Photo by Krista Marie Photography
I’ve been doing a whole lot of working, planning, and traveling lately, as you may have seen from my Instagram. One of these trips was a smorgasbord of luxury in Sonoma County, California. My day job sent me for a media trip to see what Sonoma County had to offer for a destination wedding weekend. The answer was a WHOLE lot. It was a pretty epic trip with wine tours, farm-to-table meals, sunset cocktail parties, farm and meadery tours, cheese tastings, and more.
If you want to see the whole trip with all the details and links from my perspective, head over to part one and part two on Offbeat Bride. For some of the highlights of this food, wine, and fab event tour of wine country, keep on reading…
If you particularly love some elements in this itinerary, the amazing all-inclusive event planning team at Off The Beaten Path Weddings can hook you up with it for weddings or any kind of event. They create start-to-finish signature experiences with their connections at all of these venues, and source the local, farm-to-table catering. Special thanks to Venone PR for coordinating all of this and for letting me tag along for the ride.
Photo by Boudoir by Chee
Above: an al fresco lunch at Servino Ristorante in Tiburon, California. Traditional Italian fare that had me selling my soul to fra diavolo for more. Mangia!
A healing spa experience at Osmosis Day Spa in Freestone, California. Self-heating, microbiomes, self care wizardry oh my. This was an environment that had me gooey with relaxation.
Photos by Boudoir by Chee
Check out this #nofilter shot, seriously. This area of the country is making the rest of us look like noobs…
Photo by Catherine Clark
An Off The Beaten Path Signature Event at a venue managed by The K Group with small batch craft cocktails by Alley 6 Craft Distillery and Palmia Beer. If you don’t end up hungry by the end of this post, it didn’t do its job. Give me blackberry brownies in the golden hour and I’m a happy camper.
WHOA. Photo by Boudoir by Chee
Photo by Boudoir by Chee
A visit to Beffa Springs Ranch in Petaluma to see what amazing produce and meat we’d be eating later on in the trip. I need more farm-to-table dining in my life. Oh, and the means to make it happen. Take a peek at these beauties…
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
Our glorious farm-to-table lunch at a private French Country estate managed by Distinct Locations. There were little mini corn galettes, beautiful crusty bread, charcuterie, gorgeous veggie salads. Take me back, food gods. The best part about these locations is that almost all of them are super private and unavailable otherwise. So your wedding or event can be unlike anyone else’s. I mean, just look at it…
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
Speaking of food, just wait until you see this dinner in a CAVE at Petroni Vineyards in Sonoma County with live music by Keri Campbell Music. AMAZING. It was lovely and chill while hot outside, dimly lit and romantic, and just a seriously unique experience. Unless you regularly dine in fancy caves. Then I guess it’s just old hat to you, you old spelunker. Check.it.out…
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
K Squared Cellars hosted us for a wine tasting at their tasting room at Artisan’s Alley in Windsor, California. Yes, morning wine tastings ARE a thing. Don’t judge me. Too much at least. Check out this tasty pour…
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
Photo by me
A gorgeous private, organic farm tour of Front Porch Farms in Healdsburg, and farm-to-table lunch using ingredients from the farm itself. I still dream of this corn salad and the strawberry fields where we ate right off the vine.
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
I tried to re-create this salad at home and, while it was okay, there was just something so fresh, so crisp, so utterly divine about having it straight from the farm (oh, and made by a pro chef of course!).
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
A happy vampire in the sun (photo by me)
A pit-stop at Amy’s Wicked Slush for Boston-style slush-meets-soft serve. Heart eyes with heart sprinkles on top! Why don’t they have this near me? I guess it just means another trip back…
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
A tour of a stunning, 28-acre pinot noir vineyard and tasting room located along the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, Moshin Vineyards. They use super unique four-tier gravity flow system for their wine!
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
Photos by Krista Marie Photography
The main signature event from Off The Beaten Path Weddings! This was an experience unlike any I’ve had yet. The catering had ingredients from Beffa Springs Ranch, wine from K Squared Cellars, cocktails from Alley 6 Craft Distillery, menus from Invite Design, olive oil from Napa Valley Olive Oil, decor from Encore Events Rentals, and music from Keri Campbell Music.
It was heaven in the redwoods…
We ended the trip with a cheese tasting at Cowgirl Creamery and a tour and tasting at a real meadery, Heidrun Meadery. I had never had mead before (despite spending a lot of time pretending to be living in the era of mead!), but I sure would have it again. It was delish.
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
Photo by Krista Marie Photography
The whole trip was a foodie and wine-lover’s dream. Northern California is just so beautiful and just so unlike my own native Chicago. No offense to Chicago — the food there is sublime, too. But I loved getting away for a bit to learn more about Sonoma County and all it can offer for anyone visiting.
See all of the details and tons more photos over on Offbeat Bride: part one and part two. And see more of my travels here.
Vendors who made this possible:
- Day one and boudoir photography: Boudoir be Chee
- Day two, three, and four photography: Krista Marie Photography
- All-inclusive signature experiences wedding planning: Off The Beaten Path Weddings
- Venues: Servino Ristorante, Distinct Locations, Front Porch Farms, The K Group, Petroni Vineyards
- Wine and cocktails: Petroni Vineyards, Palmia Beer, K Squared Cellars, Alley 6 Craft Distillery, Moshin Vineyards, and Heidrun Meadery
- Transportation: Beau Wine Tours
- Activities: Osmosis Day Spa, The Petaluma Museum, Cowgirl Creamery
- Catering: Off The Beaten Path Weddings featuring ingredients from Beffa Springs Ranch, Cowgirl Creamery, and Napa Valley Olive Oil
- Live music: Keri Campbell Music
- Paperie: Invite Design
- Rentals: Encore Events Rentals
- Gifts: VinGardeValise, DigiBuddha, Spann Vineyards, Sonoma County, Chloe + Isabel, copper + daisies, MadoroM Vineyards, Alexander Valley Vineyards, JJYoung, Three Sisters Apothecary, and Dream Water
- PR: Venone PR
Catherine Clark is a Chicago native sharing noteworthy things she sees and attempts to make in the world. She's a geek, cat lady, designer and editor by day, and noob chef by night.
