A Farm-to-Table Vineyard Wedding at Farmstead in St. Helena

Cocktail Hour at This 32-Guest Napa Farm Wedding

A cocktail hour followed while family portraits happened around the property, and the couple stayed out for golden-hour portraits while guests found their seats. Riza's grandparents pulled her in close, a kiss on the cheek from each side. On a wine barrel near the bar sat a lei of white orchid-like flowers looped over the wood, with low arrangements of white roses and eucalyptus beside it.

Farmstead opened in 2010 in a former nursery barn on Long Meadow Ranch, and it cooks from what the ranch grows — organic produce from its own gardens, grass-fed beef, honey, and olive oil — which put the vineyard rows and the fruit trees in the background of every portrait. Thirty-two guests at a working Napa farm is the size where cocktail hour actually feels like a party: everyone knows at least half the room, and there is space enough for all of them to find each other.

Dinner on The Lawn at Long Meadow Ranch

Dinner was out on The Lawn, one long table dressed in white linen with gold-toned bentwood chairs, low white centerpieces down the middle, tall patio heaters standing between the settings and string lights overhead against the November dark, the vineyard just past the grass. The courses came family-style. Andy announced the couple in, and the toasts spaced out between the salads and the entrees, parents and friends taking turns while the plates went around.

Riza and Derek had their first dance to "Forever," then cut the cake, a chocolate cheesecake with white icing and florals on top. As the night wound down, the fire pit was lit and s'mores came out. The ranch went quiet around the thirty-two of them, the darkness sitting past the vineyard rows, and no one was in any hurry to be the first to leave.