Ashley may be an all-star producer on our favorite celebrity TV show The Voice, but today she and her husband Anthony are the only two in our spotlight. For their wedding day is one we’re endlessly in love with. A sweet ceremony complete with rustic details, it’s classic California meets vineyard merriment and we’re feeling every single second of it captured by Ken Kienow Wedding Photography in The Vault!
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From Ken Kienow Wedding Photography… Finding a wedding location for a die-hard New Yorker and a born and bred Cali girl can be a challenge. These two started in New York and moved west until they found a magical corner of the world in Paso Robles called “HammerSky Vineyard”
From the Bride… I was never the girl that dreamt about her wedding day from the age of 9 and had all the details in mind ahead of time. However once I met Anthony, all of that shifted.
Anthony and I met and got engaged 7 years later and he surprised me with a trip to Italy to celebrate the engagement. When it came to planning our wedding I wanted to transport our guests to that same romantic, rustic and blissful feel of Italy.
Looking for our wedding location was a bit of a challenge. Anthony and I are both Television producers so we had the blessing and curse of knowing exactly what we were looking for, and after scouting too many locations to count, both on the East and West Coast, we pulled up to HammerSky Vineyard in Paso Robles and both immediately knew that this place was special.
We did not have a particular “theme” for our wedding, however my husband is a East Coaster whose favorite city abroad is Spain, I am a West Coast girl whose happy place is anywhere in Italy, so we wanted to bring out the taste and feel of all four places on our special day.
Our goal was for our meal was to feel informal, and reminiscent of a “big Sunday family dinner” so we chose to do buffet style and had everyone seated at long farm tables. Tracy from Field to Table exceeded our every expectation and our friends and family are still talking and drooling over “that paella” he made.
The barn, where we held the reception was transformed into a romantic and delicate space. Our incredible florist Laurel White from Adornments Flowers & Finery, created a “living chandelier”, and placed 50 biscotti candles lining the inside of the barn, to create a memory via scent. Our dessert was also placed in this area, a naked vanilla bean and chocolate cake with blackberry jam and buttercream; created by Annie Farrell of Just Baked Slo, it was as beautiful as it was delicious and was placed on a slice of wood sent from Kauai, HI where my brother lives. A thirty-foot cloth with an OM Symbol silkscreened onto it, a labor of love that a friend of mine so graciously sewed by hand, represented my brother who could not be present, hung from the tree where our vows took place.
The “man bar” was a work in progress for about six moths prior to our wedding. My husband doesn’t do anything halfway, so he saved special liquor that was collected from his travels as well as cigars gathered from around the world in order to share with our guests. He was proud to share his collection, and the goods went quickly!
We are so grateful for all of the vendors that came together to make our day so incredible. The owner of The Vineyard, Kim Hauck is an angel and unparalleled with her support for us. Our photographer Ken, from Ken Kienow Photography captured moments that can never be reproduced and when looking at our photos you feel every ounce of emotion, elation and sweetness of that day. Our videographers, Jeremy and Ashley Mitchell, captured the entire day with grace and ease virtually undetected.
Looking back on planning our wedding, it was more overwhelming than I could have ever anticipated because of all the emotion involved; it is more than planning a nice big party for your closest family and friends, you are putting together a “moment” for all the people you love to cherish forever. My advice to any bride planning her wedding is to make sure you put as much of yourselves; your interests and mementoes of your journey to each other into your day… guests may not understand or even see each of these small details but it will make things that much richer and more meaningful. Also, let go and breathe… something may (and will) not go according to plan, but the essence of why you are there will never change.
Anthony and I were able to start our journey together in the most magical and special way imaginable…. I am grateful that our “always & forever” began at HammerSky. Looking back on this moment in time, the pure adrenaline, the happy tears and inevitable “hiccups”….. I would not change a single thing.
Photography: Ken Kienow Wedding Photography | Cinematography: We Are The Mitchells | Coordination: Danae Grace Events | Floral Design: ADORNMENTS flowers + finery | Wedding Dress: Enzoani | Cake: Just Baked SLO | Ceremony: HammerSky Vineyards | Reception: HammerSky Vineyards | Bride's Shoes: Rene Caovilla | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Monique Lhuillier | Bridesmaids' Dresses: BHLDN | Catering: Field To Table Events | Hair and Makeup: Rhyan Townsend | Men's Ties: Chanel | Men's Attire: Loren Spratt | Bride's Exit Dress: For Love And Lemons | Bride's Veil: Carolina Herrera | Groom's Shoes: Mezlan | Vendor: Heidi Gutman/NBC
