This Couple Married Within a Lush, Botanical Wonderland at a Ranch in Napa Valley
Gloria Zhu and Stanley Tang first met at a mutual friend’s birthday party at Bar Basic in San Francisco in 2015. “It’s surprising because I don’t drink and Gloria loves to go to bed early—but something told us to go that night!” Stanley remembers.
The tech entrepreneur and cofounder of DoorDash had just moved to San Francisco from Palo Alto, and his friends were eager for him to meet new people. “As soon as Gloria walked in by herself that night, my friends and coworkers kept pushing us towards each other,” Stanley explains. “It felt like an episode of How I Met Your Mother. I also love the irony of the venue’s name because five minutes into our conversation, Gloria was already playfully trolling me and I knew she was anything but basic.”
“I almost didn’t make it out that night!” admits Gloria, who is a private banker for J.P. Morgan. “I only went because I wanted to say happy birthday to my friend. Who knew me telling myself, I’ll just stop by to say hi would lead me to finding the love of my life?”
Stanley proposed on November 21, 2021, at the couple’s home. “We are currently building our first home together, so I knew proposing outside of the house would represent the commencement of our new chapter together,” Stanley explains. “To make it special, I decorated the backyard with lights, candles, and flowers before the construction team tore into the area.”
“I knew I wanted the proposal to be between us two, but still something I could share with my loved ones later on,” Gloria explains. “I’ll always be able to point to the exact spot Stanley proposed, to my friends, family, and future kids.”
Before the bride embarked on the planning process, she received an important piece of advice from her girlfriends. “They said that the wedding day flies by quickly, but the planning process unfolds over many months, so you really want to enjoy it.”
To that end, when trying to find a wedding planner, Gloria and Stanley weren’t just looking for expertise but for a true partner who would make the wedding-planning process a fun one. They called off the search after meeting Colin Cowie. “The Colin Cowie team made the wedding-planning experience so magical for me,” Gloria says.
Gloria didn’t grow up thinking a lot about her wedding, and when she initially embarked on the planning process, she quickly felt overwhelmed. “My head filled with I shoulds, I need tos, and a lot of rules,” Gloria remembers. “However, after a few days, I realized that I wanted to start from the ground up by thinking about what Stanley and I really wanted to share with our guests and what would make the celebration truly representative of us. I am a first-generation Chinese American, and Stanley immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong, so I wanted to combine the traditional American wedding I grew up watching with a celebration of our Asian heritage. We also thought about things we enjoyed, such as good food, fun music, and poker. From there, all the other details, activities, and personal touches came together!”
“The celebration far exceeded our expectations,” Stanley remembers. “I saw Gloria’s jaw drop a couple of times at her own wedding, alongside our guests. Gloria and I are usually quite organized people, but wedding planning is another beast!”
And while Cowie and his team handled the creative elements for the various events and the logistics, Gloria was very intentional about her wedding-weekend wardrobe. “I wanted what I wore during my rehearsal dinner and wedding day to pay homage to the people who influenced my life and reflect the cultures that shaped me into who I am,” Gloria explains. “Because of that, I felt more empowered and not afraid to make my own adjustments and add flair to some of the outfits I bought off the rack and pre-loved.”
The couple’s wedding was held in September at Stanly Ranch in Napa Valley. “It felt exceptionally special because we were celebrating our eighth year together,” the groom says. “Perhaps a sign of fate, in Chinese culture eight is regarded as the luckiest number, symbolizing fortune and prosperity.”
Napa was the perfect location for the wedding, as it gave Gloria (who grew up in the Bay Area and went to UC Berkeley) and Stanley (who moved to the Bay Area to attend Stanford) the chance to share with their loved ones all the amazing things Northern California has to offer. “For our wedding, we made sure that we incorporated different aspects of Stanly Ranch into the guest experience, and everything we hosted was on property,” Gloria notes.
