Just about every 2020 couple has a story. But not every couple’s story takes them from synagogue to horse ranch. That’s exactly the trajectory Toronto couple Jordana, who works in digital marketing, and Josh, a construction project manager, took in their wedding planning journey.
Their original plans for a 400-person black tie synagogue wedding in May 2020 were thwarted when COVID hit. Initially, the pair postponed to September, and then November. In July, Josh’s mom told them about a gorgeous horse ranch not too far from Toronto. While they had no intention of changing their plans, they decided a trip out to the ranch would be fun, and went to take a look.
But the second they saw the place – rustic barn, tall trees, horses grazing and all – Jordana and Josh knew Pleasant Creek was where they wanted to get married. And, as a bonus, at Pleasant Creek their wedding could be held outdoors – which meant, at the time, that they were allowed 100 people (with social distancing measures in place and COVID testing for the wedding party). Jordana and Josh set a date for September 2020, giving them just two months to plan a totally different wedding, this one rustic chic and outdoor rather than black tie.
It can’t have been easy making such a dramatic shift in such little time – but Jordana and Josh totally rocked it. We adore the boho rustic style they pivoted to – don’t miss their incredible chuppah! – and their ketubah by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Noa Attias was the absolute perfect fit. Don’t miss all the gorgeous details in Purple Tree’s photos and ZiMakesFilms’ trailer.
Read on for all the details of this wonderful day from the bride, who looked positively ravishing in Sottero and Midgley…
How we met
Jordana, the bride: Josh and I first met at Western University while we were both in our second year. Although he grew up in Toronto, Josh moved to New York before high school and was studying in Manhattan for his first year in college when he decided to move back to Canada. Luckily for me, one of my best friends went to summer camp with Josh when she was younger, and she thought we would be a great match. Turns out she was right!
We dated all throughout University and decided to move in together in downtown Toronto a couple of years after we graduated. Josh pursued a career in construction management and is now a construction project manager for a development company in Toronto, and I pursued a career in digital marketing. On our trip to Jamaica, Josh sneakily brought an engagement ring with him and set up a beautiful gazebo leading into the ocean to pop the question. He had the aisle filled with lantern candles and flowers, with a beautiful candle-lit dinner at the end and our own personal chef and photographer. It was perfect!
From Synagogue to Horse Ranch
We were supposed to get married in an orthodox synagogue in Toronto on May 17, 2020 (the same one that my parents got married in 30 years ago). The entire wedding was planned, and we intended on inviting nearly 400 people with black tie attire. When Covid-19 hit, we delayed our date to September, and then again to November. In July, Josh’s mom told us about this horse ranch in the outskirts of Hamilton that her husband’s cousin owned.
We figured it would be a fun road trip to check it out, but we were still planning towards our November date. The second we saw the rustic barn and the gorgeous tall trees canopying an open green space with horses grazing in the background, we knew we had to make it work. During the summer in Toronto, the Covid-19 cases were much lower, and we were allowed 100 people outside.
We decided to cancel our date in November and plan an entirely new wedding for September 6th (in under two months). We shifted from Black Tie attire to rustic chic, and replanned everything from flowers, to food, to décor, and everything in between. Not only did the venue have a beautiful rustic barn and stunning outdoor area, but there was also a gorgeous house on the property where we got ready in.
In order to ensure everyone was safe, the entire wedding party got tested for Covid to ensure we could be together for the day, and the rest of our guests were seated in their social circles and wore masks when they were in closer proximity with others. The entire wedding also took place outdoors and we planned out the chairs and tables so that everything was 6 feet from each other.
Soft Romance
We had a day-of planner; however, I worked with my mom and mother-in-law to bring the wedding to life. My mother-in-law, Laurie manages large scale events for her job, so we had a blast brainstorming ideas together! We spent hours reviewing my Pinterest vision board and we bounced ideas off each other for both the original wedding venue and the new one. I always wanted a soft and romantic theme, with a light colour palette.
When we shifted venues, we continued with this theme and added rustic elements to tie into the environment. Our main colours were white and pale blush, which were reflected in the bridesmaid dresses and the flowers.
We also injected rustic tones in a variety of areas throughout the wedding. We included pampas flowers into the bouquet and had rustic tones throughout all our floral arrangements (including a wooden chuppah base). Laurie also had the great idea of building hay couches for our guests to enjoy, and we paired this with string lights above the couches, and tiki torches throughout the outdoor area. We also incorporated countryside elements into the décor throughout the reception.
For example, we hand crafted seating name tags with rosemary tags that sat on top long harvest tables (which took a solid 3-4 hours to make!). We also ordered a craft beer truck to compliment the farm environment.
Invitations / stationery
We originally designed our invitations with one of our vendors that suited our black-tie wedding; however, when we quickly switched gears, we needed to design the invitations on our own. They were sent via email given the time restrictions and had a rustic yet romantic design. We still have hundreds of our old invitations sitting at our house!
