Kunde Winery Wedding Photography

Gillian & Jeremy’s Autumn Bohemian Vineyard Wedding

We had no set color palette, but when we chose a September 19th wedding date we knew we wanted to channel the fall vibe by using warm colors, seasonal fruits, and everything rustic.

At first I was set on wearing a dress that wasn’t white – but when I tried on my Katie May dress I knew this was perfect.

Jeremy’s suit was quite easy to find – we bought it from Paul Smith – loved it because it had a perfectly modern edge to it but would be great for a rustic wedding with some brown shoes.

I planned to dress it up with lots of fun, funky jewelry to channel a bohemian vibe. I wanted to feel like “me.”

We wanted the “theme” of the wedding to carry our personality as a couple – casually classy; extraordinarily festive; expansive; flavorful; eclectic; easy-going; just plain fun.

In lieu of a bridal party, we had three little blonde flower girls – our nieces! My mother and I found three matching lace dresses at H&M, then bought sage green satin ribbon to tie around their waists.

Our ceremony was under the oak trees, overlooking the incredible vineyards at Kunde… just as the sun was setting.

We wanted the flowers at our wedding to be simple, elegant, and seasonal. Our venue was already gorgeous, so we knew we didn’t need a ton of flowers to ‘spice the place up.

Our aisle was decorated with rugs – and the rug we stood on during our ceremony is actually my parent’s front entry rug!

Jeremy’s father, Leroy, officiated the ceremony and worked with us to come up with a spirited ceremony that was incredibly magical and perfectly suited to us as a couple! It was so special to have him involved.

Our wedding rings were something we chose to reflect our personalities. I found a beautiful citrine point ring, set in bronze made by Susan Ritter, which we got from Paxton Gate in San Francisco.

As to my bouquet- I think I showed her a bunch of idea photos, but generally said, go with whatever is pretty and seasonal – “surprise me!”She chose bright orange and peach wildflowers mixed with roses for my bouquet, with lots of cascading greenery and gorgeous green ribbons tied around the stems.

We met in the city, we fell in love in the city. He proposed in a castle.

We have spent the last few years getting to know one another and falling in love even more- our love of traveling, music, and art has taken us on countless incredible journeys together.

We bought and decorated the flower girls’ baskets ourselves… the look was tied together with the adorable floral crowns that our florist Laura Miller created!

Jeremy and I have always loved wine country, and being outdoors.

We went on our first weekend getaway to Sonoma together when we were first dating, and he also met my parents for the first time wine tasting there- it has always felt like our place.

We wanted our wedding to be FUN! (I think we pulled it off) And to carry the vibe of some of our favorite things about wine country.

We had lawn games (corn hole toss and bocci ball), floor pillows and picnic blankets surrounding low tables, wine barrels and delicious passed hour devours as the sun was setting.

There were just so many personal diy attributes to our wedding that I can barely remember them all! We made sure there were lots of unexpected fun touches that made it memorable for us as well as our guests.

For dinner, we created a setup with all extra-long farm tables, and family style dining for a fun, casual yet classy vibe.

Our tables were decorated with bud vases, and each guest plate had a pomegranate or persimmon on top (seasonal fruits)!

I am an artist, and Jeremy and I are very aesthetically aligned, so coming up with the idea was easy for us.

We chose food from Alex’s catering that had a California vibe. It was delicious!

We were so moved by the presence of our beloved family and friends that, truly, if anything had gone wrong we would never have noticed!

We had no first dance, no father daughter dance, no big traditions… no flower toss, no money dance, no bride and groom “theme” stuff…. We knew from the beginning that this wedding didn’t need to feel like a wedding.

We are not a traditional couple, we do not have traditional families… We just knew we wanted to have the best party ever to celebrate our love! We wanted everyone to have a blast. We did.

We were blessed by beautiful toasts, and an unforgettable acoustic performance by Jeremy’s cousin Firefly, just as the last evening light as fading and the crickets were beginning to chirp. It was unforgettable!

Our dessert was seasonal fruit pie from Mission Pie- we don’t like cake much, and wanted to use as many local touches from our favorite places as possible.

The addition of this pie to our wedding was the perfect touch.We busted open a piñata to kick off the reception! Filled with candy and rose petals, it was custom made for us by a woman in our neighborhood!

Our wedding was SO much fun, and so uniquely “us”!

Our advice for future couples: Your wedding day is a celebration of YOU and YOUR LOVE! So you are free to celebrate your love however it makes sense to you.

If you want to pull out all the stops for a lavish bash – or if you want to go easy and have a BBQ – remember that it’s yours, and you and your guests will be happy that your day reflects you!

We have spent the last few years getting to know one another and falling in love even more- our love of traveling, music, and art has taken us on countless incredible journeys together.

Venue: Kunde Winery

DJ: Greg Gioia

Florist: Laura Miller

Caterer: Alex’s catering

Transportation: Beau wine tours

Wedding Planner: Heather Holliday

Transportation: Beau wine tours

Jeremy and I have always loved wine country, and being outdoors.We wanted a wedding that gave us the feeling of being outside- away from the complicated city world- a retreat that allowed us to relax and breathe into the celebration of our love.

