Get ready for an absolutely breathtaking same-sex Jewish wedding! Brides Hayley and Dani had the most elegant California wedding at Grand Tradition Estate and Gardens, and we are here for it! An outdoor chuppah (using the property’s on-site gazebo), palm trees galore – what’s not to love?!
Hayley and Dani opted for a clean, elegant look for their big day, with a color scheme of white, black, and grey. The exception? Their gorgeous Midnight Lagoon ketubah by Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush, which brought rich blues and metallic gold into the mix.
We also love that Hayley and Dani wanted to include LGBTQ and women-owned businesses in their special day – including their mega-talented photographer Captured by Amanda Lynn!
There’s so much more to say about this very special wedding, but we’ll leave it to the brides to take it from here…
How We Met
Hayley and Dani, the brides: We met while we were both working at the same job.. Hayley was a therapist and Dani was the lead technician. For almost 6 months while working together we rarely spoke. Then one day, Dani sat in on Hayley’s art therapy group with a couple other staff. As the clients were working, the staff began their project and Dani and Hayley hit it off and never stopped talking. The rest is history!
Venue
We got married at Grand Tradition Estate and Gardens in Fallbrook, CA. We actually did not really want a large wedding and were planning on something super small. We were away in San Diego for the weekend and decided to check out the venue because it looked (and was) gorgeous. There are 2 venues on site, The Arbor Terrace and Beverly Mansion. We immediately fell in love with Beverly Mansion and Hayley’s mom drove out the next day from LA to see the venue. We put our deposit to save our date and decided that we were having a bigger wedding than we had planned. The venue is incredible and we are still totally in love with it!
Clean Elegance
We planned the wedding totally on our own, and it made it that much more special. Our theme was “clean classy elegance”. Our color scheme was white, black and grey.
Dresses
The dress (dresses) is a funny story. Hayley went to Luv Bridal in LA to try on dresses. While there, they shared that because our wedding was so soon Hayley would have to buy off the rack. Which at first was kind of a bummer but ended up being amazing. The absolute first dress Hayley tried on she fell in love with! Every dress after just could not compare, though there were SO MANY amazing ones. The stylist brought out one final dress, which was the A-Line shape Hayley originally wanted.
Hayley almost did not try it on because she didn’t love it on the hanger. Hayley’s mom convinced her to try it anyway and of course, it fit perfectly and was beautiful. Hayley still loved the first dress, so she tried it on again, then the final dress again, and back and fourth about 3 times. Hayley asked about pricing and made a joke to the stylist about a 2 for 1 deal. The stylist went to check on the prices and returned with news that both dresses were under budget, and both dresses purchased together, were still under budget.
So, Hayley decided to buy both and “figure it out later”. This is a bit of a running theme because Hayley also did a dress change at her Bat Mitzvah. In the end, Hayley wore the gorgeous A-line for the ceremony and changed to the sleeker fitted dress for the reception and it was amazing!
Ceremony & Chuppah
Our venue had a beautiful gazebo at the ceremony site. We used the gazebo as our chuppah, which we loved because the view of the lake and greenery behind is incredible. The tallit that hung above us was Hayley’s from high school graduation and Hayley’s mom had tied the tzit tzit. This was a special touch. Our Rabbi also wrapped us in a new (black, white and grey) tallit to signify our new marriage and journey together.
Ketubah
Our ketubah was designed by Rachelle at The Delicate Brush. We could not decide on a Ketubah design and had looked through almost every Ketubah website. We found Rachelle at “The Delicate Brush” on Etsy and immediately knew we would use one of her designs for our Ketubah. We received so many compliments on our Ketubah and could not be more thrilled with how it turned out.
Our music choice
We wanted all our favorite songs to be played, so most of our songs were 90’s throw backs and some recent top hits. We loved dancing and singing along. Our DJ, DJ Kyle did a great job!
Flowers
We wanted all white flowers, little greenery and mostly white roses. Our florist, Wedding Flowers by Melissa did an incredible job turning our all white vision into a reality!
Photographer and videographer
We are beyond OBSESSED with our photographers and videographer. As an LGBTQ couple it was important for us to include LGBTQ and women owned businesses in our special day. That is how we found Captured by Amanda Lynn and Film with Kim. After our introduction call, we realized that we not only needed them to photograph our wedding, but we wanted to be their best friends and knew they would capture us perfectly on our wedding day.
Each time we spoke with them it was clear they knew what they were doing and had a clear action plan, which made our day so much less stressful. Amanda reached out for us to find videographers in our budget and found Kim! We chatted with Kim and it became even more clear that this was a special team that we could absolutely rely on. After getting our photos and video back were are so glad we made these choices and love looking back at all the pictures and video!
Extra Details
We had so many unique ideas that we added into our wedding to make it our own. The biggest and most unique of which is our entrance. Neither one of us was thrilled with the idea of slowly walking down an aisle while people stared at us, so we didn’t. We had our guests all gather in front of the mansion and when it was time, they walked down the aisle to us.
We waited for them at our ceremony site in the gazebo and welcomed them all to our wedding. We were so excited to see everyone walk in, led by our niece. We also did not have a public first dance. After our guests went to cocktail hour, we returned to the gazebo and did a private first dance. This was so perfect for us because we got the first dance pictures and video but got to be playful and silly without anyone watching. This resulted in some amazing pictures of Hayley giving Dani a piggy back ride and lots of laughs.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
We made our day so unique and special to us that everything felt so right and so easy. Our biggest piece of advice is to do whatever feels special, right and exciting for you!
HAYLEY & DANI’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Captured by Amanda Lynn
Videography – Film with Kim
Ketubah – The Delicate Brush {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Grand Tradition Estate and Gardens
Bride’s dress – Luv Bridal
Hair + Makeup – Makeup by DPav Hair by Kristle
Flowers – Wedding Flowers by Melissa
DJ – DJ Kyle
Cake – Elegance on Display
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
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.
