Hopland Wedding at Campovida by Viera Photographics
A wedding crafted to truly reflect a couple is a beautiful celebration indeed. It makes for a completely unique, whole-heartedly personalized affair powered by love and lots of personality. A.k.a. the perfect combination. And this combo du jour also has amazing images by Viera Photographics in its arsenal. We’re talking the big moments (walking down the aisle with your Dad, the first kiss, etc) and all those perfect moments in-between (boogieing down on the dance floor and loads of ear-to-ear grins from guests and newlyweds alike). It’s an affair to remember, this Hopland beauty, and you can see it all in one pretty spot right here.
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From the Bride… Our inspiration came from ourselves. Certainly we scoured the magazines, read the wedding blogs and took a tip or two from Ms. Martha. But we focused on the details that would reveal the celebration as uniquely ours. Together, we plotted to weave together our shared experiences, adventures and passions. Further inspiration came from where we were married: Campovida and its beautiful gardens. We could not wait to share this magical place and planned our events around some of our favorite spots on the property. We hoped that people would stroll and discover, relax and ENJOY. We wanted to throw a party with a homey, backyard vibe while keeping the service and setting very elegant. As both of us are in the hospitality industry, we spent a lot of time thinking about our guests, how to both include them in the celebration and how to make certain each would feel our warmth at every turn. We chose green and purple as our primary colors to reflect Campovida, its vineyards, gardens of lavender and old oak trees beautifully hung with moss. Sharla, who did the flowers, was so amazing because she completely understood that we wanted all the flowers to look like they could have been picked from the gardens that day. We wanted them loose, not arranged. She created such beautiful arrangements of flowers and herbs, they looked bright and a little wild and smelled delicious! Apparently they tasted delicious too — I think John Wayne (our dog) snacked on them all the way down the aisle!
We certainly enjoyed pursuing the projects that were near and dear, the ones we felt were the most personal. For example, scouring the flea market for bottles to round out our collection for the centerpieces, or reading and discussing the poems we would choose for the hanging cards. Wedding planning also created a wonderful excuse to gather family and friends for our arts and crafts projects. We spent many hours around our kitchen table with sisters, cousins, mothers and excellent friends who were willing to do everything from cutting out envelope liners, to folding programs, to tying one sprig of lavender onto each menu. We had many laughs and were so grateful for them, because of course, there were some moments when we need a good laugh more than anything!
My favorite DIY project was the poems in the trees. We selected stanzas from some favorite love poems and made cards. We hung the cards from the trees leading people from the ceremony to the cocktail garden and finally to the reception. We’ve been collecting bottles from our travels and adventures, and we used those as the vases for our centerpieces. We used an old window frame to make a visual guestbook. Guests posed for a mini instant photo and wrote us a note which our guestbook folks pinned up with clothespins. It turned out so well! It’s full of funny photos, sweet notes, and it’s hanging in our apartment. Another window frame became our “Celebrate Life” photo display. We hung favorite family photos and paid tribute to people who are no longer with us. Our families really enjoyed it, I think. Our friend, Michael Johnson, is a graphic design artist who helped us create a lot of the personal stationery and paper stuff at the wedding. We worked with him to create the templates to print our own menus, programs and table cards. I loved the table cards! Each number was a postcard. Some very good friends helped us make the escort cards. We used some decorative hole punches to make the cards themselves and then put them into limes. For our favors, we filled little jars with honey from the busy bees at Campovida, and we also infused small jars of olive oil with thyme, garlic and lemon slices. I also have to give credit to Duggan for creating a 10-deep, original cocktail menu, including our signature cocktails, the Florabunda and the Yerba Buena, as well as the Laughing Buddha, the cocktail that sparked our first … spark! Luckily, we didn’t have to actually put him behind the bar on the big day — our friends from Rye on the Road did an amazing job of running the wedding bar.
Wedding Photography: Dennis & Jaime Viera and Hardy Wilson of Viera Photographics / Wedding Venue: Campovida in Hopland, California / Floral Design: Sharla Flock Designs / Wedding Coordination: Karin Kamb of Clever Girl Consulting / Catering: Park Avenue Catering / Wedding Cake: Costeaux French Bakery / Pie: Downtown Bakery & Creamery / Bar: Rye on the Road / Wedding Invitations: Kate Holland of Ruby and Willow / Design of Other Paper Goods: Michael Johnson, A Friend of the Bride & Groom / Entertainment: Alive Events / Wedding Dress: Custom by Suzanne Hanley of Atelier des Modistes / Bride’s Shoes: Kate Spade / Makeup: Danny Basa / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Amsale / Jewelry: Vintage via elle-meme / Groom’s Attire: Custom by Al of Al’s Attire / Groomsmen’s Attire: J.Crew / Groomsmen’s Ties: Handmade by Al of Al’s Attire