Ashley and Matthew’s Beautiful New Year’s Eve Winery Wedding in California

Ashley and Matthew’s beautiful winery wedding in California takes the traditional New Year’s Eve color themes of black, cream and gold to further heights of simultaneous elegance and glamour. The hanging floral display over the reception table perfectly tied together the venue space with the decor. Sentimental elements added to the intimate and welcoming atmosphere, such as the the memorial table, and incorporation of original family artwork into the stationery. The fireside S’mores bar and donut flambe’ station were delicious and cozy additions – no detail was left unexplored. Featuring the event planning and design work of MunaLuchi Coterie Ambassador Chanda Daniels of A Monique Affair, and makeup artistry by Ninahwee.

Read all about Ashley & Matthew’s love story, proposal, and wedding experience.

Bride & Groom: Ashley & Matthew
Occupations: Bride – Wedding & Event Coordinator, Groom – Estate & Trust Attorney.
Wedding date: 12/31/2016
Wedding location: Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery, California

Tell us how you met and all about the proposal. Matt and I met online. Matt and I both have rather large families, so holidays are a big deal for us. The day after Thanksgiving 2015 Matt and I made our way to my parents house for what we call “Thanksgiving 2.0.” As we walked up the driveway, Matt started reminiscing about our relationship and all the wonderful moments we had created over the last couple of years. As we approached the door, in one swift move he was down on one knee, with a beautiful ring and an even more beautiful smile. It was perfect.

What was wedding shopping like for you? I ended up choosing a spectacular gown by Lazaro for our wedding. I knew I wanted a romantic dress with lace detailing and some sort of unexpected element. My mother talked me into buying the mermaid version of this dress, originally I wanted to buy the A-line option. One of my favorite details of my dress is the tulle. It’s a simple ivory color but has glitter embedded in the fabric so every time I moved, there was a soft shimmering effect. It was magnificent. I ended up ordering extra tulle from Lazaro to make my detachable sleeves. I wanted to have that beautiful line the off the shoulder look gave and yet be able to freely dance later.
My second dress was a Badgley Mischka snow white, cap sleeve gown with white sequined detailing. It was simple, sexy and easy to move around in—the perfect second dress.
Wedding dress shopping for me was kind of a nightmare. Almost all of the high end boutiques and salons in San Francisco don’t carry my size and the businesses that did carry my size didn’t offer the designers or level of gowns I was interested in. I was also body shamed – In the south bay, one store owner started pointing out the different areas of my body where he thought I should lose weight and at a boutique in the east bay the woman behind the register looked me up and down right after I walked through the door and said “I don’t have anything here that will fit you.” It was extremely embarrassing as well as disheartening as picking out my dress was one of the aspects of wedding planning I was really looking forward to.
At this point, I was extremely frustrated and completely over dress shopping. While retelling my horrifying experiences over brunch with a friend, she recommended I try a salon called Bridal Galleria in downtown San Francisco.
Once I walked through the doors of Bridal Galleria, instantly the thought popped into my head, “I just should have come here to begin with.” Everything about this boutique was perfect; the soft lighting, the sophisticated glamour of the dresses, the strategically placed bride twirling in the mirror in front of her family declaring, “this is it!” My bridal consultant, Pascale, was wonderful. She listened to what I wanted and brought out option after option that A. I could try on, and B. made me feel beautiful and…bridal. She made sure that I finally got my bridal moment. I found my wedding dress that day with her.

Describe your wedding style. We wanted to keep to traditional New Years Eve colors (black, cream, and gold) while adding in elegant and unexpected pops of decor. Sequined linens were an absolute must for NYE, but in order to keep the wedding feeling sophisticated and glamorous, we made the decision to keep the sequined linens to cocktail, welcome and the cake tables.
Family is extremely important to us as a couple and we wanted to find different ways to honor family members who have passed. While having a memorial table is a fantastic and obvious way to honor lost loved ones, we wanted to take it a step further. Matt’s grandfather was an artist and while going through some of his work, we came across a sketch of a dancing man and woman. I loved the sketch as soon as I saw it and knew we had to integrate it into the wedding somehow. We ended up using a modified version of the sketch on the invitations and cannot be more pleased with the way they turned out.
Our amazing florist Nancy Liu Chin came up with the idea of integrating butterflies into the overall decor and we ran with it. There were touches of butterflies everywhere, the escort cards, in certain bridesmaid’s bouquets, the seating chart, signage and even on menus. They added a fun, romantic and whimsical element to the wedding.

Did you incorporate any culture into your wedding? I wanted to figure out a way to honor the “jumping the broom” tradition and my ancestors without actually jumping over a broom. I decided the best way to do this would be to put a broom on display on the welcome table. My aunt was kind enough to decorate the broom with a satin ivory ribbon and my florist added phalaenopsis orchids. The broom turned out simple and elegant– exactly what I wanted.

