The Wiltse Wedding – Our Ceremony ❤️ Napa Valley, CA (Wedding Diary Part 4)

July 8th, 2023… a day even better than I ever could have dreamed of! Our ceremony was held in the afternoon at Beaulieu Gardens in Napa Valley, California. The sun was shining through the trees and the weather ended up being perfect for an early July day. Our ceremony took place on a long, tree-lined road that led to a vineyard. We had swooping drapes framing the entrance, a carpet running down the pavement, romantic white and pink florals at ever turn, and a grand arch at the end of our aisle! The arch was custom made to be large enough to see the vineyard through it, it was one of my favorite elements of our day. It was truly everything I could have hoped for and more!

To pick up where we left off in the last post, we took some pre-ceremony photos together then we all waited in the bridal-suite until it was officially time to walk down the aisle! My dad and I waited for everyone to walk down, then it was our turn! Last minute we decided to each bring a drink with us, Champagne for me & Greygoose and lemonade for him. We stopped at the start of the aisle, cheers’d, then chugged and threw our glasses. It was a special moment for just him and I and cut some of the nerves. I love that our day had those little non-traditional moments sprinkled in.

I walked down the aisle with my dad to the song “Beautiful Day,” played by our string quartet. My mom got up at the end of the aisle to help “give me away.” Side note, how absolutely gorgeous is my mom’s dress? I need to do a separate post all about her outfits. Cam grabbed my hand and led me up the platform where our ceremony began. It was beautiful & quick (just what we wanted).

Our officiant was an Irish man who lives in Sonoma, Rev. Peadar. He was amazing! We did not write our own vows for our wedding day, but we chose what vows we wanted to repeat from our officiant. I am typically the anxious one in our relationship, but I could tell Cam was a bit nervous. Funny enough, it calmed me! I was really able to take in the whole ceremony. I will never forget staring at Cam and giggling, him brushing the hair our of my face when the wind swept through, and both of us tearing up as we said our vows.

When Cameron got to the part where he said “my wife” he said it with the tiniest bit of a Borat accent (if you know, you know). We both held back giggles and I ended up messing up my vows because I was so thrown off that he did that haha! Borat quotes have always been an inside joke for us, after the ceremony Cam told me he was nervous and thought it would make us laugh! As weird as it sounds, it is one of my favorite parts of the ceremony! I love that our day wasn’t overly serious. We asked our guests after if they heard Cam do the accent, but not everyone noticed. Which probably confused everyone even more haha! It was an oddly special moment for us!

Before we knew it we were officially announced husband and wife! We walked back down the aisle so giddy! One of my favorite videos from the whole day is one that Taylor from Bachdddd took of us walking back down the aisle. You can see the pure joy pouring out of us in that moment! I wish I could relive that moment over and over again.

We were greeted with our signature cocktails at the end of our aisle and walked back to our bridal suite together. If you are getting married I highly suggest scheduling a few minutes alone after your ceremony! Our planner, Stephanie, suggested we do this and it was another highlight of the whole day! They had a plate of our cocktail hour food waiting for us and we sat there and giggled about the ceremony and excitedly talked about how we were officially married! 5+ years together and I had never loved him more than in that moment, and those feelings have only grown in the last three weeks.

My dress: Martina Liana LE1148
Bridesmaid dresses: Dessy Topaz Chiffon

I will do the next part on our cocktail hour which was also at this location, but for now here are more photos of the ceremony space…

Beaulieu Gardens is truly something out of a fairytale. Cameron and I went on a venue-exploring trip in June 0f 2021. BG ended up being the last venue we visited and we absolutely fell in love! I remember walking the grounds with him and seeing the rose garden, grand tree line entrance, and rolling vineyards for the first time. It was one of the most beautiful places I had ever been. It felt even more grand on our wedding day! There was so much love in the air, the florals and decor our team put together were breathtaking, and seeing all our friends and family there was the icing on the cake!