Napa – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

City Guide October 14, 2014

California Wine Country Travel Guide

Last summer, Sasha and I got married at The Carneros Inn in Napa Valley (see photos here and here). I am head-over-heels in love with the California Wine Country. I went for the first time in 2010 and have been five times since. Although I could spend an eternity there, I’ve created a travel guide which outlines two absolutely perfect days in Sonoma, Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga. While most of my trips have been day trips, I’ve stayed at The Meritage Resort and Spa and The Carneros Inn (for the wedding). I highly recommend both, although The Meritage is more reasonably priced for a weekend trip.

Domaine Carneros // Frog’s Leap // Robert Mondavi

To make navigation a little easier, I’ve created a Google map with all of the recommendations below. Don’t want to drive around? Smart decision. There are lots of private drivers in the area, including Private Limousine Service, Wine Country Driver and Pure Luxury.

Please share with me some of your Wine Country favorites! I’d love to try them on our next trip. Click here to see a list of my other city guides.

Two Perfect Days in the California Wine Country

Day 1: Sonoma and Napa

Eat breakfast at FARM at The Carneros Inn (get there early and be prepared to wait – it’s worth it) – then play some bocce ball in the main courtyard when you’re done!
Drive to Domaine Carneros and walk up the majestic stairs to what reminds me of a French chateau – get your day started early with some amazing sparkling wine.
Leave Domaine Carneros and drive to the nearby Artesa Vineyards, where you’ll find another incredible view – look into doing a private tour of the facilities (totally worth it).
Head towards Sonoma Square to wander through the park, look at the cute stores, grab a coffee at Sunflower Caffé, and get your name on the reservation list for either HopMonk Tavern or The Girl and the Fig (both are delicious – and busy!).
After eating lunch, pile back in the car and head towards Gundlach Bundschu (where we had our rehearsal dinner) – they wine is absolutely phenomenal.
Take a short drive to nearby Nicholson Ranch, and gaze out at the rolling wine country in front of you.
Determine your ability to drink more wine (c’mon, you can do it!), and if you’re up for it, end your day’s wine tasting at Viansa (amazing cheeses!).
Return to your hotel to shower, rest and get ready for dinner at Azzurro Pizzeria E Enoteca in downtown Napa and walk around the pretty little city afterwards.

ASP Wedding July 19, 2014

One Year Anniversary

Today is our one year wedding anniversary, and what a year it has been! Since getting married last July 19 at The Carneros Inn in Napa, California, we have gone to Durango twice (still here), went to the Justin Timberlake/Jay Z concert in Miami, visited friends in Minneapolis, went to Bali and Japan (briefly!) for our honeymoon, celebrated two of our best friend’s engagements and two of our closest friend’s weddings, welcomed multiple sweet babies into the world, and last, but definitely not least, had a baby girl of our own! We are very excited about what year two has in store for us.

For more about our wedding, click here.

Photos by Ryan Ray

ASP Wedding December 31, 2013

Shapshots of 2013

For the past four years, I’ve made an annual Shutterfly book that covered all travel and adventures for the year. I just finished my 2013 book yesterday, and it was extremely tough to keep it at 111 pages! I literally had to delete 6 pages in order to complete it. What an amazing year! We went to SF/Napa three times (more pictures here), Durango, Dunton Hot Springs, Boston, New York City, Miami, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Minneapolis, and Bali. We remodeled a house that became our home, got married and are now expecting a baby girl in 2014. I’m almost sure that fits the definition for ‘whirlwind.’

How was your 2013? What are you most looking forward to next year?

Click here to view our 2013 in snapshots (pictures below by Ryan Ray).

Click here to view my 2012 book. Click here to view my 2011 book.

ASP Wedding September 16, 2013

Our Wedding Stationery: Papellerie

As I’ve mentioned many times before, we worked with Papellerie on our entire stationery suite (save the dates, invitations, programs, custom napkins, etc.). I loved working with Riley and Amy so much – they were incredibly good at understanding exactly what we (probably more I) wanted. Every single piece of our stationery was better than I could have ever imagined. The only missing photos were all of the goodies they made for our guest boxes! I’m upset that I didn’t think to have Ryan to take any pictures of the final product (my very unprofessional iPhone pictures below). The only faux-pas we had was that our seating assignment board – a corkboard with pins and personalized wine tags for guest’s glass with their name and table number – was setup vertically instead of horizontally (as planned), which made the tags fall kind of… off? You’ll see below. It’s definitely not a big deal though. As an FYI, the calligrapher that Papellerie uses is Meant To Be Calligraphy and the map artist was Katie Gastley. Everyone was amazing.

Our Save-the-Dates

Our Invitation Set

Our Programs

Our Placemats and Menus

Our Table Numbers

Our Reserved Signs

Our Table Assignments – a slight deviation from plan, as it was set up vertically instead of horizontally so the personalized wine tags don’t hang quite right! You win some, you lose some!

Our Custom Drink Bar Sign

Our Cupcake Flavor Labels

Our “Write your favorite memory” Postcards (A + S were gifted by my sweet little cousin!)

#ASPWedding Instagram Sign and Taxi Vouchers

Grand Exit Sign (Noisemakers here)

My iPhone Pictures of Guest Box Assembly + Seating Assignments

ASP Wedding September 12, 2013

Our Wedding Pictures: Part 2

Et voila – the second half of the wedding (you can see part one here). We had custom cocktails, delicious food, hilarious speeches, and lots and lots and lots of dancing. There was a good mixture of Scottish and Serbian dancing, and of course, plenty of bouncing around to Miley and T-Swift (yes, he’s 32). I was a hot, sweaty mess at the end of the night, as I feel I should have been. I could not have dreamed up a better wedding for the two of us. I’m so happy to have these pictures and go through them time and time again. Love y’all – thanks for reading!