What is your best memory from your wedding? The look on Matt’s face as I was walking down the aisle is something I’ll never forget. We locked eyes and smiled at each other – it was a perfect moment that I’ll cherish forever.
Line dancing – My family LOVES to line dance (and dance in general). Matt’s family was fascinated watching us do the wobble — Matt’s grandmother even taped it! After we finished, someone from his family ran up to my cousin and asked, “How do you all know that dance? When did you have time to learn it?” It was great!

What is the best wedding advice you can give to engaged couples? The night before your wedding GET SOME SLEEP! Take your time hiring the right vendors and then trust them to do their job. Hire a videographer; it’s the one thing I regret from the wedding. Take ten minutes after the ceremony to have private time with your new spouse. This is the most important piece of advice: HIRE A WEDDING COORDINATOR. Even if you only hire a day of coordinator, make sure to hire a professional wedding coordinator. Someone who makes their living planning weddings, not your friend or your cousin. It makes all the difference in the world. My planner Chanda, of A Monique Affair, was PHENOMENAL. She went above and beyond to make sure that everything was perfect for our day. From the rehearsal to the end of the reception, she and her team made sure everyone was where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to be doing. After I hired her she said something that made me feel completely at ease. She said, “If you see something that’s wrong on your wedding day please, please, PLEASE tell me so I can fix it. There were things I wasn’t happy with on my wedding day and I don’t want you to have that experience. I don’t want you to look back on your wedding day and have any regrets.” It struck me at that moment how invested she was in our wedding. When you have somebody who cares that much in your corner you know you’re in good hands.
She was fantastic to work with – super supportive of all of my ideas and on the other hand wasn’t afraid to say, “That’s real cute and all Ashley, but that’s going to cost you an extra $10,000. Do you have an extra $10,000 lying around for this wedding? Ok, so here are some options that you can afford.” I bombarded her with texts and emails concerning linens, flowers, china, glassware, flatware, seating charts and layouts. I kept waiting for her to tell me that I only hired her for day of coordination and that what I was asking did not fall under that package. She never batted an eye. She always gave me an honest opinion, always had the answer, always had a quick fix to any problem. Her confidence, organization, communication and poise kept me calm throughout the entire planning process. I’ll always be grateful to her.
Remember to eat throughout the day and make sure your wedding planner MAKES YOU eat dinner. This is going to be one of the longest days of your life –you need to keep your strength up.

Bridesmaids/Groomsmen gifts: the bridesmaids (and groomswoman) were given matching Kade Spade earring and bracelets
Favorite item on the menu: There are too many to count!
Favorite appetizer: Matt and I love chicken and waffles, so to have a bite sized version served at our wedding was awesome. There were his and her versions – mine was served with a rosemary honey aioli and Matt’s was served with a sirracha sauce.
Favorite Entrée: That’s so difficult. I would say that in terms of the actual entrée I preferred my lobster and filet mignon to the blackened chicken (though let me be clear, that chicken was delicious). However, the 3 cheese macaroni and cheese with garlic, pancetta and herbs that came with the chicken blew whatever side dish that came with my meal out of the water.
Favorite Dessert: While I loved the fact that we had a s’mores bar and the doughnut flambé station was such a crowdpleaser (doughnuts soaked in bourbon, lit on fire and served hot with vanilla bean iced cream on top #itdoesntgetanybetterthanthis) I would say that our wedding cake is the dessert that truly captured my heart. Matt and I spent a long time customizing and choosing our wedding cake flavors so to see that come to fruition was awesome. Flavors included: boozy red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, twisted smores – chocolate cake with salted peanut butter caramel buttercream, toasted marshmallow filling with gram crackers and layers of fudge, fluffer nutter – banana cake, vanilla bean simple syrup, toasted marshmallow filling and with salted peanut butter caramel buttercream and cookie dough challenge – vanilla cake, vanilla bean simple syrup brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream and chocolate chip cookie dough. The flavors were a huge hit! People are still telling me that ours is the best wedding cake they’ve ever had.
First dance song: “Thinking out loud” by Ed Sheeran

Vendors:

Planner: Chanda of A Monique Affair
Florist: Nancy of Nancy Liu Chin Designs
Photographer: Becca of B. Jones Photography
Paper Products: Anne Marie of AMG Design Co
Calligraphy: Inkerella
Cake: Studio Cake
Ceremony/Reception Venue: Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery
Hair/Makeup: Ninahwee
Wedding Dress Salon: Bridal Galleria
Wedding Dress Designer: Lazaro
Bride’s Shoes: Badgley Mischka
Bridemaid’s Dresses: Amsale Bridesmaids
Groomsmen Attire: Tuxedo Shop – Black Tie Tuxedos and Couture Menswear
Rentals: Pleasanton Event Rentals
Hi ball Rentals: Frances Lane
Linens: La Tavola