Winery Wedding

Having your wedding at a winery opens the door to many beautiful possibilities. When we look at Marissa and Pat’s lovely wedding ceremony at Inn at Grace Winery, we can gather inspiration for an incredible day. Take a look – every image is inspiring.

What to Look for in a Venue for a Winery Wedding

It is evident that you should consider sprawling vineyards for a winery wedding. While you could have the ceremony outdoors, planning an indoor reception is usually what is best at night. Many wineries have historical inns that have taken inspiration from the classic styles of eras long gone.

You could think of booking a venue like the gorgeous Inn at Grace Winery in Pennsylvania. This wedding venue is stunning thanks to its sprawling thirty-five acres of vineyards with a Manor House, barn, amphitheater, and stay options. You can also consider all guests' accommodation and travel arrangements while finalizing the venue.

Color Palettes for a Winery Wedding

Ideally, you should select wedding colors that suit the venue. Romantic landscapes, lush scenery, and natural elements found in wineries should have classic ivory, pastels, soft blush, and native greenery wedding palette. These shades work beautifully for wedding favors, table settings, ceremony and reception decor, and look stunning in all photographs.

If you want a more toned-down color palette, you could opt for neutrals like beige, off-white, shades of brown, tan, sand, stone, and gray, and the only visible brightness from florals in shades of white, blush, peach, pink, and pale yellow. This color palette is also ethereal and makes for some fabulous wedding shots.

Details for a Winery Wedding

Consider using all the natural elements present at the winery, like stained wood, wooden furniture, soft lighting, wine casks and barrels for floral arrangements, and tin jars for place cards. When you're adding details to the wedding, you should plan the creative elements like guest signages in wood and white calligraphy, and white lettering for the guestbook.

You could also add some traditional aspects to the wedding, like adding dirt from each parents' gardens as a symbolic gesture of taking what your parents have taught you and building a new life together on those values. These small details will add depth, meaning, and extra value to your wedding.

Table Setting Style for a Winery Wedding

The table setting style in a winery should be romantic and magical yet natural. Since the wedding venue is a winery, and the reception might be indoors in a barn area, consider the overall aesthetic of the place. This is the time to highlight the color of the wood, furniture, overhead soft white lighting, fairy lights twinkling from the ceiling, and more to add beauty to the table setting.

You can decorate long and short rectangular tables with olive green table runners and a greenery-based floral decor of succulents, dahlias, garden roses, olive and native foliage, and silver dollar eucalyptus. To make the table striking, you could add gold lanterns, white candles, and mercury votive candles to make the table setting look ethereal. These ideas can work with an outdoor event too.

Wedding Dresses and Accessories for a Winery Wedding

The wedding dress should be the crowning glory of your big day! The best part about winery weddings is wearing the most sensuous wedding gown you want. You can opt for a mesmerizing strapless A-line dress with a sweetheart neckline, made from Chantilly lace adorned with sequins and duchess satin. One such perfect bridal couture gown is the Brielle 2370 from Casablanca Bridal.

You could consider a delicate diamond necklace and drop earrings set with a diamond bracelet on your wrist for accessories. Minimal jewelry will add to the overall beauty. You can style your hair in a chignon or half-up style with a vintage comb. It is best to wear flat ballerinas for shoes since the ground at the winery could be slightly uneven.

Bridesmaid Dresses for a Winery Wedding

There are several highly flattering styles for bridesmaids. Ideally, blush pink, ivory, or stone gray dresses would look gorgeous for the occasion. These colors are flattering on all body shapes, and each dress can be tailored to fit specific comfort levels. The wedding bouquets should be a mix of silver dollar eucalyptus, olive greens, garden roses, and white dahlias.

These bouquets can be tied with champagne satin ribbons to look glamorous yet romantic. Instead of the champagne ribbons, you could also opt for ivory lace to match the rest of the wedding color palette. Each bridesmaid can also have a ribbon in her hair in the same colors.

Bouquets and Boutonnieres for a Winery Wedding

The wedding bouquets should be a fine mix of florals that go well with the overall theme. They can be flowing, natural, and lush, yet romantic. The bouquets can be a combination of rosette succulents, white and blush dahlias, lisianthus, astilbe, micro eucalyptus, silver dollar eucalyptus, and native greens. You could also add a few sprigs of olive greens to them if you want. These bouquets can also be tied with a champagne ribbon or ivory lace.

The boutonnieres should fit with the wedding colors and may be a single blush or white rose tied with a champagne ribbon or ivory lace (like those used in the wedding and bridesmaids' bouquets).

Wedding Cake Ideas for a Winery Wedding

Winery weddings make for some showstopping cakes. You can opt for a 3 or 4-tier cake. There are several flavors and styles that you can opt for while keeping in mind the wedding theme. A lemon chiffon cake with buttercream and raspberry puree frosting and white buttercream on the outside will look as pretty as a picture!

Light, airy cakes are great for a summer or spring wedding, and adding fresh blooms like garden roses, mini succulents, and dahlias can add to the overall prettiness of the cake. You could have it wheeled out on a table laden with textured foliage, olive greens, and silver dollar eucalyptus for a dramatic entrance.