Hair + Make-up
Josh has always loved when my hair was in a ponytail, so to cater to this and to do something a little different, I decided to go for a long and curled ponytail. My incredible hair stylist, Uno Jo Bridal Hair brought my vision to life!
For my makeup, I worked with the incredible Tiferet. I wanted to have glam makeup, with a focus on soft neutral tones. She did an unbelievable job and went above and beyond what I ever could have expected.
A Sottero and Midgley Dress
I went to quite a few dress shops to find the right one, but in the end, I kept coming back to Kleinfeld given the range of dresses they offer. I needed to find a modest dress that covered my shoulders and chest, and I knew I wanted a form fitting style. I tried on the princess gowns, and although they looked beautiful, I knew it wasn’t me. When I tried on my dress, I truly felt like a bride. The dress was designed by Sottero and Midgley, and it checked off all my boxes.
It was form fitting without being too restrictive, it had a hint of shimmer without being overwhelming for me, it had a gorgeous long train, and I loved the beautiful flowy design of the lace. I ended up adding elements to the dress to cover the right areas. I brought the sleeves down my arms, added more lace around the chest, and added another layer of material under the dress.
Accessories
My veil was given to me by my sister-in-law, and I loved that it was sentimental to me. My intention was to find jewellery that complemented the flowy nature of the lace on the dress with a floral design to match the vibe of the wedding. Given the time restraints, I ended up purchasing my earrings off Etsy and my bracelet was purchased at a boutique bridal shop. My necklace was given to me by my amazing husband the day of the wedding and it all matched perfectly!
Shoes
Although I would have loved to purchase 5-inch heels, my dress only allowed for 2 inches (which was probably for the best since I’m 5”9!). I had my heart set on a pair of Jimmy Choo’s, but when I was in New York at the beginning of 2020 I saw these simple sparkly Ferragamo‘s that were screaming my name. Originally, I was intending on getting lace heels that matched the dress, but I loved the pop of sparkle in the end!
The handsome groom
Josh went to a bespoke tuxedo shop to get a custom tuxedo where he could add personalized elements. Funnily enough, he decided to engrave our first wedding date (May 17, 2020) into the collar, but we love that it’s still included as it’s part of our wedding story. He engraved his initials into the sleeves and added flamingos in the inside panel of the jacket (an element I thought was comedic at first but ended up adoring).
Josh doesn’t take himself too seriously, so it was perfect. He paired his tuxedo with beautiful shoes and a sharp watch and made sure to keep his beard (at my request). Once I saw him, I couldn’t believe I was marrying this handsome man!
Bridesmaids
I had 8 bridesmaids including my sister, two sisters-in-law, and 5 best friends. I choose a very soft blush to tie into our colour palette, with no preference on style or fabric. I loved that they all had different styles and they looked gorgeous!
Ceremony
The ceremony took place outside with large, beautiful trees canopied above us. We cut our 10-piece band down to 2 instrumentalists, which created an intimate and emotional feel. My favourite part was walking down the aisle to my best friend in the world waiting at the end. I was balling my eyes out the whole walk there! After Josh broke the glass and we were married, we were danced around with our friends and it’s a moment we’ll never forget.
Josh’s favourite moment was after the ceremony, when we had a moment alone in the Yichud room. Entering the room symbolized our newly married status, but what he loved the most was the special moment away from everything where we looked at each other and digested the fact that we just got married. We also got to try all our appetizers, which was a great bonus!
Ketubah
We purchased our Ketubah from an incredible artist, Noa Attias. She was recommended by Josh’s mom and we couldn’t be happier with it!!
Chuppah
As with everything else, our chuppah originally had a completely different design when it was going to be inside a synagogue. When we decided we would place the chuppah in between the large, beautiful trees, we wanted to create a chuppah that fit naturally into the space. The idea was to create an extension of the natural beauty surrounding us, and our florist went above and beyond our expectations. They worked with our colour palette and added rustic elements to tie it all together.
Our Music Choice
For the grandparents, we played an instrumental version of ‘Make You Feel My Love’ by Adele. For the Groomsmen, Groom and Groom’s parents, we played ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran and for the Bridesmaids and Bride’s parents, we played ‘Wonderful Tonight’ by Eric Clapton. For myself, I requested the DJ play this beautiful rendition of ‘Boi Kala’. We originally intended to have a live singer but given the shift in plans we requested the DJ to play it for us in full. I walked down at the height of the song, and it brought me to tears! We then played ‘Od Yishama’ with our wedding party.
For our first dance, we played our favourite rendition of ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’. We used to practise dancing to it in our 600 square foot condo, and it was incredible to dance to it at our wedding.
Photographer and videographer
We went to a few wedding photography companies, but in the end, we loved the stunning aesthetic Purple Tree . They really took the time to get to know us and matched us with a photographer that would cater to our personalities. We knew that whoever we were assigned to would capture the gorgeous result that Purple tree is known for, but we truly lucked out with Carly and Mark.
