Wedding Video: Wine and Candlelight on a Grand Scale

This August seems to be our month for winery weddings. On Friday, Aug. 11, I covered the wedding of Karena Stotz and Rositur Martin at the spacious Palm Event Center in Pleasanton. The Center, built with timbers from the area's historic Ruby Hill Winery, shares vineyard property with the Mitchell Katz Winery.

A long driveway, flanked on either side by stately palm trees, leads from Vineyard Avenue up to the winery. Vineyards extend away to the right; the Palm Event Center stands to the left. As you drive in, the winery -- housed in a massive old brick building -- seems to rise up in front of you and fill the windshield, eclipsing the rolling hills in the background. The Event Center looks modest by comparison; but the impression is only relative, and it vanishes once you step through its thick double wooden doors. The Center's main ballroom can hold up to 450 people.

Karena's and Rossi's ceremony was held in the Event Center's Barrel Room -- a long, high-ceilinged room lined with huge wine barrels. Late afternoon light streamed through a single arched window high in the west wall. The rest of the lighting came from elaborate wrought-iron chandeliers high overhead -- and from hundreds of votive candles set everywhere along the dark framework supporting the tiers of wine barrels. The candle flames glimmered in subdued reflections from the sides of the big casks. It was a spectacular setting. The Rev. Robert Dittler, resplendent in bishop's mitre and robes, performed the ceremony.

Many wineries capitalize on their outdoor scenery when staging weddings, and do that beautifully. But the Palm Event Center's Barrel Room celebrates the magic of the winemaker's art that takes place after the harvest. I suspect that it's not only elegant, it's also strategic: the Barrel Room will be just as inviting in December, when wineries with outdoor wedding sites will have put away their chairs and flower stands for the winter.

Capturing the visuals for Karena and Rossi in still images was Lucie Kubinova Silveira of LucieXYZ Photography in Santa Clara. She made the most of the dramatic interior and exterior settings in posing her subjects.

Karin Gruber of Wild Nights in San Mateo was the highly capable DJ for the ceremony and the reception, assisted by Wayne Munoz. We've been fortunate to work with a lot of skilled and helpful DJs over the years, but Karin was one of the best. She went out of her way to make sure we had good audio to go with our tapes, and she impressed us even more by attending the wedding rehearsal the day before, so she could coach Karena, Rossi, and their bridal party on their musical cues. (Karin even set aside a final piece of prelude music as the audio signal for the bridal party to assemble, once everything was ready for the ceremony. That's proactive.)

Attending our clients' wedding rehearsals is standard policy for us. On occasion, we'll see the photographer at the rehearsal, too; but it's a real rarity to see the DJ there. Karin's performance through the entire wedding set her apart as a real professional.

- JH