What a Welcome

A couple of months ago I told you about a wedding I designed and produced in Spain.  It was an amazing weekend and each element was designed in a way to give guests a unique taste of the Rioja Wine Region.

While every aspect of this wedding was special, the welcome dinner that I produced at the Ysios Winery in Laguardia Spain was really spectacular yet touching in that it was the first gathering of a very special circle of family and friends who had made the long journey to celebrate this union.

Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the main building of the Ysios Winery is truly amazing.  It is hard to believe that in this remote region of Spain there are two awe inspiring structures by renown architects within eyeshot of each other.  The other is the Hotel Marques de Riscal designed by Frank Gehry.

Since wedding guests had just traveled a long distance to reach El Ciego, we arranged transportation for everyone to get from the host hotel, the Hotel Marques de Riscal, to Ysios.  This allowed everyone to have a carefree evening and really enjoy the amazing for a scenery.  The winery has a very dramatic entrance pathway through the vineyard that I thought would be great for guests to experience so we took advantage of this and dropped guests off at the end of the path so they could experience the walk to the main building.

When guests reached the winery they were invited for cocktails into the dramatic wine room.  Surrounded by countless barrels of wine in an amazing setting it was a truly wonderful way to begin the dinner.

  

Also upon entering, guests were treated to some tremendous food provided by Marisol Arriaga Catering of Logrono, Spain.  Marisol also has a restaurant in Logrono and, if you ever happen to be in the area, you have to stop for lunch or dinner.  The food is wonderful!

After cocktails guests were escorted upstairs to another beautiful room with massive windows overlooking the winery on one side and the barrel room on the other.  Due to the intimate nature of this gathering, all guests were seated at one long table.  Another benefit of the long table is that none of the guests had their back to the windows so everyone could take advantage of the view.

To decorate the room I wanted something very natural and simple.  I used white glass containers filled with olive branches to create a look that was perfect for the simple beauty of this room.  The best part is that the client had no idea what to expect and they loved it.

Overall it was a wonderful evening with the Grooms and their guests raving about the beautiful setting and amazing food.  It truly was the perfect way to begin this magical weekend.

Of course I have to thank all of the people in Spain who helped me make this happen.  Special thanks to Sylvia and the staff of Ysios Winery, Marisol Arriaga for the catering, everyone at Eventus in Logrono who put together all of the floral and decor and Ana Pedrero from the Hotel Marques de Riscal who was our communication expert in coordinating all elements of the weekend.  And I cannot forget Charles and Jennifer of Maring Visuals out of New York and their brilliant photography.

Until next time....

Cheers