It almost seems impossible to put into words the amount of love & happiness I've experienced over the last week - which may be why you all have been waiting for this post for so long! But trust me, this story and the beautiful pictures are well worth the wait.
Nick and I were out to lunch about 3 weeks ago when he started talking about how bad he wanted to go back to Napa. When I immediately agreed he threw out the idea to go the following weekend - he said he would make all the arrangements and all I had to do was to get the time off of work, show up and he would take care of the rest. Knowing Nick, the thought of him planning a trip like this in a week had me a little hesitant. The man is not a planner. So, as a backup plan, I made my own spreadsheet of wineries, their hours, locations, phone numbers, etc. I mean, impromptu trip to Napa? I love it, but you bet I won't go without a plan B :)
We left early Thursday morning, flight attendant comes by and Nick starts ordering white wine. I mean, I know we are going to wine country and all, but it's 8am, Nick. I drank my water, tried to nap and left him to his wine drinking all the way to SFO. Between Nick's running through the airport like his pants were on fire and a little 'tiff' he got into at the Budget car rental counter with a lady who he claims 'was trying to cut in front of him in line' when we finally got in the car headed to the first winery I told him he needed to calm down because he was beginning to embarrass himself. Little did I know what the nerves, rush and stress was all about...
We arrived (a half hour early, thanks to Nick's sprinting through the airport) at Kuleto Estate. You have to drive 2 miles up a one-way road up to the top of an amazing mountaintop. We began a tour of the estate, and after our first tasting, the woman giving the tour asked us to go take a seat on this beautiful patio they have that overlooks a valley of vineyards. This patio had a giant picnic table along with a brick pizza oven built into it. I asked her if they did any parties here, because the views were just stunning. She said they did do parties for their wine club members, but that they couldn't host weddings up there because only certain wineries in Napa/Sonoma were allowed to do so. She said to take a seat and that she'd be right back with our next tasting. Nick and I walked down to this overlook...
It was at this point that he looked at me and said 'It's a shame they can't do weddings here, but you know what we can do?' and he proceeded to get down on one knee... and propose. All I remember was 'Stephanie Therese Shaw..........'
It was perfect. Perfect. Perfect!
The folks at the top of Kuleto Estate could see down after the proposal and they rang a bell and we could hear applause from everyone there. As we enjoyed the moment, they came down with champagne to celebrate.
Following the engagement, we did a wine and cheese tasting at Kuleto, we went to Signorello for another tasting then Nick took us back to the hotel - the beautiful Ledson Hotel in Sonoma Square. We got ready for dinner at Tra Vigne and celebrated again with an incredible meal. I was literally floating on cloud 9 and couldn't imagine a more perfect engagement....
But it gets better. The next morning Nick decided to take me to Merryvale - a favorite of ours, somewhere I always saw a rehearsal dinner or wedding at if we ever chose a Napa wedding. We walked in and Kelly greeted us with a tasting, when we told her that we wanted to check out the cask room she led us over, opened the door and all I heard was 'SURPRISE!!!' Let me tell you, it takes a lot for me to cry, but I definitely lost it here. The room was full of my parents, sister and brother Kate & Joe, Nick's parents from Kentucky, all our Colorado friends, my best friend Lindsey from Chicago, Becki from San Deigo and even Cole drove in 9 hours from LA! I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of love in the room at that point. In my wildest dreams I would never imagine all those people would travel across the country to be there to celebrate one of the biggest days in Nick and I's life. It was the most moving thing I have ever experienced.
The surprise captured
The group!
It was before this trip and will probably always be one of my favorite rooms!
I have to include a little shout-out to Robyn who was flying in from the east coast, who's flight was delayed, bags were lost, etc etc etc and she showed up to the celebration with bells & whistles (and Walmart underwear courtesy of United) on - what an amazing friend!
We enjoyed a tasting at Merryvale and the party just continued the rest of the weekend. Following Merryvale we went to Far Niente - Mrs. Benyo's favorite. The special part about all of this was that it was both Nick and his mom's birthday. Far Niente welcomed us all with a happy birthday sign in his mom's honor - Nick did it again!
That night my parents hosted a party at Domaine Carneros - we had the entire estate to ourselves. We also visited, Ledson, St. Francis, Lancaster Estate, Rombauer, Vinassa and Ram's Gate. The weekend was absolutely wonderful. I think one of my favorite touches was that Nick setup a dinner on Thursday night in San Francisco for my parents and his parents to meet - for the first time! He planned (from what I hear) and incredible dinner @ Boulevard, one of Pat Kuleto's own restaurants. Such a special and unique tie to our engagement, I loved how thoughtful it was.
There were over 300 pictures from this weekend but here are a few of my favorites!
The ring & the view!
The bell they rang after the proposal
Me before the engagement, 30 minutes early to Kuleto killing time hydrating!
My sister Kate documented my parents getting the news of our engagement - little did I know they had known about this for months!
The Shaw's & Benyo's outside Merryvale before the surprise
My ladies @ Merryvale
More Merryvale
Domaine Carneros
Kate & I down in the caves at Far Niente
Private tasting @ Ledson where we learned the swirl, sniff, swallow, & smile wine technique
How great is this wine case my parents had made for us and it was a great surprise on the fireplace when we walked into Ledson - 'Boots & Bacon'!
Lancaster Estate
Even our little pregnant Cole made the trek out for the celebration - love you!
At Vinasa with Nick on Sunday
I am so beyond grateful for our friends and family and most importantly, Nick! If I have learned anything from all this it's 1. that my friends & family are scary good liars and 2. Nick is in fact a spectacular planner :)
