A Napa Fairytale: Father/Daughter Dance

Ok, I know I said there would be no more tears, but I forgot about this one! I pretty much cried through my entire dance with my dad. Once you hear the song you may understand why. I tried my best to suck it up and brush them away, but eventually the chorus would roll around again and bring fresh tears to my eyes.

I can't really remember what we talked about-- I was so emotional. I remember feeling like this moment was a long time coming. I'd been away from home for so many years, traveling for dance and my dad was always very supportive of my choices, even if they were ones he would not have made. He'd been so warm to more than one boyfriend over the years and finally the moment of us dancing together at my wedding felt like, you know, pretty big. Isn't that what dads think about the minute they welcome a baby girl into the world? The weight of our journey to this moment hit me pretty hard.

I thought this photo of my family standing with their arms wrapped around eachother while we were dancing, was so cute. Mr. Barrettes is definitely singing along.

(photos by Luke Snyder Studio)

Wah! I was such a a cry baby. Some of our guests later told me that they hadn't cried during the wedding, but they got a little weepy watching our father/daughter dance. Mr. Barrettes' dance with his mom was a lot more fun and entertaining!

Did you lose it with your dad? What song did you dance to?

A Napa Fairytale: The Groom and Bride Speak

After the best man cheers'ed to a long marriage and lots of babies, the groom took the mic and delivered his speech. He had been preparing for awhile and he personally thanked almost everyone in the room. I don't know why I was so nervous for him to speak, but I felt like I was holding my breath the whole time. I was finally able to exhale when he raised his glass and toasted our guests.

Then suddenly everyone was looking at me! What? I hadn't prepared to speak! I didn't think brides did that! But there was an odd silence and a weird anticipation in the room so I stood as my mom gave me that look, as if to say "your turn". Well, I thought, I'm good at winging it!

We all know I'm not the shy type and I'm quite comfortable being on stage, so I just went for it. I thanked my parents for making the gorgeous evening possible, making their only daughter's wedding dreams come true, and Dr. Houtz for adding that extra special touch and traveling from Hershey to officiate the ceremony.

I let my eyes wander around the room, saying something special about Mr. Barrettes' family, our siblings, my high school friends, my 18 younger cousins, and when my eyes finally came to rest at my bridal party table, I started to crack.

I called out Amy and thanked her for being one of the only friends on Guam I didn't have to be fake or drunk to be around--she liked that one. She had spent the last year being our third-wheel, dining, hiking, and hanging out with Mr. Barrettes and I, and she knew us as a couple better than anyone. 

Talking about my man-of-honor was easy. I told the story of how we met 10 years ago, falling in love with eachother as we spent almost everyday together for 6 months. It was the start of a beautiful friendship because, "as I thought I was falling in love with him, I quickly realized he just didn't quite like me like that."

Last came my groom. I told our guests we had been looking for each other and we were lucky enough to find one another on a tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific. It started slow, but within weeks we were inseparable, within months we were living together, and one month later he proposed. Our 2-year engagement was not without trials and moments of drama, but we were learning about each other and what we had learned was that we wanted to share the best years of our lives together.

I thanked him for loving me the way I needed to be loved and for accepting me as I was, a silly mess of imperfections, crazy ideas, and dreams of a fun-filled, big life.

(photos by Luke Snyder Studio)

I thanked everyone for making their way to wine country to be with us on such a magical day and we raised our glasses to me and my new husband! There would be no more tears and the party swung into 5th gear!

A Napa Fairytale: We Dine and We Cheers

After our first dance and my dad's welcome speech it was finally time to eat. By this point I was starving and our dinner smelled so good! We decided on a family-style presentation, which all the guests ended up really liking. Our dinner was catered by Tra Vigne and included the following:

COSTATA DI BUE- braised beef short ribs with soft polenta and natural jus
SPINACI RAVIOLI- house made ravioli with spinach, ricotta, and sage butter
INSALATA MISTA- organic fall lettuces with pears, walnuts, blue cheese and champagne
vinaigrette

The kids dined on pizza and pasta, also served family-style at their tables.

The man-of-honor took his cue from the coordinator and grabbed the mic to start his speech. John is not a big public speaker and he later said that the sound of his voice on the microphone jarred him a bit and he had to wrap up his speech quickly before he started to cry. He said some really sweet things, including telling Mr. Barrettes to take care of "his" girl. Had he been straight, he assured us I would have been off the market years before. ;)

Next, the best man took the mic and quickly had us in stitches. He and Mr. Barrettes shared a weird noise they make when they see eachother, then he began to tell stories about them together and when he first met me at a gym. He claimed he knew right away I was a good match for his buddy because I had some guns...

He led a cheers to long and prosperous marriage. And to lots of babies.

(photos by Luke Snyder Studio)

Throughout dinner, we would kiss a lot. The glass clinking was in full force, and although you think it can be annoying, there is nothing like having to kiss your new spouse in order to make it stop. It's the only evening it will ever be for you so enjoy it!

A Napa Fairytale: Invitation to Dinner

Seriously, you start to have such a good time that everything runs together! When I saw this photo I couldn't place it in the night at all-- and I loved it!

After our first dance I can't recall what happened but there was commotion about our parents' seating arrangements that I had to fix and I remember wanting to hurry because I wasn't listening to my dad's welcome speech. After a little switch-eroo, I joined Mr. Barrettes at the front of my room and we had some laughs courtesy of Dad Barrettes. So love his purple tie and cummerbund.