We wanted the “theme” of the wedding to carry our personality as a couple – casually classy; extraordinarily festive; expansive; flavorful; eclectic; easy-going; just plain fun. We had no set color palate, but when we chose a September 19th wedding date we knew we wanted to channel the fall vibe by using warm colors, seasonal fruits, and everything rustic.

I am an artist, and Jeremy and I are very aesthetically aligned, so coming up with the idea was easy for us. Our venue, caterer, dessert, and florist were key pieces to the puzzle as far as bringing this vision together.

I am an artist, and Jeremy and I are very aesthetically aligned, so coming up with the idea was easy for us. Our venue, caterer, dessert, and florist were key pieces to the puzzle as far as bringing this vision together. At first I was set on wearing a dress that wasn’t white – but when I tried on my Katie May dress I knew this was perfect. I planned to dress it up with lots of fun, funky jewelry to channel a bohemian vibe. I wanted to feel like “me.” Jeremy’s suit was quite easy to find – we bought it from Paul Smith – loved it because it had a perfectly modern edge to it but would be great for a rustic wedding with some brown shoes.

In lieu of a bridal party, we had three little blonde flower girls – our nieces! My mother and I found three matching lace dresses at H&M, then bought sage green satin ribbon to tie around their waists. We bought and decorated their baskets ourselves… the look was tied together with the adorable floral crowns that our florist Laura Miller created！We wanted the flowers at our wedding to be simple, elegant, and seasonal. Our venue was already gorgeous, so we knew we didn’t need a ton of flowers to ‘spice the place up.’ Our florist worked within our low-ish budget to create a look that was effortlessly elegant.

As to my bouquet- I think I showed her a bunch of idea photos, but generally said, go with whatever is pretty and seasonal – “surprise me!”She chose bright orange and peach wildflowers mixed with roses for my bouquet, with lots of cascading greenery and gorgeous green ribbons tied around the stems. Everyone’s personal flowers used the same kinds and colors of flowers- things with rich fall vibes. We loved it!Our other flowers were mostly done in bud vases and mixed in with fruits and nuts in bowls, giving the impression of a fall feast table. It was perfect and Laura absolutely nailed it!

Our ceremony was under the oak trees, overlooking the incredible vineyards at Kunde… just as the sun was setting. Jeremy’s father, Leroy, officiated the ceremony and worked with us to come up with a spirited ceremony that was incredibly magical and perfectly suited to us as a couple! It was so special to have him involved. We brought influences from Buddhism, Christianity, and the Native American spiritual traditions into our ceremony, to create something diverse and beautiful.Our aisle was decorated with rugs – and the rug we stood on during our ceremony is actually my parent’s front entry rug! Now, whenever they come home to their front door, they can remember our wedding! 😉

We walked in to “Sea of Love” as sung by Cat Power, and skipped away to “Shelter Song” by Temples. We got a dried flower confetti send-off as we went out! We dried all the flower ourselves over the course of about a year!We wanted our wedding to be FUN! (I think we pulled it off) And to carry the vibe of some of our favorite things about wine country- we had lawn games (corn hole toss and bocci ball), floor pillows and picnic blankets surrounding low tables, wine barrels and delicious passed hour devours as the sun was setting.

For dinner, we created a setup with all extra-long farm tables, and family style dining for a fun, casual yet classy vibe. Our tables were decorated with bud vases, and each guest plate had a pomegranate or persimmon on top (seasonal fruits)! We chose food from Alex’s catering that had a California vibe. It was delicious! Our dessert was seasonal fruit pie from Mission Pie- we don’t like cake much, and wanted to use as many local touches from our favorite places as possible. The addition of this pie to our wedding was the perfect touch.We busted open a piñata to kick off the reception! Filled with candy and rose petals, it was custom made for us by a woman in our neighborhood!

We were so moved by the presence of our beloved family and friends that, truly, if anything had gone wrong we would never have noticed! We were blessed by beautiful toasts, and an unforgettable acoustic performance by Jeremy’s cousin Firefly, just as the last evening light as fading and the crickets were beginning to chirp. It was unforgettable!

Our DJ was great at reading the crowd- we picked an “indie DJ” since we have very specific taste in music and wanted someone who would understand our taste as well as react to our crowd of fellow musicians, artists and music lovers. Everyone was pleased!Off in the distance, we had a projector set up with a Swiss art film playing – It’s called “The Right Way,” and was a film Jeremy and I stumbled upon in the SFMoMa early in our relationship. We were captivated by its characters, their interactions, their adventures, and the hilarious juxtaposition of people in animal costumes in the epic Swiss Alps. We knew that we had to have this little piece of our relationship at our wedding. Our niece Eleanor was telling me all about it all night, I was glad to see that people escaped to enjoy this unusual piece!

We had no first dance, no father daughter dance, no big traditions… no flower toss, no money dance, no bride and groom “theme” stuff…. We knew from the beginning that this wedding didn’t need to feel like a wedding. We are not a traditional couple, we do not have traditional families… We just knew we wanted to have the best party ever to celebrate our love! We wanted everyone to have a blast. We did.