What a treat to be blogging a beautiful Jewish wedding at one of our very favorite venues: SoCal’s stunning, Spanish-style Hummingbird Nest Ranch.
We’re obviously smitten with the lovely visuals Jessica, who works in entertainment marketing, and Michael, a high school statistics teacher, pulled together to make their big day pop – see the exquisite photos from One Love Photography and video from Fancy Fox for evidence -but we’re even more in love with all the wonderful meaning they brought to their wedding.
First off, the ketubah: sure, these two chose a gorgeous, fresh floral design from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ink With Intent. But that’s just the beginning – to make the ketubah ultra-meaningful, the couple decided to write their own personal vows into their custom text (which they translated into Hebrew with some help from their families). Then, under the chuppah, Jessica and Michael read their own ketubah aloud together – isn’t that beautiful?!
We also love that – inspired by the memories of their late grandparents – the bride and groom worked with charity Petals for Patients to donate their wedding flowers to a local hospice at the end of the day. Such a wonderful way to make your wedding give back!
Jessica will fill you in on the rest of the details of this fab day…
How we met
Jessica, the bride: We probably met way back in 2009 at a youth group convention that we both attended. Of course, there are pictures of Jessica with Michael’s friends and Michael with Jessica’s friends, but unfortunately none of us together. High school Jessica and Michael must not have made a good enough impression on each other but luckily, the universe had other plans and decided to give us one more shot at getting to know each other.
We reconnected online in 2013, after Jessica graduated from UCLA and Michael from the University of Michigan. Michael took Jessica out on their first date on December 5th, 2013 where we really hit it off. A few amazing dates, and less than a month later, we decided to kick off 2014 as an official couple.
Hummingbird Nest Ranch
We got married at the Hummingbird Nest Ranch in Santa Susana, CA. We picked this venue because we really wanted a Spanish-style venue with an outdoor space. However, both of our families were coming from the San Fernando Valley, so we wanted to find a place that was close by for everyone but still fit our vision. When we saw Hummingbird online and then toured it, we immediately knew it was the perfect location and fit our vibe!
California Vibes
We wanted a relaxed and classy, California-vibe with a touch of glam, so we went with really neutral colors like blush and lots of greenery for our florals and a touch of rose gold throughout the decor. Our venue was amazing with the gorgeous villa surrounded by picturesque mountains, so we didn’t need to overdo it with the decor. Instead, we focused on personal touches.
Charity or tzedakah was also a big lesson our late grandparents taught us, so in their honor, we worked with our coordinator Jennifer at Burlap and Rose who connected us with a volunteer at Petals for Patients at a local hospice to donate our wedding flowers in their honor, which really meant a lot to us.
Food was also an important element and a way for us to personalize our day. We used Jessica’s family caterer, who had been longtime friends with her grandparents on her father’s side. Variety was really key to us and coming from a big Jewish family, it was important that our guests were well-fed and we think we achieved that. I don’t think anyone left hungry 🙂
Steak, fish and vegan options were on the menu and our signature drinks during cocktail hour reflected both of our personalities perfectly and reflects how we balance each other out as a couple. For every spicy tequila eastside, one must have an equally sweet and bubbly strawberry moscow mule 🙂
Jennifer and her team at Burlap and Rose were phenomenal in making sure that our vision came to life and helped us stay incredibly organized.
A Rachel & Rose Dress
Dress and veil were from Rachel & Rose in Sherman Oaks.
Rose Gold Accessories
Rose gold to go with our theme. The jewelry is really special to me because we picked it up on a special trip to St. Thomas before our wedding.
A Green Chuppah
We wanted lots of greenery and to include a personal touch with my grandfather’s tallit.
Remembering Loved Ones
For our ceremony, the one special touch we added was a little memorial table for the 6 of our grandparents who could not be with us on our wedding day. We had pictures of them as well as a candle so that our guests could know that they were important to us. We also had the rabbi say a sentence or two about each of them so they could still be a part of the day.
Ink with Intent
For the ketubah, we chose a design we loved from Ink With Intent. To make it special for us, we decided to make the ketubah our actual vows, and spent time together writing something meaningful for both us. We then got assistance from our Hebrew-speaking family members to translate the text from English into Hebrew.
We finished with a beautiful document that is a reminder of our commitments to each other and it’s even more special because we wrote it ourselves and our families helped us to translate the Hebrew! It’s also signed by our best friends.
Our favorite part of the ceremony was the choice to read our ketubah out loud together rather than do individual vows. It was a nice way to share our vows to each other and show off our beautiful ketubah!
Taking tequila shots with the rabbi and all of our close family and bridal party after signing the ketubah was also a special memory and was really fun!
Our music choice
Our processional song was ‘Tenerife Sea’ by Ed Sheeran. It’s a pretty little song and the lyrics were a perfect match for Jessica walking down the aisle. For the recessional our song was ‘Love on Top’ by Beyonce (Jessica is a huge fan). Again, it just seemed like the right fit for the moment and it’s one everyone knows and likes.
