Sam and Davin met on Memorial Day 2014 at an Oakland A’s game.
They dated for a year and half before getting engaged, then married a year later in a rustic ceremony at Wilson Vineyards.
The couple wanted an outdoor wedding, especially since they were each raised in rural communities. “We planned on being married on the knoll at Wilson but of course after almost a year of no rain, it rained on our wedding day,” says Sam, noting they moved the ceremony inside. “It was beautiful and we couldn’t have imagined how great it would turn out.”
Sam remembers walking down the aisle with her father and locking eyes with her groom. “Davin, taking my hand, made all my nerves of the moment go away,” she says. “All I could see and hear was him. Standing before everyone with him is something I’ll never forget.”
The groom remembers being “very excited and happy,” in that moment, concluding, “I didn’t take my eyes off of her for the entire ceremony.”
Celebrated with 150 guests, the ceremony included some religious elements for Sam who was raised Jewish. “We had family friends read traditional and their own handwritten ‘Seven Blessings,’ which is a Jewish reading,” says Sam.
The bride’s parents had the couple’s engagement photos printed and displayed them on old fruit-drying racks which were then placed around the ceremony area.
Sam wore her mother’s diamond earrings and a very special necklace: her grandmother’s wedding ring setting, which Sam’s mother had made into a necklace. Sam was very close to her grandmother, and was sentimental in wearing something in memory of her on such a special day.
The wedding décor featured navy blue—the bride’s favorite color—accented with light grey and pops of fall colors. The couple both loved the flowers. “They really went well with everything,” says the groom.
On the menu: a buffet dinner and chocolate cake with mousse—a dessert favorite for the groom.
The wedding day was perfect. “I was overtaken by sheer happiness and a strange calm,” says Sam. “Everything was just so right.”
Davin still remembers the last song of the night—a slow dance to “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith.
“Toward the end of the song everyone on the dance floor surrounded Sam and me for sort of a huge group hug while serenading the song out loud to us,” he says, describing the moment as, “pretty awesome.”
— Kristen Castillo
