Our Wedding {The Girls}

I've known for awhile that I didn't want traditional bridesmaids and groomsmen for our wedding, but I knew that there was no way I wanted to get ready the day of without the girls by my side.  Call them bridesgals, bride tribe, best ladies ever - Erika, Autumn, Susannah, Merith, and Maddie were absolutely essential to the day and I couldn't have done it without them.  From making sure my makeup wasn't orange to steaming my dress to pouring Aperol spritzes to keeping me calm and fed to making sure all of my stuff got from one place to another without me even having to think about it - these girls are rockstars.  I am so grateful for the excitement and joy they exuded throughout the day to keep my nerves from getting the best of me and I'm the luckiest to have these wonderful ladies as such a big part of my life.  Also, the photoshoots they took throughout the day were just wonderful as you can see below - I love them! :)

getting my makeup done

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  What are you up to this weekend?  We're in the home stretch for the wedding {2 more weeks!} so we have a lot of last minute things to get done, plus picking up C's parents from the airport tonight!  It's been a busy and crazy time, so I was thankful to take a little break this week to spend time with some of my favorite girlfriends over tacos and pie {does it get any better?}.  Thanks again for hosting us, Maddie!  Love you ladies!

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Bachelorette Party {Pool Time & Brunch}

for our last night in Sonoma, we decided to have a pool/spa party at the house.

autumn had come with a suitcase full of floaties and bridal goodies....

....and I took advantage of this ring floatie right away in the warm and inviting pool.

they decorated our cute outdoor space with all things bridal....

....and because of our earlier issues with the fridge and losing food, we decided to order takeout Mexican food which was absolutely perfect and gave us more time just to hang out.

we spent much of the evening floating in the pool.....

.....then when it got too cold we hit up the hot tub.

i was so in awe of all the planning and thought put into this weekend getaway by my friends that I won't soon forget!

after it got dark we put on our cozies and had a spa night, doing facemasks and playing the Newlywed Game, where unbeknownst to me they had met up with Christian and recorded his answers, seeing if ours would match!  It was so much fun and so thoughtful {and awesome to see videos of Christian talking about our favorite memories}.

sunday morning it was unfortunately time to pack up our suitcases and head back home, but I'm pretty sure none of us were quite ready to leave.

we stopped in Santa Rosa at Bird & The Bottle for a yummy brunch....

....and everything hit the spot after a long day of wine tasting.  I didn't want it to end and have to say goodbye to this amazing weekend, but unfortunately after brunch it was time to go.

after brunch, we dropped off Suze & Merith at the Santa Rosa airport, then Autumn, Erika and I made our way back to SF where they could catch their flight home {but I wasn't quite ready to leave CA yet....}.

It was the most fun Bachelorette weekend with some of my most favorite people and I'm so grateful that I got to spend this uninterrupted time with my girls who are simply the best.  I am so lucky, and I wish we could do it again this weekend!

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Bachelorette Party {Wine Tasting Part II}

our next stop on our winery hopping was Russian River Vineyards for more wine tasting and lunch.

we had a cozy little area to taste wine.....

......with this gorgeous view of the valley.

the food spread was delicious, with yummy focaccias and a salumi board that were the perfect compliment to some delicious wines.

we took some selfies.....

....and a few more.....

.....then it was time to pose on the stairs before heading to our last stop of the day.

we made it up to Iron Horse Vineyards, a place that specializes in bubbles, which was the perfect way to end such a wonderful day.

we all did the bubbles tasting flight.....

......and we met Paul!  Paul, a Scot, guided us through our tasting, all the while laughing and giving us wise life advice, and at the end of the day he sent me home with a beautiful bottle of "wedding cuvee" that brought me to tears  {ok, it could've been a full day of wine tasting that brought me to tears as well}.  We all loved Paul and I'm pretty sure he loved us too.

the wine was not too shabby.

we kept seeing this gorgeous view from our standing perch by the tasting room, so when Merith asked Paul what would happen if we ended up going to sit at one of the picnic tables farther away to take in the view and rest our legs.....

....he said he'd come find us so away we went for a quieter, more chill remainder of our tasting.

we took more selfies with this gorgeous view that pictures can't capture....

.....and a non-selfie with the beautiful Susannah who left her baby for the first time just to be with me that weekend.

we were surrounded by palm trees and lush vineyards......

....and we listened intently while Paul told us stories of love and friendship.

it was the absolute perfect way to end a day of wine tasting at 3 distinct and wonderful wineries that I cannot wait to go back to the next time I'm in the area!

xoxo,

stephanie marie