We had the pleasure of getting to know Carly in our engagement session, and she spent the first little while understanding our story. We really appreciated that, and she made us feel so comfortable. We’re both a little awkward in front of cameras, and she managed to capture such authentic moments. This carried into our wedding, where we also had Mark as the second photographer. They both naturally guided us but still let us be ourselves, and the result was authentic and beautiful images.
For our videographer, we worked with the incredible Zim and Jhos from ZiMakesFilms. As with our photographers, they first spent a good amount of time learning about who we are and understanding our love story. They encouraged us to write notes to each other that would be read in the final video, and we’re so happy we did it. It added another layer of personalization to the video and is now a beautiful keepsake to carry with us. After less than a week of the wedding, they surprised us with a teaser video that brought us to tears!
Food and Cake
We ended up working with PRC Caterers for our food, and we worked with The Candy Catchers for our candy station. PRC Caterers set up a tent next to our wedding area outdoors and created gorgeous and delicious food. We didn’t have time for a tasting session, so we tried the food alongside our guests, and we were beyond delighted!
We didn’t have a cake as we wanted to prioritize other elements that were more personalized to us. Josh has a massive candy obsession, so we knew we needed to incorporate this in some way. The Candy Catchers supplied us with a variety of candies in individually wrapped clear boxes, which was perfect as guests could take their candy worry-free.
Entertainment
We intended on having a 10-piece band and a DJ for our 400-person wedding, and we scaled this back to 2 instrumentalists for the cocktail reception and the ceremony. We had a DJ for the remainder of the night, and they were all great. We worked with Sole Power Productions as we heard great things, and they did not disappoint!
Favours
To personalize the wedding, my mother-in-law Laurie came up with unique ideas that made the wedding even more special. For example, she thought of the idea to create personalized sparklers and take-home bag which had individually wrapped desserts and water for our guests to enjoy on their ride home back to the city. She even thought of customized Covid-19 related items such as masks and sanitizers!
Extra details
To make the day even more personal, my maid of honour found an old photo of Josh and I the first year we met, and had our faces printed with handles for our guests to enjoy during the party. Our friends also brought light-up clips, which our friends placed on their hands and danced with! It added a really fun element to the party, and we had a blast with them.
We also arranged small barbeques surrounding the hay couches for our guests to roast marshmallows and enjoy hot dogs later in the evening. It created such a relaxing and intimate ambiance that is difficult to achieve in larger-scale weddings.
There were also special moments throughout the day where our family and friends felt part of the day. For example, I drove up to the venue with a few of my bridesmaids in a limo to kick-off the festivities and we all got ready together in the beautiful home on the property.
The Badeken and Tish was also a perfect opportunity to involve our family and friends. During the Badeken, I received blessings from both mine and Josh’s wonderful grandfathers, and I’ll treasure those moments forever.
Honeymoon
We were originally planning on going to Hawaii when we first planned our wedding. In fact, our entire trip was booked, including our flights, hotels and even restaurants! Given the pandemic though, naturally we had to switch gears and decided to book a local getaway. On the night of the wedding, we stayed in the beautiful Langdon Hall and treated ourselves to delicious meals and massages at the spa. We then drove over to Niagara on the Lake and visited multiple wineries and enjoyed amazing food! We stayed at Pillar and the Post during our stay and we had a wonderful time!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
There are two pieces of advice that I received, and both truly helped me leading up to the day, and on the day of. The first one: do not look at other wedding dresses after you found the one! It’s so tempting to look at new dresses as new designs come out so frequently but trust your gut and know that you chose your dress for a reason. The second piece of advice I heard from multiple friends and family members, and it’s quite simple. They all told me to be present the day of the wedding, because it goes by so quickly.
It’s hard to do though when so many things are happening at once, so Josh and I decided to consciously take moments throughout the day and the evening to step away from everything. In those moments, we looked around and actively soaked everything in, to be present. I’m so thankful for this advice and would suggest that any bride and groom do some form of this!
The last piece of advice I would say, is to not stress over the little things. I know this is such a common piece of advice, but it’s so necessary!
Jordana & Josh’s little white book
Photography – Purple Tree
Videography – ZiMakesFilms
Ketubah – Noa Attias {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Day of Coordinator – Heidi Gruenspan
Venue – Pleasant Creek
Bride’s dress – Sottero and Midgley
Bride’s shoes – Ferragamo
Bride’s accessories – Etsy
Groom’s attire – Made 2 Measure
Bridesmaids – They got their dresses from a variety of places
Hair + Makeup – Uno Jo Bridal Hair, Tiferet
Flowers – European Elegance Events
Instrumentalists & DJ – Sole Power Productions
Catering – PRC Caterers
Candy – The Candy Catchers
Rabbi – Rabbi Menechem Gansburg
Rental Company (supplied tent, chairs, tables, linen, stools, lighting (chandeliers in the tent), podium, dance floor, generator, and heating/air conditioning) – Complete Rent-alls
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
A beautifully written article. And the couple is beautiful inside and out. I know because I am the groom’s mother. Not bias at all:)