Testarossa Wedding ~ Xenia & Alex!

testarossa-winery-wedding Xenia and Alex’s love story is like out of a novel. Xenia moved from Russia to America when she was young and met Alex on the East coast. They were in high school and became friends and did a lot of back porch hanging out. Like most people after high school they lost touch. Alex had moved to the West coast and thanks to Facebook, Alex learned that Xenia had also moved to California. All those years and all those miles lead them to this incredible moment, their wedding day. Surrounded by family and great friends and the gorgeous Testarossa Winery eating scrumptious food and drinking delicious wine, it was the perfect celebration of Xenia and Alex! testarossa-winery-wine testarossa-winery-wedding-3-of-108 Xenia got ready with help from her Mom, Alex’s Mom and of course, her best ladies! Xenia’s Mom had her work cut out for her with all those delicate little buttons!
It takes a village!Meanwhile the guys were also getting ready, though I’m not sure Alex needed 5 helpers to get dressed like Xenia did! Two of Alex’s groomsmen helped Alex learn the intricacies of a “first touch” that he would soon be having with Xenia!
Too much goofing around meant the groomsmen got kicked out and Alex was able to open his gift from Xenia. They were cufflinks that say “meet me on the back porch at 6:30”
With Alex in position and emotions high, Xenia arrives for her “first touch” then “first look” with Alex.

Love this! So much anticipation!The moment they had both been waiting for!
With the sun shining and the clock ticking, we ventured outside for some more pictures. Always fun to walk through the outside cafe and enjoy the reaction from the crowd!Testarossa is a stunning winery with an old school charm. This little doorway covered in ivy is one of my favorite little nooks!We left the winery and headed up the road just a bit to where the light was glowing in that good old California way! With these two and their constant smiles it really made our job so easy!Back at the ceremony site everything was set up and ready for the wedding! And yes… those are wine glasses, wait till you see how they are used!

Alex and Xenia’s Mom walked down the aisle together.Followed by Alex’s parents.Next up were the officiants.The awesome wedding party!The adorable flower girls followed doing a wonderful job of spreading joy and rose petals!
And this handsome guy was the bearer of great news!Here comes the bride is right! I love the hill behind the ceremony site at Testarossa, it offers a unique position for my 2nd shooter.
Xenia is escorted down the aisle by her Dad. As the officiants began to speak, Alex and Xenia could not peel their eyes off each other!Both families looked on with so much happiness!
Xenia and Alex both wrote personal vows to each other. There was not a dry eye in the house- including mine! The vows were funny and sweet and touching and adorable and and and I could go on and on! Seriously, great job Xenia and Alex at ramping up the emotions of everyone!!And although I think everyone could have listened to their sweet devotions to one another a little longer, it was time!

Kiss that bride!!
And that wine? They poured it for one another and toasted to their new life as a married couple!!!!Cheers!Celebrating with their wedding party!After some family pictures we had a few more minutes to take some pictures at the ceremony site. That is the smile of one happy married woman!
These two!!
The sun was setting and it was time to move into the gorgeous winery. I loved the unique the escort cards display and of course, the map showing the journey of their love story!Xenia and Alex kicked off the evening’s festivities with a show stopping first dance! Photographs do not do their dance justice! Great thing they will have an amazing wedding film created by the talented Ric and Rose of Grover Films. And it ended with a dramatic dip!And then a kiss!It was time now to sit and enjoy a meal together!

Xenia’s Dad started off the toasts and gave the newlyweds some beautiful wine glasses that lean towards each other.
Then Alex’s Mom shared some funny stories of when Alex and Xenia were in high school at the beginning of their back porch sitting days!

Xenia and her Dad started off the parent dances!Not your average father/daughter dance, they also did a choreographed dance that delighted the crowd!Alex then took his Mom out onto the dance floor- they might not have had all those fancy dips and turns but it was sweetness overload for sure!
The dance floor was now open and the party started! This crowd had no problem getting right in there!Even the littlest one was on the dance floor!And while everyone else was shaking their thing, can you guess who was still beaming at each other?
HELLLOOOO delicious desserts that were definitely too pretty to eat! Look at these little works of dessert art!They were nice! I mean wouldn’t you with that gorgeous dress?! Well played, Alex!The newlyweds then so sweetly thanked everyone for helping make their wedding day come together so perfectly!I stole away the fancy dancing duo to get a picture of the dip in the stunning wine cave!One day the grandchildren will ask, “what was everyone doing?” I love capturing moments of pop culture on a wedding day! One day it will be history! And during the last song Xenia and Alex gave one more dip as an exclamation mark on the evening!