Real Weddings: Amy and Dimiter’s Vineyard Wedding
December 4th, 2009 by SilviaToday we are featuring a gorgeous Real Wedding that took place in a winery complete with wine barrels! When Beau-coup’s own lovely customer service agent Amy got engaged, she knew she wanted an elegant, yet rustic wedding in a vineyard. Amy and Dimiter’s gorgeous wedding took place at the Testarossa Vineyards in Los Gatos, CA and was photographed by Ming Ho Photography. Here’s a question and answer session I did with the lovely bride!
Q: How did the two of you meet?
A: We met in 7th grade at Junior high school. Dimiter had just moved to Colorado from Bulgaria with his family and he was enrolled in ESL which is the “English as a Second Language” program at our school because he did not speak any English. My best friend Karen was his tutor in ESL.
Q: How did he propose?
A: It was December 2006 and we were flying to Colorado to spend Christmas with my family. There was an ENORMOUS snow storm that week and all flights were canceled and airports all across the Midwest were closed. By some miracle Dimiter’s flight was one of the first they were allowing to fly into Denver and I found the LAST seat on a flight the following day (because my reservation had been canceled completely). On Christmas morning he proposed while we were all sitting around the Christmas tree opening presents. ALL of my family had been in on it and I had NO clue!!! He thought it would be very important to propose with my family there because he knows how much I miss them with us living in CA and them in CO so it was the BEST Christmas EVER!
Q: Did you have a theme for your wedding and how did you carry it out?
A: Yes we chose to get married at Testarossa Vineyards in a winery so wine was the theme. We carried out the theme in the colors that we used (burgundys and ivorys and golds) and in the decorations and favors (wine barrels to hold flower arrangements and wedding cake etc) and the favors were personalized wine glasses. Instead of a unity candle or sand ceremony set we had a wine ceremony where I had a glass of white wine and Dimiter had a glass of red and we poured them together and both took a sip from the blend.
Q: Did you have any special traditions you carried out?
A: We performed this dance called the “Horo” which is very popular in Bulgarian tradition. Everyone joins hands (everyone including all the guests) and does a kicking and walking motion to the music. Everyone moves in a circle and the more people that join the bigger the circle gets and it gets more and more intertwined and before we knew it everyone was participating! We also used the tradition of giving 5 Jordan almonds as one of our favors (Italian tradition) SEE BELOW under favors.
Q: What was the most memorable moment of your wedding day?
A: I think one of the most memorable parts was seeing Dimiter’s face when I was walking down the aisle. I was just so in love with him at that moment. I was so nervous before the ceremony but when I saw his face I suddenly felt at ease and I knew everything was fine. My other most memorable moment was the father-daughter dance because my dad chose the song “Isn’t she lovely” by Stevie Wonder and he surprised me and re-recorded the song with HIM singing it and changed the lyrics to be fitting for a father daughter dance and his feelings for me! It was SO special!
Q: Which is your favorite picture (and why)?
A: My favorite picture was taken by our best man. It is when we were getting our professional pictures taken with the photographer and we were walking down the stone steps of the vineyard. He was up above on the balcony with the rest of the wedding party. Dimiter was holding my veil for me when we were walking so it wouldn’t drag on the stone and the way he was holding the veil formed a big HEART!!
Q: What was the funniest moment?
A: At one point two of our cousins had a bit too much wine and tied their neck ties around their head and were dancing like CRAZY! It was so funny!!!!
Q: Did everything go as you’d planned?
A: YES! I know it is so rare but everything went exactly as planned and exactly as we had hoped it would. It was the best night of our lives!- OH actually I found out after the wedding that the Men’s bathroom was broken so the male guests had to use a port-a -potty!!!! I didn’t find out about this until the day after the wedding so it was fine hahaha!
Q: What did you pick out for your wedding favors?
A: I gave personalized wine glasses, and I also gave Jordan almonds in a burgundy organza bag with the bella scalloped hang tag. We put 5 Jordan almonds in each bag to follow the Italian tradition:
“ITALIAN WEDDINGS Five almonds signify five wishes for the bride and groom: health, wealth, happiness, fertility, and longevity. These almonds decorate each place setting as favors, tucked into pretty boxes or tulle bags called *bomboniere* that are often personalized with the couple’s names and wedding date.” (http://www.jordanalmonds.com/Pages/Tradition%20&%20History.htm)
We then put the burgundy organza bag inside of a mini woven favor bag and finished the favor off with the scalloped “Bella” hang tag in burgundy.
Q: Tell us about your dress.
A: I LOVED my dress it was my dream dress! It was a Pronovias dress and Pronovias dresses are designed and made in Spain. I chose Ivory as opposed to white because of the rustic feel of the winery. I had a “mantilla” cathedral length veil which was beautiful. Originally the neckline went straight across my bust but my seamstress altered the whole neckline into a sweet heart neckline which I liked much better.
Q: Where did you take your honeymoon?
A: We went to Belize and stayed at the Matachica resort on the island of Ambergris Caye. It was TRUE PARADISE!!
Q: What was the favorite part about the whole wedding experience (from proposal to the honeymoon)?
A: I think my favorite part about the whole wedding experience was after it was all done and knowing it went SO smoothly and we were finally husband and wife! Dimiter and I had the BEST time at our wedding and everything from the proposal to the wedding planning to the wedding itself to the honeymoon was so amazing!
