Linens 'n Things: Finding the Perfect Rentals

Depending on the venue you choose, you will either have to get a lot of rentals or some rentals. I've pretty much never heard of caterers or venues that come completely equipped. That being said, we are very lucky that Paradise Ridge comes with tables, chairs, and an amazing view, so we really only had to get the basics.

Last Saturday, we headed to Wine Country Party & Events, and chose our linens, flatware, glassware, outdoor lights, and ceremony arch. While we're definitely still finalizing everything, these are some of our favorites so far.

Have you chosen your rentals yet?

Source (all photos): Wine Country Party

Delicious Drinks: Stocking the Bar

What's a wedding without a fun and festive crowd there to celebrate with? One sure fire way to get people lively for the reception is making sure the bar is well stocked with delicious drinks. It's come that time on our wedding planning process to figure out our bar and most importantly speciality drinks. Our venue is completely BYOB with no corkage which has a ton of pluses to it but it also allows our imaginations to run wild. We've wrestled with the idea of an open bar during cocktail hour or just a few specialty cocktails. I think this post accurately describes the way I'm leaning. What are some of your favorite speciality cocktails at weddings?

Source 1, 2, 3, 4

Table Talk

This week we began to look into our options for tables, chairs, and everything else that goes along with wedding rentals. What I thought would be a quick in-and-out chat turned into a two plus hour meeting. At the rental place we were helped by a super sweet lady who has coordinated many weddings at our venue. She was extremely helpful and learning about how other couples used the space provided a rough road-map of what works and what does not at the venue.

Up until now I had been envisioning our wedding with rustic wood tables for seating.

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In reality these dream tables would be a pain in the but and a lot more expensive, so I think we are now leaning towards traditional rectangle or circle table with tablecloths.

Source: 1, 2 & 3

Source: 1, 2 & 3

Now onto a search for some unique table linens. How did you choose your wedding reception tables? Did you purchase or rent your table linens?

Take a Seat {Finding the Perfect Table Numbers}

Table numbers are one of those little things you don't start seriously thinking about until a lot of other things fall into place: place settings, china, glassware, dinner menu, flatware, centerpieces, rentals, color palettes, etc. As those little things are beginning to come together (5 month countdown like WHOA), I am finding my spare Pinterest time being spent increasingly on table numbers. And, man! There are some really cute and really crazy table numbers on Pinterest. I love simple, elegant, vintage, and nothing overly fussy. That being said, if you are looking for table numbers for your tropical-Winter-circus-themed wedding, surely they exist! Here are a few I'm loving right now:

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Planning a Wine Country Wedding, Part 1: When & Where

Today we are announcing a new Engaged & Inspired series, Planning a Wine Country Wedding. This series is written by one of my favorite Wine Country wedding planners, Laurel of Esla Events. Esla Events is responsible for some absolutely gorgeous weddings, no seriously, check out her gallery of work. Truly breathtaking. Find out more about Laurel and Esla Events right here. Take it away Laurel! 

I’m thrilled to contribute to Engaged & Inspired’s wealth of information and insight for real brides who are planning real weddings. My four-part series will focus on planning a wedding in Napa, Sonoma, and the surrounding areas. While I have a few ideas for the upcoming posts, I want to first open it up to you, Engaged & Inspired readers: What would you like to know? Feel free to email me directly at laurel@eslaevents.com, or leave a comment on this post.

Two of the first major decisions you’ll need to make when planning your wine country wedding are where and when to get married, so let’s begin there.

“When” is relatively straight-forward. Prime wedding weather in Napa, Sonoma, and surrounding areas is mid-May through mid-October, with the most reliably comfortable months being June and September. However, couples get married year round in this beautiful area. Even now in February, there are beautiful blankets of yellow mustard among the vineyards and, just yesterday, I was comfortably running around Yountville in a dress. The weather is of course less predictable from November to April, but if you’re on a budget or have a challenging schedule, don’t feel limited to just the prime summer and fall months.

"Where” to get married is the more interesting, and often more personal and challenging, question.

Beautiful custom map by The Aerialist Press

You might have a vision in your head already — a cozy dinner with a beautiful vineyard backdrop and soft magical light, right? But beyond that, you might be surprised by the range of variables you’ll need to consider. Here are a few questions I always ask clients when beginning the venue hunt:

How far from San Francisco do you want your guests to drive? If you want to encourage all guests – including your San Francisco friends and family – to make a weekend of it and stay overnight one or more nights, select a venue in Healdsburg, Glen Ellen, or Calistoga, which are a solid 1.5-2 hours outside San Francisco. This can make for livelier receptions, as your guests won’t have to worry about driving home after the celebrating (assuming you provide transportation back to the main hotel, if needed). However, if convenience is a bigger factor for you, and you don’t want to ask your out-of-town guests to drive another two or three hours after their cross-country flight, then opt for a venue near the cities of Sonoma or Napa. Some favorites include The Carneros Inn and Gundlach Bundschu.