Favors and Gifts for a Winery Wedding

Welcome gifts for guests should be helpful and fit with the theme. You can make a tasteful welcome gift hamper of a small red or white wine bottle, some chocolates, and a nuts mixture as a snack. The welcome gifts should make your guests feel instantly cheerful and add meaning to your wedding theme.

For wedding favors, you could think of giving succulents in small tin pots or planters with a packet of mixed seeds. The wedding favor should always be personalized with a stamped thank you note, your initials, and the wedding date. In this case, you could attach the thank you note to the pot or pail handle.

Wedding Reception Music and Entertainment for a Winery Wedding

There are some excellent dance numbers you can plan with the DJ beforehand. Since the winery wedding is sure to have a romantic, mystical feel, your song selection should resonate with the love you both share. If you have a favorite song like Ed Sheerans' cover of 'Wonderwall' by Oasis or an instrumental version of Beyonce's 'XO' you should convey your list to the DJ first.

For entertainment, you could think of adding some family favorite dance numbers, have a standup comedian at the reception to allow everyone a breather from the dancing, or organize a wine tasting tour with your friends, families, and loved ones as part of the reception.

Joyful and Lush Winery Wedding

From Lindsay Campbell Photography – “Ask Marissa and Pat about their love story, and they’ll tell you it’s pretty similar to that of Jim and Pam from The Office. They met working for an architecture firm in Philly, and for a long time, the timing just wasn’t right… until it was. On their wedding day – with Marissa’s lace Casablanca gown, the bridesmaids’ blush Hayley Paige gowns, the gentlemen’s blue suits (accessorized by The Tie Bar), and gorgeous florals – their entire look felt so romantic, and fit so perfectly with the soft, lush aesthetic of Grace Valley.

After their sweet outdoor ceremony, guests enjoyed cocktails in the winery, then danced the night away inside the malting barn. It was one of those weddings where everything works out perfectly, and it couldn’t have been for a more kind, generous, and giddy-in-love couple!”

HOW THEY MET

From the bride, Marissa – “We like to say that our relationship started off similarly to The Office romance of Jim and Pam. We met in 2012 working for the same architecture firm and quickly became great friends. Walks to and from the train and daily lunch outings brought us closer, as well as becoming friends outside of work. One night after a work event we found ourselves at the top of the PSFS building in Philadelphia and a spark ignited, even though we didn’t quite know it yet.

It wasn’t until a year after Pat left the firm that we decided to catch up and the stars finally aligned. We’ve been inseparable ever since, knowing that real love is patient and enduring. Whether consciously or subconsciously we had to wait for those stars to align, but we couldn’t exist without being together.

Years after that spark originated at the top of the PSFS building in Philadelphia, Patrick proposed in the same place that we began to fall for each other. It was a beautiful sunset overlooking the city in the place that our winding journey began together.”

THE WEDDING VISION

“The vision for the wedding was romantic and ethereal with the use of natural elements such wood, stone, greenery, and beautiful landscapes. The scenery and decor were lush and flowing. This all fits perfectly with our ‘let love grow’ theme. The bride and groom help each other to grow in many ways and believe a strong relationship is based on the ability to keep challenging each other to grow in life and as partners. The theme of ‘growth’ was a key element in the design of the invitations, programs, decor, ceremony rituals, favors, and setting.

We both love nature and wanted natural elements to shine in every detail. The colors matched this theme using greenery, ivory, and soft blush tones really as accents to the landscapes and structures on the grounds.

The whole event took place at a Grace Winery in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. The winery has beautifully kept grounds that are the perfect combination or natural and timeless. The location for the ceremony had a beautiful tall backdrop of lush green trees. Amphitheater seating set into a hillside is where the guests watched the ceremony from. This connected to a terrace behind a modern barn where the cocktail hour was. From here the guests moved into the barn where the wine is made for the reception. All of these spaces had history and the materiality was natural.

The modern, natural, and romantic theme came together beautifully in the barn reception space with long rectangular tables with lush green table runners and soft white lighting. Every detail met the vision spot on.”

THE DRESS

The Casablanca ‘Laurel’ dress was perfect for a late summer wedding. The lace applique fits the modern, natural, and romantic feel of the winery. It was elegant with beautiful details, especially the train. The grooms blue suit also fit the outdoors and more natural wedding setting. The wedding party wore blush and gray and fit within the soft romantic setting.

THE PLANNING PROCESS

“Selecting the perfect venue for the ceremony and reception was the most important while planning. We both love nature and the outdoors and wanted to find a place with beautiful grounds and spaces that created the right atmosphere for the event and also spoke to our personalities.

The Inn at Grace Winery has acres of beautiful landscapes with an old stone inn on the property and a large modern barn where the wine is made and the reception was held. The vineyards and all of the large trees on the property were a beautiful setting. Most importantly to have our wedding at this location we had to fill all of the inn and cottage rooms for the weekend. We loved being able to have our closest family and wedding party staying on the grounds with us for 3 days instead of the typical rushed around day of getting ready and jumping from place to place. Being able to stay on the grounds for the whole weekend and having everything in one place made setting up for the event, having the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony, reception, and after party that much better and allowed us to soak in every minute.

