A Romantic Wedding at Calistoga Ranch Every Wine Lover Needs to See

Lauren Megerdichian
June 13, 2019
Categories: Real Weddings, Romantic, The Blog, Traditional Elegance

This gorgeous day planned by Callista & Company celebrates the three best things in life: Love, Travel and Wine… The adorable bride and groom traveled from their home in New York City to tie the knot at one of our favorite wedding venues in Napa Valley (and maybe even the world) – Calistoga Ranch. From her Lela Rose dress to the floral arrangements from Lambert Floral Studio, everything about this day is elegant, simple and timeless. One of our favorite parts? The bridesmaids were able to choose a dress of their choice in various wine colored shades. See all the vineyard wedding inspo at the full gallery captured flawlessly by Rebecca Yale Photography.

From Rebecca Yale Photography… Chris and Cristina both live in New York City and share the same name and birthday. Their close friend knew they were destined to be together and set them up via email, which she saved and read at their welcome dinner. They fell in love over their shared love of great food, travel and wine. They even work together at their wine shop in Brooklyn, Leon & Son Wine. It was only natural for the two of them to get married in a place that celebrated all of those things that they loved, so they picked Calistoga Ranch in Napa Valley, where they could get married with a beautiful mountain view, have dinner inside a vineyard and dance the night away in a wine cave, where the food and wine would take center stage. The bride is Greek and the groom is Cuban and they wanted to infuse the day with special touches from each of their heritages.

The bride and groom both got ready on property with their friends and family in Calistoga Ranch’s beautiful outdoor suites followed by a first look in the woods on the property. Lambert Floral Studio created lush organic florals with herbs and olive branches for the bouquets and boutonnieres, each a little different to compliment the bridesmaids’ dress choices. Instead of assigning one dress or color to all her friends, each bridesmaid was allowed to pick her own dress in shades of wine colors from deep inky reddish black to purples and light rosé, each bridesmaid was able to show off her personality and unique style with her dress, hair and makeup choices.

The groom wore a black bowtie while the groomsmen each wore floral cabernet red ties. The ranch is a large property so the bride and groom were escorted around the property in a golf cart, decked out with a floral wreath made of olive branches. The ceremony took place on the Lommel Lawn, which overlooks a pond on one side and the famous mountains of the Napa Valley on the other.

As to not block the view, Lambert Floral Studio kept the florals simple and low to the ground, creating a lush semi circle around their feet. The bride and groom honored their Greek heritage once again by doing a crown Stefana ceremony before they exchanged their rings, which was done by the bride’s younger brother. Post ceremony, the couple were whisked away by the golf cart down to the vineyards for a few moments alone in the vines during golden hour and the bride, a former ballerina, couldn’t help but spin and dance in her beautiful gown and diaphanous veil. They shared a glass of champagne in the vines before heading up to their cocktail hour on the lawn. They opted for a unique guest book, a copy of Thomas Keller’s French Laundry Cook Book, which they asked all their guests to sign and leave them messages that they could read as they cooked their way through the book.

The bride and groom hand selected wines for the cocktail hour paired with the hors d’ouerves and created two signature drinks the Rose Gold and the Old Cuban, another nod to the groom. As food and wine were central to the wedding day, the couple created wine pairings for each course and included detailed tasting notes as hang tags on the wine bottles and included them as a printed supplement in the menus. They detailed why the wine was special to them and what they recommended pairing with them.

To create a restaurant like experience the wait staff stood by each table with the wine and menus, passing them out and pouring the glasses as guests were seated. As a nod to the bride’s Greek heritage, each place setting had an evil eye wrapped around a sprig of rosemary. All of the paper goods from the invitation to the menus and programs were designed by a friend of the bride with the bride’s help to make a truly personalized experience. The consummate host, the groom helped pour wine to his friends and family. The Groom had a special nod to his Cuban heritage by dancing a tango with his mother during their mother-son dance in the vineyard. The evening ended with the guests making their way to the wine cave for some late night dancing, where they were greeted by waiters with beautiful painted bottles of Metaxa (a traditional Greek liquor) to do a shot before the traditional Greek dancing. Traditional Greek cookies were served as a late night snack to enjoy as they danced late into the evening in the cave.