Real Wedding: For Love and Wine

Hometown: The Bride was from Denver, Colo. and the Groom from Rugby in Warwickshire, England. They currently reside in Alba, Italy in Piedmont.

Evan & Valerie’s Piedmont Love Story: Before they met Valerie indulged her love for wine and travel with annual holidays to Italy exploring wine regions up and down the boot. In 2012 she found herself in the teeny village of Serralunga d'Alba on a wine tour. As she sipped Champagne Evan made a stop at the same watering hole. You see, it was his local - he lived and worked minutes away. After some great food, a bit of Nebbiolo, and a sunset in the vineyards, the two were smitten. Valerie moved 10 months later.

The Theme: For LOVE and WINE

Evan and Valerie met because of their mutual love of wine, so with guests coming from all over the world they wanted to showcase the enchanting wines of the Piedmont region during their festivities.

Piedmont Wine Tours, Wine Tasting and Wine & Food Pairing:

The couple organized wine tours for their guests, a pasta-making dinner, an aperitivo wine pairing welcome dinner, a blind tasting, and specially selected their favorite regional wines to pair with each course at their wedding.

With the support of Extraordinary Weddings they were able to secure logistical needs for pre- and wedding day events.

"I really don’t know what I would have done without Extraordinary Weddings. I was so busy with travel and activity planning for our international guests that I relied heavily on Barbara for the wedding day details. She took care of everything I needed immediately and always offered ideas and suggestions that I did not know were possible since I’m not from here.”  Valerie Quintanilla, The Bride

The Wedding Style: The wedding style was vineyard romance, taking advantage of the most beautiful parts of the winery where the event was held.

The bride’s friend and Denver, Colo.-based florist, Fleur Décor came to Piedmont to arrange the flowers. Extraordinary Weddings helped source the flowers and supplied vases for the day. 

Dress: Sassi Holford 

Colors: Pink and Yellow

Bridal Bouquet: Fresh soft pink roses. 

Boutonnière: Fresia, Lisianthus. 

Table Centerpieces: The centerpieces represented the various wine regions the couple has visited during their courtship with floral arrangements inside wooden wine boxes. Flowers included lilies, roses, statice, and vine leaves.

The Ceremony: Azienda Agricola Abbona  Dogliani, Italy

The ceremony took place inside the dramatic barrel room at the winery. The candle lit aisle was lined with wine bottles and corks. The couple incorporated a wine ceremony recommended by Extraordinary Weddings. A bottle of wine and a letter from one to the other were put in a box and sealed; they will open the box, the letters, and the wine on their 10^th anniversary.

One of the Italian traditions they chose to use was with the recessional where the bride and groom are last; as they exited the winery guests showered them with pink, yellow, and white heart-shaped confetti, thrown from plastic Champagne flutes arranged by Extraordinary Weddings.

Music: An eclectic mix. The bride walked down the aisle to the bridal march and the couple was serenaded by the four-man band as they exited the barrel room. 

Extraordinary Weddings brought my wedding day vision to life. The execution and décor were flawless. Everything was even more amazing than we imagined.” Valerie Quintanilla, The Bride 

The Reception: The aperitivo-hour featured wines from the venue, Abbona. They started with a welcome toast of Brut. Then, paired the aperitivo spread with Dolcetto and Favorita.

Blind Tasting: Dinner started with a blind tasting led by the couple’s friend who is the cellarmaster at a Barbaresco producer. He selected the wine and worked with Extraordinary Weddings on storage, serving, temperature, and presentation. The couple wanted the blind tasting to serve as an icebreaker, so each table filled out one tasting note as a group. The note was to be creative, not technical to get everyone talking. The blind tasting went so well that tables requested to present their tasting notes to the entire group.

Dinner: Dinner included traditional Piemontese primo and secondo, specially paired with some of the couple’s favorite local producers. Wines included a Gavi by Deltetto, Barbera d’Asti Superiore by Giuseppe Stella, and Nebbiolo d’Alba by Cantina di Nebbiolo.

Dolce: The couple requested a cake featuring gianduja, an elegant regional specialty of hazelnut cream. For toasts and dessert guests had an option of a local Brut or the local sweet frizzante, Moscato d’Asti.

After cake a buffet was set out of local specialties, including torta di nocciola (hazelnut cake), fruits, and more. The couple wanted to give their guests one more Italian indulgence so Extraordinary Weddings arranged for a gelato cart to serve cups and cones. 

The Wedding Favor:  Guests received a bag of pasta from a local pasta maker. 

THE EXTRAORDINARY TOUCH: The ceremony was created almost totally from recommendations by Extraordinary Weddings, including the candlelit, cork and wine bottle-lined aisle, the wine ceremony, and the pink and yellow heart-shaped confetti. 

Piedmont Wedding planner: Barbara Gourdain - www.extraordinaryweddings.com

Destination Weddings in Langhe, Roero Monferrato - Piedmont, Italy

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