California Weds

Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009

Savoring a special day

A feast, fine wines and friends feted in a Paso Robles wine country wedding

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The story of David Giffen and Dara Ballow-Giffen reads like a romance novel for foodies: a pastry chef at a hot San Francisco restaurant takes note of a handsome waiter with a yen for fine wine. One evening after assembling an intricate wedding cake, she heads to the bar to relax with a glass of Italian red. The two strike up a conversation and agree to meet for a first date.

Peek ahead in this tale, and you’ll find the requisite storybook ending: a lavish Paso Robles wine country wedding. Through it all, there is one constant for David and Dara — food and wine have always been catalysts for romance.

“We definitely both consider ourselves foodies,” said Dara. “We love to cook at home and our social life revolves around eating. We often have multi-course dinners at home for our friends.”

The couple eventually moved to Los Angeles and changed careers. Dara, who is 33, is now director of content operations for Blockbuster on Demand. David, who is 31, pursued his passion for wine and became a key account specialist for Regal Wine Company, handling high-end accounts in Southern California.

In March 2007, four years after their first date, David surprised Dara with a plush suite at the Los Angeles Sofitel Hotel. While they were standing on the balcony, gazing out on the Hollywood hills and enjoying a nice bottle of champagne, he took her by surprise when he produced an engagement ring created with a diamond that belonged to Dara’s grandmother.

“We had been dating for awhile and he wasn’t nervous at all,” she recalled. “I didn’t expect him to propose.”

They set their wedding date for Sept. 13, 2008, a 4 p.m. ceremony that would allow plenty of time for a proper wedding feast. The most difficult decision was where to be wed. David is from Danville, Virginia, and Dara is from a suburb of Philadelphia. They met in San Francisco, live in Los Angeles, and have friends in both cities.

“We thought it would be great to be married in the middle,” said Dara. “We just loved Paso when we visited — the small town feel, and the friendly people. It’s wine country but is less pretentious than Napa.”

The couple wanted to select the wines to serve at their reception, so they passed on winery venues where vintages are usually restricted to the winery’s own label. Instead, they chose Villa de Buena Vista, a bed and breakfast surrounded by vineyards just outside of Paso Robles.

“It’s a beautiful property with Italian-style architecture,” said Dara. “We both love Italy. I did a semester abroad in college there and we both went on a wine country trip in Italy.”

The secluded inn seemed custom-made for the Old World-themed event they were hoping for. To pull it all off, they hired event planner Jenn Hocker of Paso Robles’ Allure Event Designs.

“I wasn’t the little girl who had planned her wedding since she was eight years old,” said Dara. “I needed help.”

Hocker was able to recommend reliable vendors, such as a photographer, florist and caterer. David and Dara visited the area about once a month to interview vendors and make decisions. “Jenn was able to run with our ideas and turn them into something more grandiose than what we expected,” David remarked.

Naturally, food and wine were a priority. They hired Paso Robles’ Catering by Chef Charlie to prepare an elaborate five-course banquet of some of their favorite dishes, paired with wines of David’s choosing.

To imbue the day with a strong sense of place, they chose as their wedding favors two-ounce bottles of Paso Robles olive oil from We Olive, which doubled as place card holders. The bottles were displayed on a moss-covered table for Old World ambience. Reception tables were named after different wine varietals and cocktail napkins were imprinted with wine-related sayings. The couple also asked guests to sign three-liter bottles of wine as mementos to be enjoyed on their anniversaries.

On the day of the wedding, stretch limos arrived at several local hotels to whisk out-oftown guests to the big event.

Around 100 guests attended the outdoor ceremony. The couple was wed under a trellis draped with greenery, curly willow and amaranthus.

The couple wanted to involve family whenever possible. They come from different religious backgrounds (she is Jewish, he is Methodist), so Dara’s sister’s husband became ordained online and served as wedding officiate. Dara’s sister was matron of honor, David’s brother was best man, and Dara’s nephews were ring bearers. David’s sister-in-law sang for the ceremony. And during the ceremony, the couple asked for a moment of silence to remember family members who had died.

The reception was held on the outdoor stone patio, with fountains erupting from the inn’s infinity pool. The cocktail hour began in the courtyard area, with hors d’oeuvres, five varieties of wine and two signature cocktails created for the occasion by the couple’s friend, a mixologist from San Francisco. As the evening began to cool, portable heaters were brought out and guests were offered warm pashmina shawls.

The real magic came when dinner was served. Each course arrived with an introduction from chef Charles David Paladin Wayne, better known as Chef Charlie. Guests savored lobster bisque, a salad of heirloom tomato and Italian burrata cheese, porcini mushroom risotto, then Hearst Ranch grass-fed beef flat iron steak with gratin of herbed squash, eggplant and tomato. Courses were paired with Italian and French wines. Dinner ended with a cheese course and, of course, more wine.

“The food was great. The lobster bisque was so ridiculously good, our friends still talk about it,” said Dara, who noted that the band even performed an impromptu ode to Chef Charlie.

Santa Barbara band, Luna Gitana, was responsible for Latin-flavored tunes throughout the evening. But during dinner, they offered up a surprise appropriate for the occasion: one of their members, an opera singer and violinist, serenaded the couple with an Italian aria.

Naturally, dessert was Dara’s domain. She shared her love for confections by offering guests a dessert bar. For the traditional cake cutting ceremony, she baked a small wedding cake herself, which was assembled by one of her friends from culinary school.

After the last plate was cleared, the feast was not over. Servers set up a bar with three kinds of vintage port and chocolates by San Francisco master chocolatier, Michael Recchiuti.

The couple departed the next day, sated with wine, food and happy memories, for their honeymoon in Costa Rica.

“The overall experience was phenomenal,” said David. “The food was great, the wine was good — it was pretty much exactly how we’d planned it.”

Dara was overwhelmed by the outpouring of gratitude the couple received from their guests.

“We kept saying that it was about sharing what we love with who we love,” she said. “We wanted people to understand our passion not only for each other, but for food, wine, and for savoring the small moments in life.”