Montaluce Winery Engagement Session

So, fun fact about me – I unashamedly LOVE sweet wines and hard ciders. I’m not a big fan of the taste of alcohol so the closer something is to juice the more I like it. On New Years while everyone else is sipping champagne I’m mixing it with cran-apple juice and I don’t even feel bad about it.

But when Deidra told me Ryan proposed at a winery in California, I must admit I was a little intimidated. I can’t tell you the difference between Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay and I was a little worried I would embarrass myself with my lack of wine knowledge.

I was even more worried when she asked to do their engagement session at a winery in North Georgia. Don’t get me wrong, I was PUMPED about the North Georgia part and the beautiful vineyard part – but what if they started talking about wine – I was going to be completely lost! I pushed that worry to the side and we planned the session.

I remembered hearing about Montaluce Winery when we lived in Gainesville and how beautiful it was (and how good the wine was). I reached out to them and they said they love to have people come visit and take photos which was perfect. So we scheduled the session and I was excited to finally meet Deidra and Ryan in person!

I got the Montaluce early to have some time to look around and plan the session. It turns out Deidra and Ryan made a weekend of their engagement session (I TOTALLY love that idea – way to commit to the session guys) and were already there when I got there sampling the wine and having a little afternoon date. It was too bright to start the session so they invited me to join them.

I usually do client meetings at coffee shops, but thanks to COVID-19 a lot of those meetings have turned into phone calls or zoom meetings so I was thrilled to be able to sit down and get to know Ryan and Deidra in person. They both had glasses of wine and when the waiter asked if I wanted anything I froze.

Do I order what they have, knowing I won’t like it and then try to drink it – that sounded stressful. I decided to come clean and said, “Are yall going to make fun of me if I order Moscato?” I knew we could all be friends when Ryan, without missing a beat said, “Not to your face.” I’m a big fan of dry, sarcastic banter and Ryan was full of it. He had Deidra and me laughing the entire session!

The waiter brought out my glass of Sparkling Moscato – which was AMAZING by the way. Walker and I are already planning a Shep-free date night back to Montaluce to have some more. We drank and talked and laughed and I realized I didn’t have anything to worry about at all! Deidra and Ryan were my kind of people and I was SO excited to start the session.

I’m a total lightweight when it comes to alcohol and I never drink at weddings that I’m working – even though it’s offered at almost every wedding! I definitely have never started a session on a glass of wine, but I’m not going to lie, that sparkling Moscato had me in a pretty good mood. I can’t tell you what had me laughing more, Ryan’s modeling poses (he was the star of the show) or the wine, but it was fun to say the least. I’m honestly a little sad we don’t live in Macon and I won’t run into Deidra and Ryan at The Society Garden on a weekly basis.

Deidra and Ryan, I am SO excited for yall’s wedding and to see yall again. Thanks for being amazing clients and for embracing me – even though I don’t drink red wine! 🙂