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Bearing Witness to Magical Moments

Hello!

My name is Sharon. I have been one of Chaumette Vineyards and Winery Events Coordinators since the spring of 2013. Before I started, I was in school studying for my Bachelor of Arts in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations and Special Events. 

I began working at Chaumette just two days after my graduation from the University of Missouri St. Louis with both my diploma and dream job in hand. Talk about feeling lucky! 

Planning big on-campus events in college prepared me to hit the ground running when I began working at Chaumette, as wedding season was in full swing. I have learned a tremendous amount. I have executed and planned more than sixty Chaumette weddings to date. Weddings are extremely exciting and I loved every minute of this season!

The most exciting trends I saw this season came from Pinterest. I am a huge Pinterest junkie so seeing things come to life from all that scrolling was fun. I got to see what worked and be part of the creativity and the different interpretations of these trends.

I also enjoyed seeing those little moments that reminded me how important these days were. One moment that still brings a tear to my eye was when a Bride’s nine year old daughter asked to give her mom a toast. She took the microphone and said how much she loved her mom and her new daddy. She was incredibly excited to have a daddy. I looked at the Groom and could see the tears welling from his eyes as he rushed to hug his new daughter. In that moment I was reminded just what I was actually doing here. I am here to make these important days into wonderful memories. I am here to help a new family create itself in a magical and breathtaking way. The moment I saw that little girl hug her new daddy, I was hooked.

I get to bear witness to so many magical moments. It is an incredible honor. I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world! 

Jim and Amber

 

Amber and Jim were married in our Chapel at Chaumette, St. Vincent’s in the Vineyard, on June 9^th.   There were about 100 guests in attendance.  As I am going through their photos to draft this blog, I notice one thing over and over…..how much they both seemed to smile, all day.  They truly enjoyed their wedding day.  I would have to say she was one of the most relaxed Brides I have ever worked with!  I remember checking on her at the reception to see how she was doing, her response was “I’m fine, how are you doing Rhonda?”.  She was checking on me!!  She was so sincere.  I will never forget her doing that.

I asked Amber what some of her favorite moments of the day were and this is what she said: (picture of the moment is right below)

“Just after Jim and I said "I Do" at the altar and had our first kiss as husband and wife, he leaned into me and whispered into my ear telling me how beautiful I looked and how much he loved me.  It was such a sweet moment for me, I wanted to capture it and put it in a bottle to keep forever! “

She may not have been able to physically put it in a bottle, but the photographer, Kara, with Bright Shot Photography was able to capture it in a photo. 

Amber and Jim’s photographer took them on an adventure to get some great shots.  They used several differnt locations on the grounds such as the chapel, barn, and the vineyards.  I think the photos taken while they were having their first dance were pretty cute too. 

At the reception the couple had 3 appetizers passed and for dinner they chose to go with two themed stations, Italian and French.  Amber shared another favorite memory from the day; this one was about the reception:

“We were all dancing, having a great time with our guests, when we decided to take some random photos.  I grabbed my two sisters (the matrons of honor) and Jim's brother (the best man), and we headed to the Chaumette bar to have some fun taking pictures.  We took a lot of goofy, random photos of sitting at the bar, on the bar, and even each of us turning up wine bottles at the bar.  It was a fun memory-making moment, spending time with our sweet siblings, celebrating our new life together!
 

 

Brett and Sarah's Barn Wedding at Chaumette

 

Brett and Sarah were married on the weekend of June 23rd. Sarah and all of her bridesmaids gathered together in Villa 22.  I stopped by at one point to check on something and everyone seemed to be having the best time!  I wanted to stay and hang out for a while, but I had a job to do or rather a mission to accomplish, to prepare for a great night at the Barn!!

The wedding for Brett and Sarah was at our Chapel.  Once Sarah was ready at the villa she made her way to the Brides room at the Chapel to hang out until the ceremony began.  The music group that they hired for that evening, Streamline, sang a few songs at the wedding.  My eyes got sort of weepy and I had to get myself out of there, like I said I had a mission to do, no time for my eyes to get weepy!

I made my way to the Barn while the wedding was still going on to oversee the final touches.  She had Connie from By the Bunch in St. Genevieve working on the floral centerpieces and Jenna from The Sweet Divine (who, by the way was just recently on the food network show “Cupcake Wars” and won that episode) was there setting up the wedding cake.  It was surrounded with so many candles!  Actually the entire room must have had around 300 votives!  I loved having all of the candles!

Once the wedding was over the guests headed to the Barn.   While our couple and their families were finishing up pictures the group Streamline started to play and entertain the guests.  At the same time our staff began to serve the Hors d’ Oeuvre’s.

The day went so well.  The barn was decorated with the white linens, china, napkins and silverware that we provide.  Sarah chose to rent overlays in a dusty rose color and like I mentioned above centerpieces from Connie, along with those 300 or so votives. The room looked great!  We added a few extra tables to the patio and porch and used our lantern centerpieces there.  That seemed to work very well.  It seems that after dinner the patio is the place most guests like to hang out.

I spoke with Tammy, the mother of the Bride and asked what her favorite memory of the day was, this is what she had to say : “Wow- that’s a difficult question. Favorite memory? There are actually two that come to mind, my first thought was when our son, Brian drove Sarah and I to the Chapel. Boy, a few weeks back and I never thought that was going to happen!  (Brian was in a serious car accident) To listen to both of them give each other trouble was awesome. My second most favorite memory is when everything was ready to go and we were downstairs in the spacious area of the Chapel, the girls, Sarah, myself and everyone just laughing and having fun. I did love the whole day."

Photography by Megan Thiele / Music by Streamline / Flowers by Connies by the Bunch

Cake by The Sweet Divine / The Barn at Chaumette