An Art Deco Wedding at Hans Fahden Vineyards

Megan and Casey’s summer wedding at Hans Fahden Vineyards was full Art Deco, with a little Great Gatsby, a candlelit wine cave, gorgeous gardens and a VERY committed Gangnam Style performance 😂

“As a couple, we absolutely love everything Art Deco, so we knew we wanted our general vibe to be very Great Gatsby/Art Deco elegance. Finding ways to marry that with the whimsical, ethereal beauty of Hans Fahden was incredibly fun, especially playing up the wine cave as a more ‘speakeasy’ style dinner venue.”

They used so many parts of the property throughout the day, from the gardens and pond to the little boat (OBSESSED with these photos), then up the mountain for portraits before dinner inside the wine cave.

And there’s another important part of this story: Megan is a bride with prosthetic legs, and when I asked her if she’d be comfortable talking about being a bride with prosthetic legs, she said,

“This question made me tear up. Representation is SO IMPORTANT, and the idea of another bride with prosthetics seeing photography with someone who looks like themselves makes me so incredibly happy.”

There’s something really important about brides with disabilities being able to see themselves represented in wedding imagery without disability always having to become this big, serious thing.

She shared a lot with me that I am touched to include below, not to mention a story involving one of her prosthetic legs FLYING across a ballroom 😂 You’ll have to keep scrolling for that one.

“These moments with my mom were so special to me too—the blue ribbon was my “something blue”, a piece of ribbon from the dressing gown of my grandma from when she was in the hospital when my mom was born, to pin to my bouquet. Carrying that ribbon and re-creating the photo of her and my mom from my parents’ wedding (looking in the mirror and adjusting my veil) was such a wonderful way to feel her presence that day since she passed before I met my husband.”

How Can Wedding Vendors Make a Wedding More Accessible for a Bride With a Disability?

One of the areas we were really intentional about was building breaks into the timeline so Megan could save her energy for the parts of the wedding she cared about most.

“The other thing we really had to be mindful of was to plan seating breaks into the day’s events so I could save some stamina for the dance floor. Everyone was great at accommodating this. We had a seating break incorporated into our ceremony, and some of our formal portraits were done with Casey and I sitting with our loved ones surrounding us.”

That meant adapting the photography too. There’s no reason every family photo needs to involve someone standing in exactly the same spot in exactly the same way. We could have Megan and Casey sit, bring their people around them and keep going.

“As most people with a disability know, no one knows what your needs are the way you do, and our vendors were exceptional at finding unique ways to make me feel comfortable in a way that still seemed natural and elegant once we vocalized what we needed.”

Your wedding photography should adapt to YOU, not the other way around. Here’s how we make that happen.

Can You Take Beautiful Wedding Photos Without Standing for Every Portrait?

YES.

We really just worked with Megan and Casey as they were. Sitting, walking, snuggling up, hopping in a boat… whatever felt good and looked good. There’s no reason wedding portraits have to mean standing in the same poses over and over again.

“Doing all of our couples portraits was actually a wonderful way to connect and take a breath from the nonstop motion of the day. Marielle and Aubrey made it feel so fun and easy that it just felt like a great time hanging out with friends, rather than posing for pictures.”

We gave them direction when they needed it, found the pretty light, and let them hang out together. And somewhere along the way, taking photos actually became one of their favorite parts of the day.

“For both of us, going to the top of the mountain to take photos during golden hour was a highlight.”

What Does Candid Wedding Photography Actually Look Like?

For us, candid wedding photography is all the stuff that happens when nobody is thinking about the camera.

The nerves before the ceremony. Your mom getting emotional while you’re getting ready. The way your people react during speeches. The tiny things happening off to the side while everyone else is watching something completely different.

And in Megan and Casey’s case, an entire choreographed Gangnam Style performance. 😂

“We would also be remiss to not mention the Father/Daughters dance to Gangnam Style that we all did. None of us have formal dance experience, so memorizing the choreography and executing it in front of everyone was a nerve-wracking task, but so worth it to see the expressions on the faces of our loved ones when they saw what was happening!”

