Today I get to share with you the beautiful wedding of Eleoni & Paul that took place at Ponte Family Estates Vineyards in Southern California with imagery from Karen Leah Photography.
Because we were planning everything, we really wanted all parts of the wedding to represent us as a couple. Early on we thought “What kind of wedding couple are we? Are we church people, beach people, estate people?!” Then it struck us, we are wine people, and what better place to have our wedding and celebration of our journey together than a winery. We had decided from the start that we were hoping for three words to describe our wedding, “Simple, Fun, & Elegant.”
We met online while he was Iraq serving his second deployment there (his third at that time) and I was in Studio City, CA. At first I thought it was just a neat pen-pal situation, but because of the distance we were far more open with each other than with people we were hanging around with no fear of re-percussive judgements. Daily Skype chats helped with getting to know each other though, and after his return home we in fact started to “go out”. I kept telling him that we should “just be friends”, but he definitely had other ideas in mind. Upon one of our first dates he asked me to meet him at a popular brewery/restaurant because his friends were throwing him a “Welcome Home” party. When I walked in everyone either had children or were coupled up, I thought to myself “Holy crumb, I’m dating the Marrying Man!”
All the DIY touches we had are truly “us” as we love being hands on and creating together, whether it is furniture or art. So a woodsy, shabby chic vibe kind of overtook our ideas. Early on we had an idea we wanted to use chalk and slate board in the decor so that too became a running theme in the design of the wedding. The most fun thing to do was not an actual item but the morning of the wedding when my mother, sister (Matron of Honour), Fiancé, and I got together and set everything up alongside the coordinators of the venue. Although stressful it was absolute fun chatting while sprinkling polished stones and petals on the reception tables or setting up the guest sign in table.
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