Temecula Winery Wedding

How can I resist a wedding with pops of bright red, a winery venue, and a theme of “There Will Be Bows?” Well, I can’t, and the images from Ashley Kelemen Photography + second shooter Jen Wojcik, designed by RSVP Events help illustrate why I find this wedding so irresistible! Old Hollywood vintage glam has never looked so good.

From the bride, Wendy: During the summer of 2010, I was planning an unofficial Tehachapi reunion in Las Vegas. Gary friend requested me to learn about the event, but then didn’t attend. After that, we started noticing each other and commenting back and forth on Facebook. He lived in Phoenix and I lived in Los Angeles. Both of us were self-proclaimed “eternal bachelors/bachelorettes,” but somehow I managed to tell him during our second phone conversation that we would get married someday! Shortly thereafter we were spending hours on the phone each night and writing each other marathon e-mails every day. We met in person about two months after we began talking and our suspicions were confirmed – we were in love! After eight agonizing months, Gary made the move to Los Angeles, and shortly thereafter we moved to San Diego, where I had lived most of my adult life.

Neither one of us had any preconceived notions about our wedding day because we honestly didn’t think we would ever get married. We knew we wanted to look amazing, have glamorous photos, and for the event to be personalized and reflect our style. Our venue was Wiens Winery in Temecula, California and was absolutely gorgeous in June. We had an Old Hollywood vintage glam theme and incorporated lots of feathers, crystals, and satin bows. Our florist/event stylist completely understood our vision and had a mutual love of chandeliers!

Since Gary is a graphic designer, we did all of the print work ourselves and designed our own website. We used a chandelier as our logo which appeared on our invitations, website, and menus. We had three chandeliers hanging from the arbor where the ceremony took place, which were moved inside and hung over our sweetheart table during the reception. Our guest favors were mini bottles of Korbel champagne with name tags attached assigning guests to a table named after an Old Hollywood movie star. I was lucky enough to find an amazing stylist/hair/makeup artist several months before who helped me create an entire wedding look and made us all look like glamorous movie stars on the big day!

It’s hard to pick a favorite moment, as it was one of the best days of my life, but one highlight was listening to our Officiant tell our story and hearing the audience laugh and applaud. Everyone remarked that it was one of the best ceremonies they had ever heard because he truly captured the feel of our relationship and it seemed that he had known us for years (he hadn’t). It was such a huge moment to be up there committing myself to Gary and getting ready to start our lives together. It was surreal!

See Also

Dark and Moody Wedding Editorial at Château Ste-Agnès

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? First of all, don’t sweat the small stuff. Your guests probably won’t even notice those little details you agonize over for days or weeks and if something goes wrong, you will probably be the only ones to notice. If you are lucky enough to have a groom who wants to be involved, take advantage of that! Gary and I had so much fun working together on all of the creative projects we did ourselves. We really learned to work together during the process, and the results were far better than either one of us could have achieved on our own. It was a ton of work (it felt like we both had two full-time jobs for 8 months) but also very rewarding because our wedding was so personalized and our guests could tell how much effort we put into it.

Wedding Music:
Processional: Pachelbel’s Canon in D
Recessional: “Madness,” Muse
Reception Entrance: “Hella Good,” No Doubt
First Dance: “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” Death Cab for Cutie
Last Dance: “Bittersweet Symphony,” The Verve

Wedding Location: Temecula, CA / Photographer: Ashley Kelemen Photography / Second Shooter: Jen Wojcik / Floral and Event Styling: RSVP Events / Wedding Venue: Wiens Winery / Wedding Dress: Adrianna Papell via Dahlia Bridal / Wedding Veil and Accessories: Sandra Nicole Designs / Wedding Shoes: DSW / Styling, Hair, and Makeup: Thorne Artistry / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Donna Morgan via Nordstrom / Bridesmaids’ Accessories: Sandra Nicole Designs / Groom’s Pants and Vest: Macy’s / Groom’s Shoes: Ted Baker / Wedding Cake: Cakes to Celebrate / Rental Lounge Furniture: Touched by Time Vintage Rentals / Lighting and DJ: Sterling Productions / Officiant: Rev. Don Toshach / Videographer: Rustic Red Studio / Wedding Invitations: Bride and groom / Transportation: Brewen’s Empire Trolley