Platinum Weddings and Events: NEAWP Meeting @ The Vineyard at Florence

What is NEAWP, you ask? Well it stands forNuptial Essentials Association of Wedding Professionals. It's a group of great professionals in the wedding industry and provides networking, resources and support for Professional Wedding Consultants. NEAWP also offers continuing education through Nuptial Essentials Curriculum & Education (NECI), which Bethany and I are currently enrolled in! For more information or to become a member, check out the website and blog!

Anyway, NEAWP holds monthly meetings, and this one was at The Vineyard at Florence. Below are some fabulous pictures (courtesy of Eric Hegwer) of our June meeting! We toured the new event facility, vineyard, spa, cafe, and future winery in Florence, TX (yes it is all in one!). The Vineyard at Florence is just a short drive north of Georgetown and was the lifelong dream of the two owners. Both were traveling Air Force wives with dreams of moving to Italy and opening a vineyard. A few years and kids later, they found a way to make their dreams come true in no place other than Florence, Texas.

The facility and food were amazing. They have future developments and homes being built now and will eventually bottle their own wine. We also had a mini wine tasting lesson from the hysterical sommelier Jane Nickles. Jane is currently writing her second book and gave us plenty of tips on how to sound like we know what we are talking about while tasting wine. I learned that most white wines contain the flavors lemon, lime, green apple and apricot and red wines usually have the flavors berry, cherry, smokey, and spicy. So if you're ever at a cocktail party and you want to impress the people around you, you can just tell them you believe your wine to have those four flavors!

My favorite part of the meeting however was talking to the other members before it got started. It was my first NEAWP meeting so I didn't know many people when I arrived. However, I quickly learned some amazing stories of how these people followed their dreams to do what they were passionate about in life. Photographers, chocolatiers, wedding consultants, you name it, many of their stories are truly inspiring.

The meeting was a blast, the people were great, and the drive was relaxing (with a gorgeous view of overgrown Texas wildflowers). If you get the chance you should check out this place even if it's just for an afternoon lunch one weekend.