Childhood Friends Turned Soulmates Wed in Wine Country

Melissa Baran
February 2, 2017
Categories: Real Weddings, The Blog, Traditional Elegance
Tags: Winery Wedding

These two? You can just about feel their love jumping right off the screen thanks to Jessica Burke‘s beautiful captures. It’s no surprise that they were childhood friends turned soulmates, and when it came to celebrating their Big Day—they did it with serious style and A Savvy Event at their side. The result is heartwarming moments like this, smiles like this and scenes like this, plus more in The Vault.

From A Savvy Event… Lauren and Joel’s love story is straight out of a romantic comedy. Seriously, we couldn’t have written it better if we made it up ourselves. They grew up in the same neighborhood, and their families were close friends throughout their childhoods. Eventually, their friendship grew into something much stronger, and they fell in love.

Currently residents of NYC, Lauren and Joel knew from the start that they wanted to get married in California Wine Country. Their love for the region sprung from Lauren’s frequent visits due to business, and so they decided to hold their nuptials at Kunde Family Winery in Kenwood, CA. They fell in love with the 360 degree views from the top of Boot Hill at Kunde, as well as the winery ruins.

The weekend of events was full of adventure. Their guests went wine tasting and hiking at Kunde, and then ate from an assortment of food trucks at their welcome party, playing bocce ball and jenga late into the summer evening.

The ceremony was especially important to this couple because Lauren converted to Judaism in order for them to take part in a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, Lauren and Joel took part in the b’deken, or the veiling of the bride. This is the first time that the bride and groom see each other on their wedding day. The groom is accompanied to the bride’s room by both fathers and the groomsmen. The groom then lowers the veil over the bride’s face to set her apart from everyone else and to indicate that he is solely interested in her inner beauty. Lauren and Joel’s traditional Jewish ceremony took place inside the Kunde ruins. The couple loved that the ruins represented wine country history, and were married under a beautiful floral huppah in front of their friends and family.

Upon exiting the ceremony, guests were guided to cocktail hour, and eventually dinner, by a series of floral arches that reiterated the style of the ceremony huppah. The florals and tabletop décor were of a soft, pale color palette to give the evening a romantic, elegant atmosphere. Lauren and Joel selected 3 different tablecloths to create depth and a variance of color within their dinner set up. The tables were adorned with more beautiful floral arrangements and lots of candles, to create a dreamy ambiance throughout the black tie evening.