While everyone was seated, I asked my mom to take the opportunity say hello and let our guests know that the wine charms affixed to their wine bags were for use during the evening. The charms I spent so much time making suddenly looked so small in comparison to the evening.

If I had to make them again I would make them much bigger, not so dainty. Check out Mrs. Jellyfish's. It's one thing to look at them up close and see the detail-- it's another to actually be functional. I may have even used wine cozies (which lay on the entire base of the glass) instead of tags.

Mr. Barrettes and I made some quick rounds while everyone was being seated. He headed left towards family and I headed right, towards friends. Yes we should have gone together, but things just happen and your head isn't always on straight with all that sensory-overload. I ended up taking a seat at the table that held my girlfriends from highschool, and honestly I could have stayed there all night! And almost did--oops!

Love this photo. Brothers.

(photos by Luke Snyder Studio)

It's so lovely that weddings bring your favorite people together, but such a shame that you cannot devote enough attention to each and every guest. It's almost like a cruel joke being able to see friends you haven't seen for years, but only being able to spend less than 10 minutes with them personally!

How did you handle your rounds? Mrs. Octopus made a great suggestion about starting with family and saving friends you see often until last.

A Napa Fairytale: Our First Dance

I was a little hesitant about our first dance for a while. Once we both decided on the song (he loves country and I'm a pop girl, it was an easy choice) I wasn't sure if we should go the choreographed route, or if we should just embrace our moment and let it be whatever it would be. As a professional dancer, I felt pressure for it to be really awesome. Would our guests be expecting a full-out performance?

We always brought up the idea of taking a few lessons together, and Mr. Barrettes was totally game for private lessons, but it always fell to the bottom of our to-do list and still one week until the wedding, we hadn't tackled it. I realized the only one putting pressure on the situation was me. Our friends and family loved us, most had seen me on stage for years, they knew what I was capable of and I didn't need to impress anyone. It wasn't an audition, it was our wedding.

So we never practiced, we never had a rehearsal-- when the music started playing, he just grabbed my hand, pulled me into him and led me in the sweetest dance ever. It wasn't about our audience, it was about us. It was super cute and I was lost in the moment.

This song quickly became the theme of our wedding and later some of our guests would call it the "Napa Fairytale", hence my recap title. Being in Napa, everyone felt the harvest love and I honestly felt like our wedding was a fairytale. My winery wedding dream come true.

My groom was so sweet and finished the song with a dip. I didn't even have to prep him, he just knew!

I'm happy we went with a sweet and easy song that wasn't so obscure our guests wouldn't be able to enjoy it. Most of my cousins were singing along and it was so nice to be twirling around and seeing everyone else feeling the love as much as we were.

We also have a Randy Travis song that's "ours". I've included it just in case someone else needs ideas for a sweet country song!

Did you wing you first dance? How did it go with no prior practice?

A Napa Fairytale: Reception Entrance

With the guests seated in the barrel room, the DJ kicked on some fresh tunes and introduced our fun wedding party! Each couple entered to a different song clip and they totally danced their way in. So fun! Mike and John were my favorite. :)

My groom and I got a kick out of watching our bridal party enter and patiently waited to be introduced for the first time as "husband and wife". I super loved having fresh flowers in one hand and a glass of wine in the other!

We high-fived it in a line down our wedding party as DJ Adam pushed play on our song and I was swept up into the arms of my husband for our first dance...

(photos by Luke Snyder Studio)

...please notice Amy in the background. Love her!

A Napa Fairytale: The Bride Returns in a Cute Dress

Back in the bridal nook as a Mrs., I quickly changed into my custom-made dress that my MOH gifted me 2 weeks before the wedding. We also did a hair change and John plucked the gardenia from my ceremony hairpiece and pinned it back into my down-do. We probably spent a few minutes too many up there, but when you're excited and in a small space with 2 of your best friends, things get silly and you forget that you're suppose to be hurrying.

When we returned I was happy to see guests mingling in the courtyard and as night fell on V. Sattui, the twinkling lights added a gorgeous glow to our reception.

I made a quick inventory of the escort cards to see who was missing, which thankfully only amounted to about 6 guests. Most of the remaining cards were members of the bridal party who never swung by the table. I'm not sure what the face is for. You may have noticed I'm quite expressive.

I was happy and frustrated at the same time when I finally saw the inside of the barrel room. Happy because the flowers my aunt arranged were so pretty and the wine bag favors with the wine charms attached added just the right amount of purple to the room; frustrated because the table numbers I made didn't end up fitting on V. Sattui's wine bottles properly.

I didn't quite understand why the coordinator hadn't tried to cut them to fit, but resigned to the fact that it was my own fault. I should have made sure the week prior when we visited the winery, but it didn't cross my mind. Sure, it would have been prettier if they fit, but again, a tiny imperfection allows you to appreciate the bigger picture. Either I was going to be bugged by it the whole night or I could quickly let it go and let my mind relax around the other perfectly amazing things happening around me. I kept my mouth shut and never even mentioned it to anyone. I'm sure other people noticed too, but the more energy you give to something, the bigger it gets. So I gave it no energy.

I found my groom and we made some rounds. I love this photo. It's so us-- from me chatterboxing, to him listening to me with a sweet smile on his face, right down to the Amador Zin in his glass and the Early Harvest White Riesling in mine. Perfect.

(photos by Luke Snyder Studio)

Our guests were ushered into the barrel room as the wedding party was called outside to await our grand entrance.

Did you do a costume change? Didn't it give the evening a whole new energy?!