My family are die hard Red Sox fans and Maciej is a Yankees fan-so my Dad surprised Maciej by having everyone put on Red Sox hats he bought and having the band play “Sweet Caroline.” It was so much fun to see Maciej’s face and to see everyone having such a great time. Dancing to the wonderful music by Ever Music Group followed and then a special viewing of our SDE by StillMotion. The entire weekend was beyond anything we could have imagined.
Wedding Photography: Meredith Davenport for Christian Oth Studio / Wedding Venue: Calistoga Ranch / Floral Design: Blooms by Martha Andrews / Wedding Invitations & Paper Goods: Viola Sutanto of chewing the cud / Wedding Weekend Coordinator: Karin Kamb of Clever Girl Consulting / Rehearsal Dinner Location: Calistoga Ranch / Hair & Makeup: Julie Morgan / Wedding Band: Ever Music Group / Wedding Cake: Sweet on Cake / Wedding Dress: Amsale / Bridesmaid Dresses: Amsale / Groom & Groomsmen Attire: J.Crew / Groom & Groomsmen Socks: Paul Smith / Groomsmen Ties: Jack Spade / Groom’s Tie: Ralph Lauren / Wedding Cinematography: StillMotion / Bride’s Flower Hair Piece & Garter: Twigs & Honey / Bride’s Shoes: Christian Louboutin