Colorful Sonoma Valley Wedding
I don’t know what it is about Sonoma Valley weddings, but they just do it for me. Damon and Tamara’s wedding is no different, driving me wild with its bright colors and impeccable scenery photographed by the impeccable Caroline Ghetes. Tack on the talents of Events of Distinction and Michael Daigian Designs and you’ve got a surefire winner!
From the bride, Tamara: We wanted a sophisticated, rustic wedding leveraging bright colors and the beautiful outdoor setting. Our wedding was colorful, bright, sophisticated, natural, unique, and personalized. Our theme was “signs of love.” Damon and I were together for 5.5 years before we tied the knot. Over the years we have come up with many of our own traditions that we bring to our relationship. For our wedding, we used these personalized traditions to set a theme for the wedding. Examples – we have a fake mistletoe that hangs in our home year round so we can kiss under it, so at the wedding we had mistletoe hanging for people to kiss under. We make a rhyming cheers every time we have an alcoholic beverage or an oyster, so we made sure to have an oyster and champagne bar for our guests to enjoy and to make a cheer at the wedding. We have had a tradition that every time we see a photo booth we take a picture in it (in fact we have an entire scrapbook dedicated to this) so we had a photo booth at the wedding.
We have a love of many colors – and so we couldn’t decide on just one color scheme. Instead, we decided to go with both warm colors, and cool colors. We used the warm colors for the wedding ceremony, and the cooler colors throughout the rest of the reception. Warm colors were Poppy red, peach, antique gold, and ivory; the cool colors were: Cobalt, aqua, antique gold, and ivory.
Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? If possible, a wedding planner really made everything so much easier for us. It allowed us to focus on the aspects on the wedding that are generally more fun – food tastings, picking the venue, determining colors, etc. We didn’t have to interface much with the vendors or stress on the wedding day itself because it was all in great hands of someone else that we trusted. On the wedding day itself – make sure to take 5 minutes to just step away from everything and absorb the day. Even if it’s just a couple minutes, it helps you appreciate and take in this amazing day that only happens once.
View all images from this wedding in the gallery
Wedding Music:
Processional: “Chasing Cars,” Snow Patrol; “What a Wonderful World,” Louis Armstrong
Bride’s Processional: “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” Elvis Presley
Recessional: “I Melt With You,” Modern English; “Wonderwall,” Oasis; “Let’s Stay Together,” Al Green
First Dance: “Just In Time,” Dean martin
Wedding Location: Glen Ellen, CA / Photographer: Caroline Ghetes / Second Shooter: Levi Tijerina / Wedding Planning and Design Services: Events of Distinction / Floral Design: Michael Daigian Designs / Wedding Venue: Beltane Ranch / Wedding Dress: Jinza / Wedding Shoes: Chanel / Bridal Hairpiece: Jennifer Behr / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Bella Bridesmaid / Groom’s Suit: Brooks Brothers / Groom’s Bow Tie and Shirt: Franco Uomo / Groom’s Shoes: Gucci / Groomsmen Suits: The Men’s Wearhouse / Catering: Park Avenue Catering / Desserts: Patisserie Angelica / Lighting: Twilight Designs / Furniture Rentals: Classic Party Rentals, Blue Print Studios / Linens: La Tavola Linen / Wedding Invitations: Union Street Papery / Videographer: Veil & Tie
Beautiful collection of photos! I love the fact that they had a car theme going on here. A traffic light? How cool!
I love every detail – the eclectic china, the incredible centerpieces that could only be by Michael Daigian, the draping chandeliers in the trees – but that first shot is just a work of art!