How late do you want your wedding to go? Local noise ordinances makes outdoor dance parties impossible after 9 or 10pm. If you want to twirl late into the night with your friends and new husband, seek out venues with indoor reception areas, such as Cline Cellars and Calistoga Ranch.

Do you want cocktails to be served? If so, be sure to check whether the venue you’re considering allows hard alcohol. Many vineyards only allow wine (often only their own) and beer, but many other types of venues allow both, especially hotels and estates, such as Solage and Beaulieu Garden.

What does an “intimate setting” mean to you? Many couples are drawn to wine country for the promise of an intimate, relaxed, and beautiful setting. There are many types of “intimate” in wine country though, and getting clear on what exactly that means to you and your fiancé will help focus your search. Do you want all your family and friends to stay onsite all weekend at a property like Dawn Ranch? Or do you imaging whisking all your guests away to a beautiful hideaway like Healdsburg Country Gardens? Or does is really mean renting a wing of rooms at your favorite hotel like Bardessono, and having all festivities right there onsite?

Talking about those four basic questions with your fiancé will help focus your search, and make the most of your initial visits to the area.  Once you have an idea of what you’re looking for, check out search tools like Here Comes the Bride, the local venue list at The Collection, or simply cruise around Engaged & Inspired and other blogs for leads. I recommend seeing no more than 3-4 sites in one day to avoid venue-overload.

And now for a little visual fun: photos of a few of my favorite venues by some of my favorite photographers!

Beaulieu Garden Located in Rutherford, this beautiful private estate is full of magical features like a sunken garden, fountains, and vine-covered arbors. This venue is perfect for couples wanting an elegant, extremely private, al fresco setting for their big day (and for those with a decent-sized budget.)

Photo by Larissa Cleveland

Photos by Larissa Cleveland

Photos by Larissa Cleveland

The Carneros Inn For those of you skeptical of hotels as wedding venues, this modern-meets-rustic oasis will win you over with its impeccable design (no crazy carpets here!), beautiful layout, and private-feeling event areas. One of my favorite spots.

Photo by Carlie Statsky Photography

Photo by Carlie Statsky Photography

Photo by Carlie Statsky Photography

Annadel Estate Winery This is one of the most intimate and beautifully raw settings I’ve come across in Wine Country. The vine-covered ruins are the centerpiece of the property, and they’re beautifully complemented by a large lawn and barn.

  Photos by MEF Photography

Calistoga Ranch For smaller weddings, this gem offers several different site options, including a beautiful lawn area overlooking a small lake on one side and a valley on the other, a gorgeous pool area, and a cozy wine cave.

Photo by Sabine Scherer Photography

Photo by Sabine Scherer Photography

Photo by Sabine Scherer Photography

Gundlach Bundschu While I haven’t personally planned a wedding here yet, I’ve visited the wine tasting room many times and have fallen in love with the ceremony site. Conveniently located near Sonoma, Gundlach sits on a hill overlooking beautiful hills and vineyards.

  Photos by Jessica Burke Photography

 Coming up next: TBD! Email me your topic requests, or post them in the comments below.

Great Aftertaste

As I mentioned  in last week's post, we had our catering tasting this past week at Heirloom LA. It was wonderful!

Source (You can buy these cute forks off Etsy!)

With this being our first tasting, I had no idea what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. We got to try a smaller version of our crostini station (pictured above), five amazing tray-passsed appetizers (so appetizing that they disappeared before I could remember to photograph them), four different entrée options and two scrumptious desserts.

Our favorites of the night were Smoked Pork Chop with Yam Puree and Roasted Brussel Sprouts (pictured above) and Maple Rosemary Donuts (pictured below)

Now comes the hard part of narrowing down our options. Since we are doing a family-style dinner we want to make sure that what we pick will appeal to all of our guests. How did you decide on your wedding menu? With so many special dietary restrictions theses days (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, ect.) how did you select for the masses without giving up what you wanted?

First Taste

Tomorrow we are going to our first (and hopefully last) catering tasting! My fiance Derek and I are big foodies so naturally we want to serve the best wedding food on the planet. Derek took the lead on researching caters and has convinced me that Heirloom LA is the way to go. I am so looking forward to trying their signature Lasagna cupcakes.

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Their tray passed appetizers look unreal.

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Source:1 , 2 & 3

Stay tuned next week to hear how the tasting goes! Have you done your catering tastings yet? Any tips on what to look out for?

Deciding on Family Style

One of the first vendors we booked after securing our wedding venue, was our caterer. We knew that food would be a huge chunk out of the budget so we wanted to accomplish this early and have the chance to talk to and price multiple vendors. After speaking and receiving quotes from nine different caterers in the area we finally decided on our caterer. As you can imagine, lots of different suggestions were made and a large variety of menus were presented. My fiance and I have only been to weddings that had either a buffet or a plated dinner so we figured those would be our two options. Well much to our surprise, caterers started suggesting family style as a great balance between a buffet and plated dinner. Since many of them have been hired for weddings at our venue, they said it was one of their preferred ways to serve at our venue for logistical purposes. We were intrigued. After much consideration and speaking with people who have attended family style weddings, we decided to take a chance. We still haven't been to a wedding with service this way but we are excited to see it unfold on our big day.

