The second we decided to have our small wedding in Wine Country, I knew we’d be coordinating some fabulous Napa Valley group wine tours for our guests. And I have to be honest – it was harder than anticipated! It turns out that many wineries in Napa unfortunately aren’t able to accommodate large groups (more than 7-10 people). With 30 of our guests planning to attend, we started our research and began our calls.
Shop the Look
Top: Parker (sold out, similar here, here, here and here) // Skirt: Loft (old, similar here and here) // Wedges: Vince Camuto // Hat: Rag and Bone // Bag: Miu Miu // Bangles: Julie Vos // Ring: Kendra Scott
To plan our Napa Valley group wine tours, we called around 20-25 wineries. I should preface this that we had some inherent limitations – including group size, distance between wineries and ultimately, staying in Napa Valley. I’m sure there are many other wineries that could have accommodated us; but, we only booked the shuttle-bus for 7 hours and didn’t want to spend the majority of our day in the vehicle. Luckily, we found a few stellar wineries to host us throughout the day.
Our first stop was to Frank Family Vineyards. Be advised, their wine is amazing! During our trip in Napa in March to do a venue walk-through, we visited Frank Family to taste and see if it would work for our group tour. We liked it so much that we joined the Wine Club a few weeks later! Becky and the team there are remarkable. They reserved the stone building on property for us and we tasted a handful of wines that truly set the tone for the day.
When it came to lunch plans, we knew right away where we’d take everyone – Gott’s Roadside in St. Helena! It’s pretty much a ritual at this point that we stop at Gott’s once or twice every trip to Napa. While everything is delicious, I highly recommend the blue cheese burger, garlic fries, and their vanilla milkshake! A well-kept secret is that you can mix your shakes. If you’re up for that, I’d suggest half vanilla and half cookies and cream.
After lunch, we ventured just up the road to Inglenook. The allure of Inglenook is not only their beautiful wine caves, but also the fact that its owned by Francis Ford Coppola. There are lots of historical pieces from his movies on site and it makes for a unique experience compared to any other winery in Napa.
The last stop of the day was to Maroon Wines. We stumbled upon this boutique vineyard during our private wine tour two years ago and it was one of the highlights of our day. The property is up on a hill, so it gives guests an impressive view of the Valley and the wines are well priced and a great value.
One of my biggest regrets of the day is that I didn’t take enough pictures! I guess I was just living in the moment and enjoying the day… I could have also gotten a little tipsy from all the wine! Looking back, having our wedding on a Friday so that we could spend all of Saturday with our closest friends and family was one of the best decisions we could have made.
As for what I wore? I took a risk and wore all white! I bought a gorgeous Parker sequin top and wore my white denim skirt with these statement wedges which were overwhelmingly comfy. Nearly all the girls wore hats! This straw boater hat was my go-to all wedding weekend long.
Questions on what the other girls are wearing or on the specifics of our Napa Valley group wine tours?! Just ask in the comments below.
