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Alex and Rich host a wine country wedding with plenty of retro touches and unique ideas.

Photography by Jessamyn Harris, jessamynharrisweddings.com

When Alex Cohen discovered that Rich Dean owned a tabletop game of Frogger and a collection of vintage radios, she knew he was the one. “I thought, ‘This is totally the guy for me,’” she says. “So it made sense that our wedding would be as quirky as we are as a couple.”

The pair didn’t feel a bit shy about incorporating a vintage car theme, an inflatable “bouncy house” at the reception and roller skates—a nod to Alex’s roller derby league.

The couple, who lived in different cities—Alex, a reporter and radio host in Los Angeles, and Rich, a digital media director in Austin, Texas—decided to hold their wedding at the Villagio Inn and Spa situated in the small town of Yountville in California’s Napa Valley. Here their 90 guests could stay well entertained for the weekend—the area offers wineries, restaurants, shops and hot-air balloon rides.

Alex did most of the wedding planning herself, choosing a color scheme of teal, chocolate, mint and burgundy. Some friends helped with tasks like designing the invitation, and one pal even helped the bride add beading and a blue sash (to match Rich’s vintage sharkskin suit) to her tea-length organza dress from the Galina Collection for David’s Bridal. Alex decided on a pair of custom-dyed blue shoes to finish off the look.

On the August wedding day, guests gathered in the property’s courtyard area. There they sipped a signature cocktail dubbed the “CoDean” and took self-portraits in a photo booth until friends on skates (from the bride’s roller derby league) ushered them to their seats.

A close friend of the couple officiated the ceremony, which included an untraditional wedding party consisting of two “mavens” of honor, as well as a best man and best woman.

The couple’s two nieces served as flower girls, and the three ring bearers were accompanied down the aisle by the couple’s dogs, clad in canine tuxedos. Alex’s mom read aloud “Variation on the Word Sleep,” a poem by Margaret Atwood, and Rich’s mom recited a poem by e. e. cummings. Alex and Rich exchanged vows they wrote themselves. “They were beautiful vows—sentimental with some humor,” says Alex. “Rich wrote his first, then I tweaked mine in response.”

After the ceremony, guests sipped cocktails on the lawn and nibbled passed hors d’oeuvres of curried shrimp, risotto and mushroom croquettes and ahi tuna. Then they found their escort cards set on hubcaps; on the property’s lawn, each table was named after a type of vintage car.

Guests enjoyed their choice of chicken, sturgeon or vegan-prepared eggplant, while the band, Project Pimento, kicked off the dancing with crowd-pleasing cover tunes that had what the bride calls “a 1960s lounge twist.” The newlyweds didn’t share a traditional first dance, but instead took a bounce together in the bouncy house, an inflated castle-shaped structure that provided a trampoline-like experience.

For down time, guests could retreat to a lounge area furnished with ottomans and chaises, and help themselves at a bar piled high with old-fashioned candy treats. At the end of the festivities, friends and family members received tree-planting kits as favors, and then Alex and Rich shared a bottle of wine with friends in their hotel room. “Because we didn’t follow the rules, we had a day that meant something special,” says Alex. “The happiest part was having everyone we love come together and seeing them thoroughly enjoy it.”

“I walked into the ceremony to the accompaniment of my nephew playing ‘Here Comes the Bride’ on the violin," says the bride. "He’d been practicing for months for the big moment.”

“My husband had insisted on no outfits for the dogs—he thought they would be too silly—but once he saw them in their special attire, he loved it!" says Alex. "They did look very handsome.”

The brick wall of the neighboring shopping area fits right in with the couple's retro theme.

“During the cocktail hour, we played everything from old Jo Stafford songs to the theme from The OC," says the bride. "It was an eclectic, fun mix, and each song meant something special to us.”

The Feast

First Course
Salad: White Beans, Fingerling Potatoes, Roasted Peppers and Fennel with Apple Dressing

Entrées
Free Range Chicken Roasted and Stuffed with Three-Cheese Polenta
Pan-Crusted Sturgeon on a Bed of Lentils
Baked Eggplant Tomato Torte

Dessert
Cupcakes: Chocolate, Banana, Carrot and Pound Cake