When a day goes so perfectly, it is hard to find appropriate words to express my gratitude.  When that day is my wedding day, I find myself at a complete loss of words.  In a scene framed by God’s beauty, surrounded by vines, and a vista overlooking a valley that gives life to each grape, I married the most wonderful man.  My passion of wine and the love of my life converged, and the symbolism of the setting deepend the meaning of our vows.  We stood at the top of that hill at Michel-Schlumberger and we might as well have been on the top of the world.

When we arrived at Michel-Schlumberger the previous day, we were greeted by the friendly staff who were a little bit frantic about a power loss.  We had driven by a tree that had fallen on some wires on our way up to the winery that had knocked out most of the power to the Dry Creek valley.  Ah, the tension between the land and technology rested for a while on that day.  Although I said the staff was a little frantic, I say this in a context that is miles away from the frantic disruption that I am used to experiencing in the city.  We all sat outside with a couple of guests and discussed places to eat that night (of which there was no shortage and we could have spent a month here and gained a lot of weight before we had experienced all the food the valley had to offer).

After getting set up in the guest suite, we drove to the town of Healdsburg to eat some ridiculously good food.  I mean, Lobster rolls, calamari, and ceviche so delicious and mouth watering that a west coast girl such as myself was in Heaven.  Then, hoping that the power was restored by the time we were finished indulging ourselves, we rolled back up to the winery in the dark.  And it was dark that greeted us.  No matter.  Sometimes the greatest moments are a result of circumstances beyond our control– this was one of those moments.  By the lights of our cell phones, we searched the winery high and low, through cupboards and drawers, for a flashlight.  Which we found in our bedside tables. With that light, we found some tealights and matches and enjoyed the most romantic evening in our suite.  I believe I had a 2002 Michel-Schlumberger Pinot Noir with rich notes of jubilee cherries, and hints of cinnamon.  I can still almost taste that wine if I close my eyes…

The next morning, after an official tour of the winery, I took off to get my hair done and Brent set about trying to calm his nerves.  One of the ladies from the office came to help me with my dress,  and brought me a Pinot Blanc while I waited for the pastor and photographer to arrive to calm my nerves.  Jim Morris, the Director of Consumer Sales and Marketing, who arranged this whole magical event for us, rang the big old estate bell with gusto to indicate to the groom that his bride was on her way up the hill.

Our ceremony was beyond what I had dreamed or imagined, Jim live tweeted the vows and even a Goodyear blimp suitably flew by!  Our pastor shared sage advice and encouragement with us and we had a communion with, of course, Michel-Schlumberger Pinot Noir.  Communion wine should always be this good.  After the ceremony and the pictures, we went to eat another embarrassingly good meal in Healdsburg at Zin.  We even had our first dance in the town square!  Every Tuesday evening in the Summer, the whole town of Healdsburg gathers in the square to listen to jazz and blues while they dance, drink wine, and eat picnics.  A friendly toothless man offered to take a little video of our first dance.

Again, we rolled our bloated and over-satiated selves back up to the winery.  As tasty as it was, the decadent chocolate fudge sundae might have been a delicious mistake.  We toasted a perfect beginning to a wonderful life together with the superb champagne from Jim and after a deliriously fantastic day, we promptly dozed off in a deep ’schlumber’.

The pictures are amazing, but much like my words, they hardly do the day justice.  Jim and the winery staff were so gracious and wonderful and as we left, I felt a pang of sadness to leave this slice of heaven that they shared with us.  A huge thank you to everyone at Michel-Schlumberger for making our special day even more special than we could have ever imagined, and another thank you to all of our ‘guests’ on Twitter for all of your warm cyber wishes.  Both me and Mr. Winebard are swelling with joy (and good food) from all of the warm memories that we shared!

For more pictures, click here for a slideshow put together by our photographer.