Roma & Jason

How did he propose to you?                                      

The proposal was simple but perfect. I arrived home where Jason had already prepared a home cooked candle lit dinner, but since this was something he liked to typically do for me I really didn’t expect what he would do next. Over a bottle of wine and our favorite music playing in the background he suddenly had to go to his car and grab his gym bag. My first thought was  “ok really”. As I went to refill our wine glasses he came back and seemed a bit anxious. The next thing I knew he was on bended knee with the most beautiful ring stating, I was the love of his life and would I marry him…The first words that came out of my mouth was, are you sure? The look on his face was priceless and after the initial shock of, is this really happening, the tears came flowing as I finally said of course yes!

Where there any personal elements that you incorporated into the wedding ceremony/reception?

I am Catholic and my faith is a big part of my life. We wanted to include a special prayer as well as the blessing of our rings into the ceremony which was graciously performed by my aunt who is a Catholic nun.

What was one idea that made the wedding yours?

We just wanted our wedding to be simple yet elegant. Since the venue itself was stunning we wanted the décor minimal, adding little touches with the wine crates, and vintage bottles using our old trunks as our gift card holder. The atmosphere we wanted to project was a laid back feel where everyone would just sit and talk as if it were a big family dinner. We both love to travel and we wanted to incorporate that as well doing away with the usual table #s we decided to name our tables with different destination spots that we had travelled to. Each table had a picture frame of us representing a different location from our travels.

What was one idea that the groom just had to have?

Jason was extremely adamant about the food choices we were to have at our wedding. He wanted tasty comfort food that everyone would enjoy, having mini grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato bisque soup as one of our appetizers as well as fish and chips. The cake was also an item he had an opinion on especially since he loves his dessert. We both knew we did not want a traditional wedding cake, they look lovely in design but since I don’t typically eat cake and his favorite dessert was Nothing Bundt Cakes, that was the one item I knew he had to have.

What was one “must have” that made your wedding unforgettable?

Just having our family and friends there made our wedding day unforgettable. Since I am originally from the East Coast and Jason is from California having our families and friends come out for our wedding was the most special thing that we could ask for.

Share a wedding budget splurge that made all the difference

The one item that I truly wanted that I would definitely splurge on again was my photographer. Jimmy of Gideon Photography is an extremely talented and gifted artist. He definitely captured moments that will be treasured for a lifetime. The photos were amazing and we cannot thank him enough for the lovely images.

Did you have DIY elements and how did you incorporate them?           

Since we were paying for our wedding ourselves we had a very modest budget. We didn’t really have any DIY projects but we did collect vintage beer bottles and used those for our flower holders. We also utilized old wine crates as our cake stands giving it a rustic vineyard feel.  Our giveaways was something edible one of the most delicious cookies ever the Mega Chip cookie from Retro Bakery in Las Vegas as well as the most amazing olive oils which were provided to us  by Jason’s aunt. She has an olive oil company in Napa Valley (St. Helena olive oil). The night before the wedding my bridesmaids and I were wrapping the cookies in the lovely boxes that we created, so I guess we did have a few DIY touches that definitely helped our budget.