This is where documentary-style wedding photography shines. We’re photographing the dance, but we’re also watching everyone around it. Parents losing it. Friends realizing what’s happening. People singing along. All the little reactions that only happen once.

What are some creative decoration ideas for a winery wedding?

Megan and Casey packed their wedding with little references to their lives instead of adding details just for the sake of adding them.

“Casey loves to 3D print and Megan works in hotels, so our name tags for the seating chart were all designed and printed by Casey to look like vintage hotel keys, as a nod to Megan’s profession.”

Casey also 3D printed their table numbers using the Chrysler Building, a little nod to Megan’s years living in New York.

“It is her favorite building and she has a tattoo of it on her side as a way to commemorate her time living there.”

The flowers had their own story too: “The florals were designed to bring elements of purple to balance the blues and greens of the wedding attire, and to allow us to incorporate sterling roses, a fixture in Megan’s backyard growing up which have the most intoxicating scent.”

And when everyone moved into the wine cave for dinner, they went ALL IN on the drama.

“The dinner arrangements were meant to evoke a very ‘Phantom of the Opera’ esque decadence with the candelabras and trailing greenery.”

Love weddings that actually look and feel like the people getting married? Get lost in more of our favorites.

What Should Brides With Prosthetic Legs Know About Planning a Wedding?

Megan said something that I think is probably the most useful advice in this whole post:

“As most people with a disability know, no one knows what your needs are the way you do.”

Tell your vendors what you need. Build sitting breaks into the timeline. Save some energy for the parts of the wedding you really care about. Let your photographer know what works for your body so we can plan around YOU instead of trying to make you fit into some standard wedding photography formula.

Another one of the practical things she ran into when planning her wedding was something that seems pretty simple: finding wedding shoes.

“From a purely practical standpoint (and a nudge to the wedding industry as a whole), I wish there were more wedding shoe options that are flats! Prosthetic feet (or at least the kind I have) have a limited range that the ankle angles can be set to, so for me, heels of any variety were a no go. Shoes that looked nice and were white were more challenging than I thought to find.”

And there can be a LOT of humor in it too.

“I think the only thing I felt like I could not do with my legs for our wedding was dance as much as I wanted to! Casey and I had a running joke leading up that he was going to ‘dance my leg off’ based on the first formal occasion we attended together where the button that keeps my prosthetic attached got pushed accidentally and my leg flew across the ballroom.” 😂😂😂

“The dancing couples nearby got a WILD shock when a gold metal leg landed in their midst! We found it hilarious, and it officially became our running joke leading up to the wedding that it wouldn’t be complete unless it happened again.”

If feeling comfortable in front of the camera matters to you, come see what a wedding day with us actually feels like.

Your Napa Valley Wedding Photographer

If you’re planning a Hans Fahden Vineyards wedding, or getting married somewhere else in Calistoga, Napa or Sonoma, we’d love to photograph it.

After 15+ years as a California wedding photographer, one of the biggest things I’ve learned is that there isn’t one photography formula that works for every person.

We blend gentle direction with documentary style wedding photography, helping when you need us and stepping back when you don’t. And if you have a disability, mobility consideration or anything else you want us to understand about your body, tell us. We WANT to know.

We can build breaks into portrait time, adjust locations, photograph you sitting, change the way we approach family photos and figure out what makes the experience easiest for you.

Your photos should feel like YOU, and getting them shouldn’t require you to spend your wedding day uncomfortable.

See more of our California weddings here, then reach out to us to check your date.

Megan + Casey’s Calistoga Wedding Pros

Venue: Hans Fahden Vineyards
Planning + Coordination: Radiant Weddings & Events
Photography: onelove photography
Catering: the girl & the fig CATERS!
Bar + Beverages: Bartenders Unlimited
Cake: Sweet C’s Cake Shoppe
Entertainment + Uplighting: SPH Entertainment
Florals: Bella Vita Floral Productions
Rentals: Encore Events Rentals