Keeping everything true to our personalities through each step was important to us and after everything our family and friends said the ceremony and reception were ‘so us’ and we were happy it all came across that way.

We splurged on the venue and food (Brandywine Prime Catering supplied one of the best meals us and our guests have ever had). The guests all raved about the food afterward.”

THE FLOWERS

“The wedding flowers were romantic, natural, flowing, and lush. Julie Dagostino Designs used a lot of greenery such as silver dollar eucalyptus and micro eucalyptus. They had a mixture of blush and white dahlias, garden roses, rosette succulents, Astilbe, lisianthus and Hypericum berries accented with silver dollar eucalyptus and olive foliage. The bridal bouquet stems were wrapped with ivory lace and champagne satin ribbons. We had more blush tones in the bouquet and boutonniere and the wedding party had more ivory and greenery.

For the ceremony the we were flanked by two wine barrels with large flower arrangements on top using the flowers mentioned above.
The reception space had long rectangular tables with silver dollar eucalyptus, olive foliage, and other greenery, table runners with succulents, dahlias, garden roses, mercury votive candles, gold lanterns, and other candles scattered throughout.”

THE CAKE & FAVORS

“Our wedding cake was made by Pat’s sister who is a chef. It was a 3-tier lemon chiffon cake with fresh raspberry puree mixed with buttercream frosting layered throughout and white textured buttercream frosting on the outside. Great flavors for a summer wedding! The florist decorated the cake with fresh blooms such as dahlias, garden roses, and succulents. The cake was made with Pat’s late grandmother’s baking pans which added meaning.

We gave out succulents and mixed seed packets for our favors. There was a wide variety of types of succulents potted in stainless steel pots with stamped thank you notes tied to the pail handles. These fit with our ‘let love grow’ theme.”

DIY DETAILS

“We had several DIY items. My dad made the place holders for the name cards. They were cut in half slices of birch branches. The name cards fit in a slot cut into the rounded portion.

We built and stained our own risers and crates for cocktail hour and reception decor. We also made all of the signage with stained wood and painted white lettering for the card box, welcome, wishing well, bucket list, Instagram, guestbook, and table number signs.

We hand-drew the guest book as a coniferous tree and the guests signed their names on the branches and we supplied the cocktail hour flowers which were mason jars filled with silver dollar eucalyptus and blush and white roses sitting atop wine barrels that acted as high top tables.”

TRADITIONS

“During our ceremony, we added dirt from each of our parents' gardens to a plant and watered it as part of a metaphor of taking what our parents have taught us and using it to continue to let our love grow.
The cake was also made with Pat’s late grandmothers baking pans!”

FAVORITE MEMORIES

“Our favorite parts of the day were honestly getting to spend time together while taking pictures with our absolutely awesome photographers! They made each moment memorable and magical for us and they made us feel so special all day long. We decided to slip out of the reception during dinner to take sunset photos in the vineyard. This began with Pat and I hoping on the back of a golf cart with the photographers (Lindsay and Tyler) and off-roading over to the vineyards which was a lot of fun. This bit of time after now being officially husband and wife away from the reception was a truly romantic and meaningful to us.

It doesn’t get more romantic than a sunset in a vineyard on your wedding day, but this time was also special for us to get to have some fun with Lindsay and Tyler who were exuberant happiness and were the perfect example of true love and the best wedding photographers we could have asked for!
We took dance lessons leading up to the wedding and another favorite part of our day was our first dance. We danced to an Ed Sheeran cover version of Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall.’ The dance was romantic and continued to build throughout the song with lifts and ‘death drops’ and it turned out fantastically. We had fun learning the dance together leading up to the wedding and our guests were very impressed with our moves!”

ADVICE

“We highly recommend choosing a venue that you can enjoy for a weekend with your family and friends who have traveled to spend time with you. Having everything in one place saves time and stress and makes the wedding day flow so well.

We also recommend doing a ‘first look.’ Having 4+ hours together before the ceremony allows you to get tons of great photos, and most importantly, you get to spend your wedding day with your partner! This also means you can enjoy your cocktail hour and the guests don’t have to fill awkward time between a ceremony and reception. The first look is also an intimate moment between two people and you can show your love upon first reactions to seeing each other before an officiant says ‘you may kiss!’”

Credits: Photography: Lindsay Campbell Photography // Floral: Julie Dagostino Designs // Stationery: Minted // Wedding Cake: Groom’s sister // Hair & Makeup: Bella-Angel // Wedding Dress: Casablanca // Catering: Brandywine Prime Catering // Groom’s Attire: Jos A Bank // Bridesmaid Dresses: Hayley Paige // Veil: THE WEDDING FACTOR // Headpiece: Etsy – USA Bride // Socks & Ties: The Tie Bar  // Submitted via: Matchology // Ceremony & Reception Venue: Inn at Grace Winery in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.