Our first dance was to ‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran and Beyonce. The first time we heard it we knew it was our first dance song, and we chose the duet version because the verses alternate describing what he loves about her and what she loves about him.
Photographer
We decided to go with One Love Photography on the recommendation of one of Jessica’s coworkers. We thought that they had such a gorgeous style and that they had a really artistic and creative way of capturing the weddings they shot. It felt so natural and elegant.
We started by doing an engagement shoot and the photos came out better than we could have imagined! The photos made us both look stunning and we even managed to work in our dog, Sydney, for some family photos during the shoot. The wedding day shots were even better and really left us with hundreds of great memories from our big day that we’re so grateful for.
A Delicious Cake
We bought our cake from Sheila Mae bakery. We did three different layers with three different flavors! Our primary cake was a white rose cake with strawberries, and our secondary layers were chocolate crunch and vanilla malt. We loved the light flavors and the cake went so quick that we barely got a piece for ourselves! We also had a dessert bar complete with chocolate and caramel fountains and all of the dipping options. Everyone loved it!
Every good night ends with a midnight snack of popcorn and a candy bar takeaway filled with all of our favorites. Jessica’s are gummy bears and Michael’s are Reece’s Pieces.
Magical Catering
For the catering, we were fortunate to have a longtime family friend of Jessica’s father and grandmother, Patty Campbell from Merlin’s Kitchen. Patty also did the catering for Jessica’s bat mitzvah back in the day. Jessica’s father had his first job working for Patty doing catering, and it was lucky for us because the food was a gourmet feast!
During our tasting at Merlin’s, it was nearly impossible to decide which four appetizers and two entrees were the most delicious. Many guests have told us that the filet that they ate at our wedding was the best one they’ve ever had.
Entertainment
We wanted to make sure that we had enough options for everyone to be entertained from pre-ceremony until last call and include everything we loved. The day started with the immensely talented Mel Collins and and her jazz band playing as the guests arrive. Mel sang ‘Tenerife Sea’ accompanied by a guitarist as we walked down the aisle and Beyonce’s ‘Love On Top’ as we exited. She and the band then played a live jazz set during cocktail hour and during the beginning of dinner service.
Once the dancing portion of the night began, we had Gabe Zamora from Vox DJs take over and lead the festivities. He played a fantastic set list and never let the night slow down!
Meanwhile, Vox also provided a photo booth with a variety of props. Guests took pictures, printed them, put them in a memory book, and wrote us some very sweet notes. It was very cool to read after the wedding and see what everyone left for us!
Fireworks
Finally, the night ended with literal fireworks. Jessica’s father has been working to put on fireworks shows as a hobby for years with a company called Pyro Spectaculars. She grew up watching him set up for shows and has even helped set up a few alongside him. It’s become a real passion of his and he really wanted to treat us and our guest to a truly magical night we would never forget. So, he worked with the company to put on one of the best fireworks show that we had ever seen and it really exceeded all expectations and made for such a special memory and end to the night!
Candy Bar
For our favors, we set up a candy bar with a bunch of different treats to choose from for our guests. We had M&M’s, gummy bears, peach rings, smarties, kisses, red hots, and more so that guests could make a to-go bag to enjoy at home and remember our wedding.
Honeymoon in Europe
For our honeymoon, we went to Southern Europe, primarily Italy. We started our trip in Rome, and took a one week cruise out of Rome to Naples, Marseilles, Mallorca, Barcelona, and La Spezia. After that, we spent a few days in Rome and two days in Venice sightseeing, before finishing up with three days at an all-inclusive spa resort called Adler Thermae in Tuscany. In terms of choosing this trip, we were both interested in Southern Europe for our honeymoon as a place that would be particularly beautiful in the summer.
We’re both frequent cruisers, and we quickly found our awesome itinerary on Symphony of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world. From there, we built an itinerary to do some sightseeing, as Michael had never been to Europe. We decided to finish off the trip with as much relaxation as possible by staying at the gorgeous Adler Thermae in Bagno Vignoni, Tuscany. We would highly recommend Adler to anyone that’s looking for a getaway in paradise!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Once the day begins, there isn’t anything left for you to do but enjoy so do just that and whatever happens will happen. Things will go wrong, timelines will be delayed, but nobody will really notice but you so don’t let it get to you and enjoy the amazing day that you, your new husband, your family, friends, and vendors worked so hard to plan.
And bring flats or sandals to change into at the end of the night. Your feet will thank you 🙂
Jessica & Michael’s little white book
Photography – One Love
Videography – Fancy Fox
Ketubah – Ink With Intent {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Wedding planner – Burlap and Rose
Venue – Hummingbird Nest Ranch
Dress and veil – from Rachel & Rose
Hair + Makeup – The Heart of Make-up
Flowers – Unique Floral Designs
Caterer – Merlin’s Kitchen
Musicians – Standard Mel
DJ and photobooth – Vox
Cake – Sheila Mae
Rentals – A Rental Connection
Fireworks – Pyro Spectaculars
Honeymoon – at Adler Thermae