Source: Pacific Harvest Catering

I found very few resources online on the benefits of family style versus plated or buffet so I thought I'd share a few pro and cons that were shared with me from the nine caterers we spoke to.

Pros:

Family style dinners typically fall cost wise between plated and buffet

People eat at relatively the same time

It creates an atmosphere of sharing and friendliness

People can still choose what they'd like and how much of each

Cons:

Pricier than the buffet option

Not always the chef's favorite way to plate

For guests with unique food restrictions, they still may need their own plate

Source: Pacific Harvest Catering

Source: Pacific Harvest Catering

That Is So Us {Incorporating Personal Touches}

The big day is about 45 days away and to say that I am excited is an understatement!  

Last blog post, I mentioned that the next few weeks are all about the details. Our flowers are all set and we met with the DJ last week. Currently, in our (little) free time we are working on the "personal touches." When first discussing the wedding, we always knew we wanted the day to be a big party with our friends and family from our current home (Arizona) and our home states (Wisconsin and Illinois).  We also wanted to make sure we found fun ways to incorporate us and things that speak to who we are as individuals and a couple. I wanted to share some of our "personal touches" that we have planned (and of course, keep some a secret!):

Scrabble

When searching Pinterest, Eric and I both fell in love with this image! We love playing games! In fact, when buying a home some of our first purchases were board game essentials like scrabble, jenga and monopoly! This seemed like such a tasteful yet fun way to incorporate something we love into the wedding!

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We even incorporated scrabble into our engagement photos!

Source- Brushfire Photography

DIY

I am typically not a DIY-type person. I find that usually I just end up getting frustrated or have to spend hours just to make one thing! Eric, on the other hand, is very handy and actually pretty crafty. When we first moved in our home, Eric built a workshop/tool table out of wood! So we've put his handiness to good use and he's been making items for the wedding like our table numbers!

Sources: 1 and 2

Music 

Eric and I both love music! We do have very different tastes in music though and when we met with our DJ he pointed that out to us! The DJ had a a simple and short "fun fact" questionnaire on his paperwork about who we are and we had to list our favorite music artists. Our answers: Eric- Eminem and Jess- Jack's Mannequin. After going down the rest of the list (favorite sports team, favorite movie, job, etc) the DJ asked us how we even hang out! I am a true believer in opposites attract!When it came to picking out music for our big moments (processional, recessional, first dance), it was not an easy decision. We both felt it was an important aspect of the day and wanted to make sure thought was put into each song. I am the type of person who links memories to music. For example, every time I hear Genesis "I Can't Dance" (woah, 1991!) I remember being little sitting in the back seat of my dads convertible car and us just singing at the top of our lungs. It is one of my happiest memories. Knowing how important music is to both of us, we talked about "our songs" for weeks on end.The sweetest moment in all of wedding planning is that Eric insisted on picking out our first dance song and I think he did an excellent job! Can't wait for our dance as husband and wife :)

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How are you incorporating personal touches on your big day?

Until Next Week!

Jess

Follow my wedding inspiration board on Pinterest

Tweet me @jessdawnd

Destined to be Destination

As soon as we got engaged, our planning began. I'm not talking a week later or even a few days, after the happy tears dried, I was off to the races. We started with thinking of where we wanted the wedding to take place. We both knew immediately that we wouldn't hold it in our hometown of San Jose or our current city of San Francisco. I'm not really sure why this was the case since both cities have beautiful wedding venues; we just knew we wanted to get away.

It was quickly narrowed down to three locations in California - Lake Tahoe, the San Luis Obispo area, or Sonoma which all have very special meanings to us.

The San Luis Obispo area quickly became the front runner. We went to college there, it holds special memories for us and a lot of our friends, and it's a beautiful area on the Central Coast that is sometimes overlooked. Once we nailed down the location, the venue was next. The area is known for some amazing ranches, wineries, and beach venues which gave us a lot to work with.

Holland Ranch

Source: Bailey Entertainment

Santa Margarita Ranch

 Source: Rustic Bride

Hammersky Vineyards

Source: Touring and Tasting

Stillwaters Vineyards

Source: I do Venues

Spanish Oaks Ranch

Source: Logan Cole Photography

We ended up choosing the very first venue we looked at (the one directly above this post). The outdoor space is beautiful, the entrance to the ranch is grand, had plenty of space our headcount, and the venue is 100% DIY (one of my favorite parts although is makes for much more time and work). I look forward to embracing the natural beauty while including our perfect wedding details too.